Brain of J.

Ok, folks, I've officially emptied my brain of the original pediatric ideas I had for my initial blog postings (don't worry, more diet reviews to come). So I'd like to open it up for questions... Any recommendations for other subjects? What have you always wanted to ask your pediatrician but where afraid to ask?

There is an old adage, "There are no dumb questions." I'll be honest and say I don't believe in it. There are plenty of dumb questions, but don't worry, I won't tell you if your question is dumb. Plus the dumb ones may be the same things that everyone is wondering about, but doctors don't bring it up, becuase they think everyone knows it...

Jenny (867-5309)

I thought I'd start a series of diet reviews to evaluate the pluses and minuses of each of the popular diets available.... I'll rate each on ease of following, medical safety, and chance of keeping the weight off.

The first 'diet' I'll start with are the prepared food plans (like Jenny Craig, Nutrisystem, Weight Watchers, etc).

***the funny thing about this ad, is it says 'results not typical'. I've seen that disclaimer on the 150 pound losers, but 30 lbs? It's not typical to lose 30 lbs?

The basic plan is to eat the food they have prepared for you, and if you only eat a certain amount of it, you will lose weight. Honestly, I'm sure it's clear that this is just a low calorie diet (as I have said previously is the best) where they count the calories for you. Most of these diet plans are based on an 1800 calorie a day intake. If you learned to count calories yourself and kept to 1800 calories a day, you would lose weight for free. But, yes, that does take a lot of work at first, and these companies eliminate that work for you.

Ease of following: Pretty easy, as long as you have to money to pay for it. You do have to buy food to eat anyway, so its probably not exorbitantly more expensive than regular food. In fact, if you eat a Claim Jumper for every meal, I'm sure it is cheaper. The big problem with its 'ease' is it is a little restrictive; ie, if you wanted to Taco Bell for lunch, you can't. And if you like fresh food from your garden, that's not part of the plan either. Its mostly frozen food from the microwave.

***mmm looks delicious

Medical safety: Very safe.

Chance of keeping the weight off: Good until the money runs out, or you get bored of their food. Actually, 80% of Jenny Craig's business is repeat. In fact, if she got everyone to lose weight and keep it off, she would go out of business. She wants you to depend on her. (I shouldn't be too hard on Jenny Craig keeping people fat, so she can have business, as my grandmother thinks doctors keep people sick, so they will have business!)

Conclusion: Learn about what you are putting in your mouth! Learn how to count calories yourself and plan your own meals with your own food (and even Taco Bell's food, if you'd like). Plus you develop a life long skill and habit (if you get really good at it) that will help you be healthy FOREVER (well at least until you die).

Blister in the Sun

Alright, its summertime, and time to worship the sun god.

A very popular question we hear in the clinic is, "How much SPF do I need?" There's nothing America likes more than hysteria and overdoing it... Let me give you some data to chew on... the SPF of a 100% cotton shirt has been sited to have an SPF of somewhere in the range of 4-15. (Yes, don't you love the exact answers science likes to give us.) So if I'm being really honest with you, if you don't get a sunburn with a t-shirt on, you probably don't need anything more than SPF 15. But, doctor's aren't above the hysteria apparently, because I still recommend about SPF 30 for most kids. Anything over that really is overkill, so don't waste your money. Of course if the SPF 100 is on sale and cheaper, feel free, but I haven't heard of any real added benefit over SPF 30.

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The next question of course is: Can I put sunscreen on my infant less than 12 months of age?

My answer to this question is avoidant and simple: The best sunscreen for a baby is SHADE. Please, people, does your baby really need to lay out in the sun? If your family is enjoying a day out in the sun keep your baby covered! Especially if they are less than 6 months. A sunburn can be very severe in this age group, so don't mess around. Plus, they'll probably end up sucking the sunscreen off of their hands anyway, which are probably the most exposed part of the baby's body. Keep your kids in the shade until they are old enough to move around and play in the sun on their own, then hit them with the SPF 30. If you don't think you can keep your baby in the shade there are a million baby sunscreens you can try, and they are probably fine, but just be really safe and stick with the shade.