Gut Health – The Key To Raising Happy and Healthy Kids with Dr. Elisa Song
Are you worried about your child’s health? You’re not alone. In this episode, Dr. Cassie Smith, a functional medicine expert, teams up with Dr. Elisa Song, a pediatric specialist and author of Healthy Kids, Happy Kids, to talk about how we can raise resilient, healthy kids in today’s world. With chronic conditions like eczema, asthma, ADHD, and anxiety on the rise, it’s more important than ever to take charge of our children’s well-being. Dr. Song reveals how gut health and the microbiome play a huge role, and shares simple yet powerful steps that every parent can take—from feeding them better to managing stress, and even introducing gratitude practices. Tune in for some eye-opening insights and practical tips that can make a big difference in your child’s health!
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Guest info and links:
Dr. Elisa Song, MD is a Stanford-, NYU-, UCSF-trained integrative pediatrician, pediatric functional medicine expert, and mom to 2 thriving children – and she is on a mission to revolutionize the future of children’s health. Dr. Song is the bestselling author of the Healthy Kids Happy Kids: An Integrative Pediatrician’s Guide to Whole Child Resilience. Dr. Song created Healthy Kids Happy Kids (www.healthykidshappykids.com) as an online holistic pediatric resource to help practitioners and parents bridge the gap between conventional and integrative pediatrics with an evidence-based, pediatrician-backed, mom-approved approach. In her integrative pediatric practice, she’s helped 1000s of kids get to the root causes of their health concerns and thrive by integrating conventional pediatrics with functional medicine, homeopathy, acupuncture, herbal medicine, and essential oils.
Blog/Transcription:
0:03 welcome to this week’s episode of Hormones Metabolism and You I’m your host Dr Cassie Smith I’m a functional
0:10 medicine endocrinologist I’m so happy that you’re here today We are going to talk today
0:16 about how to make our kids resilient So on this podcast we talk all the time
0:21 about gut health and overall wellness and what we can do as adults to become
0:27 healthier But today I have an amazing woman who is an integrative
0:32 pediatric specialist who really focuses on the resilience of our children So if
0:40 you want to know the key to raising resilient kids from the inside out this groundbreaking evidence guide to helping
0:47 kids in our modern world written by Dr released a song called Healthy Kids
0:52 Happy Kids is a book that bridges the gap between conventional and holistic pediatrics and delivers a clear roadmap
0:59 to help kids thrive So I brought her on because she has this book that is absolutely fascinating She talks about
1:06 raising healthy and happy kids in the modern world She says it shouldn’t be so hard Yet despite living in what should
1:13 be the golden age of medicine our children are sicker than ever just like adults At least one in five kids have
1:20 eczema One in 10 have asthma ADHD or anxiety And sometimes they have all of
1:26 the above Many parents are at a loss for who to turn to for trusted advice Advice
1:32 that takes a root cause holistic approach and to the whole child resilience but don’t dismiss the value
1:39 of conventional pediatrics And so her whole goal in writing this book was to
1:45 just give parents somewhere they could turn where they could look for holistic causes for things with their kids She
1:54 has an amazing you know backstory as to how she got here She has tons and tons
2:01 and tons of experience She’s been a pediatric practitioner for 25 years And
2:08 throughout this interview we really talked about how to create a microbiome She calls it a magic microbiome to
2:14 optimize your child’s microbiome in five simple steps that you already do We talked about how to empower your kids to
2:21 make healthy choices So teach your kids how to read food labels and teach your kids why it’s important to eat healthy
2:27 foods And we talk about small ways that you can do that So you can’t take a kid
2:32 she gave an example of a kid you know you can’t take a kid from eating a tater toting broccoli And so how do we get
2:38 kids to trade their tater tots and their French fries for vegetables we talked about kids with food aversions and what
2:45 we can do in that scenario We talked about as a parent what you can do to help your kids make healthy food choices
2:51 And it’s not to nag them And so there are ways that we can do that because kids pick up on our their parent and the
2:58 adult around them’s energy and vibes She talks about how to heal your kid’s gut to get to the root cause of their
3:04 chronic health concerns And like I said kids are just the amount of chronic health concerns in children and gut
3:10 issues are astronomical And so she gives all of these tips She has in her book 25
3:18 acute childhood ailments that most parents reach for antibiotics or things to treat And she talks about a more
3:24 holistic way that you can treat those things And she actually pointed out that in 2005 the New York the New England
3:31 Journal of Medicine published an article and for the first time ever in 2005 it said that our kids are actually expected
3:37 to live shorter lifespans than their parents And so that’s alarming and nobody has done anything to change that
3:44 And her point is like why and so we really dive into gut which is what I love as well So we talked a lot about
3:51 why your child’s gut microbiome holds the key for longevity and for resilience
3:56 She gave us a list of medications that you really want to try to avoid in kids and some of them are very similar to
4:02 adults and some of them may be shocking to you So you’ll have to listen to the episode for that We talked about how 70%
4:08 of the time kids are given antibiotics they really don’t need them And again we focus on food labels We focus on the
4:16 things that disrupt our kids microbiome We talked a lot about the vagus nerve and stress and what that does to
4:22 children I’ve told you guys about what it does to adults but what it can do to children can even be more detrimental
4:29 And we talked a little bit about vaccines at the end too I kind of slid that in there So are vaccines good are
4:35 they not she would be doing different schedules So she gave me her you know her advice on that So we really talked a
4:42 lot about in general you know just our kids and like why are they getting sicker and what do we do as parents to
4:48 try to make them more resilient So I hope that you listen to this entire
4:54 interview It was absolutely phenomenal So here we go Please allow me to
5:00 introduce you to my guest today Dr Alisa Song She’s a Stanford NYU US UCSF
5:08 trained integrative pediatrician and functional medicine expert and most importantly a mother of two thriving
5:14 children She’s dedicated her career to helping parents and practitioners bridge the gap between conventional and
5:20 holistic pediatrics with an evidence-based pediatricianbacked parent approved
5:26 approach Dr Song has lectured around the world and has been featured in hundreds of top podcast print and online media
5:34 outlets including the Wellness Mama podcast Bloom TV Forbes Healthline
5:41 MindBody Green National Geographics Hot Sugar Parents
5:48 Motherly Very Well Health and New York Post So now let’s get into our
5:54 conversation about how to keep our kids resilient and the best thing we can do as parents to keep them healthy and
6:00 happy throughout their life Welcome back to this week’s episode of Back to the Basics I’m thrilled that you joined us
6:06 today You’re in for a treat We’re actually going to be talking about kids today So something a little different
6:12 from our typical podcast stuff but it’s going to be similar to what I talked to you guys about So I have Dr song and I
6:19 asked her to come on because she does what I do but in kids So everything that we talk about if you’ve listened and you
6:26 thought “Oh my gosh can my kid do this or what should I do to help my kids gut or you know how can I help my kid be
6:32 more functionally um healthy?” She has all the answers She wrote this amazing
6:39 book which I am lucky enough to have a signed copy of Healthy Kids Happy Kids
6:45 And so it’s wonderful I I think it’s so helpful If you’re a parent you definitely need to get it But she kind
6:50 of explains just like in adults in kids at least one out of five kids have eczema One out of 10 have asthma ADHD or
6:58 anxiety and they’re kind of getting worse right Dr Song they’re not getting better So I guess can you kind of give
7:05 us a I guess a grave overview of what kids health looks like and then maybe like how you started this process into
7:10 like holistic healthcare for kids yeah And it is kind of grave if we really step back and think about it because now
7:17 it’s um probably at least around one in two kids has some sort of a chronic diagnosis And that’s just one And when
7:23 we think about it oftentimes kids with eczema also have asthma and they also have allergies and maybe tip over into
7:29 autoimmunity or they have anxiety and you know the list goes on and on And um
7:35 really worth looking at now it was 20 years ago in 2005 when the New England
7:41 Journal of Medicine wrote an article where they were predicting lifespans and
7:47 it was noted that for the very first time in history ever our kids were
7:53 expected to have shorter lifespans than us their parents And that should have been a huge wakeup call like what is
8:01 going on you know in this day of you know uh medical miracles and modern
