Ep 170: How to prevent childhood obesity? With Dr Art Mollen

Today's guest is Dr. Art Mollen, longevity health expert and best selling author, and he gives practical tips to parents to help establish healthy eating habits for children.  We discuss the role of parents in modeling healthy behaviors for their children, the necessity of exercise, tips to avoid eating from boredom, and more. Dr Mollen is celebrating his 80th birthday this month and he is the epitome of health---mentally and physically--so thank you to Dr Mollen for imparting your words of wisdom!

About Dr Mollen:

He is a nationally renowned health and fitness expert. His medical practice, The Mollen Clinic, emphasizes the benefits of preventive medicine. Dr. Mollen has always been a proponent of exercise and diet as the primary treatment modality for many diseases. Through the use of exercise and diet, Dr. Mollen attempts to reduce the dosages of prescription medications that patients may be taking.

Dr. Mollen has authored several best-selling books devoted to nutrition and fitness: Run for Your Life (1978), The Mollen Method (1986), Dr. Mollen’s Anti-Aging Diet (1992) and Dr. Mollen’s Anti-Aging Program (2005). He has made appearances on The Larry King Show, Good Morning America, and Oprah.

A marathon runner and triathlete, he is Founder of the 3TV Phoenix 10K & Half Marathon. Presently, Dr. Mollen is a member of the Arizona Governor’s Council on Health, Physical Fitness & Sports.

If you're interested in participating, this November 9th 2025 will be the 50th anniversary of Art Mollen's yearly run: 50th annual Pheonix 10K (with options to run a 1 mile, 5K, 10K or half marathon!). 

Dr Jessica Hochman is a board certified pediatrician, mom to three children, and she is very passionate about the health and well being of children. Most of her educational videos are targeted towards general pediatric topics and presented in an easy to understand manner.

For more content from Dr Jessica Hochman:
Instagram: @AskDrJessica
YouTube channel: Ask Dr Jessica
Website: www.askdrjessicamd.com

-For a plant-based, USDA Organic certified vitamin supplement, check out : Llama Naturals Vitamin and use discount code: DRJESSICA20

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Do you have a future topic you'd like Dr Jessica Hochman to discuss? Email Dr Jessica Hochman askdrjessicamd@gmail.com.

The information presented in Ask Dr Jessica is for general educational purposes only. She does not diagnose medical conditions or formulate treatment plans for specific individuals. If you have a concern about your child's health, be sure to call your child's health care provider.

