396: The 5 Keys to Better Immunity and a Healthier Gut for You and Your Kids | Elisa Song, MD

What up family? Welcome to episode 396 of the Genius Life. Let's go. The genius life. What's going on everybody? Welcome back to another episode of the show. I'm your host, Max Lugavere, filmmaker, health and science journalist and New York Times best selling author. I've dedicated my life to unraveling the science behind how our choices, including what we eat and how we live, affect our cognitive and physical performance, how we feel, our health span and our risk for disease. This podcast is all about how to live in that optimal state, which I call living like a genius. On today's episode of the show, I'm super excited to introduce you to Dr. Elisa Song. Dr. Song is a Stanford, NYU and UCSF trained holistic pediatrician. She founded Whole Family Wellness, which is an integrative pediatric practice in Belmont, California, one of the first and most highly regarded holistic pediatric practices in the country. And she also created Healthy Kids, Happy Kids, dedicated to empowering parents to take charge of their kids health naturally. And on this episode of the show, we're going to celebrate her brand new book which just came out called Healthy Kids, Happy Kids, An Integrative Pediatrician's Guide to Whole Child Resilience. This episode of the show is going to have something for everybody. Dr. Song is going to discuss the five keys to what she calls microbiome magic. She's also going to highlight the impact of antibiotics and antacid medications on the microbiome, particularly in infants, and the long term effects that these drugs can have on allergic diseases. She's going to share for any parents listening, how to assess ingredients in packaged processed foods and how to engage in conversations with healthcare providers about the necessity of antibiotics. She's also going to talk about the importance of certain micronutrients for immune and sensory health in children and so much more. You guys, this is a fantastic conversation that we had, one of my favorites. And whether you currently have kids, aspire to one day, or are just trying to look out for your own health, Dr. Song is a wealth of knowledge and I implore you to listen through all the way to the end and share this episode with friends and loved ones that you think may benefit from it. As I record this, I'm coming to you from Boston, Massachusetts, where I'm here for my screening, my premiere tonight in Cambridge, Massachusetts, which I'm so excited for. Last night we had a almost sold out presentation in Philly, which was amazing. The second time in my life I'd ever been to Philly. I was there last I Think I don't know, probably 30 years ago or something crazy like that. And so it was really good. And we've been getting really lucky with the weather. Today is the most gorgeous day in Boston and yesterday was beautiful in Philly and just having the best time and love meeting all of you guys who are coming out to see my documentary, Little Empty Boxes. It means the world to me to have your guys support right now as we tour this little film around the country. It's just so cathartic and so special to me and so just so grateful. Love meeting you guys, love taking photos. It's been such a treat. And tomorrow night we are going to be in Bethesda, Maryland. So the tour is not slowing down and the film is actually also showing in a number of other theaters across the country. I'm not necessarily going to be at all of those theaters, but the film is nonetheless showing. So if you want to catch the documentary while it's in theaters, don't walk right run to littleemptyboxes.com where you can grab tickets see my documentary. You don't know when the next opportunity will be. I can't make any promises certainly. So head tolittle empty boxes.com super grateful again to have your support. This film has been a 10 year long labor of love and we currently have a 100% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes with some really touching reviews, so you can check that out. But again, LittleEmptyBoxes.com is where you can get all the details about what dates, what cities we are premiering in, as well as you can purchase tickets there. So littleemptyboxes.com, thank you guys so much. And now with all that out of the way, here's my conversation with the great Dr. Alisa Song. Talking all things microbiome, health, how to raise and feed kids the proper way from the standpoint of holistic pediatrics, and so much more. Here we go. Dr. Alisa Song, welcome to the show. How are you?

Good. I'm great. I'm really honored to be here.

I'm honored to have you. I heard amazing things about you and your work from our mutual friend, JJ Virgin, who's been on the show in the past. And I'm excited, excited to get into all things microbiome, the health of our children, which is so incredibly important today. But starting high level, what would you say are the five keys to microbiome magic that you talk about in your incredible new book?

Yeah, well, so what I call the five things for microbiome magic. They're really five things that we do every single day. These are the foundations. But if we learn how to do them in a microbiome centric, in a gut hero way, we can create the foundations for resilience for the rest of your life. And as you were talking offline, I mean, this is the same for adults. I mean this is, you know, anyone who wants to thrive and be their best, anyone who wants to prevent chronic illness, anyone who has a chronic health concern and wants to be able to restore their health and stay well, we have to get back to these five things. And the five things that I talk about are really how we nourish our gut microbiome or not, how we breathe or engage our vagus nerve and how we sleep, how we move our bodies, how we hydrate. I mean, those are the foundations. But when we think about them in, in a gut hero kind of a way, it's so much easier to make those shifts and it's so much easier to get kids on board, it's so much easier to get parents and grandparents on board. So it's a whole, it's a whole way of living that we really want to want to create.

Wow, fascinating. Why is gut health so important and relevant to other systems in the body?

So I'm going to talk about why it's so important for children and why it sets a foundation for adult health. And a lot of the health concerns that adults are experiencing now, all of those, you know, during the pandemic, the World Health organization noted that 8 in 10 people worldwide are dying of something called NCDs. Now I didn't know what NCDS were at that time, it was a term I hadn't heard. But they're non communicable diseases, right? These are all diet and lifestyle related diseases, 8 and 10. And of course those same NCDS were the same things that put people most at risk for severe Covid outcomes. We also know that, I mean I'm looking way back when I first started my PDF practice in 2005, the New England Journal of Medicine stated that for the first time in history, our children are expected to have shorter lifespans than us, their parents, for the first time in history. I mean with all of our medical advances, and these are all due to diet and lifestyle related diseases. And so if we don't want to have to biohack our way back to health in the future, we need to start with these foundations. And so for children especially, there are these critical first thousand days that many people have heard of. It's from so from the moment you conceive until maybe about two and a half to three years of age, where a baby and a toddler's microbiomes are rapidly, rapidly changing. That same change in microbiome diversity composition mirrors their brain synaptic explosion. And any deviation disruption during this critical time can increase the risk for virtually every single mental health concern or developmental concern. There is one study that looked at, it was, it was a Finnish study, actually a Denmark study, that looked at mother infant pairs and found that antibiotic use, just one round, especially in the first six months of life, could of antibiotics could increase the risk for any mental health concern by the time that child was older or a teenager. We know we're in a mental health crisis right now. This is for children, for teenagers and for adults. And the same thing happens with their immune system. You know, about 80% of our immune system lies in our gut. And so the way that the microbiome develops influences whether that baby will build tolerance to certain foods or antigens, or develop a hyper inflammatory response or even an autoimmune response. And another study looked at infants given antibiotics or antacid medications, both big microbiome disruptors within that first six months of life. By the time there were four, they had almost a double risk of every single allergic disease. So these foundations that are set in our infancy, in our adolescence, our teen years, because that same explosion and change in our microbiome and brain development is happening during teenage years. It's interesting, the same thing happens in our elderly years, in our senescence years, same change, it's a, the microbiome actually becomes a little less diverse, but there's a change in the microbiome that's informing the change of the brain. And so even on the other end of the spectrum, if we want to help through the lifespan, our immune systems, our brains, our metabolic systems, we need to focus on the microbiome.

Wow, I love that you, I mean you referenced the capacity of the brain to change the fact that it's like under rapid development in those first few years of life, which is a characteristic known as neuroplasticity. But it's, it's interesting that essentially we have a degree of plasticity with regard to our gut microbiomes and they seem to be incredibly plastic early on. So what are the steps that we can take other than undue antibiotic use? Like antibiotic use when it's not appropriate? Right, yeah. To cultivate a healthier gut microbiome?

Yeah, well, I'm, I'm really glad that you said undo the inappropriate use of antibiotics because in some studies in children, up to 70% of antibiotics are inappropriately prescribed.

70%.

70%.

Wow.

That's why there's actually a whole chapter in my book on what parents and practitioners need to know about antibiotics and how to know when antibiotics are really necessary and if they're necessary, how to restore the microbiome afterwards. Because antibiotics are the single biggest ugly acute disruptor of the microbiome. Right. Because they're not specific. I mean, they kill the good stuff along with bad stuff. And as we know now, sometimes they actually kill the good stuff preferentially over some of the bad stuff, which is why we get C. Diff infections.

Wow.

And so, you know, with, with the acute disruptors, we want to think about other medications. So it's not just antibiotics. A lot of the medications, when I look at a kiddo or a teenager, let's say with anxiety, and I'm looking and thinking what's going on? And they're on low dose antibiotics for their acne, they're on birth controls for their period cramps, they're on an SSRI for their anxiety. Maybe they're on Zyrtec or Claritin for allergies, and maybe they take ibuprofen for their muscle aches after their workouts. Every single one of those has been found to disrupt the gut microbiome, some of them just as much as antibiotics. So we have those that are hopefully kind of one offs that now we can put in motion how to restore the microbiome. But then I think the two biggest, kind of subtle, insidious, everyday disruptors for gut microbiomes that our kids face, number one is psychological stress. And I don't mean, you know, I also want parents and kids to reframe stress in their minds. Because stress, just like inflammation, it's not a bad thing. Right. Just kind of in and of itself. It's when it's too much, when it's unmanageable. But stress can cause gut microbiome disruption, something that many of your listeners are familiar with called leaky gut within one hour. Wow. And then you think about kids, teens, adults. I mean, how many times do they have that surge of adrenaline like, oh my gosh, I'm gonna be later, I have this deadline. I mean, you think about the hit that's being taken, you know, on your gut microbiome, and then the trickle effects to. I mean, when we're stressed, it's no wonder. It's not just the stress. So Many kids and adults, they flare out in itchy rashes or eczema flares. Right. You know, when they get stressed. So there's that and then it's, it's, it's what we're putting into our bodies. I mean, even the foods that we think are, quote, healthy, all of these ultra processed food additives, the added sugars, they all wreak havoc on our microbiomes. And I, this is for kids and for adults. I mean, this is, you know, I look at some of the protein bars that, that, you know, teenagers are eating or some of the, the sports drinks that they're, they're, thankfully, they're asking me, hey doc, is this okay? Right? And we're looking at these ingredients, I'm telling them, look like, no, you don't want this artificial color. You don't want sucralose in here. You know, when you're, when you're looking at this package, you know, food, you don't want these additives in here. So if we can learn how to be really savvy about the packaged foods that we're buying, I think that would completely change the trajectory of our health. If we can learn how to engage our vagus nerve in a way that really supports our microbiome and our mental health, those two things, complete overhaul of the future that our kids are heading.

