Getting to YUM: The 7 Secrets of Raising Eager Eaters

by Karen Le Billon

From the author of the popular French Kids Eat Everything, a simple, easy and surprisingly fun way to change dinnertime reactions from YUCK to YUM.

Are mealtimes with your kids a source of frustration? Ever wonder how on earth to get them to eat the recommended 5 servings of fruits and veggies per day (or even per week)?

Getting to YUM is a practical and engaging guide for parents eager to get past their children's food resistance—or avoid it altogether. It introduces 7 Secrets of Raising Eager Eaters (Secret 1: Teach your child to eat, just like you teach them to read! or Secret 6: Teach me to do it kid participation is every parent's secret weapon).

Karen Le Billon, author of French Kids Eat Everything, coaches readers through the process of taste training, including strategies, games and experiments that will encourage even reluctant eaters to branch out. Over 100 delicious, kid-tested, age-appropriate recipes lead families step-by-step through the process of "learning to love new foods," enabling kids to really enjoy the foods we know they should be eating.

Wise and compelling, Getting to YUM is grounded in revolutionary new research on the science of taste. Packed full of observations from real-life families, it provides everything parents need to transform their children—from babies to toddlers to teens—into good eaters for life.

Genres: Parenting, Nonfiction, Food, Cookbooks, Nutrition, Self Help, Psychology

339 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 27, 2013

Reviews

[Gretchen]

I appreciate the opportunity to read through this book, as a winner in a First Reads giveaway. As someone who is very interested in health, healthy eating, and nutrition, and as a mother of a 3 year-old, I was very curious about what kind of tips it would contain.

Unfortunately, it did not provide many new insights into getting children to eat more healthily. It seems to me that if you are curious enough to seek out an entire book on getting your children to eat, you probably already know most of the information that this book contains.

It starts with some "games" that you can play with your kids (mostly for older kids) about different tastes on the tongue, taste buds, food tastings, which are all interesting and informative, but I don't believe will do anything to actually make a child eat more at dinnertime. It then gives information about feeding your baby a variety of food, which is once again fairly obvious to me, but perhaps not to everyone. Then it describes things like encouraging real conversation at the dinner table, and not making separate "kid" food for your children.

The second half of the book consists of recipes. There is a vegetable section, a fruit section, a dessert section. I find it hard to believe that there are parents that are having trouble getting their children to eat dessert or most fruit (it has recipes for using strawberries, cantaloupe, watermelon), but these are the focus of the recipes. It seems to me that more focus could be on recipes using a variety of spices and less common vegetables, seeds, and grains.

My final comment is that, as a lover of books and language (and proper use of grammar), the author lost me as a fan, when I read this statement: "Do eat yourself at baby's mealtime."

[Charly Troff (JustaReadingMama)]

This is an exceptional book. It covers basic principles (such as, you can't force a child to eat or that kids do what we do more than what we say) but also gives specific tools that help parents adhere to those principles. It keeps the big picture--what are you ultimately trying to achieve and teach your children--as it goes over the author's recommended methods. It's organized really well, includes a lot of real life examples, and has notes and ideas for how to implement the tools for different age groups (from babies to teenagers). The author also includes games with each section--because kids love games and all things fun!--that are super simple for parents to do and has a large section (basically half the book) of recipes. I would recommend this book to any parent with children at home still (plus, following these principles will make the parents healthier eaters too!).

[Kimberly Fields]

I really liked Getting to Yum. I thought Le Billon's tips and suggestions were simple, but effective. I tried some of her suggestions on my three-year-old (renaming food with an exciting sounding name!) and the child who would eat only one vegetable ever actually tried and liked a vegetable she had previously refused to touch! I also liked that Le Billon encouraged gentle nutrition and not forcing kids to eat when they don't want to (this always backfires and can lead to eating problems years down the road). I haven't tried her recipes yet, but I'm excited to do so. They sound very tasty.

*Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book from a Goodreads giveaway, in exchange for my honest review. The thoughts in my review are all my own.

[Tara Beck]

Another phenomenal book by Karen Le Billon! This one is excellent at giving practical tips to prevent (or cure) picky eating. I'm so glad I found this book while my little guy is just starting solids, so I can give him a good foundation right from the start. The recipes in this book look delicious, even for adults, and I'll be trying some this week with my son - so excited! I highly recommend this book!

[Sps]

Techniques seem sound but ironically the recipes got a bit repetitive: Le Billon wants you to add butter, cheese, and vegetable broth to most things, and the minimal inclusion of non-European flavors is a drag. For salty goodness, why not fermented black beans? For savoriness, why not nutritional yeast? For lush spices, why not ras el hanout?

