Protein

How much protein do kids really need?  Why do we need protein? These are common questions a well check visits. The good news is that most kids are probably getting plenty of protein! Protein is crucial for building and repairing muscles and providing energy for growing kids, but really, every cell, tissue and organ needs […]

Health care Reform in action: calorie labeling goes national

  When the Nutrition Labeling and Education act of 1990 went into effect in 1994, it required that nutrition labels be placed on food products but exempted restaurants.  A recent report from CSIP summarized evidence that proved more people eat out more often than ever before and US children eat twice as many calories at […]

Caffeine

   It’s everywhere. Coffee, tea and sodas don’t surprise anyone. Fruit spritzers surprised me. Protein shakes aimed at athletes. Chocolate covered coffee beans and Perky Jerky. But is it a problem? It can be. – The FDA recommends that adults don’t consume more than 400mg of caffeine a day which is 4-5 cups of coffee….or a […]

Introducing Foods to your Infant

  The first feeding: Babies expect a breast or a bottle when hungry. So make sure your baby is happy and awake but NOT hungry the first time you feed him or her solid food because at this point he/she is learning a skill, not eating for nutrition. Wait about an hour after a milk […]

Time to make your own Baby Food?

The Environmental Defense Fund did a study looking at lead. Not in paint, which is where most of us associate lead, but in our food.   The results were not good.  They looked at over 12,000 food samples from 2003- 2013 and analyzed them for nutrients, pesticides and metals.  Of the 12,000 samples, over 2,000 samples […]

Good and bad news

Toddlers are still not eating their vegetables. In a recent study 9 of 10 toddlers consume a little fruit or vegetable daily…but the most common vegetable was potatoes. That’s right, French fries! How can we improve? Keep trying. It takes some infants 15 times before they are willing to eat a green vegetable. Remember “Green […]

Another belly ache?

  We see a surprising amount of children that have chronic abdominal pain. We do a work up, send some of them to GI specialist and only a few ultimately get a diagnosis like Crohn’s disease or Ulcerative colitis. Most of our children just have recurrent pain without a clear understanding of why they hurt. […]