Dr. Nimali Fernando moved to the Fredericksburg area in 2005. She noticed the high rates of obesity and diet related illness and began teaching her patients how to eat better by sharing family recipes on a website she started called “Dr. Yum.” She was excited to see that a hands on approach to nutrition was more helpful than the standard advice given to “eat better.”
In 2012 she began teaching kids in her community how to enjoy fresh local produce in a series of after cooking school classes. The change she was seeing in her patients and her students inspired her to invite other community members to join with her to start a nonprofit organization. In 2013, “The Dr. Yum Project” was born with a mission to help families and communities overcome barriers to eating well.
After seeing success, she was motivated to bring her approach to healthy eating into her practice in other tangible ways. She purchased the building at 10482 Georgetown Drive with a vision to open up a full service pediatrics practice with a teaching kitchen and garden which could be shared with the Dr. Yum Project and all of its community activities. Along the way, Dr. Fernando started to be known as “Dr. Yum” by her patients and their families. She wrote a preschool nutrition curriculum which featured Dr. Yum as a character that teaches kids the importance of learning to eat and love fruits and vegetables to strengthen their bodies. This character is now known by kids around the world who use the widely known curriculum, “Dr. Yum’s Preschool Food Adventure.”
From the moment families walk into Yum Pediatrics, they notice the inspiring decor with fruits and veggies everywhere. The rooms are decorated with a featured fruit or vegetable starting with our newborn room, “The Sweet Pea” room for babies under two months.
At any time the Yum Pediatrics building may have patients being seen in the office, and there may be other community activities led by the Dr. Yum Project team in the garden and kitchen. Our patients enjoy some of the activities of the Dr. Yum Project including the open kitchen hours when Dr. Yum team members are doing recipe development and love to have feedback on their tasty creations. The garden is a great place for kids to explore and often after check-ups they fill their goody bags with fresh treats like strawberries and cherry tomatoes!
About the Dr. Yum Project
The Dr. Yum Project is a 501c3 nonprofit. Their mission is to help families and communities overcome barriers to eating well. They do this with their innovative website, doctoryum.org, many in person and virtual classes, and a cutting-edge nutrition curriculum for early childhood centers across the globe.
Many Yum Pediatrics patients take advantage of the Dr. Yum Projects resources which are also available to any interested family near or far.
Dr. Yum's Book
In 2015 Dr. Yum and her friend Melanie Potock a certified speech language pathologist who specializes in pediatric feeding wrote a book to help her patients understand feeding development and prevent picky eating. They released the second edition of their award winning book, “Raising a Healthy, Happy Eater” in March 2022. Families of Yum Pediatrics patients use it as their step-by-step guidebook to raising adventurous and healthy eaters. All royalties go to her nonprofit, the Dr. Yum Project.
Dr. Yum's Approach
Dr. Nimali Fernando, aka “Dr. Yum” spends time with families teaching that feeding is a developmental process. Just like teaching a baby to walk or speak, parents can be proactive in helping a baby to develop good feeding skills. She shares many resources with families so they can learn to raise the healthiest, happiest eaters. If your child has a diet-related illness like obesity, picky eating or slow growth, she can give you detailed counseling in a series of nutrition visits, either in person or by telemedicine and refer for more help if needed.
