You can tell your kids they are perfect and don't need to change - which could cause insecurity when they recognize their own shortcomings - or tell them they are terrible, which would undermine their sense of self-worth and confidence. There's a happy middle ground.

Developing a diet that is healthful, balanced, and appropriate for your particular caloric needs is easy enough and is absolutely critical to establishing a healthful lifestyle that incorporates proper nutrition, adequate fitness, and mental resilience.

Make sure you eat whole foods that are good for your entire body. This doesn't mean that you can't enjoy your food or make room for plenty of indulgences. But your conscious goal has to be to eat for long term health and what you do most of the time is what really counts.

I wanted to lose 30 pounds healthfully and still be able to enjoy my college experience. Having succeeded in doing just that, I wanted to share my experiences with others who could benefit from my direct knowledge of the difficulty of trying to balance college life with being healthy. It became a journey about healthy lifestyle choices, including tips and tricks for creating a new relationship with food where I was in control and could learn to love food healthfully again.

My mom is a great cook, and family dinners were a must growing up, even if that meant eating at 10 p.m. when my dad got home from the hospital. It's where we did our family bonding.

I learned that pretending you don't have feelings makes you feel unhappy and unfulfilled and, ultimately, is what really makes you vulnerable because you are hiding from the truth.

We can try to reform healthcare, but the fact is if we don't have a healthy food source, we are only treating the symptoms and not the problems.