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  • Is your child ready to be potty trained?

    Written by Erika Diogene, DO

  • How to talk to your kids about death

    Written by Jaya Jagmohan, DO

  • Turn your baby’s tummy time into play time!

    Written by Sabina Sheikh, MD

  • How to talk to your teen about drinking and driving

    When it comes to parenting, some safety lessons we impart to our kids are simple. Look both ways before you cross the street. Don’t play with matches. Never put anything into an electrical socket. These things are black and white, clear as day. It would be nice if things stayed this easy, but they don’t. We all know that as our kids grow, teaching about safety becomes more complicated.

  • Your go-to guide for packing a healthy school lunch

    Packing a school lunch every day can be stressful and often time-consuming. Many children and teens prefer to munch on sweet and salty foods such as chips, candy, fast-food burgers and greasy pizza instead of fresh fruits and vegetables. Choosing a more healthful lunch most likely will improve a child’s school performance, attention span, and also health. Having a lunch-packing guide can help make the process go more smoothly.

  • 3 steps to change your kids’ picky eating habits

    When it comes to getting picky eaters to expand their horizons, parents’ opinions are as varied as the vegetables their kids won’t eat. Every parent seems to have a philosophy on the “picky eater problem” but let’s be honest, we have no idea if the principles we adhere to really work. Well, here’s some good news for every parent struggling with the age-old problem of how to handle finicky eaters.

  • 8 reasons to make a green smoothie for your kids

    As a Registered Dietitian for Teen Xpress, I work with many teenagers who are hesitant to try new foods. My goal is to introduce them to delicious but also nutritious foods to help improve eating habits. I teach a nutrition class, called Healthy Me, to select middle schools around Orange County. This class is a great opportunity for me to introduce teenagers to different types and combinations of foods. During one of my classes, I set up a smoothie bar for the students. In addition to the students’ individual smoothies, I decided to make a “different” one for them to try. They had a difficult time guessing what made the smoothie green. After a few minutes of guessing, I finally broke the news to them; they just drank spinach! Many of them were surprised that they enjoyed the smoothie even though they dislike spinach. One student looked up at me and said, “I really like this Ms. Holly. I am going to put spinach in my smoothie from now on!”. It is amazing how sampling different foods can impact future eating habits.

  • How (and why) to help your child make friends

    I used to think that having an infant was the most difficult time for a mother. I thought once I got my kids eating solid food, pooping in the potty and ready to go to school, that my job would be smooth sailing from there.

  • How to help your child cope with change

    In our previous posts, we talked about and , which are two very emotional challenges that children may face. Both of these topics can cause a child to struggle with ambiguous loss, which is a type of loss that may not feel tangible to a child or even to the adults in their lives.

  • Making a Healthy TRANSition – Removing Trans-fat from your Diet

    On June 16, 2015, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) made a huge step to significantly reduce partially hydrogenated oils, which are a major source of artificial trans-fats in the food supply. Artificial trans-fats are no longer considered “Generally Recognized as Safe” or GRAS for any use in human food. These unhealthy fats have been linked to many health problems such as cardiovascular disease. FDA has set a compliance date of three years to slowly phase out the use of partially hydrogenated oils in our food supply. During this three year compliance period, manufacturers will either reformulate their products without using partially hydrogenated oils or petition for use in their product.