Susan Smith Jones, PhD

I think that Vegetable Soup and The Fruit Bowl is the finest children’s book written on the benefits of produce related to health. With the abundant supplies and varieties of fruits and vegetables available today, it has never been easier to get our kids to “eat fresh and stay healthy.” — Tony Tantillo, The Fresh Grocer, CBS Affiliate

The importance of books like Vegetable Soup and The Fruit Bowl has never been more evident. Children’s tastes are adaptable and childhood habits tend to last a lifetime contributing to health or chronic disease as they age. We must get our children on the right track for long term health by getting them in the habit of eating lots of fresh fruits and vegetables. — T. Colin Campbell, PhD, author

Disease begins in childhood. All the studies that have been done on the artery health of children tell us, beyond a doubt, that the beginnings of heart disease are present in our children today. We must, as parents, teachers and health professionals, get our children on safer diets and into the habit of eating lots of fresh fruits and vegetables. Vegetable Soup and The Fruit Bowl help us lead them in the right direction. — Bill P. Castelli, MD, former long-time director of the famous Framingham Heart Study of NIH

Our bodies are made up of the food we eat. Fruit and vegetables are God’s loving gifts to us. When we eat these foods, we create healthy, loving bodies. Vegetable Soup and The Fruit Bowl help us, as parents and teachers, to build this awareness in our children. The choice is ours. We can improve our health by choosing to eat these precious gifts. — Wayne W. Dyer, PhD, PBS motivational lecturer and author

Food manufacturers are spending billions of dollars to encourage children (and adults) to become dependent upon processed and restaurant foods, which are all too unhealthy. In fact, many children will never learn how to cook. It is vitally important for adults to teach kids about food, about nutrition, and how to cook. That will open up a whole new (and delicious) world that kids will enjoy for the rest of their lives. — Michael Jacobson, PhD, executive director, Center for Science in the Public Interest

Coronary heart disease begins in childhood. Also, children develop their taste preferences as they grow up. Therefore, parents would be wise to feed their children a vegetarian, or near vegetarian, diet. The authors of Vegetable Soup and The Fruit Bowl show us how. — Dean Ornish, MD, president and director, Preventive Medicine Research Institute

Children who grow up eating vegetables, fruit, grains and legumes, get a wonderful head start. People used to eat a lot of meat and dairy products — some people still do — but we now know that vegetarians are the healthiest people on the planet. As happy as the animals are that are not being eaten, our bodies are even happier with how healthy they feel. — Neal Barnard, MD, president, Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine

Our children look to us to show them how to live lives that are healthy and meaningful. Teaching them that natural foods are fun is an act of love and care. Teaching them that vegetables and fruits are their friends and allies is wonderful. Vegetable Soup and The Fruit Bowl serve this purpose beautifully. — John Robbins, author

A wonderful children’s book introducing the nutritional ABC’s (apples-broccoli-spinach) of whole foods! — David Klein, publisher, Vibrance magazine

A child’s health starts in the womb. Healthy choices through pregnancy must be followed by teaching our children to make their own healthy choices as well. Vegetable Soup and The Fruit Bowl help parents and teachers introduce children to the connection between what they eat, how they look, feel and perform. This early education will help prepare them to make those choices. — Earl Mindell, PhD, author

Building a strong nutritional foundation for children is one of the most important tasks we face as parents and teachers. Vegetable Soup and The Fruit Bowl present wholesome eating habits in a highly inviting, interactive and visual format. After all, “we are what we eat” and the best time to learn and integrate this basic concept into our lives is when we are young so that we have the best start on total health for a lifetime. — Ann Louise Gittleman, MS, author

Take your children grocery shopping occasionally. Spend most of your time in the produce department and make each trip a learning experience. Show them the most intensely colored fruits and vegetables and explain that these are the best. Do this often. Children relish this information and will always remember what they learn here. — Charles Attwood, MD, FAAP, author

Reach out with warmth and wisdom to bring the message of health to your child. This book, Vegetable Soup and The Fruit Bowl, is a must-read! — Marilyn Diamond, author

Raising a child on a natural, vegetarian diet provides both good nutrition and valuable lessons in compassion, simplicity and personal responsibility. Children who learn to make smart choices about food grow into young adults with a better chance of making smart choices about life. Vegetable Soup and The Fruit Bowl are here to help. — Victoria Moran, author

We must feed our children a more nutritionally sound diet that nourishes the higher brain. Thank God there are books like Vegetable Soup and The Fruit Bowl to help us achieve that lofty goal. — Harvey Diamond, author

A child’s state of health is his or her state of nutrition. Educating our children to eat whole, unprocessed food with a minimum of additives and pesticides is probably the greatest lesson of all. Teaching them to eat for optimal health is a gift that will give back to us and others for a lifetime. — Donald J. Carrow, MD, Talk Radio’s Medical Maverick

There is no better way to have healthy people than to start at the very beginning. We have abundant evidence to prove that fruits and vegetables are the basic edibles that serve to maintain our immune system, slow down the severity and frequency of infections and prevent or delay the onset of cancer and heart disease. The healthy start is right here in Vegetable Soup and The Fruit Bowl. We must teach our children to eat fresh foods, not the sugary junk found in the middle of the grocery store. — Lendon H. Smith, MD, author