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Cure Your Child with Food: The Hidden Connection Between Nutrition and Childhood Ailments
Grounded in cutting-edge science, Cure Your Child with Food reveals the hidden connections between nutrition and chronic childhood ailments, and gives parents the simple, straightforward solutions they need to help their children thrive.
Discover how zinc deficiency can cause picky eating and affect growth. The panoply of problems caused by dairy and gluten. How to cure sleep disorders with melatonin, hyperactivity with magnesium, anxiety with fish oil.
Kelly Dorfman, a nutritionist whose typical patient arrives at her practice after seeing three or more specialists, gives parents the tools to become nutrition detectives themselves. She shows how to recalibrate children's diets through the easy E.A.T. program, and how to get kids off drugs—antibiotics, laxatives, Prozac, Ritalin—and back to a state of natural well-being.
"In her terrific book, Kelly Dorfman clearly explains how to decipher the clues to nutritional disorders that affect the body and brain. Parents will find it packed with sound advice and useful information." —Maurine Packard, MD, pediatric neurologist
A Nautilus Book Award Gold winner.
Discover how zinc deficiency can cause picky eating and affect growth. The panoply of problems caused by dairy and gluten. How to cure sleep disorders with melatonin, hyperactivity with magnesium, anxiety with fish oil.
Kelly Dorfman, a nutritionist whose typical patient arrives at her practice after seeing three or more specialists, gives parents the tools to become nutrition detectives themselves. She shows how to recalibrate children's diets through the easy E.A.T. program, and how to get kids off drugs—antibiotics, laxatives, Prozac, Ritalin—and back to a state of natural well-being.
"In her terrific book, Kelly Dorfman clearly explains how to decipher the clues to nutritional disorders that affect the body and brain. Parents will find it packed with sound advice and useful information." —Maurine Packard, MD, pediatric neurologist
A Nautilus Book Award Gold winner.
368 pages, Paperback
First published April 23, 2013
153 people are currently reading
499 people want to read
About the author
Kelly Dorfman
8 books6 followersKelly Dorfman, MS, LND, is a nutritionist who specializes in working with children. She has served, by governor appointment, on the Maryland Board of Dietetic Practice, has consulted for WebMD, and has been a go-to authority on nutrition for The Washington Post. She is a sought-after lecturer who speaks around the country, and lives just outside of Washington, D.C. "
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews
March 14, 2014
I am no longer overwhelmed at the thought of eliminating gluten and dairy
Since he was an infant, my seven year old son, Henry, has been difficult. He was a colicicky baby, a violent toddler, and recently, an increasingly disruptive student. He also suffers from chronic, year round eczema and constipation, violent outbursts at times and general hyperactivity.
When he was four, we put him on the Feingold program. It has been around since the 70s and is known to help kids with ADHD and ODD, which I suspected he had. That program eliminates artificial color, sweetener, flavoring, and petroleum based preservatives. For two years we followed the program exactly, with very little improvement. His eczema got a little better, but was still painful. His behavior improved slightly, but we still got notes home from teachers and he never had a "green" (problem free) day at school.
I have long suspected that either dairy or gluten might be something problem for Henry, but the thought of eliminating these from our diet is overwhelming. I know just enough about nutrition and how to read labels to know that either dairy or gluten is hiding in just about everything, in some form. I work full time, I have other kids and I am 8 months pregnant - there are only so many hours in the day!
A friend recommended this book, and I downloaded it immediately. I am so very glad I did.
Kelly has written this book in such a way that it calmed this overextended mother's fears about the amount of work that will go into an elimination trial.
She recommends a six week trial of what you suspect your child's problem food is. She stresses that you don't have to go all out, in most cases. For example, if you are eliminating dairy, don't stress about the small amount of milk that is in bread. if you are eliminating gluten, don't stress about the small amount that is in dressings and sauces (unless you suspect true Celiac disease). This was a huge relief to me! most of the other material I have read in the past insists you eliminate all traces from the diet.
I love the way Kelly explains things. over the past decade I have often rolled my eyes at the gluten free movement, thinking of it as just another fad diet. In her book, she explains how wheat processing has changed since the late 90s, truly making the gluten we consume today much harder to digest than it was when I was a kid. She expands this in simple terms, with no hysteria or extremism.
I love the supplement advice in this book. She has many practical tips on how to choose a good supplement for your child, what to look for and what quantity of each mineral is most beneficial. She is a big fan of fish oils, and has many great tips for finding one that your child will tolerate that is still effective. She never recommends any particular brand or formulas, which makes it easy to trust her advice, as she has nothing to gain by suggesting certain amounts of any one vitamin or mineral.
