Book Nook: The Dirt Cure: Growing Healthy Kids with Food Straight from the Soil

One in 13 children now suffers from food allergies. In the last 8 years, the number of children diagnosed with ADHD has jumped nearly 50%. And one in 45 children now carries an autism diagnosis. Many parents have been told that their children will have these conditions for life, or are simply untreatable. Children are part of a growing and massive health crisis in which chronic illness has become the new normal.  The culprit? According to Dr. Maya Shetreat-Klein, it's our national obsession with over-sanitization—of kids’ bodies, their homes, even the soil that grows their food-- that does far more harm than good.

 

In THE DIRT CURE: Growing Healthy Kids with Food Straight From the Soil, she shows that it's possible to reverse this trend by allowing our children exposure to microbes, feeding them fresh food from healthy soil, and encouraging time in close contact with nature.

The book is scientifically-based, yet easy to understand. It was comforting to know that it's ok not to have to worry about over-sanitizing everything. Her two main points are to heal from inside out with healthy, natural foods; and to heal from outside in by playing outside, being exposed to the life-sustaining microbes and nutrients in soil.

While not everyone will agree with everything she writes, she makes a lot of good points. Everyone can benefit from the healthier diet she espouses, the knowledge of how to read and decode food labels, and ways to curb sugar cravings.

Maya Shetreat-Klein, M.D., is an integrative pediatric neurologist with a medical degree from Albert Einstein College of Medicine, where she was awarded the Edward Padow Award for Excellence in Pediatrics and graduated with a Special Distinction in Research in Child Neurology for her original work on autism. She teaches integrative neurology at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York Medical College, and the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. She lectures nationally and internationally at conferences for both physicians and laypeople on topics such as children’s health, autism, integrative medicine and nutrition, toxins and neurological health. Additionally, Dr. Shetreat-Klein sits on expert advisory boards, including chef Bill Telepan’s Wellness in the Schools and Documenting Hope. She has been interviewed and quoted on Dr.Oz, NPR Marketplace, The New York Times Magazine, WCBS-TV News, and WABC-TV Newsand has partnered with Sen. Charles Schumer in promoting legislation for reducing toxic exposures in childhood.