Dr. Teresa Fuller

Board certified holistic pediatrician

Health Conditions

Creative Ways to Get Your Kids to Appreciate Vegetables

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If American kids had disposable incomes, they’d probably buy groceries like every day was Halloween – reams of Twizzlers, bushels of candy corn, and pounds of M&M’s, Reese’s, and Kit Kats. Unfortunately, the popular US diet (for adults as well as kids) has its consequences. Namely, 39.6 percent of adults are obese. (Obesity is defined as having a BMI over 30.)

Perhaps even more alarming, about one in three US adolescents or teens is overweight or obese. The health risks associated with excess weight include sleep apnea, osteoarthritis, kidney disease, type 2 diabetes, and certain cancers. That’s why it’s important to teach your kids to eat well: so that they grow up to be healthy, active adults. To do so, this might mean coming up with creative ways to inspire your children to appreciate and enjoy that most dreaded of meals: vegetables. Here are some helpful tips to get you started courtesy of guest blogger Jason Kenner.

Farmers Market

If your kids eat at the school cafeteria every day, their idea of “healthy food” might narrow down to neon-colored peas or pineapple chunks smushed into plastic ramekins. To teach them about the bounty and splendor of vegetables, take them to a farmers market. You may not know yourself that these markets offer interesting and unusual veggies. From Kohlrabi, Jerusalem artichokes, and green zebra tomatoes to Romanesco broccoli with its intricate coral-like patterns, the offerings can be as lush and varied as perennials in a plant nursery! Letting your kids pick vegetables out of the booths might prove to be enough of a hands-on experience to get them at least familiar with some of the healthiest foods in the world.

Raised Vegetable Beds

If there aren’t many farmers markets in your area, you might consider planting a raised vegetable bed. All you need is to hammer four planks (preferably cedar, since it’s rot-resistant) into a box. Dig out a square gulch, not too deep, in your backyard and fit the box over it and fill it with manure and fertilizer. Then, poke your finger through the surface to make rows where you plant your seedlings. Each vegetable has its own preference regarding sun, shade, moisture, and the month of the year to put it in the ground, but you’ll get all that down. And when you do, you’ll be feeding your kids heirloom tomatoes all summer long, right out of your garden.

Something else to bear in mind: if your backyard needs some additional modifications, as an added bonus, many kinds of home renovations can also increase the appraisal value of your home. Just make sure you keep those receipts!

Delicious Meals

Parents don’t have loads of free time, so serving your kids gorgeous vegetable medleys may seem preposterous. If so, then try looking up recipes meant to be simple weeknight fare. These might include quesadillas, spaghetti with lentils, tortilla or minestrone soup, or spaghetti squash burrito bowls. Making vegetables a staple of your kids’ diet from a young age may help them eat well for the rest of their lives, a routine that will prove invaluable to their health as they get older.

It’s also essential that your kids are drinking enough water every day. Not only will they avoid the extra sugar that comes with soda and juices, but drinking water removes toxins, prevents dehydration, and regulates body temperature.

Parenting Tricks

Meanwhile, if all these tips fail to lure your kids away from McDonald’s and Arby’s, try good old parenting trickery. Dress up your platter o’ asparagus or broccoli with a dab of butter (which is better for you than you might think) or a fun dip. Make them pick their vegetables out of your raised garden beds so that they can participate in the (suburban) farm-to-table process on their own. Finally, eat vegetables yourself, keep them out as appetizers during meals, and don’t pressure your kids to swallow every wedge of cauliflower on their plates. The less you stress about the importance of eating vegetables, the less they’ll latch onto it as a point of contention, until it’s simply part of your household’s regular diet.

Dr. Teresa Fuller is a pediatrician with an expertise in integrative holistic medicine. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out!

Change 1 Thing! April Challenge

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“Change 1 Thing” Challenge

Have You Accepted the Challenge?

Take One Year to Develop a Lifetime of Optimal Health!

“Change One Thing” is a 12 step process over one year to help you achieve your health goals.  You simply commit to make one change in your lifestyle every month, so that by the end of the year, you will have completely transformed to a healthy lifestyle. 

Why each month?  It takes about 21 days to establish a new habit.  So each month, you will firmly establish one change before starting another.  Are you willing to take the challenge?

