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• Academic Department of
  Pediatrics

The Healthy Lifestyle Family Program

Referrals

Primary care physicians
or specialists may refer patients to the
Healthy Lifestyle
Family Program
by calling:

Health Connections
Phone:
315 464-8668
or 800 464-8668

"We now have a structured way to help these children manage their weight."

Children's Center
for Nutrition and Exercise
750 East Adams Street
Syracuse, New York 13210
Phone: 315-464-8668 or 800-464-8668

Pediatrician Denise Woodall-Ruff MD is the director of University Hospital's new Children's Center for Nutrition and Exercise, where a team of medical specialists helps patients and their families adopt healthier lifestyles.

The new center, and its Healthy Lifestyle Family Program, was created in response to the nation's alarming childhood obesity rate, which has tripled in the past 20 years. “As a pediatrician, I was seeing a lot of children who were extremely overweight and on track to unhealthy adulthood,” says Dr.Woodall-Ruff. “With the launch of this program, we now have a structured way to help these children manage their weight.”

The Environment "Rules"

It is known that the one major cause of childhood obesity is the environment. It's everything from super-sized portions of fast foods to the couch potato lifestyle and even unsafe neighborhoods. If children don't feel safe in their neighborhood, they play indoors and get little exercise. Further, Americans have a very computer- andelectronic- oriented society, spending their free time in front of the computer or the TV, or playing video games.