The Restore Point

Why is a Plastic Surgeon Writing a “Diet” Book for Kids?

I am a father and pediatric plastic surgeon. My entire life and career is about kids. 

As a father, I have watched my own children struggle with weight issues and have supported them every step of the way back to fitness. 

As a pediatric plastic surgeon, I specialize in helping kids with physical anomalies find comfort and acceptance by fitting in as opposed to standing out. I only fix the things that kids can’t control themselves: ears that stick out, noses that are a little too generous, under and overbites and other issues that kids are born with but that can only be changed through surgery.

But obesity is not one of these issues.

Obesity is--on many levels--a choice, and fitness is within the means of most teens and kids. 

Overweight kids are suffering needlessly in our media-driven age. 

I know what obese kids and teens deal with through social media bullying; as well as the face-to-face taunts and jabs that can amount to a “death by a thousand cuts” by peers and even parents and teachers.

For years now, frustrated parents have been bringing their overweight kids to my office, asking for quick-fix solutions to their obesity. I have also followed the progress of formerly normal weight kids after infant surgery and have seen what our culture and eating patterns can do to their bodies and metabolisms. 

Every time I sent a parent away, telling them their child’s obesity problem could not simply be “liposucked” away or saw a formerly normal weight child packing on pounds and endangering their health and quality of life, I felt the pain of these parents and kids myself.

I decided to track the whys and wherefores of how these kids were getting fat. I also wanted to find a simple and effective solution for these families. 

Working with nutritionists, exercise experts and with my own experience as a pediatric plastic surgeon, I developed a new system--The Food Wheel--that mirrors the way we naturally evolved to eat. Forget the old “Food Pyramid,” I would tell parents. “Pyramids are used to bury people.” A simple and effective plan for moving and eating resulted and I watched parents go away with hope in their hearts for their kids’ health and happiness. The Ready Point Exercise Plan works in concert with the Restore Point for those kids needing a jump-start to physical fitness. Sneakers jump rope, and a stretch band and you are ready to go!

“It seems so simple!” they would say. 

And it is. 

These parents would invariably come back months later with a child whose body had changed--taking on the contours of fitness and the glow of health--and whose outlook and hope for the future had been RESTORED and reinvigorated.

This little book of simple principles can change your child’s life (and yours, too).

You and your family may have been living and eating according to ideas that are now being proved to be a quick path to a fat life. This is not your fault. 

You and your kids have downloaded the equivalent of “fat malware”: metabolic drags that result after eating according to culture, rather than nature.

The Restore Point Plan will do just what it says in its name--RESTORE your families’ bodies to their natural, lean, fat-burning potential.

I think it’s important to state here that The Restore Point addresses kids, teens and family members who are dealing with issues of weight and obesity because their metabolisms are running like PCs—they have already downloaded or are in the process of downloading the fat “malware” that our society has fed them in the form of high sugar, carbohydrates, dairy and refined foods. Obviously, some kids, teens and even some adults are those lucky few that run like Macs—virtually immune to the processed food, sugar, high carb “malware” that becomes encoded into our metabolisms. These lucky few seem to be immune to gaining weight. Their lives may be more active or other factors may be at play, but it is important to note that these folks are outliers. For the majority of kids and teens and even adults—the systems described in The Restore Point work and work forever.

I would also like to note that The Restore Point is a book of principles. These are principles that will address the issue of overweight and obesity in kids, teens and adults. As a book of principles, however, it does not give you menus or shopping lists. You are free to choose your own food and eating patterns within the system. 

Our food program also does not include dairy. However, dairy and the issue of dairy and children is a highly loaded issue. Culturally, Americans still view dairy as an important part of their diet—especially where children are concerned. Although our program supports a different viewpoint—one based on evolutionary food systems--we understand that for some families, the connection to dairy is too strong to eliminate. For these readers, we would suggest modifying this part of our program and reducing, rather than eliminating dairy. Low fat rather than full fat options can be chosen as well (see the section on dairy in the Food Wheel Chapter). Our book is not an all or nothing program—rather, it offers a blueprint to bring you and your family back to their Restore Point of good health and a humming, functioning metabolism. 

So if you’re feeling at the end of your rope, take heart. The fat is not your fault but the solution is in your hands in the form of this simple, easy-to-read and share book of principles.

Get ready to help your child RESTORE themselves to a lifetime of lean. Apply the principles to yourself and restore your own life and fitness potential.

All it takes is a turn of the page.