I haven't begun our elimination trial yet, but after reading this book I am prepared to begin next week. I am going to go back through my highlighted notes and order the supplements I think would most help my child, and fill the family and school in on the plan. I will update this review in May with our results.
If you have been considering an elimination trial for your child, but have been dragging your feet like me out of information overload, buy this book! It is an easy read and has no filler, just incredibly insightful, helpful information that she backs up with hard facts and research studies in the back of the book.
Since he was an infant, my seven year old son, Henry, has been difficult. He was a colicicky baby, a violent toddler, and recently, an increasingly disruptive student. He also suffers from chronic, year round eczema and constipation, violent outbursts at times and general hyperactivity.
When he was four, we put him on the Feingold program. It has been around since the 70s and is known to help kids with ADHD and ODD, which I suspected he had. That program eliminates artificial color, sweetener, flavoring, and petroleum based preservatives. For two years we followed the program exactly, with very little improvement. His eczema got a little better, but was still painful. His behavior improved slightly, but we still got notes home from teachers and he never had a "green" (problem free) day at school.
I have long suspected that either dairy or gluten might be something problem for Henry, but the thought of eliminating these from our diet is overwhelming. I know just enough about nutrition and how to read labels to know that either dairy or gluten is hiding in just about everything, in some form. I work full time, I have other kids and I am 8 months pregnant - there are only so many hours in the day!
A friend recommended this book, and I downloaded it immediately. I am so very glad I did.
Kelly has written this book in such a way that it calmed this overextended mother's fears about the amount of work that will go into an elimination trial.
She recommends a six week trial of what you suspect your child's problem food is. She stresses that you don't have to go all out, in most cases. For example, if you are eliminating dairy, don't stress about the small amount of milk that is in bread. if you are eliminating gluten, don't stress about the small amount that is in dressings and sauces (unless you suspect true Celiac disease). This was a huge relief to me! most of the other material I have read in the past insists you eliminate all traces from the diet.
I love the way Kelly explains things. over the past decade I have often rolled my eyes at the gluten free movement, thinking of it as just another fad diet. In her book, she explains how wheat processing has changed since the late 90s, truly making the gluten we consume today much harder to digest than it was when I was a kid. She expands this in simple terms, with no hysteria or extremism.
I love the supplement advice in this book. She has many practical tips on how to choose a good supplement for your child, what to look for and what quantity of each mineral is most beneficial. She is a big fan of fish oils, and has many great tips for finding one that your child will tolerate that is still effective. She never recommends any particular brand or formulas, which makes it easy to trust her advice, as she has nothing to gain by suggesting certain amounts of any one vitamin or mineral.
I haven't begun our elimination trial yet, but after reading this book I am prepared to begin next week. I am going to go back through my highlighted notes and order the supplements I think would most help my child, and fill the family and school in on the plan. I will update this review in May with our results.
If you have been considering an elimination trial for your child, but have been dragging your feet like me out of information overload, buy this book! It is an easy read and has no filler, just incredibly insightful, helpful information that she backs up with hard facts and research studies in the back of the book.
September 25, 2020
This book has been a gamer changer for me. Not a complete miracle, but a huge help, nonetheless. I started reading it to help my oldest son with his symptoms of ADHD, ODD, and PTSD. It’s helped him quite a bit, but has also benefitted his young brothers, especially my middle son for whom the chapter on dyspraxia and SPD rang very true.
April 12, 2018
Loved it. Over the last few months, (really off and on for years now), I have been moving my family over toward healthier eating. Although this book didn't help me on how to eat healthier, (thank goodness for friends who are further on the path and share everything with me!), it did provide some really useful insights into common nutrient deficiencies, some of which my kids have. It was empowering to realize some of the things I thought were normal are not and how to help my kids, (and myself), so that we can be healthier. Worth at least a skim through.
June 13, 2014
I wish I would have had this book 7 years ago when we started a very rocky health journey with our newborn daughter. After years of seeing a wide assortment of pediatric specialists, many of whom dismissed our questions about nutrition and instead suggested that our daughter most likely has some as-yet-undetermined "syndrome", I read this book. It was all the encouragement we needed to eliminate gluten completely from our diet and get our daughter on the right supplements (good probiotics, Fish Oil and Vitamins D and C). In just three months, we've seen her extremely itchy skin rash clear up, her balance improve immensely, and her overall attitude brighten (she tells us she's happy to be gluten free -- even at 7 years of age, she recognizes how much better she feels).
