This practical guide gives teachers, parents, community leaders, and elementary-school administrators some ideas for how and why they should motivate kids to exercise and eat right. Guha, who holds a PhD in elementary education, offers some basic, unsurprising, but worthwhile strategies: schedule exercise breaks during class, and make it easy for kids to walk or bike to school. Guha raises some interesting questions, such as whether obesity leads to behavioral issues or vice versa, and cites the main reasons for the increase in childhood obesity: an increase in soda consumption, an unhealthy decrease in fruit and vegetable consumption, a decrease in physical activity in school, and an increase in sedentary TV watching, computer usage, and video games. Suggested activities in the appendixes include one for making a Healthy Food Rainbow for the wall and asking kids to cut out or draw fruits and vegetables to attach to it. Guha supplies a long list of children’s books about nutrition as well as reference sources and discussion questions. In all, a workmanlike summary of the case for healthy living.

Booklist

"Healthy Children" by Dr. Smita Guha is a gift to our society at a critical time when childhood obesity has become an epidemic. In plain language, the book presents the cause of obesity , associated health problems and preventive measures. I am sure parents, teachers and community leaders alike will find the book very valuable and our children will be the ultimate beneficiaries.

Dipanwita Roy, FAAP, Lead Pediatrician, Einstein Pennypack Pediatrics, Albert Einstein Medical Center, Philadelphia, PA

Smita Guha’s exceptional book comes at a time when the concerns about childhood obesity rank alongside those of learning disabilities, childhood literacy, and bullying. Today’s child lives a far more sedentary lifestyle than in years past. They have many unhealthy food choices available to them, alongside an enormous amount of indoor entertainment to occupy their time. Parents and educations have been struggling for years to instill the importance of nutrition and physical education to lethargic children with little success. Finally, Dr. Guha brings us a practical approach to this complicated problem that guides parents and teachers towards realistic health goals for children. Dr. Guha is a leader in the prevention of obesity in children and her strategies will help caregivers overcome the challenges of providing and promoting healthy lifestyles for their families. Healthy Children: How Parents, Teachers, and Community Can Help To Prevent Obesity in Children is a real-world and sensible model for combating this national epidemic.

Janet Caraisco, Ed.D., principal, New York City Department of Education

Obesity is the number one fatal disease in the United States today—a disease whose focus has finally taken center stage as the massive public health issue that it is. Children who are born in the U.S. today, in fact, belong to the first generation in history to fail to outlive their parents. The scourge of obesity and its consequences are unmatched by anything else we have seen in the 21st century.
In her eye-opening book, Healthy children: How parents, teachers and community can help to prevent obesity in children, Dr. Smita Guha, a life-long early-childhood educator and parent herself, not only reveals to us the causes of obesity, but shows us how, crucially, this disease can affect students’ in-school performance, both socially and academically. This book could not come at a more propitious time and it is within these pages that parents, teachers, and community workers will find a plethora of strategies to help learn to work with children to develop positive nutritional habits, the importance of physical activity, and even to plan a healthy diet.

Brett Elizabeth Blake PhD, professor and senior research fellow at the Vincentian Center for Social Justice and Poverty at St. John's University; co-author of "Teaching All Children to Read"

Childhood Obesity is a compelling topic for our times. This book will give all readers helpful ideas for dealing this issue.

Kenny Mansmann, Professor, St. Johns University, Queens, NY

It is a comprehensive review of methods and approaches to use in addressing childhood obesity in educational and community settings.

Barrett P. Brenton, Director, Center for Global Development