Nutrition 101 - Choose Life! Great Health Course for Homeschoolers

     What kinds of things do you remember from your health classes back when you were in school?  Or do you even remember that you took a health class?

     I think most of us found that the way we were taught nutrition, food safety, and about the human body was done so that most of us don't remember all that much about what we learned. 

     I remember studying the different systems of the human body, the USDA Food Pyramid from back then, and the shockingly large amount of servings we were to eat each day from food groups.

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     While my family ate a lot of vegetables when we were growing up, and occasionally whole wheat pasta, low fat meats, and fresh fruit, some of the concepts about foods and healthy eating came from my own parents' knowledge of healthy foods and food safety.

      How many of us continue to prepare and serve food in the same way our parents did when we were children?

     I wonder how many Americans merely rely on the "old" knowledge that they learned in school or from their parents, instead of really researching exactly what  makes foods healthy, or how to best prepare and serve foods in our homes.

     I'd suspect that most Americans still trust and believe in the 1970s and 1980s USDA Food Pyramid, although that has long been done away with.  Or maybe you follow the newer USDA Food Pyramid, which isn't much better than the old one.

     Do you actually find that your family is healthy and eating wholesome, real foods?  Or are you still relying on old nutrition information from your childhood?

     Over the last five or six years, I've become acquainted with a sweet friend in my community who has become "famous" in the bloggers' realm with her website about eating wholesome, real foods that are not processed.  At first, sometimes when I would read her website postings, I would have an attitude.  Can you believe that?  Me? 

     Well, what she was sharing with her readers (including little 'ol me) was completely different from the nutritional standards I'd been taught in school.  Some of it instantly made sense to me.  Some of it caused me to think and think on the concepts, sometimes, for months!  And once in a while, I'd get frustrated with what I was reading and learning.  But over the years now, I've realized that much of the way we eat as Americans is really not all that good for us. 

     Have you noticed that no matter how many "healthy" foods are introduced onto the grocery store shelves, Americans are still dealing with health issues that aren't improving with some of the changes in the diet?

     This is why I was thrilled to be able to use and review Nutrition 101:  Choose Life from Growing Healthy Homes with the girls this spring. 

     Nutrition 101 covers the various body systems, like some health books you may have read in the past.  However, this eBook on CD or in print form contains up-to-date information that will be quite different from what you may read in the newspaper or see on television.  Much of the nutritional information we find today comes from scientists working for or swayed by humongous food corporations, so it can be difficult to find accurate nutritional information.

     Okay, so here's what you'll find in Nutrition 101.  It's 448 packed pages of information, colorful photos, and helpful diagrams, charts, and recipes!  

       The units include:

• The Brain and Nervous System
• The Digestive System
• The Respiratory, Olfactory, Auditory, and Visual Systems
• The Skeletal and Muscular Systems
• The Cardiovascular and Immune Systems
• The Endocrine System and Emotions

Each unit contains:

• new information about one of the systems in our body
• discussion questions
• activities from which to pick and choose
• additional resources section for those who want to learn more
• "power" recipes plus additional recipes
• an activity guide
• an appendix
  

     Nutrition 101 is designed for people of all ages.  While the girls and I were reading through some of the chapters, Kelsi (age 13) was highly interested in all of the details and scientific information.  Brittany (age 11) loved the colorful photos, the basic information, and the Fun Facts scattered throughout the eBook.  Since they're opposites in most things, their reactions were what I expected to notice.

     As we were reading each chapter, we took extra time to look for videos on YouTube that would visually explain in video format what we were reading about in Nutrition 101.  This helped to cement some of the more complex ideas into the girls' brains.  For example, while reading about the nervous system and how nerve cells communicate with each other, we watched a computer animated YouTube video that visually demonstrated the various parts of the nervous system and how the cells communicate with each other.  I'd also like to search through some of the Netflix DVDs to view those that would accompany some of the topics we are discussing, as well.