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So, and, you know, that's where as an integrated pediatrician, I, you know, I let parents know I'm not throwing the baby out with the bathwater. There absolutely is a time and a place for medications. And I let in the book, I, I, I fully disclose and I tell my patients, look, both of my children received antibiotics when they were infants. My daughter, she was two weeks old and had a urinary tract infection. I'm not messing with that. You know, she received antibiotics. My son had strep when he was five weeks old. And so, yes, those were necessary. I was fortunate to know how to replenish their microbiome at that time. Not every parent knows at the time that that's necessary. Not every practitioner does. But now we can move forward and we can always, we can't undo that, but we can always start from where we're at and work on the microbiome wherever, Wherever your kid's health is at, wherever your health is at. But in terms of medications, I recommend that kids, teenagers, adults, when they're being recommended a medication, it's just like when you're going out to buy a car. You're not just going to say, I'll take any old car. Thank you.

Right?

You're going to do your due diligence. You're going to look and find out, is this, this the right one for me? What are the pros? What are the cons? I want teenagers and kids to feel empowered to have that dialogue with their physician. So asking them, I mean, the number one question to ask when your physician is prescribing you an antibiotic. It sounds so simple. But the number one question, hey, doc, is this antibiotic really necessary? I mean, it sounds like a silly question asked, but it's not being combative. You are asking questions to say, hey, is this really necessary? Because in some studies, there's one study that looked at physician prescribing behavior and physicians were more, almost double twice as likely to write a prescription for an antibiotic, even if they thought it wasn't going to be helpful if they thought the patient wanted one. Right. So simply by asking, you're letting this doctor know, hey, I'm not the parent who's come in here just for that prescription. I just, I want to make sure my kid's okay and I want to do the anorexia if they're necessary, but if they're not, I'd like to wait and see. I mean, there are other questions or six questions that I write to kind of ask, but that is the number one.

How should parents talk to their kids about their microbiomes? And that sounds like it would be an important conversation to have.

Absolutely. I mean, you can talk about it, I mean, even from the moment they're babies. Right. You have to just kind of talk about it in a, of course, in an age appropriate way. But we want to give our kids way more credit for being able to understand what's going on in their bodies and being their best advocate kits. Right. And I mean, even when you're changing your baby's diaper, you can talk about their poop and oh, look at you have like tons of tiny little buddies in your belly and you know, talking about the trillions and trillions of microscopic friends, these tiny little friends in your gut, this ecosystem that is helping you thrive. And you know, a lot of kids have watched Nemo. You can kind of say, look, it's kind of like Nemo and the, a clownfish and the anemone. Right?

Yeah.

They live together and they support each other and they thrive together. It's kind of like us in our microbiome, we thrive together.

Wow.

Right. And if we're not working together, we don't have signs of health. And so, I mean, I, I was fortunate enough. It was so fun. I would say one of the most fun things I've ever done in my daughter's third and fourth grade combined class. So these are eight to ten year olds. Right. I was able to create a six week curriculum that I called Healthy Belly Happy you and in those six weeks, that first session, I talked to them all about their. These, these trillions of tiny friends. And so you just start by asking, hey, you know, who here's ever had trouble falling asleep, right? Who has trouble staying still and, you know, not wiggling in their seat, Right? You know, who's had so many worries that, you know, it seems like it's really too hard to manage? Who said tummy excuse that whatever is because no matter what you ask, it can always be tied to your microbiome, right? So then the kids are like, yeah, me, me, me, right? And they say, you know what? Guess what? It's your microbiome that is affecting all of these things. And then we went into. I had little plushies that I showed them, like, you know, a little lactobacillus, a little bifidobacteria. And in those six weeks, we made sauerkraut, we made kombucha. They're like, trying it. We did a sugar. A sugar cube food label counting game. And I had. And we talked about how to read food labels. I had parents calling me. They're like, I can't believe that Johnny just put back the box of that unicorn, you know, fruit roll up thing that he normally would have wanted and looked at the label and was like, mom, we shouldn't get this. It's artificial. I mean, that's how we empower the next generation to know how to make food choices for themselves and for their kids and for their grandkids. And that's how we get our current generation of parents and grandparents to know. I mean, when we do this, it has trickle effects for the whole family. Like, I had, you know, I mean, my mom is so amazing and she did her best for all of us. And. And yet I remember when my daughter was little, coming, you know, going to visit, and my sisters kind of pulled me aside, they're like, look, you gotta ease up. She's kind of. She's afraid of you, right? I was like, what do you mean? She's like, she's afraid that you're going to complain about the food because it's not organic, because it has the artificial dyes. Like, okay. So I mean, we learned how to kind of work around that, right? But this book, I had a grandparent read this and a mom was like, I'm so tired of, like, nagging my, you know, my mom about this. I'm like, okay, well, we want to be able to have our grandparents enjoy their kids and understand also what a treat really is, right? It doesn't have to be that artificial thing. So one, one grandparent read the book and she called me, she's like, oh my God, Dr. Song. I told my husband, I came home, we clear out the pantry, we got all new sacks. And I told him we need to rethink what a treat is. And so parents didn't have to nag. Right? Wow. So, I mean, this is. And when we vote with our dollars, we can change what the food industry is more willing to provide. I mean, I mean, you well know, right? I mean, was it 2015? It was a Kellogg's and General Mills. I mean, they all declared this huge announcement. We're going to get rid of the artificial dyes. Right. Kind of like what they already do in Europe. Right. They're already using more of the plant based dyes, not these kind of neon colors. It never happened. Right. They made a big to do about it. And they also made a big, big to do about the fact that, well, it wasn't because these were bad for us, it was because the, the American public is now requesting that we do this. Right, Right. And I think it was Kellogg's. I mean, they tried, I think they tried a little bit and then they kind of, you know, reneged on it and said that Americans don't want the duller colors. Right. I'm like, well, if they knew you.

Can'T trust the food industry, I mean, they'll work whatever loophole they can. I mean, just recently the CEO of Kellogg's went on, what was it, cnbc and suggested that Americans start eating cereal for dinner.

Yeah, I mean, yes, it's, it's ridiculous. And you know, it's, it's interesting because I have a lot of teenagers who, I mean, what do teenagers want? They want control, right? They want to be independent. They want to make their own decisions. And so what? I let them know whether it's the food industry or the video game industry, you know, social media industry, you bet that those food scientists behind the scenes are working their magic to make sure that your brain is not in control of the foods that you want. Right. I mean, way to give up control. Right? Same thing with video games. All of those video game scientists, I mean, they are making sure that they are making games or making ultra processed foods that are so addictive that, that you're not controlling what food you gravitate towards and want to buy. I mean, it's the same thing. There was one study with artificial sweeteners. They took. A lot of people have seen the images of, you know, the Brain and the dopamine centers and cocaine and sugar lighted the same. Right. Well, there was one say that took already cocaine addicted rats. They gave an option between cocaine and saccharin. The rats chose the saccharine. Right. And so it should really inform us that, you know, the food industry for the most part, they don't want us in control of our buying power, decision making power. And so when we understand that, we should all be furious, right? We should all say, look, this is not okay. This is not okay for our kids. Food for our grandbabies, food for our food.

Yeah, no, it's maddening. Although you can't really, you can't fault them because they, I mean, they want to create bigger profits, you know, for the shareholders. Like they want to create repeat customers. They want people to consume their foods, you know, more frequently.

I mean, it's unfortunate too because you think, yes, absolutely. I mean, they're profit driven and I mean, we wouldn't survive like you and I. We need to make money to survive and also to be able to do some better good in the world. Right. At the same time, when you're putting your trust in these companies, I'm just thinking like infant formula or like infant foods. Right? The baby foods and even the foods. I mean, I bought the little squeezy packs, right? Those little packs of those plum organics, whatever, beet, blueberry combination. Right. And we're trusting that, okay, maybe at least if it's organic, it's going to be better, but not necessarily that huge congressional report found that even these are a lot of these organic squeezies had higher levels of heavy metals than were considered to be safe for infants and toddlers. So I mean, you know, we have to be able to understand how the food industry works in order to be able to make smarter choices. And even with that, knowing that there are some things that aren't going to be disclosed on the label, we need to make every day an opportunity to create more resilience on the inside and out so that if we have a thing that is, you know, not so great for us, we can bounce right back. It's not about living in a bubble and, you know, shielding your kids from every single thing. Right? Yeah. And you know, it's not about at the birthday party saying, oh my gosh, you can't touch X, Y and Z. Right. If they want the blue frosted cupcake, okay, you're gonna have neon blue poop that night. Right. But we're, but we're surrounding that with this health kind of a resilience bubble so that the microbiome isn't as disrupted and their brain and their immune system, you know, can really bounce right back.