Transcript

Unknown: 0:00

Welcome to your child is normal, the podcast that empowers parents with reliable science backed guidance on Childhood Health and Development. I'm your host, Dr Jessica Hochman, a pediatrician and mom of three, and I'm here to provide you with quality advice and reassurance so you can spend less time worrying and more time focused on connecting with your kids and enjoying your parenting experience as much as possible. Today's guest is Dr art Mullen, a renowned physician, author and health expert who has spent decades Helping People Achieve lifelong wellness. He's written five books on health and longevity, and one of his greatest passions is educating people on how to prevent childhood obesity. We know that childhood obesity is a growing concern for many parents, and Dr Mullen has simple, actionable strategies to help kids build healthy habits for life. We'll talk about what parents can do to set their children up for long term health, from nutrition and movement to mindset and daily habits. And on a personal note, Dr Molin is a true role model of mine. He is living proof that a healthy lifestyle keeps you young, both mentally and physically, and by the time this episode airs, he will just have celebrated his 80th birthday. So here's to wishing him a very happy and healthy birthday and a big thank you for taking the time to join us on the podcast. Dr art Mullen, thank you so much for being on the podcast. I'm so excited to talk to you. You are such an inspirational person in this world. So thank you so much for being here. Well, thanks so much, and you're doing great things yourself, because I followed some of your podcasts, and they're pretty amazing, and you really inspire a lot of people. And certainly it's great to have a pediatrician that people can call and ask questions. I mean, that's that's amazing, because they really enjoy that. Thank you. And so tell me about you. You were just telling me before we started that you've written five books. So my first book was run for your life, published by Doubleday, and that was back in the 70s, crazy as that seems, but that was in 1978 so it was kind of at the inception of the running craze. And then there was a book also that came out around that same time called the Complete Book of running. It was by Jim fix and so his book came out. My book came out about six months later. And so he and I were kind of in the inception of that whole running craze. And so from there, you know, I got very involved in running myself. I ran three Boston marathons, and henceforth done a lot of other marathons and triathlons and so on. But so that was the first book. And then the second book was called the Molin method, which was published by Rodel press, actually Prevention Magazine. And so that, you know, quickly became a best seller as well. I kind of liked running for your life. I always thought that was actually the best title of any of my books. And then the third book was Dr Mullen's anti aging diet, and that was published by Penguin USA. So I had some good publishers along the way, and that's the key to probably propelling these books to become best sellers, so and then henceforth, a few other books after that. That's amazing. I really commend your interest in health, health advocacy, and you actually live it a lot of doctors, they talk about how to be healthy, but they don't actually act healthy in their own lives. And you are an example of somebody who really practices what they preach. Thank you for that, you know, and that's something when I've given lectures to medical communities and things like that, I always try to proselytize that same message that they basically the physicians need to take that responsibility take care of themselves so that they then can pass it on and promote wellness and health among their patients. They're going to become much more believable, you know? I mean, sometimes they'll say, Well, physicians drink a lot of alcohol or something. I don't think that's necessarily the case, but, you know, physicians sometimes can use alcohol as something that just basically reduce their anxiety, reduce their stress. And, you know, as physicians, and as you know, we're pretty much on call 24/7 you know, and as a pediatrician, you're getting calls in the middle of the night, you know, they have an earache. They have a sore throat at three in the morning. What are you going to do for the earache? You know, it's like, I'll see you in the office in morning. I mean, yes, yes, it's true. As a doctor, sometimes it's hard you want to live a healthy life. An example is getting enough sleep at night, which we all know is so important, but it can be hard to do when you take night call. That's true. Yeah, exactly. And you know, you look a lot younger than you are. You know, I don't know you're 4444 so you look like you're about 24 so, oh, I really. Dr Mullen, you're the best, you're the best. You're just what I needed today. So you must be getting sleep sometime during the day or on the weekends or something like that. But, you know, the. Sleep is critically important, you know. And and then for me, because I'm on the precipice of 80, I'll be 80 in a month or so. And so, wow. So for me, the sleep becomes even more important as you get older. And so, you know, it's sleep is the key to looking a little bit younger as as you age, and you know, besides the exercise and the diet and healthy lifestyle. So this is great. I definitely want to get your anti aging book, because looking at you and hearing that you're turning 80 in a month, I don't know if people are, I know a lot of people listen to this podcast, but if you could see dr Mullen, you'll be racing to get his book too. So thank you for, thank you for writing a book on that. So sharing your tips