Children’s Health Programs
Dr. Green is a licensed Pediatrician and understands the needs of all children to have the nutrition they need to grow. But she also understand the needs of special needs kids and the importance of nutrition in their lives and day to day activities. Children with ADHD, for example, benefit greatly from high-protein meals in the morning. Some children are even misdiagnosed and put on medications rather then seeking alternative healthy methods to get children to learn to focus without medications that have long term organ damage.
Here are some articles to help you understand some of these issues and help you make the decision concerning a nutritional health plan for your child. Dr. Green will customize the plan for your child and teach them how to make the right food choices. Some choices include pancakes, shakes and ice-cream that they already enjoy, but prepared with ViSalus Nutritional Shake Mix and Flavors.
Overweight kindergartners may face increased risk for teen obesity
AMA – American Medical Association, January 30, 2014
Major US newspapers, wire sources, and consumer medical sites cover a study finding that many kids who are overweight in kindergarten will end up becoming obese by early adolescence. On its front page, the New York Times (1/30, A1, Kolata, Subscription Publication) reports that the study, published Jan. 30 in the New England Journal of Medicine, reveals that “a third of children who were overweight in kindergarten were obese by eighth grade.” What’s more, nearly “every child who was very obese remained that way.”
USA Today (1/30, Hellmich) reports that the study of some 7,700 youngsters also revealed that “the largest increase in the prevalence of obesity occurred between first and third grade, with 13% of kids being obese in first grade, compared with 19% in third grade.” Currently, approximately “a third of the nation’s young people are overweight or obese, says the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,” with “the percentage of elementary-school children who are obese” at 18%.
According to the AP (1/30, Marchione), “From kindergarten through eighth grade, the prevalence of obesity increased by 65 percent among whites, 50 percent among Hispanics, almost 120 percent among blacks and more than 40 percent among others – Asians, Pacific Islanders and Native Americans and” youngsters of mixed race. By the time they reached “eighth grade, 17 percent of black children had become obese, compared to 14 percent of Hispanics and 10 percent of whites and children of other races.”
The Los Angeles Times (1/30, MacVean) reports that an accompanying editorial observes that “the study should lead to some ideas about interventions to prevent obesity, with evidence pointing to ideas ‘that focus on children’s environments and that aim to alter early life systems’ as probably the most effective.”
ADHD – Are Kids Being Misdiagnosed?
When you have a headache, you know there are many possible causes, ranging from the mild to the very serious. When you see your doctor, she will likely ask you detailed questions about how long the headaches have been taking place, what type of pain you are feeling, when they occur, and what other symptoms you’re experiencing. Without a thorough assessment and examination, it would be absurd for your doctor to diagnose you with a brain tumor or the flu, both of which can give you a headache. And, of course, the treatment for a brain tumor versus a virus would look very different.
The same thing is true of mental illness: many common symptoms occur for a variety of reasons, and can reflect several different diagnoses. That’s why a good mental health professional will give your child a thorough evaluation based on a broad range of information before coming up with a diagnosis. It’s crucial to understand what’s really behind a given behavior because, just as in medicine, the diagnosis your child receives can drastically change the appropriate treatment. ADHD medications, for example, won’t work if a child’s inattention or disruptive behavior is caused by anxiety, not ADHD. And, just like a medical doctor, when a treatment doesn’t work, whether it’s therapeutic or pharmaceutical, one of the things a good clinician will do is reexamine the diagnosis… learn more.
Can Breakfast Make Kids Smarter?
Feb. 5, 2013 – New research from the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing has found that children who regularly have breakfast on a near-daily basis had significantly higher full scale, verbal, and performance IQ test scores.
In one of the first studies to examine IQ and breakfast consumption, researchers examined data from 1,269 children six years old in China, where breakfast is highly valued, and concluded that children who did not eat breakfast regularly had 5.58 points lower verbal, 2.50 points lower performance, and 4.6 points lower total IQ scores than children who often or always ate breakfast after adjusting for seven sociodemographic confounders.
“Childhood is a critical period in which dietary and lifestyle patterns are initiated, and these habits can have important immediate and long-term implications,” said lead author Jianghong-Liu, PhD, RN, FAAN, associate professor at Penn Nursing. “Breakfast habits appear to be no exception, and irregular breakfast eating has already been associated with a number of unhealthy behaviors, such as smoking, frequent alcohol use, and infrequent exercise.”… learn more.