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So there were infants at the time, and for babies, we know that bifidobacteria species are the most important. In fact, there was a microbiologist 100 years ago in Scotland who measured the microbiomes of these infants that were breastfed compared with infants that were formula fed. And the breastfed infants had nearly 100% bifidobacteria. We are losing bifidobacteria as, as a human race, right? And the loss of bifidobacteria can really be one of the underlying factors for so many chronic diseases, even in adults. I mean, even in Covid. We found that one of the risk factors for more serious Covid outcomes was having less bifidobacteria in your microbiome. And so for babies, this bifidobacterium really establishes that communication with the immune system and it establishes the communication with other beneficial microbes. Like there's one called F. Praphicale bacterium, presnitzi. A lot of people at this point have heard of Akkermansia. Well, they need bifido to kind of support the ecosystem. One of the best ways to do that in this early stage is with human breast milk, right? There is a prebiotic called 2FL. It's a most common prebiotic in human breast milk and it supports it, specifically feeds bifidobacteria and helps it flourish. Now there's even now some studies looking at supplementing older kids who aren't nursing and even formula fed babies, right, with this 2fl prebiotic and even adults with 2fl. Because there are some people who don't, who are, they're, they're called food two non secretors who really don't make a lot of two fl. And so supplementing with that can help to restore a healthy optimized microbiome. So if I, if a patient came to me and a little kid needs to be on antibiotics, I would say, yeah, now we know we can get these supplements. Now we can actually get two Fl supplements to help restore some of the most important factors in the gut microbiome. We want to use strain specific probiotics that help that have been shown in the literature to restore the microbiome. Because now we know, I mean, there are, there are thousands of different strains now identified. It's not just Lactobacillus acidophilus. If we're wanting to, let's say, reduce cold and flus in the winter, we want the subspecies or strain called ncfm, right? Or it's not just Lactobacillus rhamnosis, it's the gg. If we want to reduce eczema and asthma in kids, right. Versus another form of rhamnosis that might be better for vaginal health. The strain matters, right? So, you know, trying to get in a specific strain and if you're older, if the kids, if you are a kid who's already eating a teenager and an adult, you need the foundations to create that ecosystem, right? Right. The probiotics are just one part of your microbiome. A lot of people use it interchangeably. But probiotics are a microbiota. They're the, the organisms, the ecosystem is really that terrain, right? If you go grow grapes for wine, you know, it's a soil that makes everything right? And you know, I tell kids, look, these probiotics, it's not like Jack's magic bean socks. You can't just throw them in your gut and then hope that this beautiful, you know, village of probiotics is going to grow. You need the, the factors through to feed. You need your microbiome champions. And that's going to include foods like fiber, phytonutrients, fermented foods, and it's going to include all of those other five things, right? The, the, your, your mindfulness, your, how you move, how you sleep, how you're hydrated, all of those things so that you're putting in all these good bacteria. You want them to stick, you want them to call your gut their home. So we want to create a friendly home for them.

So what's the difference between probiotics and prebiotics?

So there's, there's terminology now. There's the prebiotics, there's probiotics and postbiotics. Okay? So the prebiotics are what feed your probiotics, essentially fiber, right? And so that's a fiber in your diet. And you know, not just fruits and vegetables, but whole grains, legumes, you know, if you can tolerate them, the, these prebiotic fibers, we really don't digest them. But, but the probiotics, the beneficial bacteria love them, right? And so they, they basically eat them, ferment them, and then they create these byproducts called postbiotics. Right. In your book, you call it. Right. It's probiotic poop. Right. Essentially. Right. But, but there it's the good poop. So it's these postbiotics, they're, it's, it's fascinating. I mean, that's why fermented foods may be actually, the benefit may lie more in these postbiotics than the probiotics themselves. Because a lot of fermented foods, they don't, they don't have a ton of different kinds of probiotic species and even the number isn't that great. But, you know, let's say Kombucha has tons of postbiotics. What are those? They're short chain fatty acids like butyrate, which is now considered one of the master, the master regulators of health. They are neurotransmitters like GABA, you know, serotonin, they are vitamins, like our B12 vitamins. I mean, all of these postbiotics. And then, and there are also these viruses, these beneficial viruses called phages.

Beneficial viruses?

Beneficial viruses. I mean, there's a thing.

What a concept.

Yeah. We don't want to kill everything, right. Just like there's beneficial bacteria, but these phages can kill abnormal bacteria. We, we have evolutionarily, we, we kind of grew up with them. Right. And so we're, we're just kind of finding out about these phages that inhabit our gut microbiome because we're used to thinking, oh, what's in there? Okay, there may be some bacteria, maybe some yeast, which can be beneficial, maybe some parasites. But now we're finding there's all these beneficial viruses too. And so, I mean, it's this whole ecosystem and there's some, there's one company that has a, a virus phage that is used. They're actually, they're calling it a prebiotic. But it's having really good benefits because it can get rid of a lot of the dysbiotic bacteria, the abnormal bacteria that a lot of us house right now.

Wow, what is it like, it infects those microbes essentially.

Yeah, I mean, they just basically help to clear them. Right.

Wow. One of the most fascinating and like, revelatory insights that I've gleaned over the past few years is the relationship between, you know, certain phytochemicals like polyphenols and human health. Yeah. Because it's, I think it's been well established that many of the, these polyphenols that we thought are to be credited for the, the, you know, the, the health benefits of eating a diverse array of fruits and vegetables is due to these like, polyphenols and the like. But actually they're, they're very poorly absorbed. They actually function as prebiotics, as like these prebiotic compounds, which is interesting in and of itself because we, we usually think about like fiber and resistant starch as like the primary sources of back, you know, of microbe food essentially. But these, these poorly absorbed polyphenol like compounds apparently end up making their way down to the colonic environment where they then get fermented by these bacteria. And it's actually the postbiotics, it's like these, these metabolites that are churned out by bacteria after consuming these polyphenols, like even, you know, turmeric and curcumin. Like curcumin. Right. Very poorly Absorbed, Actually like only about like, you know, less than 10% of what you consume is actually absorbed. But the benefits come from these like postbiotic chemicals that are secreted by the bacteria in that colonic environment that we then, that are then fully absorbable. Which I think is just a fascinating.

It'S like, it's fascinating. I love it. And you know, and the thing with these phytonutrients, you know, there's ellagic acid, you know, from green tea and then, you know, just all of the different colors. They also, I mean, they provide these benefits as postbiotics and they also can regulate our epigenome. Right. Our, our second epigenome. I mean, our gut microbes, the, they have. I'm going to get this. I have to remember if it's either 50 times more or 150 times more genes than, than us. Right. Human genes. And these are, their genes are micro, microbial genes are regulating our health. They are helping to epigenetically program your future health. Right. And maybe even more importantly than our genes and all of these phytonutrients, they help to support that epigenome in our microbiome. So I mean, it's, it's fascinating and we know that. I mean, there's one say, looking at, at the color gap that we have, right. In every single color Americans are lacking. And of something like 7 to 8 in 10Americans are, are, have a color gap in every single color of the rainbow. Right. And it's not hard to see. I mean, if you take any given day, one of the studies in kids found that on any given day, one in three kids are not having a single item of fruit and one in two kids, not a single piece of vegetable.

Wow.

I mean, that's so you can see why. Yeah. The rest, what is it? Right? It's like white bread, you know, corn, soy and sugar. I mean those make up, what is it, like 80%, 2/3 of our caloric intake worldwide, right?

Oh yeah. And they're not eating whole corn or edamame.

Yeah, yeah.

You know, it's like they're eating these like permutations of these foods. Like we were talking offline. Like, I, I love eating corn on a cob in the summer. Like an ear of corn coming off the barbecue.

That's right.

So great. Or like this, the Mexican, how they, how they prepare corn with the, like the cheese on it and the lime and the tajin. Oh my God, so good. Corn's not the problem. Soy's not the problem. It's the Fact that it's like, you know, we're consuming these industrially manipulated extracts of corn and soy. It's just crazy. This episode of the show is sponsored by Lifeforce, my favorite at home lab testing solution. After Life Force sent a phlebotomist over to my house to do their baseline lab work every couple of months, I've subsequently retested in part because Life Force simply makes it so easy. They just send somebody over to my house, they draw blood, and then based on their rigorous biomarker testing, they provide functional medicine, doctors, certified health coaches, and advanced nutraceutical and hormone therapies. Based on my results, you don't want to play Russian roulette with your health. And if your diet and lifestyle isn't working for you, LifeForce can help identify blind spots and help set you off down the right path. It's health optimization made easy. And for my audience, if you head to mylifeforce.com and use code genius, well, you'll get 15% off. Again, that is mylifeforce.com spelled M Y L I F E F O-R C E.com and again, use code genius to get get 15% off. Don't guess test and head to mylifeforce.Com today and again, use code genius for 15% off. Enjoy. What would you say are some essential nutrients and foods vital for our health that we should be prioritizing in our diets on a day to day basis?

