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Ritu Saluja-Sharma releases cookbook amid surge in childhood obesity
The cookbook builds on Saluja-Sharma’s Head Heart Hands framework, which connects basic nutrition science, mindset building and practical skills.
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Malvika Choudhary - Thu, 20, Nov 2025
- 13:28 EST
- 12
Ritu Saluja-Sharma/ The Wonder of What We Eat Cookbook / headhearthandsmd.com
Indian American emergency and lifestyle medicine physician Ritu Saluja-Sharma launched a new cookbook, featuring more than 75 child-friendly recipes amid rising pediatric obesity rates.
The book, The Wonder of What We Eat Cookbook, is the third in her children’s wellness series and was developed with her nine-year-old daughter, Serena Sharma.
Also Read: Padma Lakshmi redefines American cuisine in new book
The release comes at a time when more than one in five young people in the United States is affected by obesity, and chronic conditions linked to diet are being reported at younger ages.
The cookbook builds on Saluja-Sharma’s Head Heart Hands framework, which connects basic nutrition science, mindset building and practical skills. It features dishes ranging from protein-rich breakfasts to vegetable-forward sides and refined-sugar-free desserts.
Having Saluja-Sharma, who has spent two decades in emergency medicine, Saluja-Sharma says her clinical experience continues to inform the project.
“Every day in the ER, I see patients suffering from conditions that could have been prevented,” she notes in the announcement, adding that prevention “begins in childhood, around the family table.”
The launch coincides with the upcoming 2025–2030 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, which are expected to highlight whole foods, prevention and children’s metabolic health.
The earlier titles in the series—a book outlining how food powers the body and a workbook focused on health literacy—are already being used in some schools as part of prevention-based instruction.
Saluja-Sharma’s series mirrors many of those priorities by linking everyday meals to mood, focus and energy through short explanations accompanying each recipe.
Saluja-Sharma has worked in emergency departments in the Washington, D.C. region and later shifted toward lifestyle and functional medicine. She runs community and corporate wellness initiatives and leads Head Heart Hands, a programme focused on chronic disease prevention.
She earned her medical degree from Wake Forest University School of Medicine and completed her undergraduate studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
With Thanksgiving approaching, the release offers families options that attempt to balance familiar holiday flavours with nutritional considerations.
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