8:06 medicine and our kids are expected to live shorter lives than us and then we also have to think about the quality of
8:12 that life So it is so important to really take that functional medicine integrative medicine approach that as
8:18 you said you take for adults we can 100% apply it to children and we need to so
8:24 that we can reverse what’s going on Yeah No I completely agree And so I think what parents are going to start asking
8:30 is like what are the main things that we can do so I think where I want to start is like the microbiome right so you talk
8:36 about in your book this like microbiome magic and ways to optimize your kids microbiome with like five easy steps So
8:43 kind of talk to us about that like what can we do from a microbiome standpoint or or why are our kids let’s start with
8:50 this Why are our kids microbiome so bad m well you know for folks who listen to
8:55 your podcast and work with you and and know anything about functional medicine you know that there’s this phrase all
9:02 disease starts in the gut that Hypocrates was credited with saying that is especially true for children because
9:09 the way that your child’s microbiome shapes and develops especially in the first few years of life those very
9:16 formative years really informs how their immune system will function We know that
9:22 disruption to the gut microbiome early on can disrupt the gut immune system connection and significantly increase
9:28 the risk for your kids developing eczema or asthma or any allergic disease And
9:33 then we think about the gut brain connection and and if you have kids you know that when they’re babies or they’re
9:38 toddlers you literally every day are like “Oh my gosh they’re a different kid Their brain is exploding right?” Well
9:45 that brain explosion of connections is really informed by how their gut microbiome is also exploding in their
9:52 microbiome diversity and function And any disruption to the gut microbiome
9:57 early on can also significantly increase the risk for mental health concerns in
10:02 your kids by the time they’re older whether they’re older kids or teenagers And we know we have an epidemic of
10:08 anxiety We’ve had that and it’s worsening And you know the the question that you asked is so important How do
10:15 our kids microbiomes become disrupted because if we know how they become disrupted then we know as parents and
10:21 practitioners where to intervene right you know where can we move the needle and make a difference The number one
10:28 reason for kind of immediate acute disruption to the microbiome are
10:34 antibiotics And not just antibiotics but medications in general because we now
10:39 know that you know there are many many medications besides antibiotics in and I’m including also
10:46 actually in this pile endocrine disruptors right environmental toxins all of these are known to have a
10:52 significant effect on your gut microbiome negatively and in fact many
10:57 medications will preferentially kill off the good bacteria your probiotics in
11:03 your gut and keep the not such good things like maybe um you know too much
11:08 klebsella or citroacttor which are not bacteria we want to have a lot of or an overgrowth of yeast or whatever it might
11:15 be Other medications that can um really disrupt the microbiome include things
11:20 like ant acid medications or um uh anti-histamines both of which are pretty
11:26 and steroids which are very commonly used in childhood And then as they get older our our young girls our our
11:33 teenagers who are on birth control pills um that can disrupt the gut microbiome and then then uh you know for their
11:39 anxiety they’re placed on SSRI anti-depressants So we have medications but there are also other factors because
11:45 sometimes these medications we need them right and so I mean a lot of times there are other ways that we can manage um but
11:52 we know our our standard American diet all of these ultrarocessed foods and the the food additives and um there’s a
11:59 category of of um processed chemicals called emulsifiers which are things that
12:06 are put into food to keep your food from becoming a goopy mess And you will find them your kids will find them if we
12:12 teach them how to look um in um protein bars in ice cream in you know ketchup
12:19 and barbecue sauces and salad dressings um even the ones that are that look
12:25 quote healthy right even in liquid infant formula And so we have to be savvy as parents And then I think
12:31 another area that that um a lot of pe not enough people are talking about is the impact on the microbiome of chronic
12:39 psychological stress And that is an area that is so important um even in our our
12:45 little ones of course our middle school and high schoolers and even for us as adults Um psychological stress can
12:52 create the same can actually trigger leaky gut and can cause an abnormal
12:58 balance of bacteria to overgrow um called gut dispiosis for the listeners
13:04 And so um figuring out where in this picture we can intervene as parents and
13:10 also educate and empower our kids is really important We need to make um as you said I mean I call it microbiome
13:16 magic in the book We need to make microbiome magic a daily thing so that
13:22 whatever comes your way whether it’s an unavoidable round of medications or um
13:28 it’s you know uh a high stress time at home or at school their microbiomes stay
13:34 more resilient and they can bounce back from whatever is going on Yeah So what I heard you say is what I
13:41 tell all adults too right so antibiotics are the huge disruptor of of gut health
13:47 especially in kids And when you think about kids you know I have parents tell me this all the time Well my kids’s always sick so they need antibiotics No
13:54 they usually don’t They usually have viruses And what they need is for you to fix their gut so that they get a good
14:02 immune system right and they can fight these things off But antibiotics ant acids so we talk about this in adults
14:08 how terrible it is because it changes the pH of your stomach And when your stomach pH changes a lot of things get
14:14 into our GI tract that we don’t want there And then it also changes how we digest food So we get more bad bacterial
14:21 overgrowth like staff and strep down in our gut And so that causes issues You said anti-histamines So these are like
14:28 allergy medications for people listening If your kids on a lot of you know alert or allegra um benadryil things like that
14:36 these are antihistamines Pepsid Um steroids too like you said so many you
14:41 know I live in Oklahoma the weather here is wild Um you know we have terrible
14:47 allergies and so lots of people are on steroids And then to your point birth control So I talk about this all the
14:52 time So many teenagers are put on birth control because they have irregular menstrual cycles or painful periods or
14:58 they have acne And instead of really like pulling back the covers and figuring out why is this happening what
15:03 are the causes which a lot of times are our diet or lack of sleep or high insulin or cortisol and stress we just
15:10 give kids medicine just like we do adults But that long term is is not good
15:15 And so that’s a problem And I think that you know you have this whole section in your book which I love Um I bookmarked
15:22 it So again another reason for you guys to get her book but she has this whole section towards the back where she talks
15:28 about integrative pediatric approach the top 25 acute childhood concerns And she goes through like well what do I do if
15:35 my kid has an ear rake and what are their you know what things can I give them for CRUD or for colds or flu or
15:41 respiratory issues that aren’t antibiotics and so it’s very helpful This is even helpful for adults like
15:47 because there are a lot of adults that want anti you know antibiotics Oh yeah Yeah Yeah I mean and to your to
15:56 your point um you know the the antibiotics I mean you just you said most of the time kids don’t need those
16:04 antibiotics because the vast majority of infections they have are viral viral
16:10 respiratory infections viral stomach flu whatever it is And in some studies up to
16:15 70% of antibiotic prescriptions written for kids were inappropriately prescribed
16:22 And so I’m not saying never ever do antibiotics There is a time and a place It’s just
16:28 that most of the time if we step back antibiotic prescriptions are are more
16:34 likely a prescription of convenience in a busy busy practice or busy ER and not
16:40 really um going to a help your kids get better faster because chances are they have a virus and b there can be
16:47 long-term consequences to their gut microbiome which then increase their risk later on of developing you know
16:53 mental health concerns or immune concerns And so we need to if your child is on
16:58 antibiotics even if it’s way in the past we want to think okay how do I restore
17:04 their microbiome that’s the first and most important thing because if you restore their microbiome just like for
17:09 adult patients a lot of things fall into place And for kids they actually fall back into place easier faster because
17:16 they don’t have those years of toxicity building up like adults do Right
17:25 Yeah So talk to me about I want to go back to the Vegas nerve at some point but we can finish this conversation The
17:30 five things that create a microbiome magic everyday you know whole gut resilience program that you talk about
17:37 in the book Can you kind of explain that to people this five steps that you can take to help your kid fix their