So that's a great question. And I think that this would apply to kids and for adults because we know that there's certain nutrient deficiencies that are really common. And you know, from a functional medicine standpoint, I always look at, at not just are you deficient in a nutrient, but are you insufficient? You know, I've had many, like for a parent, a mom who comes to me and they're, let's say they're pregnant with their second child and I've recommended that they ask their OB to check vitamin D levels, which thankfully is becoming more and more routine because we found that low prenatal vitamin D levels in moms can increase the risk for a variety of different neurodevelopmental concerns in their offspring, in the babies. And so, so, you know, a lot of times they'll come back and say, oh, my doc said it's normal, it's normal, Right? So then I want to know, well, what is the exact number? Right, because normal. Let's take Quest for instance. A normal value might be 20 to 100. That's a really big range. And so if a mom is 22, okay, they're in the normal range. That is way not optimal, you know, for themselves or their brain, for their immune system. And for the developing babies, I like vitamin D levels to get up to about 60 to 80. If you have any sort of autoimmune condition going on, I might even push it up a little bit more. So the most common nutrient deficiencies or insufficiencies in children and adults, Vitamin D, magnesium, zinc, iron, and your omega 3s. Right. I mean, this is for adults too, right? So focusing on the foods, I mean, I have, you know, shopping list, list for parents of, you know, the foods that are really rich in each of these nutrients. Because of course we'd like to get everything from food if possible. A lot of times though, you know, let's take zinc for instance. Zinc levels are highly correlated with animal protein intake. Right. So I had, I did have one mom who, whose child we were able to get her zinc levels up really, really nicely. And I was like, oh, what are you doing? Right. And what she was doing was grinding up raw pumpkin seed seeds and just sprinkling them in everything, oatmeal, her baked goods and salads, I mean, everything and in her smoothies. And her zinc went up really nicely, but oftentimes, I mean, it really does correlate with animal protein intake. Now why is zinc, especially for children important? Well, zinc is really important for your immune health. It's really important for your sensory system. So for kids who are really picky, everything tastes gross or they only like certain textures or the sensory kids who, you know, when there's a vacuum or a blender and they have to cover their ears because it's too loud or, you know, that you parents just know they buy shirts without the tags or seamless socks. Right. They only wear the softest of jeans. That, that's a zinc issue. Wow. So one pearl, like if you're listening as a parent or sometimes a grownup too, I've had moments where the same sweater, I have this black cover up that, you know, the shawl that I wear in the winter time. And some days the tag bugs the crap out of me and I'm like, like kind of scratching at it. And then other days it's, it's like nothing, right? So on those days I'm like, oh, I need a little more zinc. Right?

Well, what's, what's the mechanism there?

So with the sound, there's, there's something called auditory gain, this amplification where when you don't have enough zinc Sounds literally sound louder, right? From an, from a taste standpoint, zinc deficiency will alter your taste sensations. The tactile sensitivity. I don't, I don't know the mechanism, but it's so clearly tied there. Fascinating, right? So it's really, it's so, I mean, it's such a great pearl to just take away because that's such an easy fix if you either need to take an extra zinc or just load up on your zinc rich foods. I mentioned you, you know, there's shellfish, oysters are the highest in zinc. I mean, not a lot of kids like oysters, but you know, you could keep trying, right? There's, I mean any, any of the animal proteins, but also your nuts and seeds are going to be high in zinc as well. And your legumes and zinc for boys, especially in the pre puberty stages, really essential for testosterone production. So for boys who are a little late to puberty or you're just, just like, what's going on? I mean, they're not quite fitting the pattern that I would expect for their age. You gotta look at their zinc levels. Right. Um, also looking at magnesium across the board. I mean even, even for adults, magnesium is really, you know, common nutrient deficiency. But muscle cramps, headaches, anxieties, trouble falling asleep, I mean, all of those constipation, you gotta get in your magnesium rich foods, your dark leafy green vegetables, your legumes, again, nuts and seeds, dark chocolate. Right. As a treat. Right. So, yeah, so you just go through the list and when I print out these little, I mean, they're basically little infographics with just the nutrient and the food items. And then I have parents, you know, this one parent actually gave me this idea. She clipped it out, put it on her fridge, and then involved her kids in picking out different foods from each of the categories. So they made sure that they were incorporating those into the diet on a regular basis. And then I often in my practice, I'll do blood work too when I can, just. Because a lot of times it's surprising how much more you need than what in that moment you can get from your diet. I mean, zinc is really important for repairing epithelial linings. So kids who have really bad eczema wounds that aren't healing, a leaky gut lining that needs repair, maybe asthma with an irritated, you know, lung lining, you need zinc for repair, right? Brittle hair, you know, anything like that. You know, kids with acne. And so I'll measure zinc levels because sometimes they're so low That I get them up on a fairly high level of zinc supplementation, repeat the measure, and then try to sustain them with food once they're at optimal levels.

Can you. These lab, like, reference ranges can be confusing for a lot of people. I know that I've been confused in the past by the.

Them.

You know, people like, as you alluded to. You know, some people will. They'll. They'll receive a report of being normal in a certain. Or typical, I guess in a certain micronutrient or even like a blood biomarker, for that matter. But these reference ranges. Ranges are not. They're. They're meant to be. They're. They're meant to just reflect the averages. Right. Of what. Of what the labs see.

That's right. I mean, it's kind of the, the average for your normal population. Well, if you take a look around, the normal population is probably not something we want to strive for. Right. We want to strive for optimal health, and we're not quite there yet with the population as a whole. Hopefully we'll get there through your work and spreading the good word, but we need to move towards a place where everyone has optimal levels. And so it can be really confusing. And more and more functional integrative practitioners are really trying to look at labs and learning how to look at labs with an eye towards what's optimal, not just what's normal. A conventional doc, probably not just yet, but, you know, it's changing. I think that a lot of pediatricians are frustrated with the way they're practicing. I mean, there's really heartbreaking because, you know, as a pediatrician, you go into this because you love kids and you want to do good for kids. And one survey last year found that pediatricians have the lowest job satisfaction of, you know, virtually any medical subspecialty.

Wow.

Yeah.

I would think it would be like neurology or something. Just because the tools are so limited in that field, unfortunately. You know, it's sad. It's unfortunate.

Or conventional psychiatry is so limited too. Wow.

But why do you think it's the case for pediatricians?

Well, you know, when they looked at it, it really was tied. The, the speculation is that it's tied to. To pay. Right. Because you go through all of these years of medical school debt and residency where you're just trying to eke by. I mean, I remember when I was a first year in Residen. Try, just debating, okay, like, what am I going to cut out my, my daily Starbucks latte or like this thing? Right. Because you just, I mean, you're, you're kind of scraping by. And with San Francisco rents at the time, it's like, right, I need a place to live. Right. And so pediatricians are the general pediatricians. Right. These are pediatricians that should be raising our next generation. Right. Lowest paid specialty. It's like teachers. Right. One of the lowest paid professions. I mean, where are we putting our priorities? And so, I mean, even this last year, there's something called the match in res in medical school, where as a medical student, you write down your list of whatever top 20 residencies you, you'd love to go to, you interview at these places, residency residencies, put in order their top list of residents that they would like, and then on match day, you're magically matched with this computer to a program. Right. Well, first of all, that's so stressful. Right. But this past year in the match, pediatrics had the most remaining open spots.

Wow.

Which we got to think, how are we also treating and raising our next generation of pediatricians? And I know a lot of my pediatric colleagues are now looking into integrative pediatrics and functional medicine because it gives more tools, like you said, Right. To help this child who is presenting with a little scratchy skin. And you're like, oh, how do I prevent the allergic march? I mean, they have eczema when they're four months and they're starting to wheeze when they're, you know, nine months, and then, you know, they're going to develop hay fever and just. And, and they're more at risk for autoimmunity later on. And you're kind of just watching this march happen and, and giving things like antihistamines, which now we know, further disrupt the microbiome and, or lathering on steroids, which can affect their adrenal glands, even if it's just topical. And so I, I mean, that for me was why I, I went into functional medicine and integrated medicine because it just was so frustrating to, I mean, just kind of see this path that a lot of kids were heading towards and feeling helpless, like, you can't, I can't. What am I going to do for this child? And so getting back to the foundations is really how we can kind of move that needle.

Yeah. On the other hand, I mean, the gratitude that you must see from parents, you know, when you're helping out one of their babies, it's got to be so nice.

I mean, it's. Yeah, it's just. There's nothing like, I mean, holding that baby and just, I mean, watching Watching the light in parents eyes. And, and then this year through the pandemic, because my practice, I opened up in 2004, so a lot of kids now are moving on to college. And so the past couple of years I've had just this kind of big cohort of kids graduating and moving on to college. And so what makes me so feel like I've done my job is that a lot of these kids, now, they are coming to me asking me really smart questions about their health. They're really, really thinking about decisions that they're making. I have a lot of girls who, you know, want to have a conversation around starting the birth control pill before they go off to college and they're asking about side effects and what should I look out for and is there anything that I can do to help prevent some of those side effects. I mean, that's what we want. Right. And they're, and they're, you know, they know how to cook. I want every kid to know how to cook by the time they leave the house. They know how to do the laundry.

Right.

They know how to, they know how to just manage. They know how to just live in a more responsible way so that they have more confidence. I mean, kids who learn how to cook when they're younger, they are way more likely in young adulthood to actually eat vegetables. Wow. Right. And to serve vegetables to their own kids when they're, when they're parents.

Yeah. Young, young gener. Younger generations today, they're so coddled, you know, I feel like they're likely missing out on some of the really important aspects of being a child and the, and the, and the self sufficiency that comes with, you know, being tasked with real responsibility.

Yeah. Have you ever read Julie Lythcott Haymes, how to Raise an Adult?

No.

So it's a great book. And she discusses. She was actually one of the dean of students at Stanford and she saw all of these kids coming in when they're 18, not, not prepared to be adults. Right. Calling their parents or texting now, like, what classes do I pick? Right. Like, and you know, just really unable to make their own decisions and one. And just not satisfied. Right. You know, when we have that uncertainty, when we don't feel like we have the ability to, you know, go within and make decisions, whether it's like, you know, which salad to buy, you know, for dinner or, you know, picking classes or deciding your major, it feels that is very stressful. Right. It gives you a sense of powerlessness over your decisions. And so she mentions this Harvard Men's study, which followed men, young men, over decades. Right. And found that one of the best predictors of happiness when you were an elder man was if you had chores as a kid.

Interesting, right?

