Eating For Two; What's Eating You?

These two new programs on nutrition from Cambridge Educational (formerly Cambridge Career Products) show a greater attention to technical quality than some of the previous Cambridge entries we've reviewed. Eating For Two, the more specialized of the pair, is a guide to pre-natal nutrition. After discussing the importance of exercise, the program talks about weight gain and explains the breakdown of where those 25-35 extra pounds actually go (for instance, the placenta weighs about 1.5 pounds). And then it's on to the grocery store where we watch good food passing by on the checkout aisle's conveyor belt, while voiceover narration explains why certain foods are very good and even necessary, and others should be avoided. Interviews with doctors, nutritionists, expectant mothers, and new mothers offer a sound mix of the professional and the practical on the subject of proper nutrition. The program also features a good warning section on the dangers of substance abuse--drugs, alcohol, etc.--during pregnancy. What's Eating You? is aimed more toward adolescents, and delivers a fairly straightforward guide to healthy eating. Host Ann Magnuson talks about the shift in meaning of the word "beautiful" as it has been used in relation to the female body (the pleasingly plumb Rubenesque figure to the ultra thin Twiggy look to the current muscular Madonna type), and explains the health pitfalls that teens fall into when striving to emulate these stereotypical images. Dismissing the fad diets, the program explains the simple facts of metabolistic life, and guides viewers through the now six recognized basic food groups (grains, vegies, fruit, dairy products, proteins, and fats/oils/­sweets), while cautioning viewers to avoid what a lot of people consider to be the three main food groups (grease, sugar, and caffeine). Interviews with teens and doctors touch upon a wide variety of issues and suggestions, ranging from anorexia and bulimia to keeping a food diary and eating low-fat snacks (popcorn, fig newtons, etc.) Both programs offer good introductions to their respective subjects (with Eating For Two the better choice because its material is not as readily available elsewhere) and both are recommended. (Available from: Cambridge Educational, 90 MacCorkle Ave. SW, So. Charleston, WV 25303; (800) 468-4227.)