17:43 microbiome Because again for listeners if you’re thinking “Oh my gosh this doesn’t apply to me I’m not a child or have one.” This pretty much applies to
17:50 adults too But so go ahead Yeah Yeah Absolutely Well and I want
17:56 this to be a family affair I’ve had teenagers and and adults read parts of the book and be like “Wow I didn’t
18:02 realize that you know even though I thought I was living a really healthy lifestyle and eating you know really
18:08 clean I didn’t realize that even for for me there were little tweaks I could make
18:14 that are simple practical doable that can really um create even more balance
18:19 and resilience to my microbiome.” So I call them the five things for microbiome magic And if you look in there’s a
18:26 diagram of a wheel and the five things are in a wheel because in a wheel it doesn’t matter where you start right you
18:32 just start somewhere and the wheel keeps moving forward And these five things I did not want to I mean I’m a mom myself
18:38 I’ve I now they’re I have teenage kids and uh you know we don’t want to add on
18:45 more to your plate as a kid or a teenager or or as a an adult And so
18:52 these five things are five things that we already do every single day But if we learn how to do them in a way that
18:57 creates microbiome magic we will be so much healthier and happier now and on into the future So the first part is
19:04 nourish which is how we feed ourselves in our microbiome And food matters You
19:10 know within just a matter of days of eating a an ultrarocessed standard American diet your microbiome shifts for
19:18 the worse On the other hand just a couple of days of eating a clean you know more gut friendly diet can shift
19:25 your microbiome back to a healthier pattern So it really matters And um yeah
19:31 so we have those five things right so when we think about you know what we want to eat we have to think about
19:38 there’s two parts to this What do you want to get in what do you want to keep out and you know for some families it
19:45 might be easier to think about what you keep out Because for instance if you have a kiddo who you know is um very
19:50 picky and you’re like there’s no way I’m going to get anything green on their plate right now Okay that’s okay If
19:56 they’re eating mostly packaged foods then keeping out is one of the most important things And I and I teach in
20:03 the book how to learn how to be a food label gut hero detective Right this is a
20:10 skill that all kids teenagers and adults should have And even when we’re buying something that says organic or you know
20:17 gluten-free or whole grain or whatever it is you have to turn the package over
20:22 and look at the back and look to see how much added sugar there is Look at the ingredient list Identify I have a list
20:29 of of the top um food additives to avoid that really wreak microbiome havoc And
20:37 and I give really concrete examples Like for instance my son I mean his friends Takis are all the thing You know the
20:43 artificial red dye monosodium glutamate rolled corn tortilla chips that I wish they would just ban from the market but
20:50 his friends eat Takis and he knows that he doesn’t feel well after he eats Takis
20:55 except you know he still wants them because he’s his friends go out now he’s a teenager and they’ll go out and get
21:01 lunch and you know get a bag of chips with their lunch And so we’ve gone through the exercise of okay let’s look
21:06 at labels I I would like you to be able to enjoy chips with your friends but how about let’s pick something that tastes
21:12 just as good and is not going to be harmful for your gut microgram or your
21:17 brain And so in the book I give examples of literally what we did Like we looked at Takis and you could see all of the
21:23 ingredients You’re like “Oh my gosh there’s 50 ingredients in here and it says artificial and dye and all the
21:28 things right?” And then you know you move over and Trader Joe’s which a lot of people have Trader Joe’s in their
21:34 neighborhoods They have a rolled corn tortilla chip chili lime flavor that’s
21:39 better It’s I mean it’s cleaner right it still has some seed oils and it’s not perfect but it’s it’s better Like if
21:45 that’s his choice right that’s what he has But then you move over to there’s Pocky’s and then the Ciiete and even
21:52 better right so the Ciiete Fuego chips right so so he can he can then learn how
21:59 to make those choices whether it’s a bag of chips he’s looking for or whether it’s a hydration drink that he’s looking
22:05 for that’s not Gatorade or Prime or whatever other junk that’s on the market
22:11 right so learning how to be savvy because at some point he’s going to be out of the home I mean he is now right
22:17 he’s making his own choices but at some point he is going to be making all of his grocery shopping decisions on his
22:22 own So I think teaching your kids how to read food labels is one of the most
22:28 important life skills that we can give as we kind of push them out the door Um and then you know if we’re thinking
22:34 about what we want to get in we um in the book I call the microbiome champions So really thinking about how do we in a
22:41 fun way make your meals pop with plants on purpose So just each meal what do you
22:48 you know our microbiome champions are fiber phytonutrients which is color and
22:53 fermented foods So every meal how can we make it pop with with another plant because these are all plant-based foods
23:00 that our microbiome needs So if you’re having a bowl of oatmeal in the morning great How about adding some like pumpkin
23:06 seeds on there some dried raisins um if you have you know some flax seeds A lot
23:13 of us have these things in our cupboard we’re just not thinking of putting them on because we’re kind of in a rush So
23:18 then just pause make it pop a little and that’s going to help your your gut microbiome
23:23 I like that Yes So more of a and I I I agree with that Like a lot of people
23:29 will tell me like “Well my kids definitely won’t eat that They won’t eat that They won’t Well then avoid some things.” I like that So instead of
23:35 focusing on what trying to force them to eat we’ll just make sure we’re not giving them a bunch of toxins because if you don’t give them a bunch of toxins
23:40 they don’t have to clear it And then I also like how you talk about you know the steps So breathing is really
23:46 important which brings us back to the Vegas nerve So I was going to say when you were talking about the Vegas nerve I
23:52 actually so I’m I have a book that’s going to come out this year too And it’s sort of similar to this but it’s based
23:57 on it’s the theory of the book or what we talk about is how everything
24:02 including hormones affects your gut So it’s very tied to gut health but it’s teaching people how testosterone and
24:08 estrogen and melatonin and insulin and cortisol all the things it does to your gut because a lot of people don’t realize that right so like when you go
24:15 into menopause it changes your gut One of the things I talk about in the book though is how I was so shocked last year
24:22 to find all of these people who have pretty good-looking guts I do gut studies right so they don’t have a ton
24:29 of you know like it doesn’t look awful but they have a terribly leaky gut Um so
24:36 their zulin is sky-high Their secrettory IG is sometimes low And they just have this terrible leaky gut appearance
24:43 Sometimes dispiosis but not always And when I look at their labs everything is pretty good These aren’t insulin
24:49 resistant people They might not even have Hashes but these are typea attorney
24:55 doctor stressed out people who just like stress literally I can show you will
25:02 just kill your gut And a lot of these people have significant constipation or diarrhea issues which goes with vag
25:09 nerve issues And so I have a health coach that they work with now who literally will just make them think
25:15 about like chewing their food 15 times and taking you know breasts before eating and different things like that
25:21 and you will like the things that I hear from these people it’s shocking like my constipation went away and it’s all
25:27 because your vag nerve is so like it intervate your whole gut right and your
25:32 hormones play a part in that too So when you you know you have this whole section in your book about the Vegas nerve I was
25:38 intrigued with that because I was like “Yes I see this in adults all the time.” And it makes sense too right like a a
25:44 lot of kids who have just debilitating anxiety and depression A lot of times if you think about it they’ll have a lot of
25:49 gut issues too right they’ll either have issues where they don’t want to eat or when they eat their stomach hurts or
25:54 they’re having diarrhea And so to your point I think you know we don’t think about how much this stress or everything
26:03 subconsciously or what we’re doing actually affects our gut Um which is why I wanted to write this book So talk
26:09 about that a little bit more like the Vegas nerve and then we can talk about why breathing and relaxing and mindset
26:15 is so important for building this resilient microbiome I can’t wait for your book I mean it’s it’s so important
26:22 and I love I love that you have a health coach that’s dedicated to really working with parents with adults on this because
26:30 we need to really as practitioners emphasize that one of the most important prescriptions you can give as a
26:37 practitioner is vag nerve work I mean that will pull a lot of the pieces
