With the holidays fast approaching and a brand new year just around the corner, now is as good a time as any to get your household on a healthy track.

Eat healthy this during the holidays without missing out.

We understand that holiday traditions are important, and that there are certain not-so-healthy dishes you and your family simply can’t live without. Good news, you don’t have to. There are many ways you can have your festive cake and eat it too. For instance, here are some helpful tips from the Mayo Clinic on how to modify traditional recipes with healthy ingredients. You can also pack in additional vitamins and nutrients by sneaking in pureed vegetables. Click here to learn how.

Another great way to ensure that you and your family stay holiday healthy is to choose organic fruits and vegetables for every dish you make. Also, if you can, make sure the meat you buy comes from an organic farm. As we covered previously, organic farming methods can make all the difference to you and your child’s health.

If you’re in the mood to start new healthy holiday traditions, check out this collection of delicious organic food recipes from Organic Authority.

Make your 2012 resolution a healthy one.

Don’t let leave these tips behind–bring them with you into the New Year! Resolve to make more informed choices about what your child eats, and create a healthy household by making organic meals at home. After all, establishing a nutritious diet early on will set your child up for a lifetime of healthy eating for many New Years to come.

From all of us at Getzwell Pediatrics, we wish you a happy and healthy holiday season!

Please call us at 415.826.1701 to discuss how to improve your family’s health through eating healthy and other preventive strategies we specialize in.

But, when it comes to incorporating meat into your child’s diet, just how important is it to go with the organic option? The answer to this question is far more serious than you might think.

Conventional farming methods dangerously choose quantity over quality.

Ongoing research reveals that the methods by which animals are bred, housed, and butchered impact the quality of the meat we consume.

Adding to issues of overcrowding and inhumane treatment, conventional farming methods include pumping livestock with antibiotics and medications not just to treat disease but to spur growth.  As a result, according to this Environmental Health News report on poultry farms, overdosing animals with antibiotics leads to the production antibiotic-resistant bacteria, a.k.a. superbugs, which are turning up in packaged meats sold in our grocery stores. Infections caused by new superbugs are dangerous and very difficult to treat because they are impervious to antibiotics.

A serious occurrence of contamination occurred three years ago when tests detected Clostridium difficile, a deadly intestinal germ found in hospitals, in over 40% of meat products in three national grocery chains. Needless to say, consumers of these products unwittingly put their lives at risk.

Also, a review of Jonathan Safran Foer’s book “Eating Animals” mentions an alarming drug industry statistic claiming, “People are prescribed about three million pounds of antibiotics a year. Livestock are fed nearly twenty-eight million pounds…” These alarming figures indicate that the threat of producing and spreading superbugs is sure to increase as conventional farming methods persist.

So, exactly why are organic meats the better option for your child?

In contrast to conventional farming practices, organic farmers produce healthier, non-antibiotic resistant meat by employing methods intended to prevent disease and reduce the need for antibiotics. Examples of these practices include allowing animals to graze and feed in their natural surroundings as well as providing them a balanced organic diet, and ensuring sanitary and humane living conditions, to put it simply.

By choosing organic meats, your baby will avoid exposure to harmful, factory-produced superbugs and the risk of antibiotic resistance. Just as what you eat impacts your child’s health, the same goes for the animals you feed them. The healthier the farming method, the healthier your child will be.

At GetzWell, we’re passionate supporters of going organic as an essential way to arm your child against disease. If you’d like to learn more about the benefits of an organic diet you may reach us at 415.826.1701.

We’re all familiar with the old adage ‘you are what you eat’. Well, that’s not all. New studies shed light on just how influenced your baby is by what you eat, too!

This fascinating article from NPR reveals exciting research about how what you eat during your pregnancy can help shape your baby’s taste buds and flavor preferences.

According to Julie Mennella from the Monell Chemical Senses Center, your baby consumes several ounces of amniotic fluid a day, which is flavored by the foods and beverages you ingest. She notes that at about 21 weeks, your baby can actually taste these flavors!

Garlic, vanilla, carrot, anise, and mint are just few examples of the endless flavors your baby can experience in utero.