Because what do chores do they. I mean, yeah, kids roll their eyes like, do I have to do that now? But they're responsible for something, right. They can have a sense of pride when they accomplish. Accomplish it. They also recognize that they're part of the family. Right. That they're contributing. They're not just there to kind of sit back and have fun. They are contributing member of the family. And it gives them that sense of responsibility that they can take with them at their first job. Right. Or, you know, with a relationship or, you know, with their future families. And so I really do think that allowing kids, recognizing that kids can do way more than we give them credit for. I mean, you know, I'm not going to say I'm a perfect parent because there's no such thing out there. And I've made my fair share of, you know, big mistakes. But I mean, my kids were doing their own laundry from like hamper to, you know, laundry machine dryer, back to the their drawers when they were like 8 years old. Right. Now they're 12 and 14. And I pack their lunches a lot of days because I like to. And I have a little more time in the morning than sometimes they do, but they can perfectly. If I'm like, hey guys, I'm running late, or hey guys, I have to go to the office early. Can you take your breakfast and lunch? They do all by themselves and they pack themselves a baggie of veggies. They make, you know, a main meal that is balance. I'm like, okay, good, right? They know how to do that. And so you just like, as a parent, that's what you want. You want to feel confident that even when you're not there that they know how to make those good decisions.

Right.

I mean, sure, maybe they'll go and buy something later. That's not so. Something I'm not so fond of. But. But they know, right? And they can always come back to that. Yeah.

It's informed consent. I mean, they don't have to be. There's no such thing as perfection. Right. Like, people are gonna eat the fun foods every now and then. That's totally okay as long as they know how to properly contextualize them and that they're eating mostly healthful things. I mean, that's great. Today kids, children are eating mostly ultra processed garbage.

Well, that's that is true. I mean, I think the last number I saw was like two thirds of kids and teens calories comes from ultra processed foods. It may be more than that. And then, you know, one of the things that's changed the most, most since. Since I was a kid, it's the. Because I mean, we had candy. I grew up in a. You know, my mom was an immigrant from Korea. My grandmother came when my sisters and I were born to help take care of us. My mom was a busy, you know, working obgyn and, and you know, she worked hard to be able to give us everything that she didn't have growing up, you know, in poverty in Korea. And we, every night we had our home cook cooked Korean meal. We had the kimchi. We had all that, Right.

I love Korean food.

It's so much so good. Right? But we had the candy too, because this was. We were in America. This is what American kids do. So we had bags of candy.

Did you have a favorite candy?

Skittles.

Skittles. Interesting.

So. But yeah, I mean, I'm not a chocolate person. I'm more like a.

Mine was hands down, without question, like sour tape and sour straws.

Oh my gosh. Okay. I mean, the pixie sticks are pretty good too. So you're the sour guy.

Yeah, yeah. Any kind of like with a warheads. Yep. Sour tape. I'm looking for if anybody listening to this knows a brand creating gluten free sour tape because they're all made with like wheat flour.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I'm looking for like a healthier.

Gosh, I have to be perfect.

Yeah, I'd like a gluten free sour tape. That doesn't exist. I don't think it exists. But if you find one.

All right, so yeah, and we did. I mean, I remember, I totally remember when we got our first microwave and being like, this is the coolest thing ever. Right? And you know, we had the boxes of. I don't know if this is why I came out to California, but I remember getting these boxes of was rice a Roni. Right. The San Francisco treat. And like sauteing the rice in the pan and like doing all the things. I'm like, this is so good. And my grandma would be like, just have real rice. So. And you know, we, we got sick a lot. I mean, I had antibiotic after antibiotic after antibiotic when I was a kid. And so so you know, but the one thing, I mean, we had access to candy and sugar. What? We didn't have access to that. Now kids Some kids are having every single day are these sugar sweetened beverages, right? The frappuccinos and the boba teas and the, I mean, whatever it is, right? I mean the like, you know, 64 ounce country time lemonade with 72 grams of added sugar. And so that I think is really one of the factors that is changing our kids health. Health. I mean, I'm seeing these teenagers who are, I mean, they're athletic, they're on school sports, they look fit, they're trim. Not anything that we picture of a person with diabetes or pre diabetes, right? And yet when I do fasting blood work, a lot of these teenagers and younger kids too, they have hemoglobin A1Cs or that are slightly off, maybe not abnormal, but I'm like, ooh, this is not optimal. Their insulin levels are butting up against like 16, 17, 18, sometimes outright elevated. Their fasting blood sugar is high. I mean, all the signs that they're heading towards prediabetes. And I mean, then you start asking about their, their daily habits. Oh yeah, after school they just, they go to Starbucks across the street and they get something every single day.

Oh my God.

And if they're getting like the, the whatever, the, the Trent day size, I mean, you know when you start looking because now the app has to have all of the nutrition facts. So I remember my son who's 12, he started to go downtown with his friends, right? And so he's starting to make choices and we've done the package thing. Like we've looked at Takis, which I'm like, please don't get the Takis ever. But now he loves siete chips. Cuz he can turn and he can turn back and be like, oh yeah, I don't want this has MSG and it's like red dye 40 and all that stuff, right? So he knows and yet, I mean, he loves boba tea just like any other kid, right? And so I said, look, you go and find something that, that you know, you just look, okay, you have, you have it, go with your friends. But I just want you to be aware of what you're eating and what you're choosing, right? Look at how much added sugar and if it has anything, if it has mono and diglycerides, I just want him to choose something different, right? And so one of the drinks he was choosing, he's like, oh, I don't. It had less than any other. I'm like, okay, well how much? He's like, whoa, it's 38 grams of added sugar and I'll take like, oh.

My gosh, that's nuts.

So he still had it, right? And I said, look, do you know how many grams of added sugar you're supposed to have? Max. Right. There's no lower limit. You could have zero and that'd be fine. Right. But the max is 25 grams, so you're kind of over. So how about we really focus the next couple of days on, you know, really kind of cutting down our added sugar, increasing our fiber, getting in that rainbow, you know, of our microbiome, nurturing nursing friends so that we can balance it out.

Starbucks has really done a great job of duping us all and making us believe that a 450 calorie fat and sugar bomb is equivalent to coffee.

Yeah.

You know, it's just. It's like, crazy to me.

It is crazy. And people are doing it every day, right? On their way to work, they're getting their whatever, frappuccino drink. I have patients who are so well meaning, and, you know, they'll kind of call on the way, hey, we're at Starbucks. Does Dr. Song want anything? Like. No, that's okay. At one point, I remember really wanting a chai latte. And then I looked at the nutrition facts, and I. I just couldn't bring myself to have it. Right. I mean, there's something called the halo effect, too, Right. When you. When you know about something, whether something, if you know how, you know, not so nourishing something is for you or how really great something is for you, it makes it easier to make those decisions. It has that kind of halo effect. And so. So it worked against me in that sense. Right? Because I'm like, okay, I'm not gonna have the matcha.

But how many people today are starting their days with what is essentially dessert?

Yes. Yes. Right. They're not. And they're not eating anything with it, or they're grabbing the cake pop or the cinnamon bun or the whatever with it.

So what would you say is an ideal breakfast for children? School. School. We'll say school age, children, you know, where you can actually, like, you know, it's a variable that you can control. Yeah, yeah. Like ideal way to start the.

The day. The first thing is to have it. Right. I mean, so many kids are not eating breakfast. And. And these are. I'm not talking about families who, you know, maybe don't have access to food for breakfast. But. And. And, you know, we have to change the school meal program. I mean, my. My kids in California last year, after the pandemic, a Universal school food program was implemented. So now what ended up happening for a lot of schools, then the quality of the food really went down because now they're serving not who are saying, hey, I want this food or I'd like to purchase it or, or this is something that I really need for my family. They're now mass buying food for the entire school. Right? And so I remember, you know, asking the kids, I was like, well, do you want to do any of the hot, you know, the, the school breakfast or the school lunch? And they're like, oh, no, just, it looks gross. Right? And I said, can you just bring me home an example of one of the breakfast. It was whole grain, high fiber Frosted Flakes. Wow. I'm like, oh my gosh, they're starting the day like this. If teachers, you know, school administrators, if they knew the sugar roller coaster that kids get on if they start their morning with like 21 grams of added sugar. I mean, what's, that's like five teaspoons of sugar right there? I mean, why do they think they're crashing by lunch and they're rolling on the floor and they, you know, they can't sit still and then lunch is another sugar bomb because, you know, you have the hot meal, but then they're only going to go for the bunny grams, right? Because they don't like the other stuff.

And then how many of those kids end up getting prescribed like Adderall and Ritalin because they can't sit still?

Yeah, yeah.

Have you seen that?

Yeah. I mean, we've. I have. I mean, I could tell you these stories, right, of these kids. So once we clean up their diet, they are different kids. But the thing is, they're not. They're the kids they were meant to be. Right? It's, it's these ultra processed foods that are, that are making a lot of our kids unknowingly, you know, contributing and triggering their behaviors. I mean, some studies have shown that, you know, at least one in three kids with attention focused behavior problems are going to improve simply by cutting out artificial dyes and preservatives. And I mean, that's why in Europe those foods that have these artificial dyes and preservatives are labeled, they have a warning label that these foods may cause attention and behavior problems in cancer kids. Right. We don't have that same label here, but I mean, let's take artificial dyes. I've had many, many a kid who, after a soccer game or baseball practice, I mean, what's the most common thing you get the Gatorade out, right? And then parents be like, they just fly into rages after the Gatorade. And the, the effects can last for days sometimes, right? And sometimes they're not connecting with the Gatorade, but they're just like, I don't know what's going on, right? I mean, just by cutting out the Gatorade, this one kid rages were gone and he just, he became just so much more calm and, and really a better friend and a family member to everyone. Right? Another kid. I just, I mean I write about him in the book and he just. This story still makes me kind of. Because I think as a mom, I mean, one of the things that, that he came in with were a lot of sensory behavioral issues. Just he was in kinder and he just wasn't. Wasn't doing well. And so the thing that was really, I think the most, most devastating for the mom was because of his sensory issues. He couldn't stand her hugs. Like he just would like shy away or you know, when she kissed him on the cheek, he would, he'd do that thing, right? You just rub it off, right? And so, I mean, I discussed a lot with them on that visit.