     I'd like to tell you that we finished reading through all 448 pages of this nutrition guide...but that wouldn't be true.  We began at the beginning, and since Growing Healthy Homes recommends that families work through each chapter over one to two weeks, that's what we did.  In the amount of time we had access to Nutrition 101, we were able to nearly finish Unit 1 which contains the first four chapters.

     While Nutrition 101 contains some detailed facts, it also contains a lot of helpful and very interesting information to even those children in the elementary school ages.  We'll be working through Nutrition 101 until June this spring, and then picking it back up at some point over the summer or when school begins in September.  When the girls are both in high school, I'm planning to use Nutrition 101 for the girls' high school health textbook - it's that good and thorough.

     At the end of each chapter are extra book suggestions, web links, and extra recipes. 

     The recipes in Nutrition 101 are great!  The concepts are excellent.  I was very impressed with this book.  You will be, too!

     I received the electronic version of Nutrition 101, which costs $79.95.  Before you gasp, let me explain that this is a very high quality eBook/textbook.  This isn't your usual "39-page" eBook that you see online occasionally.  We will use portions of this book, especially some of the pages in the Appendix, over and over again.  A lot of care and preparation has gone into the nearly 500 pages in this eBook.  While I don't particularly like paying that much money for eBooks on CD, if you are interested in teaching some of the best food nutrition and information about the human body that is out there right now, this is probably worth planning into your homeschool budget in the future. 

    If you'd rather have this book in paper form, Nutrition 101 is also available as a full-color hardcover book for $99.95, or it may be purchased as a combination of both the electronic and physical versions for $129.95.  While I haven't actually seen the hardcover version in person, some of the members of the TOS Crew have seen Nutrition 101 in hardcover form and homeschooling curriculum conferences, and they have told me that it is beautiful with its full color pages printed on heavy, high quality paper.  I'd love to see it some day!

     You may be interested to read what some of my fellow TOS Crewmates have to say about Nutrition 101, so here you go! 

     For those of you who enjoy viewing and reading PDF files like this on other devices than a computer, Nutrition 101 can also be viewed on an iPad using the GoodReader app for PDFs or the iBook app.  This will also work for an iPod Touch.

     If you have a Kindle, you can transfer the PDF file to your Kindle by connecting your Kindle to your PC via the USB cord and then opening up the Documents folder on your Kindle.  Simply drag your Nutrition 101 file into the Documents folder.  I wouldn't recommend viewing Nutrition 101 on a Kindle, though.  I transferred it over to my daughter's Kindle, and while the Kindle easily accepted the file and it was easily accessible, the print was very tiny.  Unfortunately, with PDF documents, some of the features of the Kindle, like adjusting the size of print, are unavailable, at least for the new model we have.  Let's just say that unless you have incredible eyesight or very accurate bifocals, you probably won't want to be reading Nutrition 101 on your Kindle, even if you turn the viewing to landscape mode.

     On April 21, 2011, The Old Schoolhouse is hosting a webinar with Sera Johnson, one of the authors of Nutrition 101.  This webinar will take place at 4:00 p.m. EDT, so if you'd like to know more, this is a great resource!

     You may also view a sample of Nutrition 101.  This will help you decide if this is the right kind of health and nutrition study for your own family.

      Because the curriculum is designed for both elementary and secondary students, Growing Healthy Homes expects customers to use it for multiple years ... and then with their grandchildren.

     Growing Healthy Homes is graciously offering my readers a 15% discount coupon from Growing Healthy Homes using the code "TOScrew11".  This is the same discount you would receive at a homeschool fair where they would be exhibiting this product. 

     I do recommend Nutrition 101 to you.  We'll be using this again and again, even after we have completed going through the chapters as a family.  Health class - here we come!

Disclaimer:  I received an electronic copy of Nutrition 101 for the purpose of using it with my family and reviewing it here for you.  No other compensation was provided.

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