Your April Challenge (should you choose to accept it):

“I Will Exercise for 30 minutes at least 3 times per week”

Ways You Will Benefit from This One Change:

Exercise is great for the heart: Exercise has been shown to reduce blood pressure.  And by doing so, it reduces the risk for stroke and coronary artery disease.  Studies have shown as much as a 31% reduction in cardiovascular disease among people who regularly exercise.

Exercise reduces cancer.  One third of the cases of breast, colon and kidney cancer are attributed to obesity and lack of physical activity.  Exercise can therefore, reduce your risk of these diseases.  Also, studies have shown that physical activity can reduce breast cancer risk by as much as 30 to 40%.

Exercise reduces bone disease.  Obesity is a primary risk factor for osteoarthritis.  In women who were overweight, as measured by a body mass index of greater than 25, a loss of just 5.1 kg (about 10 lbs), cut the risk of osteoarthritis by 50%.  Exercise also has a positive effect on bone mineral density and strength, thereby reducing the risk of osteoporosis.

Exercise strengthens mental health:  Exercise reduces depressive symptoms, and reduces anxiety in both adults and children.  Studies have shown that exercise can be as effective as anti-depressant medication.  It makes sense, because exercise regulates neurotransmitter release in the brain, most notably dopamine and serotonin.  These are the same neurotransmitters targeted by the most common antidepressant medications on the market.  Exercise is also associated with improved self-esteem and improved behavior in children. 

Exercise is great for the brain.  Studies have shown that physical activity enhances memory and learning, reasoning, attention, problem-solving and intelligence testing.   Exercise also promotes neurogenesis, which is the production of new nerve cells, and protects the nervous system from injury and neurodegenerative disease.  Want to decrease your risk of dementia in half?  Exercise does this.  Your risk of Alzheimer’s disease can be reduced by as much as 60% by exercise! Exercise also increases brain volume in areas implicated in executive processing.  By the way, by reducing the risk of diabetes, high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease which all have a negative effect on brain function, exercise further protects the brain.

One way that exercise improves brain function is simply through enhanced blood flow.  Blood removes waste products that accumulate in the brain.  Along with that increased blood flow comes oxygen.  The oxygen acts as a scavenger of free radicals, which damage brain cells.

Exercise slows aging: Studies indicate that the presence or absence of a sedentary lifestyle is among the greatest predictors of aging.

Really, can you afford not to exercise?  If you didn’t accept any of the previous challenges, don’t miss this one! 

Ideas for Making it Happen

  • Take a 30 minute walk; make sure your pace is fast enough to get your heart rate up
  • Put on some good music and simply dance or step in your living room for 30 minutes
  • Record an exercise program from the television and simply follow that routine (it’s like having a free personal trainer!)

       Don’t forget to continue your:

January habit of drinking at least 8 glasses of water per day (1/2 your weight in ounces of water per day)

February habit of eating 7 to 9 servings of fruit and vegetables per day

March habit of replacing refined white foods with whole grains

“Those who think they have not time for bodily exercise will sooner or later have to find time for illness.”

– Edward Stanley, Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

Change 1 Thing! March Challenge

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“Change 1 Thing” Challenge

Have You Accepted the Challenge?

Take One Year to Develop a Lifetime of Optimal Health!

“Change One Thing” is a 12 step process over one year to help you achieve your health goals.  You simply commit to make one change in your lifestyle every month, so that by the end of the year, you will have completely transformed to a healthy lifestyle. 

Why each month?  It takes about 21 days to establish a new habit.  So each month, you will firmly establish one change before starting another.  Are you willing to take the challenge?

Your March Challenge (should you choose to accept it):

“Get the White Out and Go Whole”

“Get the white out” refers to getting the refined foods out of your diet.  Refined foods are generally white: they include white flour, sugar, and white rice.  What’s wrong with these foods?  First of all, they are refined, which means that they have been stripped of the many nutrients that they had in their natural state.  White flour is a stripped form of whole wheat flour, just as white rice is a stripped form of brown rice.  They’ve also been stripped of fiber.  Not only are they devoid of nutrients, but they add inflammation to your body.  That same process that contributes to asthma, arthritis and heart disease!