It.

But I said, look, let's just do one thing first, right? Because this all sounds kind of overwhelming right now. Let's do one thing. Let's cut out the artificial dyes and the preservatives. And we went through, right? We went through. Okay, the, the M and M's. What, what's the swap that you can have? Right, The Takis. Okay, let's swap to the, the, the C. The Gatorade. Yeah, let's do a different hydration drink that doesn't have sucralose, but it doesn't have all the artificial stuff, right? Two weeks later, mom emails me and I still have it, right? She emails me and she says, oh my gosh, I just want to thank you. This huge difference right now. For the first time in the longest time she could remember, he actually asked for a hug.

Wow.

Right? And he didn't wipe off her kiss. And I mean as a mom, I'm like, oh my gosh, right? That simple thing. But, but you know, when I hear grandparents or other, some parents, you know, who are saying like, my kids friend's parents are looking at us like we're crazy. How could you deprive your kids? You know, let them be kids, you know, Come on. It's just a little bit. It's like, well, yeah, but for some kids, not all kids, but for some kids, that food is poison to their brain. So that's not just letting them be kids, that's letting them not be.

Well, it's so hard to accept that like something seemingly as benign as a food colorant, though, though could be interfacing with our brains to such a stark degree that it's actually affecting behavior. You know, I mean, I grew up like, you know, when we would bake stuff at home in my. We. I remember the little vials of food coloring that we had in the house. I don't know what that was actually.

I have no idea. We still. Yeah, you know, you, you put in the toilet bowl on St. Patty's Day and all that.

Yeah, but that's, but that, that is crazy.

I think it's also the, the amount of artificial ingredients and dyes and ultra processed additives that we're exposed to now. Right. Because we didn't, I mean, we did not have the plethora of microwave meal options that there are now. Right. I mean that industry has exploded. Right. I mean, we didn't have the huge variety of chips and snacks and bars and all the things now that would just make our lives so much more convenient. But if we're not savvy, we're kind of sabotaging ourselves because we think they're, they're healthier, but we don't know. Right. And that's, that's where we have to know. I mean, I, in, in the book I write, because it was, it was sadly and ironically funny. There's a date in 1953. Right. Like, what's 1953? Right. We don't think much of it. Well, that's the year that Swanson first introduced their TV dinner. Right. For the busy mom who wants to get, you know, home cooked meals out fast. Right. On an aluminum tray. Of course. You're heating all this food on aluminum. Well, that tray now was awarded a place in the National Smithsonian Museum of History for forever changing the way Americans think about food. Food.

Wow.

Right. And that, I mean, the, the frozen food industry has exploded. Right. And you think, I mean, we're just so used to like eating on the go and you know, migrating our food and wolfing it down while we're answering emails and I mean, it's just, it's not this kind of let's enjoy our meals because eating is not just about shoveling food in. It's a whole experience. Right. We are not engaging our vagus nerve if we're just eating while we're typing and texting or scrolling through social media.

Totally. And, you know, it's important to not. We're not pointing a finger at the parents here. It's. It's a systemic problem. I mean, there's the issue of. Of food scarcity still.

That's right, absolutely.

You know, there's the fact that our jobs are increasingly requiring, you know, asking of us to be available 24 hours a day. It's like, it's really, it's. It's a. It's a systemic problem that's going to require, you know, probably. Probably they're, you know, a holistic approach. Right.

Yeah.

To. To fix, like I've been. I've been stressed out and on the go and, you know, I've had. There have been moments in my life where I've had no choice but to reach for something really fast.

Absolutely.

You know, I travel a lot. Sometimes I gotta eat at an airport. You know, it's like drink out of a plastic water bottle. That's fine.

Yeah.

But that's not due to a failure of willpower on my part. It's just like the circumstances of my life has asked of me.

Well, and that's where, where. It's what we do most of the time that matters. It's where we have to educate our kids. Right. And in the schools, educate our kids about what real food is, how to nurse our eyes. Because then, I mean, the unfortunate part is with food scarcity, I mean, a lot of these, you know, underserved populations, they're. They're not just living in these food deserts where they don't have access, they're food swamps. Right. Where, I mean, they don't have access to a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables. What they do have access to is all the junk. Right? And so it's like this double whammy. And so, you know, the education has to come so that parents, kids, educators know what healthful foods are, what, what truly is nourishing. Right. They have to buy into that. Because I forget sometimes, you know, that I live in a little bubble where my practice is, you know, attracts families who are already kind of bought into. Yeah. This is how we eat and this is how we live. Right? But that's not the majority of Americans.

Right.

And so if we kind of infiltrate, not with. Not with blame, not with guilt, but like, look, we all want the best for our kids, for our population, for. For ourselves, for our world. Right. For our ecosystems. Right? And so then as we who do have access to that food can start voting with our dollars, we need to change things On a policy level, that's a longer road and it's a harder road. I really think it's going to happen more at the grassroots level where, you know, kids get educated, they feel the difference, whatever it is, whether they want to be better athletes or they want to, you know, know the lines of their school, play better or, you know, be able to fall asleep and not worry about sleep so much. I mean, whatever it is, right, Once they feel the difference, because it doesn't take that long to feel the difference. And then notice when you have something that is, maybe have a pack of Skittles right now, which I can totally remember the taste of it and the texture. I haven't had one in decades. It's funny how that memory. But when they have that, you can tune into your body and your brain and be like, yeah, that's how it makes me feel. So then you make that decision and some kids are going to say, I'm still going to choose it because I like it. It's that in the moment, hedonistic pleasure ledger. Okay. I mean, there's nothing wrong with that. We just don't want to do that all the time. And then we want to connect the dots. And is this meeting your goal of how you want to feel, how you want to act, how you want to think?

Yeah, but it's so important, the impact that it's just to underscore the impact that voting with your dollars, your dollars can have. I mean, we now can buy organic food from, I mean, you know, my local Target now. I don't, I don't know if this is just because it happens to be a Target in Los Angeles that I don't know, but I do know that like I can buy organic grass fed lean beef at Target, I can buy organic vegetables at Target. I know Walmart now has organic. I know Costco now in the, like Costco.

Absolutely.

It's amazing. I mean, the last time I was in a Costco, like the, the frozen section, you could find wild salmon, you could find all kinds of like really great, you know, healthy products. There's a, there's a company that makes food for infants and toddlers that I actually feel very blessed I was able to invest in because I so believe in their mission. Serenity kids.

Absolutely, yes.

And it's only because, I think increased awareness and because people are actually spending money, you know, on, on these kinds of better for you products that we're seeing real market demand, you know, so it's not necessarily that I've made any effort to change policy. Like, I don't think I can do that, but I can help drive awareness around the fact that we are starting to see an increased, you know, level of access right around these.

Yeah, well, and companies like Serenity who really step it up, right, and say, hey, look, we are demanding better for our kids. I mean, that's really important too. I mean, that's why I'm such a fan of CTE foods. I mean, they, they are on a mission to make better for you, especially with their, you know, more traditional Mexican foods and snacks that sadly could be so nourishing, but in the way it's become ultra packaged. I mean, talk. We went to Mexico for spring break last year, and I mean, the signs everywhere with the giant, the. The blue Takis and the fiery red Takis, I'm like, oh, my gosh, you would think that, you know, Takis was like the national food of Mexico. Right? And so, you know, really supporting these companies. And, you know, I. And I love the options that you give in. In your latest book too, right? You talk about, I mean, frozen food. Frozen fruits are great, right. If you don't have. I mean, we're so lucky. In California, we can get, you know, fresh, organic produce pretty much year round. I mean, we're really lucky. When you go. I mean, I grew up in New Jersey, right. In wintertime, there's not much growing there. Right. I mean, there's not a lot of, you know, farmers markets available, and we go to the farmer's market every Sunday in our town. And so when you buy frozen, what's fascinating is that a lot of times the frozen food, interestingly, can be more nutrient dense because it's picked at the height of freshness and then kind of flash frozen to preserve all of that. So. So why not incorporate that? I mean, there's nothing wrong with that, right? I mean, the can. You have to watch out just for the BPA lining and I mean, these forever chemicals that are so worrisome for, I mean, for all of us, you know, that is just everywhere. But. But even canned foods can be an option as well.

Yeah. No, the exposome. You know, I love that concept of the exposome, which is it basically describes the. The in totality. The, you know, your, Your every exposure, you know, in. In totality, from the exposure to the food environment to, you know, a sedentary lifestyle or an active lifestyle, these, you know, ultra processed foods and the like, and it all adds up. You know, it might not be one. The one thing that's driving your problems but it's cumulative injury. Yeah.

Well, and I, you know, and the. The exposome for infants. Right. I mean, there's. There's a book from. It's a classic. 1962. Right. 1962. Rachel Carson wrote Silent Spring and really said, you know, for the first time ever, we are exposed from the moment we're conceived all the way through adulthood to all of these environmental toxins. It's only gotten worse. Right. And for our children, I think about. I mean, this was now, back in the early 2000s, I think, where the environmental Working Group published a study on the toxins found in human corpus blood. And we also know human breast milk. I mean, there's just a reservoir for all of these toxins. Hundreds, some of them that had been banned for decades.

Wow.