26:42 together So work on your microbiome work on your vag nerve I mean those are the two priorities And instead of trying to
26:50 you know fine-tune and correct every single you know nutrient imbalance or you know every single organic acid
26:56 marker that’s off focus on those things And psychological stress can trigger
27:03 zulin release within an hour It’s fascinating And so you know we’re looking at all of these other you know
27:10 toxins and foods and things Absolutely we need to look at those But when we’re looking at psychological stress that is
27:17 one of the areas that we need to focus on for our kids and for our teenagers and for our and for our parents because
27:23 so many parents in my practice have not learned how to manage stress in a healthy way And so it’s going to be
27:30 virtually impossible to help their kids learn how to manage stress in an
27:35 appropriate way And I mean and the other thing too that I really I mean I have a whole chapter on the Vegas nerve in my
27:42 book It’s that important And I always emphasize with kids and with parents that stress is not a bad thing in and of
27:52 itself right just like you know we talk about how inflammation is it’s not a bad thing It’s just that when we have too
27:58 much of it right and there’s a reason to have some stress And I feel you know nowadays there’s so much stress
28:05 avoidance Oh I don’t want my kids to be stressed Stress is so bad I’m so stressed Well stress is your body
28:11 telling you “Okay you’re getting ready for something.” But when that thing happens then you just have to learn how
28:16 to how to manage that and balance out your fight orflight stress response with
28:23 your parasympathetic vag nerve rest digest and restore response And when we
28:31 look at something called heart rate variability which I’m sure many of your listeners are familiar with maybe they
28:36 have an aura ring that tracks it or they have a Whoop or their Apple Watch right
28:41 um but heart rate variability is one of the best markers that we have to look at
28:47 Vegas nerve functioning It’s also one of the best predictors of current and
28:53 future health even for children And what we found there was actually a cardiologist who starting in the 80s um
29:01 started looking at heart rate variabilities in children and followed them through the decades So it’s it’s just it’s a short period of time but he
29:08 found that even in that short period of time our kids in overall heart rate variabilities have been declining Their
29:16 v our vag nerves are not working as well as it should and I’m sure the same thing
29:21 is happening with adults And when our heart rate variability and our vagus nerve are not working appropriately that
29:28 has a direct impact on the gut microbiome On the flip side what’s
29:34 fascinating is when we can improve heart rate variability in children and do more vagus nerve work that’s been found to
29:42 improve gut microbiome diversity and functioning in children independent of diet And I love that right you know I’m
29:50 not saying you can eat all the junk you want and meditate your way out of it right but it’s still if your kids if
29:55 you’re like “Oh I don’t know if I can change your diet yet.” Then don’t create more stress in your life Work on some of
30:03 these other tools And a lot of the tools that we use to engage your vag nerve
30:08 they’re free You can do them anywhere anytime I mean there are some devices that I might recommend you know for kids
30:14 who you know really um need to have their vag pushed a little bit more but
30:20 things like breath work as you said chewing and breathing before you eat um
30:27 being mindful and just aware um walking in nature Uh there’s gratitude and
30:34 journaling There’s um tapping emotional freedom technique Um there’s you can
30:40 learn how to use cognitive behavioral tools One of my favorite series of books is by one of my friends She’s a
30:46 psychologist Don Heapner and she wrote a whole series of what to do books for
30:53 kids kind of like self-help books for kids to teach them cognitive behavioral tools And CBT has been shown to also
31:00 improve heart rate variability Her book is what her first book was called What to Do When You Worry Too Much And even
31:06 parents when they read they’re like I’m going to use these tools for myself right so I don’t even call it for kids
31:13 now um mindfulness or meditation because still unfortunately in this day and age
31:18 that puts it on the realm for most people is I’m going to that’s kind of an optional I’m going to do that later
31:24 first I want to take the supplements right and so so f so I I really explain
31:29 to kids what their vagus nerve is how important it is um in age appropriate terms and say look this this
31:36 prescription to do Vegas nerve work every day is one of the best ways to get
31:42 healthier and also stay healthier right because I’m sure I mean we all as
31:48 functional medicine practitioners will will see patients where you know yay we’ve we’ve fixed their gut we’ve given
31:54 supplements you know maybe their autoimmunity is um has been reversed and they feel great but then the stress
32:01 starts creeping back in and you know all the things and they you know and the
32:07 symptoms start coming back right so so if you want lasting healing whether
32:12 you’re a kid or adult the vagus nerve is that missing piece it is the piece that we really need to prioritize
32:20 Yeah No I couldn’t I couldn’t agree more And I the more like functional medicine I get into you know the sicker patients
32:27 that come to you and I’m privileged blessed and sometimes frustrated with some of the people who that come right
32:33 because it’s like I’ve seen 10 doctors and I mean I have some really really sick patients sometimes And what I find
32:39 is that a lot of times those really really sick patients have a lot of Vegas nerve work to do Um and if you ask them
32:46 questions and here’s how So like here this is what I tell people So if you’re listening to this right now think about
32:52 the answer to these questions today Today currently have you checked in with
32:57 yourself and by that I mean have you said to yourself Cassie how do you feel today how you know have you taken one
33:03 minute to say you know are you hydrated did you get enough sleep does anything hurt are you hungry do you you know like
33:11 people don’t normally do that especially women were really bad about it And so when I started actually doing these
33:17 things cuz I never did this either right one of my favorite things to do is set somewhere It doesn’t matter You can do this anywhere Sometimes I do it at work
33:23 like when I have a second set somewhere and I literally in my mind like think okay my right little toe I feel that and
33:32 then my fourth toe and then my third toe and then my second toe and then my first toe and then my foot and then my ankle
33:38 and then my calf Like just literally feel every single part of your body but think about it and sometimes you’re like
33:45 “Wow my back really hurts or my,” you know but we just go go like we never really let all that set in and that’s
33:51 not a good thing right um to your point it can be a good thing for a day or two but a lot of people have become
33:56 accustomed to that and just not listening to that And the other point is like when you actually start doing vagus
34:02 nerve work and and getting better I tell people this all the time like you’ll be shocked like your body actually absorbs
34:08 nutrients and it absorbs all those expensive supplements that you’re taking and it absorbs your protein and all
34:14 those hormones I’m giving you and all the peptide you know whatever you’re putting in your body If your vag nerve
34:20 is never allowed to relax then you’re not going to absorb most of that anyway
34:25 So it’s kind of a waste of time right like it’s um and so I tell people this
34:32 all the time like unless your Vegas nerve can calm down and take that and it’s just really sad because to your
34:38 point like I think that we have all these kids that are in this like go go go go because of social media and because of their parents and because
34:44 their parents never learned you know I so I’m a functional medicine endocrinologist I just kind of got in
34:50 the functional medicine space two years ago but until I was about 36 years old I never did any of that either I never
34:57 went to yoga I never meditated I never did breath work I sure as heck never sat and asked myself how I felt like you
35:03 know it’s just like go go go go go And when you start doing it it’s just very
35:08 interesting how different you feel right it’s just so different Like prime
35:14 example I am a workout like morning workout person right i work out about five to six days a week I just do I
35:20 always have I lift weights I’m have a trainer This morning I’m not even kidding you I woke up at like 5:15 And I
35:27 normally wake up without an alarm I woke up at 5:15 this morning and I sat up and I was like I just don’t feel very good
35:33 And so I went and sat in front of my red light like I normally do and I read um a scripture like I have a scripture that I
35:39 read every morning And then when I was done I was just like sitting there and I was like “My back hurts and my arm hurts
35:46 and my shoulder hurts and I was just kind of thinking and I was like you know I worked out pretty hard on Sunday and Monday and and yes and Tuesday and I
35:54 just hadn’t really taken a day off.” And so I literally picked up my phone and I texted my trainer and I said “I’m not
