Nutrition Tips
Can too Much Milk be Bad for Your Child
Milk and dairy products are an easy source of nutrition for toddlers (ages 1 – 3). It’s high in protein and excellent source of vitamin D and calcium, all of which are essential for normal growth and development. And, toddlers rarely resist consuming dairy products – most love it! But, can a child consume too [...]
How Do I Get My Children to Eat More Vegetables?
This is a very common concern with parents, especially considering that we are in the midst of an epidemic of childhood obesity and diabetes. Children simply eat too much sugared process foods at the expense of health promoting vegetables. To get children to consume more vegetables consider the following strategies: Persistence. Provide repeated opportunities (daily [...]
Higher Salt Intake in Children Associated with High Blood Pressure
The link between high salt intake and high blood pressure in adults is well known. Fortunately, adults are increasingly taking the simple step of restricting salt intake to not only treat but also prevent high blood pressure and it’s cardiovascular complications (heart attack and stroke). Why then do we allow our children to continue to [...]
First Baby Foods: Meat and Fish?
A recent news story with a headline “Hold the pablum: Give that baby some meat, new Canadian guidelines advise” has some mom’s confused. Most have been told by health professionals that rice cereals should be the first solid food to introduce to babies. New guidelines recommend introducing meat, fish, poultry and other meat alternatives at [...]
Sugar Sweetened Drinks lead to Obesity
Obesity is an important risk factor for diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer. Several studies have shown a correlation between excessive weight gain and the consumption of sugary drinks like sodas, juice drinks, and sports beverages sweetened with sugar. Recently, the New England Journal of Medicine has published the results of three very convincing studies that seem to [...]
Vegetables With Fun Names Are More Likely To Be Consumed By Children
In a recent US study involving elementary school children, researchers compared the amount of vegetables consumed when they were presented with either a fun name, such as “X-ray Vision Carrots”, or unnamed. The children ate twice as much of the renamed foods compared to the unnamed foods. Also, this study reviewed food sales to different [...]
Almost a Third of Children in Canada Are Overweight
The prevalence of overweight and obesity in children has progressively increased in the last three decades. Recent statistics from the Canadian Health Measures Survey from 2009-2011 revealed that 31.5 percent of children between the ages of 5 to 17 are overweight and 11.7 percent were obese. Boys had almost twice the prevalence of obesity compared [...]
Free Your Self from Allergies
How can you tell we are in the midst of allergy season? When you’re surrounded by large groups of people, listen carefully for the chorus of sneezes and sniffles. Just make sure you get out of the way of those unimpeded sneezes – yuck! If you’re interested in determining the source of your environmental allergies, [...]
Risk for Dementia is Influenced by Dietary Fats
There are approximately 500,000 Canadians with dementia, which includes Alzheimer’s disease. This is expected to double within the next ten years. Are there any dietary factors that play a role in preventing dementia? It is well established that unhealthy fats (saturated fats and trans fats) contribute to heart disease and stroke but do they reduce [...]
For Healthy Bones in Children, Vitamin D may be more important than Calcium and Dairy
Children and Adolescent Girls are increasingly involved in organized sporting activities such as soccer, field hockey, basketball and softball. With these sports, there is a greater likelihood of developing stress fractures, a very common type of injury. Stress fractures are a small crack in the bone resulting from overuse such as the repetitive impacts to [...]
Follow Us!