In a new book, a doctor from Kalispell recommends focusing on diet.

Dr. Thomas Flass hopes that his new book will provide parents and medical professionals with a nutritious diet of nutritional facts.

Flass' 30 years of nutrition experience as a researcher and physician are reflected in "Feeding Our Children." He has been a pediatrician at Logan Health since 2015, and he has been working in the Flathead Valley since then.

Flass worked in Billings and studied medicine in Colorado before moving to the valley. Cornell University awarded him a bachelor's degree in nutritional science, and the University of Colorado School of Medicine awarded him a medical degree.

Flass is a "nutritionist pediatrician," according to him.

Flass argues that nutritional awareness is "woefully underrepresented" in medical education and mainstream health methods, based on his undergraduate background. "To improve the lives of children by teaching the kid, parents, and healthcare providers about the influence of their food choices on mental and physical health," his mission statement reads.

Flass' advocacy wasn't always a passion for him.

He studied nutrition at college, partly as a result of his personal health issues, but he didn't immediately pursue a career in medicine.

After college, Flass obtained a job with PepsiCo, which was rather contradictory. The aspiring nutritionist worked for the soft drink firm on fitness programs, but fitness became less of a focus for the company over time. Flass said he saw the writing on the wall and made the decision to leave New York and relocate to Colorado.

Flass founded a vitamin company there, which grew from one to nine locations, but he was eventually attracted back into academia. At Colorado State University, he earned his master's degree in nutritional science. Flass worked on a project examining the effects of omega-3 fatty acids on brain development as part of his studies.

Flass then had a "gob smack moment" while he was transitioning out of the program.

He was encouraged by a colleague to seek a medical degree so that he could apply his nutritional understanding in a clinical context and fill a gap in nutritional health care.

"Everything altered" after that, according to Flass.

Flass carved out a position for himself by combining his nutritional background with standard medical training, a combination he found only sporadic among other pediatricians. He realized he had a unique perspective on prenatal, baby, and toddler care.

He intended to apply his unique method to Montana because he felt the state was underserved.

Before the expansion of pediatric care in Kalispell drew him to what was then known as Kalispell Regional Medical Center, he was led there by a roommate from Billings.

Flass joined an expanding outreach initiative in the Flathead that aimed to convey health information to a variety of Montana communities and towns. Flass preached the significance of early nutrition to his patients and other Montana physicians during grand rounds, but his efforts were met with a discouraging lack of nutritional awareness.

He recalled, "With the dietary problem, I felt like I needed to do more."

Flass chose to publish a book in order to reach a wider audience and to compile his extensive knowledge into one spot.

The concept began to take shape around three years ago, and Flass worked on "Feeding Our Children" while maintaining his regular practice at that period. During the day, Flass would care for mothers and small children, and in his spare time, he would research over a thousand sources to compile a thorough guideline on child nutrition.

According to Flass, "Feeding Our Children" is based on three basic domains: feeding the brain, feeding the gut, and feeding the genes.

These three concepts define the main areas of concentration for parents and doctors caring for young children. Essentially, they instruct readers on how to select the necessary nutrients for children of various ages, strike a balance between undernutrition and overnutrition, and create a healthy atmosphere in which a child can achieve the greatest possible health outcome.

"Relatively easy things you can do, especially in that early portion of pregnancy and early childhood, that will potentially be protective for the rest of this child's life," the book says.

Flass recommends eating a rainbow of bright foods, increasing fiber intake, and searching out vitamin D — especially for individuals living in climes like Montana's — as ways to improve a child's health.

"Feeding Our Children" is intended to be a "book that's accessible both to the educated layperson parent, but also teaching and having a lot of interesting and very important information for the medical practitioner," according to him.

With his book, Flass hopes to reach out to one family and one child at a time. He hopes that "Feeding Our Children" will assist in "enabling that child to attain their maximum potential" for any specific child.