with everybody. Yeah, well, thank you, right? That's fantastic that you've done so much. And so, you know, when we come to and again, your audience, you know, it's a lot of children and things like that. So we're trying to teach, you know, these healthy habits to kids, basically. And you know, the impact of exercise and diet, and you know they've done academic studies and showing that it might be more important to spend a little more time on physical exercise in the schools than actually on academic exercises in the classroom. So, you know, that's something that, again, for your listeners out there, you know, I would encourage them to, you know, meet with their school boards, meet with their principals, meet with their physical activity directors in the schools and try to promote more exercise, because it used to be mandatory, but it's no longer a mandatory component of their school activities. Yes, you and I agree on this, this topic completely that exercise for kids is fundamentally important. It's a it's so important for them to learn those habits early on. And so I before we recorded I know we were both talking about how we both enjoy exercising in our own lives. Yeah, but I totally agree with you that emphasizing to children that exercise is an important part of their daily life is critical. Yeah. I mean, it really outweighs the benefits of the exclusive use of the classroom for just academics. You know, they need to do other things. So I'm so excited to talk with you today. I love your interest in health and preventative medicine. That's something that we are very much aligned on. And today I'm excited to talk about children in particular, because as you've written about, as we know, obesity has become a tremendous issue in the pediatric population, and I love the work that you've done trying to focus on prevention, because I feel like now so much is now we have to back pedal. We're trying to figure out how to help kids, you know, once they become obese, how do we help them go in the other direction? So I really love that you're focusing on prevention. So the whole concept, again, of prevention with childhood obesity is, you know, teaching them, you know, educating them, but not only the child, but the parents as well. Because if you can educate the parents, then they can inculcate the kids with that same message, with the exercise, with the diet, and they can act by being an exemplary parent, eating the rights and exercising on a regular basis, and then the children will simply adapt to that much more easily. You know. I mean, if the parent, you know is is basically not exercising at all, you know, eating McDonald's, you know, three, four times a week. And you know, not to, you know, say anything denigrating about McDonald's, but it's just fast food in general. But it's just the idea that if the parents can again assume that role, that they are going to be the educator as much as the school room, or the teachers at school, or the physical educators. I mean, I think that's going to make a huge difference in this child, because what happens at home is going to be probably five times more important than what happens in the classroom. I completely agree with you, and I think what's so hard and important for us parents is we have to recognize that if we're telling our kids not to eat ice cream or not to have dessert every night, but then we're doing it ourselves, our kids are watching. And I say that because that happens to me a lot. I mean, a lot of times at night I'll want to reach for the dessert, and then at the same in the same breath, I'm telling my kids, we've had a lot of dessert this week. Maybe this week we shouldn't have dessert tonight, but then I don't want to be a hypocrite. So I think it's really important to recognize that our children are watching us and that we have to be good role models for them if we're expecting them to you know, if we're asking of them to be healthy, we have to, very important that we lead as examples. So for. Desserts in what I will eat as a dessert at night are basically walnuts, cashews and almonds, and so that's generally my nighttime snack, you know. And that's, again, probably a coefficient of if I haven't been filled with dinner. If I'm filled with dinner, then I'm good to go. And the other part of that, and again, for children parents, it's boredom, you know? So if you're sitting there watching television at night and you're bored to death, so then you start to eat, and that's one of the things that probably isn't addressed as often as anything else, because I think boredom is one of the main reasons for obesity, right? If you're in your kitchen and you don't have a lot going on, it's really easy to hear the food calling your name, what I what I would love to address, and you're you're so good at this, but giving parents some helpful tips to think about so that we can prevent our kids from heading in that obese direct, you know, heading in that direction to begin with, where they're gaining weight, and then all of a sudden we're trying to reverse course. So let's say you have a child that is showing signs of boredom and they want to eat and they're in the pantry. Do you have any tips to help kids go the other direction? Yeah, so I think the one thing would be get them moving, you know, take them out for a walk after dinner. You know, if they go out for a walk after dinner, instead of just, you know, kind of plopping themselves down on the sofa and watching, you know, television, or getting their iPads out and, you know, their iPhones out and start texting and things like that. So if you can extract those, you know, iPads and phones and things like that from them, you know, I think that really helps a great deal, you know, and to get them out and moving around. I