Expand your baby’s palette before their first bite.

Not only does your baby directly benefit from the nutrients you consume, these studies also indicate that babies develop memories of the flavors they are exposed to prenatally.

As a result, babies whose mothers consume varieties of spices and herbs are likely to prefer these foods and flavors from very early ages. Developing a sophisticated palette before birth can really help set the stage for lifelong healthy eating habits.

The proof really is in the pudding.

We cannot stress enough how important a nutritious diet is to your baby’s overall health. Exposing your child to fresh produce and tasty spices before and after birth really is the first step in preventive health.

To learn more about this topic, check out our previous post on what more you can do to arm your child with a lifetime of healthy eating habits. Additionally, our greening the womb series points out the importance of healthy eating during pregnancy and how it influences your child’s life-long health.

Give us a call and let us help you choose a nutritional plan that’s fit for you and your little one– 415.826.1701.

“Eat your vegetables!” — a classic, and common plea from desperate parents to kids with turned up noses. And yet many could argue that our hectic lifestyles and the convenience of packaged foods have quieted this age-old battle.

But just how important are fresh fruits and vegetables for your child? The answer is clear and simple: CRITICALLY.

The link between diet and health is undeniable. According to this recent New York Times article, many life-threatening diseases scarily prevalent today – heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, and certain cancers — are entirely preventable, even reversible, with a healthy diet and exercise. Take this alarming statistic, for instance, nearly 90 percent of heart disease is lifestyle related. 90 percent!

Preventing disease is all the more reason to ensure your child eats a healthy diet, and much to your surprise, doing so doesn’t have to be an uphill battle.

Help your child develop a healthy palate from the get-go.

Did you know that introducing fresh fruits and vegetables into your baby’s diet can set him/her up with good eating habits in the future? New research from the De Montfort University has revealed that babies who start on solids of fresh home-cooked meals are more likely to consume more fruits and vegetables throughout childhood than those regularly fed packaged baby food.

As the article indicates, there is growing concern that the prevalence of pre-packaged products has interfered with children getting their recommended vegetable servings. These foods are not as rich in vitamins and nutrients, nor are they as flavorful as freshly prepared dishes.

Such is why early exposure to a variety of fresh fruits and veggies is important to your child’s health–they stand a greater chance of forming a sophisticated taste for healthier foods—which in turn can lead to healthy habits and disease prevention.

How can you get more veggies into your veggie-resistant child?

There are fun and creative ways to ensure your veggie-cautious child is getting his or her daily dose of fruits and veggies. A recent study with preschoolers revealed that with the help of a food processor, you can easily fortify some of your child’s favorite dishes with vitamins and nutrients by mixing servings of pureed vegetables. A carrot here, a cauliflower there –they’re none the wiser and you can rest easy.

What else can you do to keep your child on a healthy regimen? Eat your vegetables! Children learn by example and they’re usually interested in whatever you’re having. Taking the time to make home-cooked meals can really make all the difference for you and your family. Promoting healthy eating will grant them the greatest gift of all—lasting health.

Want to learn more about building and maintaining healthy eating habits? Give us a call and we’ll provide custom nutrition counseling for you and your baby – 415.826.1701.

What is it about breast milk that provides such a boost to babies’ health?  Researchers are still working to answer this question.  We know that newborns take approximately 6 months to develop their immune system, making them incredibly vulnerable to disease.  During the first 10 days of life, a breastfed newborn ingests colostrum, a yellowish fluid known as “first milk,” and breast milk, both of which contain more infection-fighting white cells (also known as leukocytes) per milliliter than there are in the same volume of blood.  Macrophages and neutrophils are types of white blood cells that comprise approximately 90% of the leukocytic load, and their job is to engulf and absorb harmful bacteria.  The remaining 10% of these disease-fighting cells are lymphocytes, primarily T-cells and B-cells, which identify and eliminate invaders while developing antibodies in the newborn.  These lymphocytes produce Secretory IgA, which protect the newborn against environmental exposures and interferon, an antiviral substance.  Mother’s immunoglobulins (IgA, IgG, IgM and IgD) are also found in breast milk, and they protect babies from pathogens by coating the superficial layers of the intestines and other mucosal surfaces that serve as points of entry into baby’s body.²