36:00 going to come today I’m happy to pay you but I just don’t feel well I think I’m going to stretch.” And so I did some yoga this morning and I kind of
36:06 stretched and I’m so happy that I did because I have a busy day and I feel so much better Three years ago I would have
36:12 been like “Eh I’m going you know like doesn’t matter I’m going I’m going to go.” Yeah And so like as an adult you
36:19 have to kind of start listening to your body and doing that Um and because of that like I said my stress level has
36:26 been not high this morning I feel great I probably digested my breakfast much better Um you know it’s just it but you
36:32 have to like actually listen to yourself And the problem is I think that people I say this all the time like if you don’t
36:38 listen to your body when it whispers you’re going to be in big trouble when it starts screaming right um and I think
36:44 that there’s just so much noise you know that we don’t listen or we have so many things to do and then kids see that
36:49 unfortunately right so kids are like sponges and everything you do they want to do right and so to your point like if
36:56 adults don’t know how to deal with their stress they don’t know how to read food labels they don’t I mean your kids are
37:01 going to that’s what they’re going to see That’s what they’re going to do right and they’re going to internalize a
37:07 lot of that too right like if um and so it’s just I think it’s so important not
37:12 only for adults but obviously for kids too because this is our generation of the people that are going to take care
37:18 of us right and so we we want them to be healthy and happy and we obviously want better for them than ourselves right
37:24 most parents that’s what they’ll tell you But it’s like we have to teach them a lot of this right and so your Vegas
37:30 nerve is so important So it’s so important I’m so glad you’re you’re
37:35 bringing awareness to this And I love that um idea of just sitting and
37:41 noticing your whole body you know from from your toes all the way to the top of
37:46 your head because that is something that I mean children in general when they’re younger are less in tune with their
37:52 sensations and maybe don’t recognize when they’re getting hungry or when they’re full or or when they’re tired
37:58 But as they get older if we start to teach them how to tune in check in and and really notice what feels right for
38:05 them what doesn’t it helps them to make better informed decisions about whatever
38:12 they’re choosing whether they’re choosing you know a boba tea or um or to
38:18 stay up you know all night because they want to you know chat with their friends or play video games or whatever it is If
38:25 we if we have them be aware of just paying attention to when they do X Y or
38:31 Z how does my brain and my body feel and if it’s a I feel great okay we know that
38:38 If it’s a I feel sluggish and I’m cranky and I’m not so good the next day then at
38:43 least they can make an informed decision when they choose to you know do whatever
38:49 it is that probably we’re cringing at but eventually they have to make their own decisions And so I love I love that
38:55 I love you know having them really pay attention I mean there that’s part of just being aware of what’s going on
39:01 around you and being able to stop and be in the moment and pay attention to your
39:06 body and your surroundings because we don’t do that enough As you said we’re just kind of run running around and not
39:12 listening to our internal cues and our external cues and and eventually we pay for it Yeah So from a kids perspective
39:21 like you know I talk on this podcast a lot about adults So I say you know yoga or even just stretching um going for a
39:29 walk outside you know I call it tea time with Cassie where I just sat like 30
39:34 minutes and you know how are you feeling did you have your supplements are you thirsty do you need you know just asking
39:40 yourself questions like what else is there anything different that kids can do like what do you recommend for kids
39:45 as far as like working on their vag nerve m so I mean we need to make it fun
39:51 and you know not long right because you know to have kids sit there and think
39:56 that they’re going to do 30 minutes of meditation I mean that even feels long for me right and so you know just just
40:03 really trying to and also not something that is um that takes them away from a
40:09 lot of their activities So what I’m what I mean by that is we want to have it be something you can incorporate in your
40:15 everyday routines So you know having a gratitude practice at you know at night
40:20 time where you just go through all the things that that um you know went really well during the day because our brains
40:27 unfortunately have a negativity bias where we tend to remember the negative way more than the positive So really
40:34 prioritizing that There’s actually there’s a fun um um exercise too that
40:40 you can you can do this It’s called a rose a thorn and a bud It’s really
40:45 having kids think okay what were some of the roses today what were some of the really great things that happened um
40:52 that made me feel good made me feel happy what were the thorns and there’s probably for some kids there’s lots of
40:58 thorns right because they tend to see everything glass half empty All right let’s talk about the thorns Now let’s
41:03 see what are the buds in this whole opport you know these are the opportunities that arose a lot of times
41:09 because of those thorns right and so you know just having shifting their mindset
41:15 to really focusing on um you know some of the um uh brighter opportunities And
41:21 what’s really interesting even from an epigenetic standpoint so you know many
41:27 of your listeners are familiar with epigenetics our genes are not written in stone It’s what we put into our our
41:34 bodies our brains you know what we drink eat all of that that we’re exposed to that can shift how certain genes will
41:41 either work for us or against us and the power of mindset and the power of being
41:49 able to see something positive even in a negative situation some silver lining
41:55 that’s actually been shown to positively affect your epigenetics and reduce in
42:00 children the risks of later developing things like diabetes or cardiovascular disease It’s fascinating So we can’t
42:08 just we don’t want to dismiss when something awful has happened but at the same time we want to we don’t want to
42:14 sit and just just reinforce that over and over again right so that’s one thing
42:20 you can do One of the most important things I think that kids um and adults for that matter can learn how to do is
42:26 just breathe the right way And um breathing that the the chapter is called
42:31 breathe because we have to breathe every day but most of us are not breathing in a way that engages our vag nerve And
42:38 when we think about our vagus nerve and and what happens when we’re um stressed
42:43 out you know pupils dilate heart starts to beat faster blood pressure goes up a
42:49 little bit and our our sympathetic nervous system is activated Now when our vag nerve kicks in our heart rate starts
42:55 to slow down pupils can start you know constricting to a normal level right but
43:01 you cannot tell your pupils to get smaller or your heart rate to slow down
43:06 right there’s nothing you can do in that moment to to tell your vag nerve I need you to kick in except for your
43:13 breath Diaphragmatic belly breathing breath work is the only direct line to
43:19 your vagus nerve that you actually have control over because immediately by slowing down your breath not breathing
43:24 with your shoulders expanding the balloon in your belly when you’re breathing fully in
43:31 slowly and exhaling you’re you’re deflating the balloon fully Simply
43:37 slowing your breath kicks in your vagus nerve your heart rate starts to slow
43:42 down and we start to feel more calm So if we can learn how to do that you can
43:49 you’re breathing all the time It doesn’t look different Kids don’t have to go to another room and sit and meditate You
43:55 know they nobody has to know what they’re doing if they’re stressed that a friend just sent them a mean text or
44:01 maybe they have an exam or a baseball game and they’re super anxious about it They just have to sit there and learn
44:07 how to engage their breath slow it down And this is where paying attention as you said to your body going inward into
44:14 your lungs and really imagining everything fully expanding and then everything fully deflating And I you
44:21 know that is really it’s so powerful and yet it’s so simple and it’s the simplest
44:26 things that can make the most profound impacts It’s just that you have to do it I can’t give you a breathing pill right
44:33 you have to learn how to do this on your own And so you know having having these and it’s it’s um you know it’s it’s an
44:41 interesting thing and sometimes a little funny when I’m talking to teaching kids and parents how to do belly breathing or
44:47 diaphragmatic breathing It’s fascinating watching some adults and kids kind of
44:52 looking looking at their chest and figuring out their belly and you know trying to figure out where what should
44:58 move and what shouldn’t move because we’ve lost our ability to just naturally
45:04 breathe right you know we’re sucking in our tummies so that we’re not pooching out and and we’re so we’re anxious So
45:10 our shoulders are tense and we’re just breathing up in our shoulders with just the top part of our lungs And so we’re
45:17 almost inadvertently keeping ourselves in a sympathetic fight orflight state by not