mean, I just think that's so important. The other thing is sodas, you know? I mean, a lot of the studies show that obesity, particularly in children, is that 40 to 50% of the calories that they consume in a day are secondary to what they're drinking, and it's because of the sugary drinks, you know, that they have, and it it, yeah, and for adults as well, you know what we consume, you know, whether it's, you know, coffee latte or macchiato, you know that, but that consumption of the beverages that's been embedded, you know, in them, you know. So I think we can again, make some significant behavioral changes. And I agree with you about drinks, they taste really good, but if you think about it, if you have a glass of OJ and it's, you know, 300 calories, yeah, that's not as filling as actual food, and it's not as healthy either. You're missing a lot of the nutrients and the fiber that come from the fruit itself. So I agree with you that if you can avoid drinking your calories, that's a key way to stay healthy and avoid unwanted waking Yeah. So like, if you eat an apple, an Apple has 100 calories, you know, and it has 4.2 grams of fiber. So, I mean, you're going to get, you know, besides potassium and the other nutrients that it has, but you're going to gain so much more from that, as opposed to, again, having a glass of fruit juice, or even a glass of apple juice, for that matter, which will have, you know, significant 12 ounce glass of apple juice, having, you know, 250 calories. So so far, for parents who are listening, yeah, the tips I've heard from you are, try to avoid boredom. Try to avoid eating from boredom. So get your kids out and moving, have them get out and walk the dog after dinner. Do something where you're not just sitting in board. And then secondly, being mindful of calories and excess sugar that comes from from liquids. Yeah, right. And I think, you know, again, you can eat slower, and, you know, and things like that. I mean, you know, some people eat faster than they should, and I'm probably one of those. You're a doctor. You probably are used to grabbing something in between patients, or something like that. So, so we all do that, and you know, but I think a self reflection on meals, you know, you know. So when you're eating a meal, you know, it's like, am I starving? Does my stomach feel empty? Do I feel just right? Am I? Am I too full? You know, did I eat way too much? That makes me sick. And so I think, I think some self reflection when you're eating also can help you to consume the right number of calories as well. That makes a lot of sense. That's a great point I'm thinking about for. Parents that are busy. When you talk about sitting down and taking time to eat, I think about how important it is to have meal time with your children, how important it is to sit down and enjoy dinner together, and that's something that definitely I would like to be better at, because I agree that when you sit down and have a meal in good company, you're much more clued into when you're hungry and when you're actually full. Yeah, and, you know, there was an article in the Journal of the American Medical Association a few years back in the pediatrics issue, and it talked about, it's not a good idea to talk to your kids. You know about them being overweight and trying to encourage healthy eating habits by talking to them about how much they're overweight, but basically, talk to them about it's going to improve your overall health, it's going to give you more energy, it's going to allow you to perform better in school. It's going to increase your concentration, you know? So try not to associate it with the fact that, hey, you're 30 pounds overweight, you know, you need to do something about it. So, you know, they, they, they kind of discourage that association with the food. So, so I think that's one thing. And you don't want the kids again to become anorexic, you know, as they go forward, you want to watch those kinds of eating patterns, you know, with children, because if you start that conversation, that can be potentially harmful to them. I think that's great. I think it's true that you don't want to ignore the fact that eating healthy is important, because obviously Eating healthy is clearly advantageous for health longevity. But I agree that I'm very mindful. I have a teenage daughter myself, and I never talk about what she eats in relation to what her body will look like or gaining weight. I never talk about it with regards to myself. I never bring up if I want to lose a couple pounds. I always talk about how I want to eat healthy because I want to have energy, I want to feel good, I want to live longer. I want to be strong, I want to be mentally fit. And I have to say, I know my n is small. I have a, you know, only three children, but so far, it seems to be working out. Okay, yeah, I think every child is different. You've got to treat each one differently in terms of what their motivation is, and you know what they're going to be encouraged to do. I don't like kids to cut back too much on their overall consumption of food, because you want them to get the adequate nutrition. You want them to grow. You want them to get the calcium and have their bones strong, you know. And so, you know, they're different charts. I mean, you can determine, like, how many calories they can consume a day, but never go less than 1000 calories a day, you know, for again, particularly for teenage children who weigh like at least 100 pounds or so, you know, I think you you want to keep them at least at 1000 and even for adults, you know, I think going below 1000 count because it's going to slow your metabolism down, because it's like a furnace. You're you're putting wood into the fire. You know that you want that metabolism to