Gut ecology is of special interest to those in the field of functional pediatrics because a healthy gut is typically indicative of over all health.  Research has shown that approximately 75-80% of immune function originates in the gastrointestinal tract.  Breastfed babies receive beneficial bacteria from the bifidus family that produce Gram-positive bacilli in the gut flora and discourage the multiplication of pathogens.  In contrast, babies who consume cow’s milk formula develop Gram-negative (potentially pathogenic) bacilli.  We know that complex sugars in breast milk help to feed the bifidus strains of beneficial bacteria in the infant’s gut.  Just last year researchers at UC Davis revealed that these same complex sugars are not digestible and mimic the surfaces of other cells.  This surface similarity encourages viruses and bacteria to dock with the indigestible complex sugars and not the infant’s gut cells, and this allows babies to flush out viruses and bacteria from their bodies!³

Breast milk has had approximately 200 million years of mammalian evolution to develop systems to protect the most vulnerable members of the species.  GetzWell Pediatrics supports the Surgeon General’s initiative and acknowledges that whenever possible “breast is best.”  We are a Breastfeeding Friendly Business and have a host of resources available to support breastfeeding mothers.  If families are unable to breastfeed, we are also prepared to provide individualized supplement programs to best protect their children.

To learn more about the benefits of breast milk and/or breastfeeding alternatives, give us a call at 415.826.1701. We also invite you to check out our previous post on how breastfeeding reduces risk of fever after vaccines.

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¹ http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/topics/breastfeeding/calltoactiontosupportbreastfeeding.pdf

² Varney, Helen, et al.  Varney’s Midwifery: Fourth Edition.  Jones and Bartlett Publishers, Inc.  2004.

³ Wade, Nicholas.  “Breast Milk Sugars Give Infants a Protective Coat.”  New York Times.  August 2, 2010.

Barker, D.J.P. “Fetal Origins of Coronary Heart Disease.” http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2550226/pdf/bmj00601-0037.pdf

Giscombe, C. L. & Lobel, M. (2005). Explaining disproportionately high rates of adverse birth outcomes among African-Americans: The impact of stress, racism, and related factors in pregnancy. Psychological Bulletin, 131(5), 662-683. Retrieved from PubMed database.

Glynn, L. M., Hobel, C. J., Sandman, C. A., Schetter, C. D. (2008). Pattern of perceived stress and anxiety in pregnancy predicts preterm birth. Health Psychology, 27(1), 43-51. Retrieved from PubMed database.

PVC shower curtains:  http://www.chej.org/showercurtainreport/documents/VV%20national%20final.pdf

Paul, Anne Murphy.  Origins: How the Nine Months Before Birth Shape the Rest of Our Lives. www.anniemurphypaul.com/

Steingraber, Sandra.  Having Faith, An Ecologist’s Journey To Motherhood. www.steingraber.com

Center for Environmental Health: www.ceh.org

Making Our Milk Safe: www.safemilk.org

Campaign for Safe Cosmetics: www.safecosmetics.org

Physicians for Social Responsibility[SF chapter]: www.sfbaypsr.org

Breast Cancer Fund: www.breastcancerfund.org

Pesticide Action Network: www.panna.org

Childbirth Connection: www.childbirthconnection.org

Children’s Environmental Health Network: www.cehn.org

Coalition for Improving Maternity Services: www.motherfriendly.org

Collaborative on Health and the Environment: www.healthandenvironment.org

TEDx The Endocrine Disruption Exchange: www.endocrinedisruption.com

Environmental Working Group: www.ewg.org

Healthy Child Healthy World: www.healthychild.org

Natural Resources Defense Council: www.nrdc.org/breastmilk

Science and Environmental Health Network: www.sehn.org

Sandra Steingraber: www.steingraber.com

UCSF Report: Shaping Our Legacy: www.prhe.ucsf.edu/prhe/pubs/shapingourlegacy.pdf

Women to Women Discussion on Endocrine Disruptors: www.womentowomen.com/detoxification/endocrinedisruptors.aspx