What can you expect from this one change?

Weight loss: A major contributor to obesity is the excess sugar that we take in, whether it’s from actual sugar, or from foods that are quickly broken down to sugar (like white flour).  When you eat whole foods instead, you eat less, because whole foods are more bulky, and therefore filling.  Also, they slowly and steadily release glucose into your bloodstream keeping your appetite under control.

Regularity:  By replacing refined foods with whole fiber-rich foods, we decrease constipation.  At least 40% of Americans are chronically constipated because our diets are low in fiber. 

Decreased risk of heart disease and stroke:.Refined foods are inflammatory.  And one by-product of inflammation is hardening of the arteries which leads to high blood pressure (making your heart work harder), and poor blood circulation to vital organs (like the heart and brain).

Feeling Better:  When your blood sugar levels are steady, you maintain a steady energy level.  Decreased inflammation will cause an improvement in the aches and pains that you may be chronically dealing with. 

Tips:

  • Replace white rice with brown rice. 
  • Replace white bread with whole grain bread.
  • Stop the sugar.  Learn to sweeten your foods with fresh fruit, fresh fruit juice, and even small amounts of grade B or C maple syrup.

And don’t forget to continue your:

January habit of drinking at least 8 glasses of water per day (1/2 your weight in ounces of water per day)

February habit of eating 7 to 9 servings of fruit and vegetables per day

Change 1 Thing! February Challenge

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“Change One Thing” is a 12 step process over one year to help you achieve your health goals.  You simply commit to make one change in your lifestyle every month, so that by the end of the year, you will have completely transformed to a healthy lifestyle.  Why each month?  It takes about 21 days to establish a new habit.  So each month, you will firmly establish one change before starting another.  Are you willing to take the challenge?

February Challenge

Eat 7 to 9 servings of fruits and vegetables every day

Benefits of fruits and vegetables:

Full of fiber: Increased fiber content in your diet which will help keep you regular, and will stabilize your blood sugar.  Increased fiber intake also helps you lose weight. Fiber keeps our digestive systems healthy and prevents constipation, a problem for at least 40% of Americans.

Full of anti-oxidants: What are anti-oxidants?  Chemicals that get rid of damaging free radicals that cause cellular damage.   Examples of antioxidants are vitamin C and beta carotene which are found in a variety of fruits and vegetables.

Full of vitamins and minerals:  The American diet is deficient in numerous vitamins and minerals.  The average American consumes a diet containing low levels of calcium, potassium, fiber, magnesium, vitamins A, C and E to name a few.  We know that low calcium levels contribute to bone disease.  Potassium is important for regulating blood pressure.  Magnesium deficiency also is associated with insufficient bone mineral density, and also increased levels of inflammation which contributes to many diseases.

High water content: It is estimated that 75% of Americans are dehydrated – chronically!  Dehydration causes aches, pains and fatigue.  Not only do we drink too little water, but we also eat too much dry, dead food.  Fruits and vegetables have high water content.

Tips:

  • Eat fruit with breakfast, like a serving of berries in your oatmeal
  • Have a hearty salad with lunch
  • Make a smoothie of blended up fruits and vegetables
  • Eat a serving of raw fruit or vegetables as snacks between breakfast and lunch and dinner

    Continue your January habit of drinking at least 8 glasses of water every day!

10 Horizon-Broadening After-School Activities for Your Kids

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After your kids are back from school, they likely have a great deal of free time on their hands. Instead of leaving them to their own devices, you could encourage them to pursue a constructive activity or hobby of some kind. The right sort of activity can not only broaden their horizons but also offer countless hours of fun.

Dr. Teresa Fuller shares 10 activities that are both enjoyable and teach your child something about themselves and the world around them:

Saving the environment

The world’s climate is out of balance, natural disasters are rising, and resources are depleting rapidly. If your family feels strongly about the environment, you could teach your child to be a planet warrior – live more consciously, learn more about the environment, and help restore the balance (by planting trees, recycling, reducing your carbon footprint, and more).

Volunteering

There are several worthy causes out there that could use a helping hand, from assisting the homeless to rehabilitating injured animals and everything in between. Participating in a volunteer program would allow your child to learn valuable lessons (like giving back), pick up useful skills, and make lifelong friends.