I've read several places that med students typically have only one course in nutrition, if even that, during all their years of schooling. I choose to believe that to be the reason they don't advocate for dietary changes to improve our health and that of our children. It really becomes the job of the parent, as suggested in this book, to do the detective work, and if involving the pediatrician in your suspicions/discoveries, advocate to THEM for nutritional testing for your child and garner their support in a dietary change.
One last comment -- due to the title of the book, it's unlikely that it will be read by many outside of the parent set, but that does NOT mean that much of the info doesn't apply to adults as well as children!
Thank you, Kelly Dorfman, for this life-improving, even life-saving book! Our daughter thanks you, too!
I've read several places that med students typically have only one course in nutrition, if even that, during all their years of schooling. I choose to believe that to be the reason they don't advocate for dietary changes to improve our health and that of our children. It really becomes the job of the parent, as suggested in this book, to do the detective work, and if involving the pediatrician in your suspicions/discoveries, advocate to THEM for nutritional testing for your child and garner their support in a dietary change.
One last comment -- due to the title of the book, it's unlikely that it will be read by many outside of the parent set, but that does NOT mean that much of the info doesn't apply to adults as well as children!
Thank you, Kelly Dorfman, for this life-improving, even life-saving book! Our daughter thanks you, too!
March 12, 2023
Really good and useful information gathered in one book .
July 31, 2021
This book is amazing. Every chapter is basically a new episode of House, which I was a big fan of. Kelly walks us through different ailments children are facing and by being a "food detective" gets to the cause. This book covers everything from gluten and dairy problems to when and what to add to your children's diet regarding vitamins and supplements. As a Mom, I became very fascinated with nutrition once my children were born. A lot of their "issues" have been directly related to diet, ya live and learn. I wish I had found this years ago! If you are interested in nutrition in the slightest or have a hunch a behavior/skin issue with your kiddo could be caused by diet give this book a read.
May 20, 2023
I’m giving this 4 stars because I wish there were an updated version, but based on additional research I still think the vast majority of the information is true (if not even further supported by newer research). This book was full of so much practical nutritional advice and possible solutions to common children disorders/ailments. Kelly offered info backed with research and examples, plus tips on searching out clues to help your own children. She also offered tips to make dietary changes and introducing new foods to kids seem less daunting. I listened to the audiobook but ordered a hard copy to have on hand as reference. Eager to try some of her recommendations to help my children!
January 29, 2020
The connections made between diet and physical/behavioral issues were interesting. And have motivated me to explore these ideas further with my family. However, I found the author to be almost unbearably smug. FWIW, I listened to the audiobook, so some of my annoyance was due to the delivery of the reader (who I don't believe was the author).
November 11, 2020
Great if you are new to understanding the connections between diet and behavior or tricky to solve health issues. It is rather basic. I was hoping to learn more about her dyspraxia plan but I really didn't get anymore than when I did a quick internet search. Maybe there is another book or something more in depth that I missed in my cursory search online.
June 10, 2017
This doctor prescribes food treatments for common illnesses and health problems in children and states that due to a lack of training in nutrition, pediatricians are over-prescribing medications when changes in diet could make all the difference. Food for thought :)
January 24, 2019
Awesome book!!!!
This is a must read for all parents. The author lays out the information in an easy to read and to the point way. There is so much info here even though I would call this book more of a primer to helping your kids with nutrition.
This is a must read for all parents. The author lays out the information in an easy to read and to the point way. There is so much info here even though I would call this book more of a primer to helping your kids with nutrition.
September 27, 2019
Highly recommend
We are currently eliminating dairy. Within just a few days, it has made a dramatic difference in my child behavior, constipation, and picky eating. I suspected that she had a dairy intolerance long ago but the doctor brushed it off.
We are currently eliminating dairy. Within just a few days, it has made a dramatic difference in my child behavior, constipation, and picky eating. I suspected that she had a dairy intolerance long ago but the doctor brushed it off.
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August 6, 2020What I learned: zinc, fish oil, choline. Try an elimination diet. There was a pretty crappy line about kids that throw up at the table. You are supposed to reply “oh, looks like some fell out.” So, don’t follow the picky eating advice. The supplement and elimination diet parts seem promising.
July 27, 2019
A really interesting look at how dietary changes can help with lots of seemingly medical/psychological ailments.
August 23, 2019
Very interesting and informative
May 16, 2021
Not mind blowing, but well-written and a good starting place if you have a symptomatic kid (and are looking for a non-invasive starting place).
November 24, 2023
Read for work. Very informative. A great resource for parents or anyone looking to improve their diet.