Washington Toxics Coalition’s Early Exposure Study: www.watoxics.org/publications/earliest-exposures

Dr. Mark Hyman: www.drhyman.com

Institute for Functional Medicine: www.functionalmedicine.org

** A special thanks to EcoBirth for helping to compile resource links! **

Dr. Piesser and her colleagues conducted a randomized controlled trial involving 100 children between the ages of 4-8.  Half of the children were randomly selected to undergo a restrictive, low-allergy elimination diet for five weeks time.  The other half of the participants was engaged as a control group, and they were given instructions on eating a normal, healthy diet.  At the end of the first five weeks, two-thirds of the children on the restrictive elimination diet had significant improvements in their ADHD symptoms.  Further, after the initial five week phase, children whose symptoms had improved while on the restricted diet gradually reintroduced the eliminated foods to their diet.  In this second phase, 63 per cent of the children experienced a relapse of their ADHD symptoms!

Part of GetzWell Pediatrics’ functional approach to ADD and ADHD is to explore your child’s unique nutritional needs, behaviors, psychosocial circumstances, environmental exposures and a host of other mitigating factors before considering pharmaceutical treatments.  To learn more about elimination diets and other ADD/ADHD treatment protocols, contact our office at 415.825.1701 for an appointment.

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Quick Tip: In addition to food reactivity, other areas of interest when treating ADHD are the roles essential fatty acid (EFA) deficiency and irregular EFA metabolism may play.  In recent years, a number of clinical studies have been conducted that consistently demonstrate that a significant number of children diagnosed with ADD/ADHD are EFA deficient.  EFAs, also known as Omega-3s and Omega-6s, are critical to the process of cell development in every part of your child’s body.  One of the important Omega-3s is DHA, the most abundant fat in the brain (an organ that is 65% fat!).  Whole food sources of EFAs include fish and shellfish; some eggs; flaxseed; hemp and canola oil; chia, pumpkin and sunflower seeds; grass fed meats; walnuts; and an array of leafy vegetables.

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¹ “Effects of a restricted elimination diet on the behaviour of children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (INCA study): a randomised controlled trial.”  The Lancet, Volume 377, Issue 9764, Pages 494 – 503, 5 February 2011

The Mayo Clinic defines chronic constipation as a two week period marked by several days between bowel movements that are accompanied by hard, dry and difficult-to-pass bowel movements and abdominal pain, irritability, nausea, poor appetite, or bright red blood on the surface of hard stools. Parents should also seek medical advice if they notice symptoms like abdominal bloating, forceful straining with bowel movements, and/or lumpy, hard or small pellet-like stools along with a feeling lingering fullness. Children with serious constipation often refuse to go to the toilet, hide in order to maintain privacy, soil their underwear and/or wet their beds.

While the quality and frequency of bowel movements varies from one child to another, it is important not to ignore symptoms of constipation. Chronic sufferers may experience encopresis (the involuntary leakage of feces that occurs in 60% of children with chronic constipation) which invariably results in shame, guilt, isolation and social stigma, and they may also distend their bowels causing nerve damage to their GI tracts and even experience rectal prolapse.

What to consider if your child begins to show signs of constipation:

• increasing fluids and exercise
• decreasing all dairy consumption
• teaching relaxation techniques (particularly deep, slow breaths while relaxing the pelvic muscles)
• regular abdominal massage
• supplementing with magnesium
• introducing a multi-species probiotic that contains Lactobacilli and Bifidobacteria
• adding age-appropriate fermented foods like sauerkraut, tempeh, or miso
• increasing dietary fiber (A good measure is 5-6 grams of fiber plus your child’s age. For instance, a 5 year old should have 10-11 grams of fiber per day.)

Raw fruits and vegetables have the most fiber, but cooked ones are also beneficial. Remember that the harder a vegetable is, the more fiber it has. Keep in mind that in order to reap the benefits of fiber, it is very important to drink adequate amounts of water (a minimum of 3 glasses) to help with the passage of stool in the intestines. If your child requires more than these general lifestyle and dietary changes to manage his/her constipation, please contact us for a consultation:  415.826.1701.