Right. And so. And some of these forever chemicals, these PFAs, they have a half life of like 25 years. They're not leaving our system. But, you know, as I'm. I'm right now working on a presentation for a functional medicine group on. On the infant exposome and how can we support it still largely comes down to their microbiome. There are certain probiotic strains that even with forever chemicals, which is the hardest to excrete, like parabens and phthalates and, you know, plasticizers, those. We excrete pretty quickly in our urine. And so when we reduce the exposure, then we can clear it up pretty quickly. Forever chemicals. There's not a lot of ways that we know just yet how it gets excreted, but there's some urine there in. Interestingly, menstrual blood is a big source of excretion of these forever chemicals.

Interesting.

It's not excreted in sweat, so you cannot sauna it out. Right. Fiber, dietary fiber has been shown to decrease your levels of forever chemicals.

Just sweeps it up.

Yep.

In the GI tract.

Yeah. And certain probiotics drink greens. There's a fermented beetroot juice that was studied that could lower your PFAS levels. So, I mean, it's still. I mean, our microbiome is our. If we think about, you know, being one long hollow tube. Yes. Our skin may be our largest organ, but our intestines, which, with all of those villi that kind of stretch out from end to end the size of a football field, they're our largest interface with anything we're exposed to in the outside world, whether it's food or, you know, air pollution, environmental toxins, invading pathogens. And so that interface is really important to understand how to optimize because our microbes, I mean, our liver has something called cytochrome P450 enzymes that help to kind of detoxify and process toxins that we excrete through our bile in our poop. Our microbes have their own cytochrome P450 system. System.

Wow.

So they are helping us to metabolize these toxins too. If we don't have the right microbes, they will actually deconjugate some of these toxins that our liver's done the work of trying to conjugate and then we reabsorb them, which is what we see with, you know, kind of the bad estrogen metabolites that get deconjugated in our intestine and can get reabsorbed. But same thing with some of these environmental toxins too. So we want to make sure that our microbiome is one that facilitates detoxification, not one that helps to reabsorb, you know, these, these toxins over and over and over again.

Wow, that is an interesting role for fiber that I think is under discussed and underappreciated. And just another reason why, you know, I'm not a big advocate for long term carnivore diets. Because, yeah, I mean, the, the capacity of dietary fiber to sweep out toxins, I think is like, you know, pretty, pretty important, especially today, right?

Yes. Yeah.

And the thing about menstrual blood, I mean, that, that was fascinating too. I'd never heard that. But it also makes me shudder at the thought of, like, what a fetus is being exposed to today if menstrual blood, you know, has all these toxins.

I mean, this is, this is not to, you know, kind of scare women, but we also know, I mean, if you have the opportunity to do a preconception detox, like three to six months before you can conceive, not only will you get pregnant faster, right? Your microbiome will be healthier, your baby's microbiome will be healthier, their hypothalamic, pituitary, adrenal axis will be healthier. I mean, all the things, right? Your babies will be less toxic in utero and postnatally, we know that women dump about 20% of their toxic load through their breast milk. And so if we can clear out a lot of that before we get pregnant, even better.

Well, from a high level, what does, what does detoxing mean? Because I know there are a lot of people on social media that are like, when they hear the word detox, it's very triggering. Because that term has been co opted by the supplement industry and you know, it's used to sell like laxative teas and things like that. So what do you mean by that?

So what I really mean now it may be. So if you are struggling with fertility issues, there may be some added cleanup that you have to do. Right. And that would be maybe working with a functional medicine practitioner to actually measure your different environmental toxin levels to see what you need to clear. It may mean, you know, doing the saunas and you know, taking some supplements to help your liver with their phase one, phase two detoxification processes. So, you know, there are a bunch of things that you can do. We also really just want to step back and think about how do we make, make detox a lifestyle. It's just something we do every single day, right. We're, we're reducing exposures. I mean this as a, before you get pregnant, look through a household, get rid of all the, you know, the cleaners that are toxic. Make sure that your, all of your beauty regimen doesn't have parabens in it. Right. You know, just. And clean up your diet, make sure your food isn't laden with pesticides if possible. Right. And at least, you know, from the Dirty Dozen working group, group, just get rid of those, right. Only eat those organically. So it means being mindful, you know, when you're buying a new baby crib, get one that's not off gassing, you know, that horrible smell that, I mean a lot of us know from putting together IKEA furniture, right?

Yeah.

So doing all those things. But we have to make sure that we're hydrating, flushing. I mean our main roots of elimination. This is for kids too, right? With kids, they're exposed to toxic toxins from the moment they're born to the other end of life, right. So they need to make sure they're excreting efficiently every single day. And our three main routes of elimination are pee, poop and sweat. Right. And so we have to make sure that's happening really, really well. Eight in 10 kids are chronically dehydrated. I would say adults too, Right. So I map out, you know, for adults, we just need to make sure that they're hydrated and just plain old water. I mean a lot of those hydration drinks out there, they just, I mean they're loaded with, I mean some of them have just crap in them, right? They're the artificial colors. And sucralose to me really should be out. I mean, sucralose we know can Disrupt the gut microbiome. And then there's acid sulfate, potassium are really common, you know, non sugar additives that are put into hydration drinks that a lot of people think are healthy for them, right? It's really improving their bile movement, having bitters, you know, bitter greens in their diet, making sure that they're, you know, that they're pooping every single day. Maybe taking a binder, right, to just kind of help pull out even more of the toxins before they start to get pregnant. You should never detox while you're pregnant, right, or while you're nursing, moving. You have to sweat every single day. Sweat is a big, big mechanism for excreting most of toxins. Not pfas, unfortunately, but most of our toxins, right? Sleep so important. I mean, how many people in the world are chronically sleep deprived, especially our children, but with sleep that our brain is on certain levels, even more metabolically active when we're asleep. And you know, I tell kids and parents, look, your brain shrinks almost 60% in its sleep to be bathed by its own lymphatic system, them to clear out the toxins and to bring in the nutrients. And that only, really only happens during our sleep. So if we want to clear the toxins from our brain, we have to do everything we can to preserve our sleep. So, and sure, there are certain, I mean, I might put some moms on like a, you know, different two weeks or four weeks, a little kind of cleanse regimen. I mean, there are certain, you know, powders you can take and there, there are a couple that I really like, but for the most part, it's just making sure. Let's clean up our body, our womb, you know, everything else, let's nourish our microbiome because that includes, I like to do a stool analysis just to see what needs to be cleaned up in the gut. And how do we restore microbiome so that you can enter pregnancy with the healthiest possible. And that way then a lot of, you know, so many fertility issues now, right? And, and, and we had our own fertility journey with both of our children. And I wish I'd known back then what I knew now because you just get in this like, go, go, go. I don't have time. Time, right. Clock is ticking. I'm not taking six months off, you know, to, to, you know, clean up and clean up my gut microbiome and do all the things because I have to get pregnant now. Well, guess what? You take the six months off to do that. You get pregnant so much faster than the six months of trying not working, you know, and then now you're back at square one. Right. And then even from an epigenetic standpoint, I mean just so many benefits for really kind of cleaning things up up for, I mean, your pregnancy, but also for your baby's future.

Yeah. What are some of these? Because I'm not familiar with any. What are, what are some of these, like binding powders? Like I've heard of cholestyramine. Is that, does that ring a bell?

Cholestyramine is. Yes. I mean it's used for, you know, in the, in the mold world. It's a common one used for mycotoxin absorption. And that is a, a good one. It's just, I mean typically it's dose four times a day and I don't, I mean it's so hard to do anything four times a day. You know, I have one product that I really like that has. It's not my product, but it's a product I use for, even for kids. It has activated charcoal in it, it has some clay in it, has humic and fulvic acids. It has a little zeolite in it. So it binds a lot of different toxins.

You probably want to take it like not around food, right?

Not around food or supplements or medications because it's going to bind whatever is in your intestines. So you take it on an empty stomach at least, least an hour away, ideally from food. And then for kids who can't swallow pills, you could just, I mean in the ers, we used to mix charcoal in a little chocolate pudding. Right. If kids came in with accidental ingestions. So you could mix it with a little bit of food and take that. You just don't want your belly full of food. Cuz the binder is just going to absorb that.

Yeah.

Modified citrus pectin is another binder that's really helpful. You can get even like apple pectin and you know, there's other, other, other kind of fruit pectins, but modified citrus pectin has been found to lower lead levels really well. We know that lead toxicity can be a concern for, you know, many infants and children. And so that's another thing that can be pretty easy to mix into different foods.

They've identified lead in like applesauce. Right?

I know, I know applesauce. And there's arsenic in, in apple juice and I mean there's heavy metal contamination is, is. I mean, because our soil has been so contaminated. Right. So we can't it's virtually impossible to not have some amount of heavy metals in our food, even organic foods. And so, you know, the more. I mean, glutathione is so important for heavy metal and toxin excretion, you know, to support your liver. I mean, as a. As our master antioxidant. It's so important for many, many different reasons. Um, and we want to also know that Tylenol will reduce your glutathione level. So that's why I prefer usually ibuprofen when kids have. Are sick with the fever. But, you know, glutathione. You can take glutathione as a supplement. There are now liposomal forms that are easier to absorb. You can take N acetyl cysteine as a precursor to glutathione. The, you know, nac or glutathione, because they have sulfur, you know, it's a sulfur containing compound. They're pretty stinky.

Yeah.

They smell. Yeah. Yeah. And so it can be a little bit of a harder sell for kids, but there are some now that don't taste too terrible.

Yeah.

