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• Your Child’s Migraines: How Modifying Diet Can Help

  Although certain foods can trigger migraines in adults, that is rarely the case for children. But food does play a significant role in preventing children’s migraines.

• Why a gluten-free diet may not be healthy for your kids

  When I was a college student I knew a girl who suffered from celiac disease, and each time our group of friends went to eat at a restaurant, she brought a lunchbox from home filled with gluten-free food because she was unable to eat much of the food served in a restaurant. Before that I had never heard of gluten, and I thought it was a terrible curse for my friend to be unable to eat at a restaurant like the rest of us. Although I lost touch with her after college, I am sure my friend’s dining experiences have gotten a lot easier over time.

• How motility studies offer new hope for kids with gastrointestinal disorders

  When it comes to our bodies, there are a few constant rhythms that must take place in order to maintain life. Our hearts must beat, our lungs must breathe in oxygen and expel carbon dioxide, and oxygen-rich blood must be carried to every tissue in the body. There’s another rhythm that must take place, too, for the body to sustain itself- nutrition must be taken in and waste must be expelled. This doesn’t happen every minute of our lives like heartbeats and breathing, but the repeated cycle of taking nutrition into the body and expelling waste is a basic principle that every body must accomplish to stay alive.

• Tips to help your child maintain a healthy diet throughout the school year

  With so many things to do when getting ready for school, it’s important to remember to place good nutrition at the top of the “to do” list. Planning out your child’s menus will help ensure that they will have nutritious meals and snacks available throughout the day, and will help them to have more energy and mental power to be successful at school.

• One dietitian's secret to helping your whole family drink more water

  We all know it is important to drink at least 8 cups of water per day for proper hydration. Unfortunately, some of us (like myself) have a difficult time meeting this recommendation due to the “boring” taste of water. Sometimes powdered sugar-free drink mixes can be a good option, but for some people it might not be.

• Should you give your kids dessert before dinner is done? A dietitian’s answer might surprise you.

  Like me, many children are fixated on that sweet treat after dinner. It can be that package of fruit snack gummies, chocolate chip cookie or that double fudge caramel brownie, pretty much anything sweet that catches their attention. During dinner, many kids wait impatiently for dessert to be available to the family, even when they feel full from dinner. Many kids have caught on to the idea of skipping dinner just because they know dessert is coming next. This is often when parents start making “dinner deals” with their kids, just so they can eat something on their plate. These deals can range anywhere from “you can have dessert if you eat your vegetables” or “if you do not try every food on your plate, you will not get a cookie”. When these “dinner deals” begin, it often gives kids the wrong impression – dinner is a punishment and dessert is the reward. 

• How the ketogenic diet can help patients with Epilepsy

  In honor of Epilepsy Awareness Month, please welcome our guest contributor, Kelly Urbanik. Kelly is a Registered Dietitian at Arnold Palmer Hospital. She has been working with the Ketogenic Diet Therapy Program for the past 6 years and has worked with over 125 patients for this specialized therapy.

• Twitter Chat on the Ketogenic Diet for Epilepsy

  Thank you to everyone who joined our discussion on the Ketogenic Diet for Epilepsy with Kelly Urbanik, a Registered Dietitian who works with the Ketogenic Diet Therapy Program at Arnold Palmer Hospital. The chat was featured live on Twitter, where we tweeted from @APHospital, and others could join in by following the hashtag, #EpilepsyNutrition.

• Concerned about high fructose corn syrup in your child’s diet?

  Have you seen any Yoplait yogurt commercials recently? I have seen one where they are advertising that all their products are now free of high fructose corn syrup. As the advertisement goes, Yoplait has been listening to its customers who requested the change.

• 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.