According to the National Institutes of Health, on any given day, one-third of children and 41 percent of teens eat from a fast-food restaurant. They also report that the restaurant meals often served to kids contain too many calories. 

The typical “kid food” being offered tends to usually include chicken nuggets, fries, macaroni and cheese, burgers, and pizza. The problem is that these meals often provide empty calories and don’t provide enough nutrition. They also keep the kids wanting the same types of foods at home, with parents often providing them. 

Dr. Nimali Fernando, aka Doctor Yum, says it’s time to ditch the “kid food” and start giving kids better options.

“Most food is kid-friendly. Kids just need to learn how to eat it,” says Dr. Fernando, a Fredericksburg, Virginia-based pediatrician who founded The Doctor Yum Project. “Kids who are taught healthy eating habits, which include eating a variety of healthy foods, will be far better off now and in the long run. They will be learning healthy habits that will last a lifetime.”

Here are six reasons to ditch the pizza and pouches and get your kids back to real food...

We set the clocks ahead for daylight savings and many of us woke up to a darker sky feeling sluggish thanks to a one hour loss of sleep. 

If you hit the snooze, pulled the covers up over your head still feeling bummed out about your waistline, bank account, career or love life, you’re not alone. Despite more daylight our worries will still be there. 

So how do we spring into spring, a season that’s all about new beginnings and rebirth? 

For practical ways, to cultivate optimism in our lives we turned to Dr. Sanam Hafeez, a NYC based licensed clinical psychologist, teaching faculty member at the prestigious Columbia University Teacher’s College and the founder and Clinical Director of Comprehensive Consultation Psychological Services who shares these tips and tools.

There’s something about spring that inspires many of us to clean out our closets and our kitchen cabinets. So, it’s fitting that National Nutrition Month® falls in March, a time when we are starting to dream about warmer temperatures, bountiful summer produce and lighter fare.

National Nutrition Month® is a nutrition education campaign created by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics to emphasize the importance of making informed food choices. This year’s National Nutrition Month® theme is “Put Your Best Fork Forward.” A reminder that every bite counts, this theme reflects the 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for American’s recommendation to shift to a healthier eating pattern.

This idea that every bite counts also resonates closely with advice that I regularly share with my clients: small steps do add up to big changes. Additionally, I advise my clients that healthy eating can be as simple as choosing the more nutritious option between two foods, such as choosing a side salad instead of fries when eating out or a handful of nuts and dried fruit instead of a sugar-laden granola bar. This helps clarify the idea (and alleviate the pressure) of the somewhat-vague term “eating healthfully.”

Here are just a few examples of how you can make small changes that add up to a healthy lifestyle, one forkful at a time.

With more and more people turning to dating apps and websites to meet people, we see a relatable pattern. You see someone’s photo. You’re attracted. You read their profile or brief description of who they claim to be. You reach out. You exchange emails. You text. Maybe you’ll speak briefly and then, you meet. 

You’re hitting it off. Things seem great. However, it seems almost too good to be true. 

Is it?

According to Dr. Sanam Hafeez, a NYC based licensed clinical psychologist, teaching faculty member at the prestigious Columbia University Teacher’s College and the founder and Clinical Director of Comprehensive Consultation Psychological Services, narcissists are everywhere and in varying degrees. 

She explains that the current “swipe right” dating culture only feeds their agenda, it’s important to understand who they are and how to spot them.

As a pediatrician, I see and hear about all sorts of things parents are doing with their kids on a regular basis... the good and the bad. 

In response to this, I have compiled the following eight tips for parents on things any pediatrician would tell you to stop doing. 

1) Stop posting photos of your children on social media without their permission. Funny photos might make you laugh but are embarrassing to your child. Their egos are sensitive. Additionally, unless your posts are private, the whole world (including perpetrators) can see you and where your child is likely to be and when.

2) Stop requesting antibiotics when your child has a cold or other viral illness. This has lessened during the past decade, but we still get many phone requests for antibiotics.