be high, and so you want to put a certain amount of nutrition and food into the fire. So, you know, the rule of thumb for the weight and everything. So say a teenager weighs 100 pounds, multiply that by 12, and that equals 1200 calories a day. And that's how many calories they need to maintain it. For a male, it's usually say 100 times 15. So that'd be 1500 calories a day, you know. So a good rule of thumb is, is using those benchmarks, the 12 and the 15 and this is for for weight loss, for for whatever weight they want to be. You know that that tells that gives them. Because if they say, Well, how many calories can I consume, you know, without hurting myself or whatever. Well, so to maintain your weight, you need that now, if you incorporate exercise, then you're going to be able to burn up some of those calories. So, so if you walk a mile, you burn up 100 calories. If you run a mile, you burn up 100 calories. Doesn't matter whether you walk or jog. I mean, yeah, after sprinting, you know, a four minute mile, which a few of us are doing, you know, you can burn maybe a few more calories, but say 100 calories per mile is what you're going to basically metabolize. If you bicycle three miles, that's 300 you know, then that's going to be three miles is going to be 100 calories. So there's different equivalency. If you swim a mile, that's, that's the equivalent of actually 300 calories. So you know, there's different equivalencies in terms of people, if they want to exercise and see how many calories are going to burn up and how many you know in terms of reducing your weight. So you have to remember, it takes 30. 500 calories to equal one pound. 3500 calories to equal one pound, I agree, and I know that, you know calories are real, that the way to lose weight, it is math, that you have to have fewer calories than your body is burning at the same time. With children, I agree with you when it comes to BMI and calories, I really try not to mention it to children, yeah, and that's a great point, because I don't want them to be thinking about it. I want them to be focusing on living a healthy life, right, moving their body, eating, well, you know, acquiring good, healthy habits. So with the kids, I seldom get into the calorie, you know idea, because I don't think that's a good idea. Yeah, yes, yeah. I completely agree with you. I mean, the big thing is that childhood obesity is it's kind of the tsunami of healthcare in the 21st century, because it's going to increase the diabetes, increase the heart disease, you know, increase the risk of various cancers, from breast cancer to prostate cancer. So the obesity is is a major factor, and it's going to affect the entire not that the healthcare system is completely broken, but it's, it could be. It could quickly be broken, you know, with some of the changes that are going on today, I think about it a lot because I have been because I've been a pediatrician now for 14 years, and I can definitely see an increase in obesity since my time starting as a pediatrician and until now. And I think about how it's probably a myriad of factors that are contributing to this increase in obesity. You know, I don't know if it's I can't blame it all on the screens or all on an activity or all on fast food, but I do think there are multiple factors that parents have to be aware of, because it's becoming clearly a prevalent issue with children across the board. Yeah, you're in California. So California people, I think, are probably more body conscious than people in say, Philadelphia. Do you find that to be the case among your pediatric population? I think so. I do think in Southern California, we do have many parents that are health conscious. I used to live on the east coast. I was on the East Coast for medical school, and I remember thinking there are so many more smokers on the East Coast than than on the West Coast. Yeah, and my friends on the East Coast used to tease me because I cared about finding fresh fruits to eat, and they called me. They definitely felt I was a stereotypical Californian. So probably, so, yeah, okay. So, so I think, you know, I really like what you're I like the points that you're making. I think always these conversations, my hope is just giving parents something to think about. I'm a believer that the smallest changes can make big differences. So, so thank you for for reminding us of all these tips. Yeah, one of the things that we have done in the schools here is we basically started the, you know, like a schoolyard garden, you know, and it's called the Edible Schoolyard. And so the kids at this one particular school, we were able to put in a garden. So they get, the kids get to basically plant harvest, they cook it and then they eat it for lunch. So it's in a socio economically deprived area. So it's one way that these kids can at least get a decent meal for the day, you know. And they learn that basically, you know, popcorn is not a vegetable. I'm so excited to ask you about this because I read about the foundation that you started, the Mullen Foundation, and I think it is fascinating, and I would love for people to hear about it, to spread awareness about it, because I think it's, I think this idea is brilliant. So So tell us about the Mullen foundation. Yeah. So we started this. And I started with my wife. My wife, you know, has several masters in sustainability. And, you know, in terms of education, she kind of runs the foundation itself, and so she's responsible for, you know, going to the school and working with the kids and basically giving them lectures. And she has a staff that helps as well. So when we started this, and again, it was a kind of a coefficient of my background in exercise and diet and preventive medicine. And so we decided, hey, we needed