45:24 allowing you know this this full breathing to happen So and there’s some other tips in the book but that I would
45:30 say is the easiest thing that you can start immediately right yeah I tell people this all the time Breathing is so
45:36 like I use it all the time I use it first thing in the morning when I cold plunge because when I cold plunge like
45:41 that’s how I make it through It’s shock I tell people this all the time They look at me like I’m crazy I literally
45:47 can make my body warmer by breathing a certain way Like you can it’s been proven Um but then I tell people this
45:54 too like throughout the day uh my staff says to me a lot of times like “How do you remain calm all the time you’re
45:59 always so calm Like doesn’t matter what’s going on.” um you know they’ll they’ll come to me with issues or
46:05 patients you know I take care of hormonal women so there are days where people are crying and angry um and they
46:12 say to me a lot like how you know my nurse practitioner in my PA will say how do you always stay calm and I’m like oh
46:17 you have no idea what’s going through my head no the the truth is breathing like I’ve learned that you know what happens
46:24 in your life and situation like you know you you have a choice of how you react to it but um 10 years ago and you can
46:31 ask my therap as she would tell you I would have imploded But what I do now is I just breathe right and so if you ever
46:38 really watch me like some of the people that come in the room with me um some of the people that help me take notes and scribe for me they can tell like if
46:45 you’re watching me breathing you can kind of tell like oh she’s breathing a little heavier than she normally Your
46:51 breath it is fascinating what it does And if you like I started doing Pilates
46:56 and yoga within the last year I’m doing a lot more yoga this year which is hard for me because it’s so slow But when you
47:02 breathe really deeply it’s shocking how different your body moves too right like when you take really big breaths how
47:08 much you can stretch out and how much longer you are And so it’s true and it’s all free And it’s just we forgot how to
47:14 do it Um and you can teach kids how to do it too And it’s one of the best coping mechanisms is just breathing So I
47:21 like that you brought that up too I have a couple more questions I want to ask you though kind of I that I know people
47:27 bring up And one of them is is there any tricks that you have to get kids to eat
47:32 certain foods or certain food groups that maybe they refuse to eat so if we have those kids that you know have an
47:38 anxiety or ADHD or autism and they just refuse to eat anything green or any
47:43 vegetable is there like any sort of tip that you have to help those parents yeah I mean some sometimes um
47:51 uh for some kids who have any sort of neurodedevelopmental neuroscychiatric concern there may be you know real
47:58 sensory issues and oral aversions that need to be worked on I will give one tip
48:03 though across the board I mean I’m not going to say every single patient
48:08 However almost all of my kiddos who are very picky and whether it’s taste or
48:14 texture or smell around food or clothing or sounds like public toilet or the
48:21 blender um almost all of them will turn around and improve if you give them a
48:27 little extra zinc Because zinc deficiency or insufficiency can change
48:32 how foods taste can change how you process auditory sounds and can change your whole sensory system And in fact I
48:40 have um um a friend who um she’s become a friend now and I was down in Southern
48:45 California doing a podcast with her and she said that she had listened to me at one point talking about zinc deficiency
48:51 in kids and she was like “Oh my gosh my I’m checking off the box you know each
48:57 box with my kid You know they get sick a lot They don’t like loud sounds The the seams on their socks bother them you
49:03 know they don’t they’re picky eaters and and so and maybe they have a little eczema.” And so kind of on and on and on
49:10 And so she decided to try some zinc And she bought you know one of the um
49:15 over-the-c counter liquid zincs And she said within two weeks I mean her kid was eating maybe three different foods like
49:21 one brand of chicken nugget and and you know mac and cheese right within two
49:26 weeks her daughter was interested in trying new foods which was that that
49:32 alone was huge right even if it was just like a little taste on the tongue and she said you know after a month she was
49:39 eating a much wider variety even having some vegetables So now that’s a really
49:44 remarkable you know story But I mean I hear that all the time that just zinc alone can make a huge difference So I
49:51 would encourage you you know if you have kids who are really picky um either
49:56 assess you know get blood testing done to see what their zinc levels are because sometimes it is shockingly low
50:02 their red blood cell zinc um or um or you can always maybe presumptively try
50:09 to supplement The reason why I like to check a red blood cell zinc is because like I said some kids are very very low
50:16 and it can be surprising how much zinc they need to actually get to optimal levels Um but otherwise you know you can
50:22 you can start and if you’re if you’re not seeing a difference that’s when I would say maybe check because it may be that your kids need a lot more than that
50:28 So that’s one little pearl Now the other thing that you know with with trying different foods we have to start where
50:35 your kids are at So if your kids are you know not having any any fruits or
50:40 vegetables on their plate well you know we still have it in front of them That’s key because access will increase the
50:48 likelihood that at some point they’re going to try it You know we still have it on the table and we make our meals a
50:54 little longer I mean that’s one tip There was a study that found that just 10 minutes more at the table not on your
51:00 screens right 10 minutes more at the table increased fruit and vegetable
51:06 consumption in kids And so you know having it there and just lingering a
51:12 little bit I mean that’s one thing that we can all do Um the power of the family meal is huge you know for
51:17 self-confidence and even for academic outcomes and and you know healthier eating habits Um if your kids are eating
51:26 some a little bit right let’s say they like broccoli right well okay If they
51:31 like it raw then and they like the crunch we’ll then we’re going to try to
51:36 move on to maybe a crunchier food not go from you know broccoli’s to a crunchy
51:44 raw broccoli to steamed Brussels sprouts I mean different flavor different texture So we’re working on one thing at
51:49 a time whether it’s a flavor or a texture Like let’s say they love French fries Okay Well let’s then try let’s I
51:56 mean right who doesn’t right or tater tots right let’s then instead of going from that to you know a kale salad move
52:04 on to let’s try some you know um sweet potato tater tots or yukar root tater
52:10 tots or you know you can have um cauliflower tater tots I mean just same
52:16 texture but now we’re moving to different flavor slightly different And it might mean that they take one like
52:24 like I said for some kids it’s literally just a little touch on the tongue and that’s all they’re going to do at first
52:30 and then the next week maybe they are um putting a little bit in their mouth and they’re spitting it out right and maybe
52:36 the next week they’re slowly swallowing it So we Yeah that reminds me too Um we have a my dad has a long story but a
52:44 little girl that kind of lives with him part of the time and he helps take care of and she’s now almost four but
52:50 whenever we whenever we have her try food we have a game that we play So cuz she’s very picky So the game is you have
52:57 to try it I don’t care how much how little but you have to try it and then you have to give me a up or a down I
53:02 want to know is it good or is it bad you know and so that’s her thing is she’ll try it and she’ll either or and so
53:09 that’s the game It’s like you have to try it and you can either give a thumb up or a thumbs down but we try it and so
53:14 kind of incorporating stuff like that with kids I think too is helpful right absolutely yeah you want to make it I
53:21 mean you do you will not win a battle around food
53:26 with your kids right so because you cannot force them to eat something so
53:32 and sometimes it’s really you know if you’re feeling so stressed about what they’re eating and food becomes you know
53:38 this awful experience for you Sometimes the best thing is just to completely back off you know for for a little bit
53:45 while you work on your own experience with feeding your kid and food and and
53:52 just really be able to come to the table in a calm way Because here’s the other thing our kids are so in tune with you
53:59 know how we’re feeling especially especially with their moms that they will we co-regulate right and so if you
54:07 are at the table and you’re in fight or flight and your heart’s racing and you’re like “Please please please just take one bite their heart’s going to
54:14 start racing and they’re going to feel like this is an unsafe situation.” And I don’t want that So we have to be able to
54:20 be calm at the table not be wedded to any particular outcome in that moment
54:26 and know that we’re working towards a larger goal So that’s really important And as you said we have to make it um
54:32 fun and enjoyable because I mean we’re not gonna um I mean even for adults
