Parents: Are Your Kids Getting Too Much Salt? High blood pressure in children is not as rare as you might think. In fact, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has found that about 5% of children have blood pressure that’s higher than normal. Less than 1% of children have blood pressure that’s...
Visit Farmers Markets to Battle Childhood Obesity
Visit Farmers Markets to Battle Childhood Obesity One reason for today’s childhood obesity epidemic is that children do not eat enough fruits and vegetables. Instead, they fill up on packaged food with little to no nutritional value. But how do you get your kids excited about eating more fruits and veggies? Introduce...
The Emotional Impact of Obesity on Children
The Emotional Impact of Obesity on Children As a pediatrician, I care about more than just your children’s physical health. Mental and emotional wellbeing are equally important. Sadly, the greatest preventable threat to your child’s physical health also threatens their mental and emotional health. I’m talking, of course, about childhood obesity. Studies...
New Year Resolutions for Eating Healthy
New Year Resolutions for Eating Healthy Everybody has good intentions at the beginning of a new year. We promise to be good, to eat right and to exercise regularly; even when those were the old, un-met goals for the year that just ended. I know, because I do it every year too....
U.S. Obesity Rates Continue to Rise
U.S. Obesity Rates Continue to Rise “Our heath care cost have grown along with our waist line”, said Jeff Levi, PhD, executive director of Trust for America’s Health. “The obesity epidemic is a big contributor to the skyrocketing health care costs in the United States”. Childhood obesity rates have more than tripled...
Timing Meals: An Important Step in Improving the Quality of the Food We Eat
Timing Meals: An Important Step in Improving the Quality of the Food We Eat Children will eat at different times of the day, if we allow them to. But should we schedule meals throughout the day, or is it better to eat on demand? The answer depends on the age of the...
The Key to Good Nutrition
The Key to Good Nutrition The increasing incidence of obesity in our society calls for a careful analysis of possible causes, as well as investigation and application of useful advice. Here is the key to a solution that sound simple but is, in fact, not so easy to comply with: Just pay...
The Future Consequences of Childhood Obesity
The Future Consequences of Childhood Obesity A recent study published in the New England Journal of Medicine has found that heavier children are twice as likely to die prematurely, before the age of 55, than thin children. This conclusion was determined after researchers spent decades tracking and analyzing the specific functions that...