to do something for the kids. So she's taking she's taken this to a statewide level. And she's head of what's, you know, it's kind of the they have a Food Network, a food school network, and so she's head of that. And so it oversees a lot of programs in all the schools in Arizona. And she heads that up with, you know, the. Nutritionist and the dietitians in the schools, and tries to get them to start these edible schoolyards as well, so that they're able to put these in. And then she's been able to secure several chefs who will come in and they they make these papaya type things, where they put all the vegetables, and they throw some rice in there, and they cook these up for the kids, and they give them, like, these hot lunches, basically, you know, cooking all the vegetables. And the kids, I mean, they love it, because they have actually seen the vegetables grow. They've been part of, you know, harvesting them. And I mean, so it's a great experience for kids, and they embrace it. And then whatever is extra, and, you know, because the garden gets overgrown, they get to take it home, you know, they take take it home to their parents. And then she has days in which they invite the parents in to see what the kids are doing, and then the parents start to embrace the same concept. And so in a lot of these areas are socio economically, you know, compromised. So, you know, they're thrilled to see their kids get decent lunches. What a gift you're giving. It's incredible. Well, thank you. And you know, they, they really, the whole neighborhood has embraced this. You know, they have, you know, sessions where they, you know, will come on Saturdays, and they have chickens and they they have eggs, you know, you know, they're able to basically give these out to the community and everything. So, how long ago did you start this? Yeah, so, we started this about 10 years ago. You know, the foundation, and you know, it basically is just gaining some of its own sustainability. They she's received several federal grants initially, you know, I was the fundraiser for, you know, and you know, it helped to, you know, the seed money to start it. But, you know, they've been able to get some grants. And then we have a race that I put on every year called the Phoenix 10k so the Phoenix 10k has a 5k 10 can a half marathon. It just occurred on the 10th of November. So it was the 49th year of the race. I started the race in 1976 so the monies that are raised from that go to the Molin foundation to sustain a lot of these programs and honor health, which is a major their foundation, which is a major hospital chain. They have seven different hospitals in Arizona, and they are also part of the recipients of the funds that are raised from from the race. So this year we had 4000 runners in the race. And so next year, for the 50th, it'll be in that same location. We anticipate, you know, seven or 8000 runners for the 50th of the golden year of the race. So that is incredible. That's nothing short of incredible. I am definitely sign me up for next November, I will be there. So there's a 5k 10k and a half marathon, so you can do any of the races. And then we have a one mile fun run, which is called the Molin mile, and that's for the kids, and they get to run a mile. And all the kids, they all get a medal. They all get a t shirt, you know, actually incorporate all all the components of what we're doing. But do you know roughly how many schools that you are that the Mullen Foundation has participated in? Yeah, so they're affecting probably five or six schools, you know, and then my wife is part of a nationwide network, and she had the Assistant to the Secretary of Agriculture who came down and visited her site last month, in fact. So, you know, which was, you know, pretty incredible, because out of all the sites she could have gone to in the country, you know, she came to our site to actually see what we were doing and take that back to Washington. So as I'm thinking about it, what a brilliant intervention, what a brilliant foundation to start. Because firstly, I find the school lunches in general to be so unhealthy for kids in California, we give kids in public schools get free lunches, and they're definitely not the epitome of health. So and I also do believe that home cooking is the most healthy. I wish I did it more in my family. I wish I spent more time teaching my kids how to cook, because you know what you're putting in the food you're enjoying the process. It's. Definitely healthier. It's fresher. So how incredible that your wife is fixing you two together are fixing the issue of unhealthy lunches at school. You're teaching kids how to cook, how to enjoy the process of cooking. I know we both believe that your food is your medicine, so I'm sure it's helping their health in general. You're teaching them skills for a lifetime. What a great organization. Well, well, thank you, you know, and I want you to you know, whether you know she's on your podcast or not, but I want you to connect with her, because I think for you and your impact on your community, you could literally start something like this at one of the schools I love that I have to be honest, at the wheel, the wheels are actively turning right now, so I would love to connect with her. Yeah, you're gonna connect. Yeah, I'm gonna connect you on email. And, you know, after, after we were done here, and, and also, I mean processed foods. I we haven't talked about processed foods, but I'm sure we agree that processed foods are such an issue because kids are consuming them more than ever. They're not healthy, they're not grown from the ground, they're devoid of pure they're devoid of great nutrients, and they're they're the quick and easy solution to get your kids calories and they taste