54:37 right anything any habit we want to stick it’s got to be enjoyable right it’s got to be something that that’s fun
54:44 and doable and something that we want to keep doing Games like that I think you know like we’ll play with her like okay
54:49 well there’s only six blueberries on the table and blueberries you know make your skin pretty make your whatever I’m going
54:56 to eat one of them Okay there’s five left Who wants them but this is all we have So you know if you want you know so
55:01 like playing games like that like are you sure some of those you know because they’re kids but okay So I think those
55:08 are great tips Um I want to Well one thing you just said also is really important You just said “Oh well
55:14 blueberries you know they’re really good for your skin or whatever it is right?” But we help kids connect the dots And
55:19 this is especially important as kids get older because they’re not going to eat something just because we said they’re healthy But wow if it actually makes
55:26 them break out less or it makes them you know be faster you know on the soccer
55:32 field or remember their school play lines better Yeah Then then they’re
55:37 going to make different choices because it’s actually helping them reach the goals they want Yeah Or if you remember
55:42 how this morning when we tried to get up and go to school and you were really tired and you didn’t feel good and you were cranky that’s because you ate that
55:49 ice cream last night you know like so good or bad like relating it back and helping them connect the dots So
55:56 speaking of connecting the dots I have we don’t have to go into a tangent on this but I want like a threeish minute
56:03 answer So about there’s so much on the internet about kids and vaccines and you
56:10 have this like no no one should ever have vaccines You have people like you should vaccinate kids all the time I
56:16 think there’s probably a happy medium but what are like to the people who say
56:22 like I’m never giving my child a vaccine because it causes autism or whatever You’re a very well-trained functional
56:29 medicine pediatric doctor What is your take in general on vaccines obviously we can’t talk about all of them but are you
56:36 in one of those severe camps or what is your thought on vaccines well I think people who gravitate towards me
56:42 gravitate towards me because I’m not on either of the extremes Um that really my
56:48 my goal is to empower parents to be able to make an informed decision for
56:53 themselves and their kids And I truly believe that parents should have that right I mean in some states they don’t
56:58 have that right Um but when it comes to vaccines there is something called
57:04 vaccinomics which looks at it’s it’s really a way of looking at our genetic snips we all are so unique in our
57:10 genetic makeup And so there’s this whole field of vaccin that looks at given your
57:16 genetic snips how do we make vaccines more effective for you now that’s vaccinomics That’s what you know vaccine
57:22 manufacturers are interested in and there are there are increasing studies on that There’s also another field
57:28 called adversomics which doesn’t have as many studies but is very important I
57:33 mean in this day and age where we can do some genetic snip testing we we need to move towards a point where we have more
57:40 precision vaccine guidance where based on our snips we know that your child is
57:45 the one who is the rare child who is more at risk for developing you know
57:51 autoimmunity or goneret or um eczema or whatever it is after a vaccine because
57:58 we know that these are theoretically possible outcomes Do most kids have these negative outcomes not at least for
58:04 the short term We don’t know long term right um but I do think that vaccines can help prevent um or reduce the uh
58:12 severity of um of many infections not all I mean we know that some vaccines
58:18 just don’t aren’t that effective For instance in the DTAP combination vaccine the whooping cough part is highly
58:25 ineffective which is why we see whooping cough outbreaks every year right so parents should understand that Um we
58:32 also know that certain vaccines um you know from clinical uh evidence and also what we can see in the literature there
58:39 are for some populations an increased risk of developing things like eczema
58:44 and asthma and allergies afterwards which is you know really high in our in our pediatric populations So we don’t
58:52 we’re not there yet with adversomics but I do try to work with families to um
58:57 really understand um the family background What are your kids’ risks do
59:03 you have a really strong family history of autoimmunity or autotopia you know eczema asthma allergies or
59:09 neurodedevelopmental concerns mental health concerns and then how do we think then about um uh slowing down the
59:18 vaccine schedule spacing them out maybe maybe considering um you know really
59:24 looking at also what uh infections your child may be at risk for contracting what other family members may be at risk
59:31 if your child were to get those diseases So it has to be personalized as you can see Like I I mean I I never give a
59:36 one-sizefits-all answer because that’s not functional medicine either you know it never one-sizefits-all Um so I mean I
59:44 it may sound a little wishy-washy but I have to go with the family right and
59:49 there are some I mean states like in California where if you want to go to school you don’t have a choice You have
59:55 to your kid has to be fully up todate with their vaccines or you homeschool or
1:00:02 you move out of the state right and for some families moving out of the state and homeschooling is just not an option
1:00:08 And so then I work with those families to very slowly try to pace it out And I give I give ba kids supplements you know
1:00:15 before and after to support their methylation support detoxification support mitochondria support um you know
1:00:23 healthy immune response Um it’s the same thing that I recommend for kids adults who are getting vaccines because we want
1:00:30 to support all those processes because we would like if you are choosing to get a
1:00:36 vaccine or you need to get a vaccine we would like you to have a benefit from it you know in trying to reduce the
1:00:41 likelihood of that infection and also not to have or really minimize your
1:00:47 chance of having adverse effects So to say that all vaccines are safe and effective or to say that no vaccines are
1:00:54 safe and effective are really I don’t see how you can blanketly say that I think that’s a very naive thing to say
1:01:01 and um and it’s not um it’s it’s also not good science to say that and good
1:01:07 medicine Um it really you know needs we need to take a more individualized approach I agree So I’m hearing is
1:01:13 individualized care which I think I agree with that too But I wanted to ask that because I know that a lot of people
1:01:19 um do you talk about that in the book at all vaccines I haven’t gotten it I don’t really you know it’s interesting I
1:01:25 actually do not talk about vaccines I mean I’ll talk about vaccines in podcasts and um and you know have
1:01:31 workshops around that you know master classes to really educate families Um but you know the very sad thing is the
1:01:38 vaccine issue is so polarizing and divisive that people make immediate
1:01:43 assumptions about you know what an individual may be like a
1:01:49 physician may be like uh simply by you know bringing up the vaccine topic one
1:01:54 way or the other So um I didn’t want to um devalue you know all the all the um
1:02:00 value in the book for families And I really also want to make sure that parents you know hopefully can find a
1:02:08 physician I know that’s hard but find a physician who can help guide them through u making vaccine choices for
1:02:14 their kids that they are comfortable with And also you know we need to be educating our kids too because at some
1:02:20 point they become adults who are going to make their own vaccine choices So it’s not something that we never discuss
1:02:26 with our kids either We need to talk to them about um really being their best
1:02:32 medical advocates and also how to discuss these things with their with their physicians No I completely agree
1:02:39 So I want to kind of transition to the questions that I ask all my my guests at
1:02:46 the end of every podcast I appreciate you taking the time to talk to me about all this is fascinating I could talk to
1:02:51 you for hours and hours because this is my my wheelhouse Soon we’ll have you back But
1:02:57 um just again I ask everyone this so don’t ever think it What is one food
1:03:03 that you feel is most beneficial and why i mean the first food that came to mind
1:03:08 my mind was kimchi So um it’s for I mean fermented
1:03:14 foods in general but I would say you know kimchi is really fascinating in particular There’s actually a kimchi research institute in Korea I’m Korean
1:03:21 by the way I grew up with kimchi Um but kimchi has been found to kill uh the
1:03:26 H1N1 flu virus in vitro and so many health benefits of of kimchi in
1:03:33 particular you know Now when we talk about fermented foods in general I mean fermented foods are really one of the
1:03:39 best ways to optimize your gut microbiome diversity Um even more than a
1:03:44 high-fiber diet I mean absolutely we need all need to get more fiber in right um but fermented foods have also been
1:03:50 found There was this one study in young women that found that eating fermented foods significantly reduced their social
