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Dr. Chheda – When you’re trying to lose weight, everybody tells you to move more. There’s this relationship between calories and exercise that seems like a never-ending cycle you can’t break. But we need to have a complete mental reset – a hard reset. Here’s the truth: your weight is mainly controlled by diet. If you want to gain weight or lose weight, it’s diet-related. There are things you need to change in your diet if you want to change your weight. Exercise, on the other hand, controls your strength, your muscles, your endurance, and your tone. That’s what exercise does. Yes, exercise is important, but if we can have a hard reset in our thinking, we’ll realize that to change your weight, you have to change your diet. Running around for an hour, burning off 100 calories, but then eating a 120-calorie bag of Cheetos isn’t going to cut it if you want to change your weight. Whether you want to increase or decrease your weight, it’s diet-related. If you want to change the shape of your body in terms of tone, strength, and endurance, that’s related to exercise. But for weight itself, focus on your diet. Transcriptions from AI and may not be 100% accurate.

Dr. Chheda – What do you do when your child tells you “no”? When they don’t like your favorite fruit, or when they prefer the rival sports team? How about when they tell you they don’t like your religion, want to follow a different one, or no religion at all? Remember, your child is not supposed to be a clone of you. They will grow up and make their own decisions. They take what you give them, what their friends and the world gives them, and they come up with their own identity. Your child doesn’t want to defy you; they’re just trying to figure out who they are. They might have their own favorite fruit, sports team, or beliefs. This can cause some tension, even lead to divided households. So how do you handle this? Be supportive and open to questions and answers. Don’t immediately get defensive. Your child may become their own person, and that’s okay. Remember that they take what you give them, but also what the world gives them, to form their own identity. Be there to guide them, not to force them into a mold. Transcriptions from AI and may not be 100% accurate

Okay, settle down fam. Let’s go through the plot of Romeo and Juliet with some straight-up Gen Z vibes. No cap, this story slaps! So there’s this guy Romeo, giving main character energy, simping hard for this girl Rosalind. But she’s just leaving him on read, totally ghosting him. Feeling hella rejected, man’s down bad, all stuck in his feels. His boys Benvolio and Mercutio are like, ‘Bro, that girl’s cray. Forget her and come crash this Capulet party with us. We need to vibe with new people.’ Romeo rolls up uninvited and spots Juliet. He’s like, ‘Yo, that’s wifey! Who’s that absolute baddie?’ And Juliet’s thinking, ‘Hmm, absolute snack.’ It’s giving love at first sight. But here’s the tea: Romeo’s a Montague and Juliet’s a Capulet, and their families be beefing hard, throwing shade 24/7. But Romeo and Juliet are just like ‘IDGAF’ and meet up for a late-night simp sesh. They sneak around, make plans, and get hitched on the low. Major red flag, sus vibes. Then Romeo’s boy Mercutio gets into it with Juliet’s cousin Tybalt, who’s got like toxic mad rizz, always on 100. A fight pops off, and Mercutio gets iced. Romeo sees this and he’s like ‘Nah fam’ and claps back. They throw hands, and Romeo just yeets Tybalt out of existence. Romeo left no crumbs. Romeo gets cancelled – it’s giving banished…

Dr. Chheda – Puberty and boys it’s always a hard one, but you do have to know there are five steps to puberty and boys. The first step is penis and testicular growth. When the testicle testicles start growing, then you know that they entered puberty. The testicles are responsible for the production of testosterone and that will incur all the other changes that are gonna happen. The second step is pubic hair, hair next to the penis and testicles. The third step is underarm hair. The fourth step is facial hair. And then height is the last thing that you expect, and that can take a while in some boys. So it’s okay but height is the final step in puberty. Don’t despair if your 6th, 7th, 8th grader boy is on the short side. It’ll happen give him a little bit of time. Transcriptions from AI and may not be 100% accurate

Dr. Chheda – A series of books that helped my kids get through middle school is The Big Fat Notebook. And they have a book for every subject. But I think it really helped my kids understand some of those concepts that maybe they weren’t quite getting when the teacher explained it. And in the book, it’s very colorful it’s very short, but I find that it was very easy to understand. Not only for my kids but to help me remember that topic and then tutor my kids on it. So I am in no way affiliated with this publisher or with this book, but just to be helpful, this series really helped my kids in middle school. Maybe it might help your kids. Transcriptions from AI and may not be 100% accurate .

