Recently I was asked to write an article for a pediatric medical conference. Since I am board-certified in internal medicine and deal largely with adult health, I thought for a long time about which subject would also apply to children’s health.
I realized, however, that as a doctor for adults, I am the one who sees the aftermath of an unhealthy lifestyle started unfortunately during childhood.
Many chronic diseases, obesity, and autoimmune diseases have their beginnings in childhood. I am also a parent and well aware of how important it is to give your children a healthy, balanced, anti-inflammatory diet, along with exercise and teaching them stress reduction techniques — especially given the extra busy life kids have these days.
But helping your children to be healthy even as adults starts even before pregnancy. Long before you even think of having a baby, the health of the prospective parents matters.
Luckily, the things we adults should do for our own health are largely the same things we should teach our children and are largely the same things prospective parents should do.
In this post, I’ll give five simple suggestions about what to eat. In future posts, we’ll cover supplements, detoxification, environment, genetic testing, mind-body connection, and exercise.
Anti-Inflammatory Diet: 5 Simple Guidelines
Studies are starting to show that eating an anti-inflammatory diet helps at all ages. This starts with lots of vegetables and fruits. Add in a good mix of healthy fats, proteins, and lower glycemic load carbs.
Drink water, tea, very diluted fruit juice and avoid alcohol and smoking.
Avoid trans fats (the kind of fats found in processed food). There was, in fact, a recent NHS study that showed an increased risk of ovulatory infertility associated with an increased consumption of trans fats. Interestingly, the same study showed that when it comes to fertility it is better to consume whole fat dairy products.
Eat organic and non-GMO foods whenever you can and use Dirty Dozen and Clean 15 lists to guide you when you buy produce.
Omega-3s are very important to everyone and especially for a baby’s nervous system development and for preventing postpartum depression. One of the sources for Omega-3 is seafood (always check for mercury content), flaxseed, organic Omega-3 enriched eggs or milk.
How Medical Creations Integrative Medicine Can Help
Integrative medicine combines effective strategies and therapies from multiple methods of healing, both conventional and alternative. At its heart, this type of patient care focuses on the true problem, not just the related symptoms and effects. Accordingly, our goal is to discover the root cause (or causes) of whatever issues you are experiencing, then we concentrate our efforts there.
Beginning with your first visit or phone call, we become partners in the healing process and work together toward your optimum wellness. Our efforts take into consideration the whole body, as well as your mind and spirit, offering responsive as well as preventative care. This is the beauty of integrative medicine.
Call (678) 732-9065 for a free phone consultation.
About Dr. Neacsu
The founder of Medical Creations Integrative Medicine, Dana Neacsu, MD, is board-certified in internal medicine. She completed a fellowship at the University of Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine, was awarded the Joseph T. Trubiano award for professionalism in medicine, and has applied for functional medicine in clinical practice at the Institute of Functional Medicine.
