WASHINGTON (Diya TV) — Indian American emergency and lifestyle medicine physician Ritu Saluja-Sharma has released a new cookbook that aims to help families build healthier eating habits as childhood obesity rates continue to rise across the United States.

Saluja-Sharma’s new title, The Wonder of What We Eat Cookbook, offers more than 75 child-friendly recipes. The book is the third in her growing children’s wellness series. She created the cookbook with her nine-year-old daughter, Serena Sharma, who helped shape several of the dishes and ideas.

The launch comes at a time when more than one in five young people nationwide lives with obesity. Doctors are also seeing diet-related chronic conditions appear at younger ages. Saluja-Sharma says this trend demands practical tools that help families make healthier choices at home.

The cookbook expands on Saluja-Sharma’s Head Heart Hands framework. The approach links simple nutrition science with mindset building and hands-on skills. She designed it to help children understand food as fuel for energy, focus, and mood.

Recipes in the cookbook range from protein-rich breakfasts to vegetable-forward sides. It also includes refined-sugar-free desserts that offer familiar flavors with fewer processed ingredients. Each recipe features a short explanation that connects the food to how the body works.

Saluja-Sharma says that clarity helps children build confidence in the kitchen. It also helps parents introduce healthier meals without overwhelming changes.

Saluja-Sharma spent two decades working in emergency rooms in the Washington, D.C., region. Those years showed her how deeply lifestyle choices affect long-term health. She says many of the conditions she sees in the ER could have been prevented with earlier intervention.

“Every day in the ER, I see patients suffering from conditions that could have been prevented,” she says in the book announcement. She adds that prevention “begins in childhood, around the family table.”

Her shift toward lifestyle and functional medicine reflects that belief. Today, she leads community and corporate wellness programs and continues to expand Head Heart Hands. The platform promotes chronic disease prevention through education, simple routines, and accessible meal ideas.

The release of the cookbook comes ahead of the 2025–2030 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Experts expect the new guidelines to highlight whole foods, prevention, and children’s metabolic health. Saluja-Sharma’s series mirrors many of those priorities.

Her earlier titles—a book explaining how food powers the body and a health literacy workbook—are already being used in some schools. Educators have adopted the materials as part of prevention-based lessons that teach students how to make healthier daily choices.

The new cookbook builds on that momentum by giving families a way to practice those lessons at home. It encourages parents and children to cook together, taste new foods, and understand how meals influence well-being.

The launch arrives as families prepare for Thanksgiving, a holiday known for rich and comforting dishes. Saluja-Sharma says the cookbook offers options that balance classic flavors with nutrition. Families can enjoy seasonal meals while keeping long-term health in mind.

She hopes the book becomes a resource for households looking to simplify healthy cooking. By offering recipes that are easy to prepare and enjoyable for children, she aims to make wellness more accessible.

Saluja-Sharma earned her medical degree from the Wake Forest University School of Medicine. She completed her undergraduate studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her medical training and years in emergency care continue to guide her work as she focuses on prevention and lifestyle-based solutions.