In this book, certified nutrition consultant and medical nutrition researcher Julie S. Matthews advises parents of neurodivergent children how to adapt their children's diets to better support them.

She explicitly states that there is no one-size fits all in nutrition, particularly for children. With this in mind, section 1 of the book presents the core concepts of autism as a whole-body disorder, section 2 lays out the general guidelines for the Nourishing Hope process, section 3 helps parents refine their own child's personalised nutrition plan, and section 4 provides 50 family-friendly recipes.

Her core recommendation is to get rid of junk food and toxins. While this is not a novel approach, she does explain why ultra-processed food can cause issues and details the specific chemicals to watch out for in food and other household products. The author also provides advice on portion sizes and supplements. I liked how she explicitly recognised that picky eating was a common issue and gave some strategies on how to incorporate her diet suggestions for picky eaters, such as adjusting the textures to match their preferences. While she does say that a gluten-free, casein-free and soy-diet is usually the most beneficial and details how to implement it, she does recognise that it is restrictive. She suggests a few other types of diets that may also be helpful, such as low salicylate, low amine and low glutamate diets, food sensitivity elimination diets, and grain-free diets.

I really liked how much research was behind this book. The author highlights the science behind her approach and provides numerous footnotes with references to support her theory and provide further reading. There is a lot of information provided to enable parents to make the best evidence-based choice for their child.

A recommended read for parents of neurodivergent children looking to support them through nutrition.

Thank you to NetGalley and BenBella Books for providing me with a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is the guide I needed. My son, age 5, is on the spectrum. We have learned that food & nutrition affects some of the things he deals with daily. This book gives you the information you need to create a personalized type of diet plan as a new approach to helping your child. It can be what helps your child with anxiety and irritability. This book helps you to understand the science behind the plan.
The guide is so detailed. It keeps things simple for anyone to understand and follow. It gives options to help you create the diet plan and is so flexible with the plan to adjust as needed for your individual child even daily. There are also 50 recipes great for those picky eaters. I loved the detailed lists of foods & supplements to choose from to help in your planning.
A wonderful guide that I am so thankful I found and thankful to the publishers and NetGalley.

As a nutrition and wellness coach and the parent of a neurodivergent child, I have read plenty of books along the lines of treating diagnoses through diet. I found this book to be full of scientific information, with very clear lines drawn to how specific diets may be useful for these individuals and their specific needs.
I will definitely be purchasing this book once it is published as I can imagine going back to reference it often!

I wasn’t sure what to expect with this one. It’s true that diet plays a role in many things. But food issues can actually be a big part of autism. So for me, this one was only okay.

I have neurodivergent kids and found this very straightforward, informative, and helpful. The book details how to rid your home of junk foods, toxin laden health care and kitchen items, and revamp your diet. I look forward to trying some of these tips to help my children.

Thank you so much for this ARC opportunity I’m not sure I would have seen it otherwise and it had been a great addition to my toolset. My house is full of neurodivergence and food is a super tricky area for us all with so many varying needs, and hunger levels. It can be a real struggle, and this I think will help boost our confidence in finding and implementing the right solutions for us. I really appreciate the work that went into this book and hope to have it on my shelf someday to pull for easy refresher. Thank you so much to the author for sharing their knowledge with us.

I am always looking for ways to stay healthy. I hope to try some of these recipes to improve my life.

hank you to NetGalley for this E-ARC.

As a person who works with kids that are all over the spectrum and know how hard it is to get them to try something that they do not want to try… I am still so excited to try these recipes and see if anyone wants to try them with me. I love this book.