Blogging 

Blogging (which is modern-day writing) can be surprisingly beneficial. It can teach your child discipline, give them mental clarity, and help them express themselves. Your child could blog about any subject they’re passionate about – like sustainability, science, fashion, food, or games.

Coding

Coding is quickly becoming a must-have skill. Teaching your kids coding can give them a leg-up down the road and expand their career options. Learning how to code isn’t as hard as you might think. Sites like Code Profs offer great coding resources and insights.

Gardening

Gardening is a wonderful way for your child to connect with nature. They can learn more about plants and the environment – and get their required dose of Vitamin D while they’re at it. Gardening is a natural health booster and can help their cognitive development.

Foreign languages

If your child enjoys learning and has a knack for communication, they may enjoy picking up a foreign language. They will also learn more about a foreign culture and history along the way, which can broaden their horizons and teach them about the world. And, again, knowing an extra language is good for their future career.

Meditating

Modern-day life can be stressful and demanding. One of the best ways for people to let off steam, manage their emotions, and stay calm amidst life’s various storms is by meditating. If your child learns how to meditate early in life, it’s going to stand them in good stead when they grow up.

Sports and other physical activities

If your child has a lot of energy to spare, you could channel it into a sport or other physical pastime. Besides keeping them fit physically, sports can also help boost their overall development by teaching them teamwork, decision-making, responsibility, and more. Some example sports are football, baseball, martial arts, and swimming.

Music 

Music is a wonderful hobby, and almost all children enjoy it. Besides the fun factor, it can also boost your child’s cognitive development, help keep their stress levels down, and, according to John Hopkins, keeps the brain young. Lessons are easily accessible on the internet these days for free. Some instruments your child may enjoy learning are the guitar, drums, piano, or violin.

Furthering your teen’s entrepreneurial ambitions

If your child enjoys the thought of being a businessman, you could help them to start their own business. Businesses aren’t hard to launch and can teach them practical skills – like math, negotiating, and money management. They can also learn all about what launching a business involves – creating a business plan, setting up a website, marketing, and forming a legal structure (like LLC). Read this ZenBusiness guide on how to start a company for ideas on getting started.

Some easy-to-start businesses are selling T-shirts, doing hair and make-up, offering lawn mowing, pet sitting, babysitting, and selling food. They could also support a worthy cause – like selling eco-friendly products – or do business in a planet-friendly way.

Conclusion

Keep in mind that your child probably has several preferences and ideas of their own – they are their own in-development person. You should sit down and talk to them about what they enjoy and then pick something that would be helpful to their development overall. Whether you’re helping them start a business, learn a new skill like coding, or practice meditation, you can broaden their horizons.

Image via Unsplash

By Jason Kenner of onparparent.com

Change 1 Thing! January Challenge

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“Change 1 Thing” Challenge

Have You Accepted the Challenge?

Take One Year to Develop a Lifetime of Optimal Health!

“Change One Thing” is a 12 step process over one year to help you achieve your health goals.  You simply commit to make one change in your lifestyle every month, so that by the end of the year, you will have completely transformed to a healthy lifestyle. 

Why each month?  It takes about 21 days to establish a new habit.  So each month, you will firmly establish one change before starting another.  Are you willing to take the challenge?

Your January Challenge (should you choose to accept it):

“I will drink my optimal amount of water every day”

What is my optimal amount of water?

  • Adults need at least eight 8-ounce cups of water per day. But if you’re overweight, you should add about 8 ounces of water intake for every 25 pounds of excess weight.
  • Children should drink about half their weight in ounces of water.  For example, a 40 pound child should drink about 20 ounces of water daily (about 2 and ½ cups)

What You Can Expect from This One Change:

  • You will have a decrease in the symptoms of dehydration.  Dehydration leads to fatigue, headaches, back aches and joint aches.  As many as 75% of Americans are chronically dehydrated. 
  • If you have problems with constipation, like 40% of Americans have, this one change will improve your regularity. 
  • You will lose weight.  Why?  The average American drinks 10% of his or her daily caloric intake.  By replacing sweetened beverages with plain water, you will be on your way to losing unwanted pounds.