Dr. Chheda – Menstruation in girls starts at the age of 12. Now a lot of people think that might be the start of puberty. Actually menstruation is the very last thing that happens in puberty. There are things that happened before puberty including breast development, pubic hair, underarm hair and especially height. Most of the height that girls get is before menstruation. Now menstruation like I said you on average starts at around the age of 12. Four years prior to that is when the hormone starts, so eight year old girls are already having hormones. Those hormones are cycling, going through their brain, and starting that whole physical development. So when your eight year old girl starts to become a little sassy, you know it’s all hormones. And a great book that I recommend is the American Girl book called The Care and Keeping of You. There is a part 1 and a part 2, um but I recommend getting it at the age of 8 and bringing it out every couple of months, reviewing the next section so you know what to expect. Transcriptions from AI and may not be 100% accurate

Dr. Chheda – I’m always talking about a well-balanced diet, which means including a rainbow of fruits and vegetables. Look at this beautiful bento box that a patient shared with me! We’ve got all the colors of the rainbow represented here. We have red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple (blueberries). This is a wonderful idea – bento boxes are great so that you can provide a well-balanced rainbow of fruits and vegetables to your child. Having all the colors of the rainbow represented ensures a variety of nutrients and makes meals visually appealing and fun for kids. Transcriptions from AI and may not be 100% accurate

Dr. Chheda – You see a lot of advertisements for infant sleep trainers. Why? Because infants don’t really sleep all that well. There are a number of reasons: they have to wake up frequently to eat because they’re growing. Just know that infants do not sleep well, meaning they won’t sleep more than a couple hours at a time until they’re several months old. But by six months, they should be able to sleep close to 10 to 12 hours in a stretch. If you want them to sleep well in the long term, you need to prevent short-term habits. We, as parents, get over-exhausted, which leads us to give in day to day. But these short-term habits lead to long-term habits which can be impossible to break. So if you can just make it through that initial time period, you will probably have a good sleeper. In the meantime, reach out to your pediatrician because there are lots of tips we have about how to help you and your baby sleep. Remember, if you can avoid creating bad sleep habits early on, you’ll be better off in the long run. Transcriptions from AI and may not be 100% accurate

Dr. Chheda – This is the perfect time of year for the flu vaccine. Try to get the flu vaccine before October 15th for maximum benefits during the flu season. There are two types of flu vaccine: the flu shot and the flu mist. Anybody 6 months and older can get the flu shot. If you’re under the age of 9 years and it’s your first time getting the flu vaccine, you’ll get a two-series vaccination, meaning one now and one month later, to give you adequate protection for the flu season. If you’ve had the flu vaccine before, you’re only going to get one per year. Now, if your child is over the age of 2 years, they may also qualify for the flu mist, which is a nasal spray and much easier than the flu shot. In most kids, both the shot and the mist have equal efficacy – they’re both just as effective. It doesn’t matter which one you choose. Transcriptions from AI and may not be 100% accurate

Dr. Chheda – What about graphic novels? Graphic novels are perfectly fine for your child to read. Reading should be for fun. You want to have your child read for joy. I read medical journals in the office, but I don’t come home and read them for fun. I read mystery novels. The same, your child should read their books that are assigned at school for the intellectual purposes, but at home they should read for fun, whether it’s the back of the cereal box or magazine articles or graphic novels. That’s perfectly fine. Reading should be a joy. Anyone, encourage them to read. So, let them read whatever they would like. Transcriptions from AI and may not be 100% accurate