[Doris]

I mostly skimmed this for the stuff I found pertinent, but I am intrigued and very excited to try out some of the tasting games and recipes.

[Sara Liebman]

Good strategies for combating picky eating and introducing kids to a variety of different flavors and textures.

[Kristin Murray]

A great book on how to taste-train! You can learn to enjoy vegetables. I bought my own copy after finishing it. She gives lots of "games" to play that I think will be great for homeschool.

[Karyn Grasse]

not everything in this book worked of us, BUT some of it DID!

[Sarah]

There were many good tips that I wish I had implemented during my children’s early years. I appreciated the mealtime strategies and habits that we can begin even now to encourage more diverse eating habits.

[Dianna]

This book has some great advice, but I felt that a lot of it was a repeat of French Kids Eat Everything, but in less story-driven format. I liked French Kids Eat Everything better because it told a family's story and I was able to glean advice from it myself, but if you prefer straight-up advice, then go for this book instead.

It does have a good selection of recipes at the back to help introduce your children to different fruits and vegetables and it has inspired my cooking this week, so for that I suppose it was worth a borrow from the library and a quick read.

[Gloria]

I received this book as a First Reads winner and was very happy with it. My eight year old daughter got hold of the book before I did; she read the parts that interested her and I was afraid she would learn any "tricks" that the author divulged, but, she took in the information and is now willing to try new foods and foods that she had tried and disliked in the past. I like that the author gives some practical games and strategies to help a child who is learning to like different kinds of food. May daughter is a "picky" eater who is now more open to new tastes. I can see that it will be an ongoing process, however, I always knew that there would not be a "quick fix."

My daughter has requested to read Karen Le Billon's first book, as well!

[Emily]

I got my copy of this book free from the publisher and I really liked it. It was a very quick, easy read and it was very informative. As a mother, I was very interested in ways to get my child to enjoy eating healthy food and this book was full of great ideas! The ideas presented in this book make so much sense and I cannot believe that I didn't think of them sooner. I can't wait to try some of the recipes included in this book! If you have a picky eater at your house, this book is definitely for you!

[Vmichelle Skinner]

This book is full of fabulous ideas for exploring food with your kids. I want to be able to wholeheartedly endorse this, but... well, some of the ideas aren't working so great with my toddler. But I'm going to keep trying and hoping things will improve. But still a very inspiring book that can help change the way you view and treat food and eating in your family - it's not dry nutrition - it's about appreciating a full spectrum of foods, eating real home-cooked food and making dining a cherished part of everyday family life.

[Alicia]

I received this through the Goodreads first reads giveaway. I have a few friends who read Karen Le Billon's first book, French Kids Eat Everything, and they all had great things to say. So I was excited to receive this book in the hopes to get my two STUBBORN boys to eat a bit more healthier, my two year old in particular. He did not care at all about the games. I tried. And I tried. And I tried. Sigh. I guess I have the most stubborn kid in the world.

[Sherry]

Lots of good, practical advice for preventing picky eating in your home, and for turning around picky eaters. Many of the tips were things we already do in our home, but there was still a lot for me to learn. I read it on Kindle and would love to get my hands on a paper copy so I can explore the recipes more easily.

[Tammy]

I received this book free through the Goodreads giveaway. I am going to try some of the recipes. I think I received this book six years too late though. My picky eater is to stubborn to try anything new.

[Lisa]

I wish this book had been published when my son was young. He was and still is a picky eater. This is a book I give to family and clients about how to introduce a wide variety of foods to the family table.

[Julie]

This is full of useful games and recipes that I plan to try on my picky kids. This one wasn't as entertaining as French Kids Ear Everything, and I admit I felt overwhelmed at times as I read it. I guess I'll just have to see how it goes!

[Christine]

Kind of a rehashing/reorganization of her earlier book ("French Kids Eat Everything") - this one is more of a parenting/advice book rather than a memoir. She does back up her claims with research, and the recipe/flavor system is unique. Good to read if you have picky kids, for sure!

[Great Books]

Mealtime can be tough when there is a picky eater in the house, but the games and tasty recipes in this book will help parents teach their children to enjoy healthy food. It's delicious fun! 22

[Donna]

some of the recipes were nice but for someone who has tried everything with a picky eater, there was nothing new.

[Liz]

Not a bad book, but there wasn't anything new in it for me.

[Kayleigh]

Well researched. Lots of fun and creative ideas for turning picky eaters into omnivores.

[Aneesa]

Full of solutions if you encounter picky eating problems.

[Sheila]

Great recipes. Not as good as her prior book, but very helpful.