good. Yeah, and I think what, what she's doing, will help kids steer away from consuming so many processed foods. So kudos to you guys. This is wonderful. Well, you know, if I had recommendations, you know, some specific recommendations for parents, you know, have them eat less red meat, you know, and that includes, you know, hamburgers and steaks and bacon and ham and so try to reduce the animal meats that they're consuming, basically the red meats they can eat, the fish in fish and the chicken. But the red meats, I think, if you want to have one healthy step in the right direction, have them try to eliminate any of the fried foods. So the chicken fingers, you know, and the French fries. I mean, I know that's like, going to be a big ask, but if you do it occasionally, and they do it once a week, maybe that's okay, but you just don't want them to do it every day. Try to eliminate, you know, again, back to the sodas and and the drinks that are just high in calories, you know, that would be another thing. Try to, again, incorporate the vegetables, you know, the salads, fruits and vegetables. Have them had a salad every day. Once they eat their salad, well, okay, then they can go on and eat the rest of their meal, you know. And have them drink more water, you know. And again, you know, it could be carbonated water, you know, without any calories, without any sweeteners and things like that. So then the final thing would be, again, what you just mentioned all the processed foods, you know, whether it's the candy, whether it's the potato chips, whether it's the crackers, you know, if you can eliminate some of those, because all of those processed foods increase inflammation in the body. And I think inflammation for both yourself, Jessica, as well as myself, I think that's one of the keys to slowing down the aging process. Is to reduce inflammation in our body, you know. And for the parents out there listening, you know, if they can reduce those foods as well, that'll reduce the inflammation in their body, reduce the amount of arthritis, help to enhance the effectiveness of their immune system, reduce the risk of diabetes and cardiovascular disease and cancer. So that would be my final message. Food really is your medicine. It really is, you know, it's the hypocrisies you are, you know, you know, you know, food is is medicine and medicine is food, yeah, basically, one quick piece of advice to chime in with that I like to give myself as well is that we parents, we can say no to our kids, even if we believe that our kids are only going to eat the fried food, the processed food, the chicken fingers, the sodas, we can say no. We can we can buy healthy foods that taste really good, that our kids can learn to like and enjoy. And I know it can be hard when we're at birthday parties, we're on vacation, but I think as a general principle, if we can learn to provide our children with healthy, nutritious, fresh foods in the home, you really are setting them up for success, to live a healthy life for their future. What a what a great point you've made there. I mean, that's that's exactly just so right on the target. I mean, saying no to your kids, you know, it's tough love, but it's the right love, and they will benefit from it long term. So say no to the kids, say no to the iPad, say no to the phone. Say, you know, I, I have a daughter, and her son is, you know, was just bar mitzvahed, you know. And 13 years old, you know. And it was. Like, No, you're not getting an iPhone, but all my friends have it. No, your friends can have it, but no to you, you know you're not having it until I say it's right, it affects your brain cells. I mean, so. So what a great point. Jessica and I really do believe that in the future, they might not recognize it now as children, but in the future, they will come to appreciate that you gave them that tough love, that you gave them that guidance to live a healthy life exactly. You know, I wish I had had a pediatrician like you when I grew up. I might even be healthier than I am, and I just want to commend you. I just want to bring this back. I cannot believe you said that your dessert is our almonds, cashews and walnuts. Is that right? Did I hear you correctly? Yes, my that's my dessert. So my wife is a dessert, a hollow any dessert, you know, she's met a never met, a dessert she didn't like. So she's relatable, you know, she's like, how can you resist that? I said, I don't know. I don't have that. You know, give me another piece of bread. I'll eat that for my dessert. So I don't know. Well, wonderful. Well, it's so, so nice to meet you. You really are an inspiration. I love how you you enjoy living a healthy life. You're very inspiring to me. So thank you so much. Well, thank you, and we're going to have more conversations together, and we're going to definitely have a further and deeper connection as we move forward. So thank you for having me, Jessica. I look forward to it. I'm going to make sure and link the run in the show notes below, in case anybody's in Arizona early next November. Yeah, November fund to be there for the 50th Exactly. November 9. 2025 the ninth. It's on a Sunday. I can't wait. I can't wait. Alright, thank you so much, Doctor Mullen, I really appreciate it. Well, thank you so much, and you people are lucky that they have someone like you to reach out to. Doctor Jessica, you're too kind. You're too kind. Thank you so much. You're welcome. Thank you for listening, and I hope you enjoyed this week's episode of Ask Dr Jessica. Also, if you could take a moment and leave a five star review wherever it is you listen to podcasts, I would greatly appreciate it. It really makes a difference to help this podcast grow. You can also follow me on Instagram at ask Dr Jessica. See you next Monday. You.