1:03:57 anxiety Like that’s it No medications not even a probiotic supplement no no other supplements It was simply the
1:04:04 intervention of eating fermented foods So why not why not incorporate that into your diet so and in my book I actually
1:04:11 have a recipe because I know a lot of parents like I don’t know if my kids are going to eat you know kimchi and yet right we always say yet and they don’t
1:04:18 really like sauerkraut just yet Um but I have a recipe for fermented blackberry lemonade and fermented fruit that you
1:04:25 can make this It’s a little tangy but you can use it in your smoothies and you know on top of your pancakes or oatmeal
1:04:31 or whatever it is Awesome Okay I’ve never had anyone say kimchi so I like that What is one thing that anyone can
1:04:40 do that’s completely free that would benefit their health i think we talked about a lot but yeah I mean we mentioned
1:04:46 the breathe I would say another thing is is laughing more right having joy that’s completely free and you know laughing
1:04:53 has also been found to improve your heart rate variability so just you know a lot of us when we’re sitting you know
1:04:59 just at our desks or you know doing work or reading if we really stop and paid
1:05:04 attention we’re kind of frowning a lot of times right and so really making sure you have a soft face and and really you
1:05:11 know have a smile it changes your brain chemistry just to put a smile on your face Even if you’re faking it like even
1:05:17 if you feel you know if you’re like “Oh I’m seething on the inside.” But if you just make yourself smile you start to
1:05:23 relax a little bit And so I just I think having more joy in life is really one of the best things we can do Okay And the
1:05:30 last question what is one thing you wish you would have known about your health 20 years ago that you would have done
1:05:37 differently i wish I had known how important sleep is for my my mental and
1:05:44 physical and immune health Um you know even through going through you know pmenopause and
1:05:50 menopause it wasn’t actually hormones taking hormones or whatever it is that
1:05:55 made a difference It was prioritizing my sleep 100% I can make see a huge difference if I if I prioritize sleep or
1:06:03 if I don’t And honestly I was hoping that the hormones would be some sort of
1:06:08 magic bullet for fixing everything but it was I mean it it wasn’t It was the sleep So I wish someone had really
1:06:15 showed me 20 years ago I’m like “Wow I I I mean I’m healthy in general but could
1:06:20 you imagine how much how much better I would have felt if I actually prioritize sleep?” Yeah I completely agree Well Dr
1:06:28 song Thank you so much for coming on the Back to the Basics podcast and answering
1:06:33 all these questions Like I said I’m sure that people will have tons more so we
1:06:39 may have to have you back But if you guys don’t or have not heard of her book or gotten it make sure that you do that
1:06:44 We’ll link all of her stuff in the show notes She has a great social media platform and I would highly recommend
1:06:50 her book So thank you Wow So that interview was packed full of great
1:06:56 information her book Healthy Kids Happy Kids Definitely
1:07:01 need to get a copy you guys It’s such a great book Even as an adult there’s great stuff in there So I loved reading
1:07:07 it Uh I’m in the process of making my book And so it was just a great you know reference to go back and see how she did
1:07:14 it I think she did a wonderful wonderful job I hope that now you have some answers to some of the questions we
1:07:20 discussed You know what can we do to make our kids microbiome better what sort of foods can we incorporate how can
1:07:27 we incorporate those foods what do we do when our kids won’t eat the foods we want them to do we try to nag them do we
1:07:34 try to force it what do we do when we feel like our kids are stressed what are some ways we can help our kids cope with
1:07:40 that stress and so all these things are very important for building a microbiome And then as a parent what medication
1:07:47 should we really try to avoid in our kids and what can we do if we think that our kids need those medications so we
1:07:53 just covered a lot of things which I thought was awesome And a lot of these things are what I teach you guys with
1:07:59 adults Like you know birth control is not the answer Antibiotics are not always the answer although sometimes
1:08:04 they’re needed We really have to be careful with ant acids Stress and sleep are so important more so in our kids But
1:08:12 the other cool thing is I hope you guys took away from this Kids although they can have dysfunction with their gut and
1:08:18 and lots of health issues they are so much quicker to heal than adults So we really got to grab it grab these health
1:08:24 issues by the reinss and you know rein our kids in and really work on focusing on getting them healthier faster because
1:08:30 we can do that They haven’t had as much damage for so long But there are so many kids out there who are you know getting
1:08:36 chronic illnesses and getting sick And so as parents and you know as their caregivers we really need to be
1:08:42 advocating for them And so I think that this is a great way to do it So I hope that you found this episode educational
1:08:50 I hope that you found it helpful I hope that you would share it with anyone that
1:08:55 has a child or anyone you know that helps care for children Anyone that you think would this would be beneficial
1:09:00 Please share this episode Make sure that you’re following us So follow us on Apple Spotify or YouTube wherever you
1:09:07 listen to this so that you make sure you get every episode that comes back And do me a favor and leave us a review If you
1:09:12 think you’re doing a if you think we’re doing a good job I would appreciate any review because that helps me know that
1:09:18 you appreciate this Leave comments too about what sort of episodes you would like for me to do on my podcast Either
1:09:24 where you find your podcast or uh on social media And then please remember that Modern Endocrine can now see
1:09:31 patients in 21 states A list of those states are on our website We’re happy to do teleaalth or you’re always welcome to
1:09:37 come to our state-of-the-art clinic in Oklahoma City We provide a holistic range of healthcare and we are really
1:09:44 like our goal is to get to the root cause of all problems We want people to figure out why they don’t feel well how
1:09:50 they can feel better and how they don’t need to you know take medications and lean on the traditional healthcare model
1:09:56 for the rest of their lives So make sure that you check us out if you’re ready to get better We do not see children
1:10:04 currently We see teenagers but we do not see children And the teenagers it kind
1:10:09 of depends on what’s going on but we are happy to help you in any way possible
1:10:14 And thank you so much for spending this last hour with me I know that you have a choice with what you do with your time
1:10:20 and I appreciate you trying to become better become healthier and be the best
1:10:25 version of you The information presented including any materials discussed referenced or
1:10:33 linked within this podcast are for general educational purposes only not
1:10:38 the practice of medicine No doctor patient relationship is formed from you listening to this podcast or utilizing
1:10:44 any of the information provided I am a doctor but I am not talking to you as your doctor The information provided is
1:10:52 not intended to diagnose or treat health problems or take the place of the professional medical care provided by
1:10:58 your doctor If you are experiencing any health problems including problems you believe have been touched upon in any
1:11:05 respect within this podcast you should consult your doctor about the problems without delay You may ask your doctor
1:11:12 whether he or she believes the information I have provided would be helpful to you but you should still
1:11:17 consult your doctor immediately and follow his or her medical advice as your treating physician I’m just here to
1:11:24 provide you basic knowledge about the issues we discuss so you are more aware of them and can better discuss them with
1:11:30 your doctor That’s why we call it back to the basics Join me on the next episode as we continue our journey
1:11:38 [Music]
Disclaimer:
The information presented including any materials discussed, referenced, or linked within this podcast are for general educational purposes only, not the practice of medicine.
No doctor-patient relationship is formed from you listening to this podcast or utilizing any of the information provided.
I am a doctor, but I am not talking to you as your doctor. The information provided is not intended to diagnose or treat health problems or take the place of the professional medical care provided by your doctor.
If you are experiencing any health problems, including problems you believe have been touched upon in any respect within this podcast, you should consult your doctor about the problems without delay. You may ask your doctor whether he or she believes the information I have provided would be helpful to you, but you should still consult your doctor immediately and follow his or her medical advice as your treating physician.
I’m just here to provide you with basic knowledge about the issues we discuss so you are more aware of them and can better discuss them with your doctor.
That’s why we call it Back to the Basics. Join me on the next episode as we continue our journey.