That kids can take if they're not swallowing, but getting in your cruciferous vegetables, all of those sulfur kind of stinky vegetables like cauliflower, kale, broccoli, you know, mushrooms are a good source of sulfur. I mean, all of the, all of those, your Brussels sprouts, you just want to make a really regular part of your diet. Epsom salt pepper baths. I love Epsom salt baths for grownups and for kids. You can do them for. For. Even for infants. I've done four. I've done Epsom salts with. You just lower the amount of Epsom salts in the bath. But I mean, especially. So here's a little pro. For kids who are wheezing or with asthma, you know, we often think of Epsom salts with the magnesium for sore muscle cramps. Great, right. The sulfate part enhances glutathione production internally. But then, you know, for kids who have wheezing, what's going on in their lung muscles or their muscles around their bronchioles or their airspaces, they're twitching and spasming. So if you take an Epsom salt bath, the magnesium relaxes the bronchioles, so then they're not wheezing as much. And also, the lungs of people who have wheezing and asthma have been found to have less glutathione and magnesium than the lungs of patients who don't. So this can be especially helpful if you're dealing with anything like that, that.

Wow. Also eating meat, like beef, eggs, like provide these precursor amino acids. Right. That are essential for glutathione synthesis.

Absolutely.

Also collagen, glycine. Right. Glycine is rate limiting in the synthesis of glutathione.

So collagen I love putting into kids foods. I mean, we put collagen, you know, into everything. I mean, into our waffle mixes, into soups, you know, into our smoothies. I mean, it's so easy to mix into anything. And just in our oatmeal, like before I cook the oatmeal, I'll put collagen in the water and make it. Because I mean, I love oatmeal. Not a lot of protein in there.

Yeah.

Right. And a lot of kids have, they don't have a good blood sugar response to oatmeal. A lot of grownups don't. I mean, if I have oatmeal without collagen powder, I'm shaky in about half an hour, an hour I'm like, even if I load it with like chia seeds and pecans and you know, all sorts of different nuts and seeds. So I need that collagen to help reduce that, that, you know, blood sugar rise and that insulin rise that spikes for me after oatmeal. So, you know, for kids, a lot of parents like, oh, oatmeal is such a great breakfast. It is, it's, you know, high fiber. But we also want to make sure that there's some, you know, healthy fats in there, some healthy proteins in there. So I mean, back to your question about breakfast. I mean, you got to start off with, you know, healthy fats, healthy proteins at breakfast. It's not just a bowl of cereal.

Yeah.

You know, and it's not just, you know, a blueberry muffin with fruit. I mean, it's gotta be, you know, protein filled, you know, healthy fats. Avocado toast is perfect. You know, with an egg, I mean, the egg is like a perfect.

Perfect.

Right. The yolk is high cholesterol which kids brains need. I mean, 60% of our cholesterol is housed in our brain. I mean, we are not low fat for kids ever. Right. And, and the white, it's like the perfect protein amino acid acids for, for your kids fueling the rest of the day. And they found that kids who eat a balanced breakfast on Monday, that they actually perform better on math on Friday.

What?

I mean, there was a study like that. So. But yes, breakfast eaters. I mean, breakfast for kids really is the most important meal. So we just, we want to start their engine full. Even blood sugar so that they're nice and even throughout the day can, you know, manage and maintain through those long days where they're having to sit still for way too long for most kids. Right?

Yeah, totally. I've got one recipe that I'd love to share with you because I feel like kids will love it and my inner child loves it and people might say it's not like a perfect. So basically I occasionally, very rarely, but I occasionally will crave like a pasta. So I'll go buy like a la legume pasta, like a, you know, like one of these like chickpea based pastas. And I have zero affiliation with Bonza, but like, they happen to make a really good one and it's like fairly widely available. Right. Well, Bonza is not meant to be an ad for them, but I know it's gonna probably spike sales, but I'm all right with it because it's a really good recipe. They make this boxed Mac and cheese right now. I grew up eating Kraft Mac and cheese, which had probably innumerable industrial colorants and things like that in it, so. So I haven't eaten one of those in, you know, 30 years, if not more. But Bonza now makes like a boxed Mac and cheese.

I didn't know that.

Which I've had. It's really damn good. You can find like a vegan version. There's like a real cheese version as well, which is.

And it has the protein pasta, right? Which.

Well, it's got this like high protein chickpea pasta. But here's what I. Here's the recipe.

Okay.

I will. I'll make that sometimes. And then on the side I'll saute up some like lean ground beef. Beef, like some like, you know, 93% grass fed ground beef. Half a pound to. You know, sometimes I'll go crazy if I'm craving the protein. Make like a whole pound, season it with a little salt, pepper and garlic. It's all you need. And then you literally just dump the beef into the bonza. Chickpea pasta, Mac and cheese. And you've got like a hamburger helper.

Totally.

But the.

That's.

I love it. Yeah, Children will love it. It's like, like the protein is off the charts.

Yes.

You don't realize you're eating something that's totally healthy. I mean, it's like, literally, what are you. You're eating chickpeas and beef.

Yeah.

Right. You don't get healthier than that. And into that, because it's like this, like, emulsion of, like, cheese. And be. You can throw a scoop of collagen. You can put a fried egg on top. Is literally 10 out of 10.

So good.

Yeah.

So good. And then, you know, if your kids aren't quite into vegetables yet, you can puree up some, like, sweet potato and. And butternut squash and just kind of.

Like you could throw some, like, steamed broccoli in there.

Yeah.

As well.

Pureed cauliflower mixes well into, like, almost anything. Like, even smoothies, like, frozen steamed cauliflower. But that's such a good idea. I totally remember the Hamburger Helper. Right? The hand.

So good. Well, actually, I didn't get to eat that growing up, which is probably one of the reasons why I like it so much now, because it combines dairy with meat. And that was something my mom was opposed to. I grew. You know, I was raised Jewish.

Jewish.

And also there was, like, an animal. You know, my mom was like, you never want to, like, bathe a calf in its mother's milk or something like that.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Lore, I don't know. But. But I mean, when I was, like, out of my mom's sight, I was eating cheeseburgers and things like that all the time. But that you could eat outside, you couldn't bring. I couldn't bring Hamburger Helper into my house for that reason. And so now as an adult, when I get. Get, you know, the. You know, once every four months that I decide to, like, indulge like that, it's a really nice. It's a. It's. But I'm not even gonna say it's a treat because it's really healthy.

Yeah. So good. Tons of fiber, protein we made my kids love. And they do not know the difference between, you know, your regular lasagna sheets versus this. I can't remember the name of the company, but it's a green lentil lasagna sheet. A. No bake lasagna sheet. It's just literally ground up green lentils, Right. And you make your lasagna with whatever. Whatever protein you want. Just chalk it full of vegetables. And then, I mean, the garlic, basil, ricotta on top and. So good. But that's. I mean, what an easy swap, right? To. To swap out your. Your whole whole grain pasta with a chickpea or garbanzo. I mean, that is garbanzo. Or a lentil or. I mean, there are all sorts of black bean pastas. I mean, there's so many options out there. They're so much Better than I remember when I was first starting out. In practice, the only available non gluten pasta was this from this company in Canada called Tinkiata. It was a rice pasta and it would just like stick together and you could never eat it. Right.

So bland.

Yeah, yeah.

And the texture was not right. I remember those. Yeah, but, but these new legume based pastas are so good. 10 out of 10. There's a brand, I'm forgetting the name of the. But there's like a lupini or lupin bean pasta. It's like one serving has like 20 grams of protein.

So good.

And like 15 grams of fiber or something crazy like that. It's off the charts good. So yeah, just super. And that, and that all comes back to as we discussed earlier, like demand, demand for these kinds of products have created, you know, all these like way better options for us. And I'm just so grateful. It's awesome. Well, thanks for coming out.

Oh yeah, my, my pleasure. You know, we're down here. It was a great excuse to come and take the kids to Universal Studios.

So, so fun. Well, where can people pick up your incredible new book? It's a thick book too. I mean, what value you offer in it?

It's thick. It's got a lot of information because I wanted parents to, if they don't have an integrated pediatrician near them. I mean, the first part is all about why we want to create microbiome magic. The second part is how including some really fun recipes in there, there like fermented BlackBerry lemonade, which is so good. You gotta, you gotta get your kids to learn how to like fermented foods. And we gotta think beyond sauerkraut. Right? I mean they have to, they're gonna learn to love sauerkraut. You just kind of keep trying, right? And I grew up with the kimchi, but so many different ways we can think of fermented foods. And then, you know, a lot of kids have issues now. And so the third part is really how to reset your gut. How to recover your gut microbiome if there's something, something going wrong. And then the last part, because I'm an integrated pediatrician, I wanted parents to have tools besides just wait and watch or antibiotics if your kids don't get better. Right? Tools using herbal medicines, homeopathy, essential oils. I teach acupressure points for when your kids are sick with really common things like colds and flus and tummy bugs and sore throats and all that so important.

Well, it's called healthy Kids, happy kids. And people can pick it up anywhere.

I'm assuming anywhere where books are sold.

Love it. And are you on social media?

I am on. I'm on mostly on Instagram. Healthy kids underscore happy kids. And my website is HealthyKidShappyKids.com.

Love it. Well, last question that gets asked, everybody on the show. What does living a genius life mean to you?

Living a genius life to me means living every moment possible as mindfully as possible. Right. One study that really hit home was saying that most people spend about 80% of their time with their mind wandering, right. Thinking about anything else but what they're doing right in that moment. And a wandering mind is an unhappy mind. Right. And so my goal as being here today, right. My goal, interacting, engaging with my friends, with my kids, with my husband, with my family, is to really be fully present in the moment with whatever I'm doing. It's harder than you think, but that to me, if I can do that, that would be my genius life.

Wow. I love that. Well, thanks for coming out for adding so much value to my. To me, to my life, my audience's life. You know, this is a fascinating chat, and yeah, super psyched to get to know you. J.J. was right. You are a badass.

Well, thanks for having me on.

Thanks again. Thank you guys for listening. Share this episode with friends and loved ones in your life that could use this incredibly valuable information and consider sharing it on social media as well. Leave a rating and review on your podcast app of choice. I appreciate it and I'll catch you on the next episode. Peace.

Sam.