August 11, 2024
So interesting! Just picked this up out of curiosity and ended up skimming most of it. But it’s a helpful reference book for a lot of “normal” kid health problems like ear infections and constipation, and even discusses fixes for picky eating and lack of focus. I learned a lot! It’s great that food is so powerful in solving these issues which we don’t actually have to deal with.
November 10, 2025
Interesting but wouldn't recommend.
September 26, 2014
I initially started reading this book to get some ideas on how to encourage my kid to eat a wider variety of foods and not be so picky, not necessarily to cure any specific ailment. I technically didn't read the entire book just because a lot of the nutrition caused ailments didn't apply to me, but there was a lot of very useful information.
I had no idea that things like a dairy allergy could cause a child to dislike food. Or that there were different levels of gluten sensitivity. The fact that a gluten sensitivity (not even full-fledged Celiac's) could cause behavioral outbursts or overeating/food addiction was a huge surprise to me. Or that a simple vitamin deficiency could cause so many easily remedied side effects.
This was really a wealth of information that could be very helpful for so many people. It got me wondering how many of our childrens' behavioral issues and illnesses could be prevented and/or improved by a simple dietary change. Definitely gave me a whole new respect for how food affects our bodies. This book will be great to have around to reference when I need it.
I had no idea that things like a dairy allergy could cause a child to dislike food. Or that there were different levels of gluten sensitivity. The fact that a gluten sensitivity (not even full-fledged Celiac's) could cause behavioral outbursts or overeating/food addiction was a huge surprise to me. Or that a simple vitamin deficiency could cause so many easily remedied side effects.
This was really a wealth of information that could be very helpful for so many people. It got me wondering how many of our childrens' behavioral issues and illnesses could be prevented and/or improved by a simple dietary change. Definitely gave me a whole new respect for how food affects our bodies. This book will be great to have around to reference when I need it.
May 20, 2014
As my passion for nutrition has increased so has my desire to pursue more education in this field. I was about to apply for my masters in nutrition when I started reading this book a few weeks back. I was starting to realize that the nutrition style I subscribed to will most likely never be taught in a school setting. However, books like this one can give us plenty of information and carry us in the right direction of learning. After reading lots of nutrition related books, I'm so pleased to learn of Kelly and her passion for children's nutrition. She has become my idol in this field along with another handful of doctors and scientists. She is non-biased and matter of fact as she dishes out good information on studies that have helped her become the detective she is today. Thank you for the amazing information you provide to all of us parents who want to help our children attain the best health possible!
September 22, 2016
With simple things becoming ever more complicated - such as grocery shopping - I think this book is a must have for families. Finding straight forward nutrition information can be difficult, what works for one person may not work for another! This book really gives the tools to become a detective when it come to nutrition, what to look for, common pitfalls and their effects, etc. Although nutrition cannot solve all the ailments in the world, this book could be very helpful to any parent (or adult) who has "that nagging feeling" that something's just not right.
August 4, 2015
Love this book! Wish I had it years ago. I think it should be on every family's bookshelf. The info here is consistent with other books I've read, and helps you to think like a detective when your child is showing symptoms.... it led me to make an appointment with our doctor and things are getting better! We do pretty good with what we eat, but now I'm being intentional to be even better after this read.
February 14, 2014
This is what I was looking for! Nutrition taken up a notch with medical studies and information about supplements to address deficiencies in kids with all sorts of needs. 3-4 chapters addressed issues for carver directly. I am going to try it out. Well written. Wanted to read more and more and got excited about the possibilities for helping him in a more natural way.
October 2, 2016
A good starting book for anyone new to the information that what you eat does affect how you behave. She does a great job of giving information as to simple nutrients that can help you feel more clam, stay more focused, get rid of tummy aches, etc. I feel like the scientific information is a little lacking though. But like I said, it is a good starting point.
August 30, 2014
It's nice to know there's a fairly mainstream book out there with solid information about toxins and nutrition and how both can effect your body, and how your symptoms can be helped by eliminating or adding things to your diet.
October 30, 2014
Basically: Any health problem, ever, is probably a gluten or a dairy allergy. That said, this was one of the first reasonable and persuasive explanations I've ever heard for gluten intolerance, but I'll still wait to cross this bridge when I get there.
January 6, 2021
This was a great resource! As I read, I kept thinking how Dorfman makes it seem possible and not daunting to eliminate certain foods. I could really start to see a connection between my child's behaviors and foods they were eating. I didn't feel chastised for not making the connections earlier.
August 11, 2014
I chose to read this because I am always looking for ideas for my picky eater, Xavier.
June 9, 2023
I actually read this from the library and found it very informative as we make food decisions for our sons. I want to dig deeper into the vitamins we might be lacking in our diet!
8/10
8/10
Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews