Episode #76: Feeding Your Kids For Success, with "Momtritionist" Thais Harris

Hey beautiful, it's Dr. Tabatha. I want to share something with you that I believe God is doing right now in women's health. We're in the middle of a massive movement and most people don't even know it. Every single day, 6,000 women in the U.S. enter menopause. That's over 2 million women a year, and by 2030, that's more than 1.2 billion women worldwide. So here's the thing, most of these women feel exhausted, bloated, anxious, disconnected from themselves, and the medical system is Doctors are handing out prescriptions and quick fixes, and no one is helping women heal from the root cause of their issues. That's where Fast to Faith coaches come in. As a certified coach, you'll be equipped to help midlife women balance their hormones, heal their gut, regain their energy, and reconnect their faith, the foundation that so many of us have been missing. And from a business standpoint, woo, this is one of the most lucrative untapped opportunities in the entire health coaching world. The global health coaching industry is expected to reach over $33 billion by 2023, and midlife women are the fastest-growing, highest-spending demographic in that space. Most importantly, these women stay with their coaches. They invest deeply because they are desperate for lasting transformation— body, mind, and spirit. So if you've been feeling that pull and that whisper that you're meant to do more, This is it. Now is the time to rise, to serve, and build a purpose-driven business that not only changes other women's lives but transforms your own in the process. Because when you help one woman heal, you help her family, her marriage, her faith, and her future. That's the ripple effect that we're creating with Fast to Faith. So join me, click the link to come watch this webinar. It might be the one thing that really moves the needle for you in this Next season. I can't wait to see you in there. Hi, I'm Dr. Tabatha, the Functional Gynecologist. I'm a board-certified OB-GYN and functional medicine physician. I've embraced the world of functional medicine and wellness through my own personal health journey, and I'm super excited to share my wisdom and unique perspective as it pertains to women's health. So if you're struggling with hormone imbalance, weight gain, period issues, anxiety, insomnia, you name it, Then you've come to the right place. I want to be your functional gynecologist. So welcome. Welcome back, ladies. This week we are tackling how to make good food choices and change your way of eating. While incorporating your family, because that has been a huge struggle for me. You know, some nights I'm making 2 or 3 separate dinners. It's crazy. Like, who's with me on this? I hear this in my practice all the time as well. And it's just like, you're finally ready to get on board and make different food choices and get healthy and eat real whole foods that you have to, like, cut and prepare and cook and do all this stuff and your kids aren't used to it, so they're kind of freaking out like, no, no, I just want my mac and cheese, right? Or your husband or your partner, they're just not necessarily on board with it. So I personally have struggled with this and have had so many patients struggle with, like, how do I not make 2 or 3 meals for dinner? How do we all incorporate the food that— You know, I want to start eating, because it's not just about me, it's about me getting healthy and getting my family healthy. I want everyone to be on board. And so I'm really excited about today's guest because she's got this all figured out. She's been doing this for a very long time and she has created courses on how to get families to get healthy together. So it's really beautiful. And she has so much insight and wisdom into How to incorporate kids into this health journey with you and how to get your partner on board. And I just think this is the key to success right here because you can't do things alone and on your own. It's hard, it's lonely, it's not sustainable. You need to, you know, we're meant to be in community, right? And if nothing else, we're meant to be in families and you need your families support, and you need to go through it together and all be on the same page. So today's episode is great. I hope that you'll stay tuned and listen because we're going to talk about ways to, like, get your kids interested in cooking food, making food, eating real food again, getting off the standard American diet of everything in boxes and bags that you throw in the microwave. Like, we really do need to get back to—

to learn—

teaching our kids how to cook and learning how to cook ourselves and all of that, right? So I'm excited. Thais Harris is her name. I love her name. It's beautiful. Thais calls herself the Momtritionist. So she is a board-certified holistic nutritionist and your ally in creating an outstanding life. She's designed and taught hundreds of classes and has led hundreds of people in their journey to optimal health through group cleanses individual and group coaching. Tais has presented at Remind, SAND Conference, Sonoma Healing Academy, and throughout the US and Europe. Tais served on the faculty at Bowman College as a nutrition instructor and as the nutrition education manager at the nonprofit Ceres Community Project. She does all kinds of amazing work, you guys. So she has a virtual practice called Nourish Together, and Tais guides Women, men, children, everybody through these programs. Adults, she has a detox program, but she also has an awesome program that teaches parents how to support their family's health throughout life with her online courses. She coaches private clients as well as couples or families, and this all helps every, you know, them live their best lives through bio-individual nutrition and lifestyle practices. So that's what we're going to talk about today is like, how can we do this with the people in our lives to make it sustainable so that it's just not another failed diet, quote-unquote, right? Like, we're in it to win it. We want this to be a lifestyle change. We want to create new healthy habits that we're passing down to those that we love. So this is a really awesome episode. Here we go. Well, welcome, Thais, to the Functional Gynecologist Podcast.

Thank you so much. It's great to be here.

Yeah, I'm super excited to talk to you because you are doing amazing work in the space that is just near and dear to my heart, you know, like trying to really get control of how you're nourishing your body and your mind as the best way to reclaim your health, right? Did you Come upon this journey because of your own health issues?

Yeah, it's interesting. I grew up in Brazil. And I moved to the US when I was 19. And right away, I noticed my body changing after a few months of living in the US and adopting definitely a more standard American diet. Foods were so easy. And growing up in Brazil, we ate a lot of fish and veggies and rice and beans, but really whole foods. And we had access to just a lot of very fresh foods. And I had, you know, mom, and there was a lot of people cooking, like big families. My mom is the oldest of 7, so aunts and grandma, like everybody was a great cook. So food was whole and it was easy to have access to. And when I was here on my own, I adopted the like easy things, right? So I would go in the market, I'm like, oh my gosh, everything's so easy. Oh, mashed potatoes as a powder in a bag, you know, how easy, how wonderful. The US has got it figured out. So after doing that for a few months, I definitely gained weight, I felt different in my body, my energy was different. And so I started seeking some help. And I had actually worked for somebody who had just had heart surgery, and she was in her 90s. And so I was helping her just by making meals for dinner and keeping her company for a few hours. And I I really started to understand food in a whole different level. And there was a little, um, natural food store near me. I lived in Florida at the time, and I started reading their books. And I remember it was a book on nutrition for your blood type, or, you know, like all of these different things. And it just expanded my worldview and my eating, um, perspective quite a bit. And so then when I moved to California, after I finished college in California, I then decided to study nutrition. And that was really, you know, where my, my whole life changed and I started a new path.

Wow.

And right after I graduated, uh, within a month, my dad died of a very aggressive form of cancer. And so I flew to Brazil. I had a few days with him before he passed. And then that really made me take a deeper dive into cancer prevention. And I attended Bowman College, which is a school of nutrition. And Dr. Ed Bowman was providing a teacher training program. And so during that teacher training program, I really focused on cancer. And I was teaching about cancer. And I feel like he really helped me see like, oh yeah, this is— there's something here for you. Like, you're obviously very interested in it. And there's a lot you know, and I would love your help. Definitely. Developing more programs for this. So in that conversation, I really started to see myself as somebody who worked with people facing health crises, in that case cancer, and that I wanted to work not only to prevent it, but to help people that were going through it to have better lives after cancer and to also even work with side effects. And at that time, I ended up working for an organization called Ceres Community Project. It's a nonprofit providing meals to people facing cancer. And, and so that, that began really my, just my main love of nutrition for prevention, you know, of conditions like cancer and other chronic conditions too. I feel like when people eat in a way that helps them prevent cancer, there's so much else that they're preventing too.

Yeah.

After working with people in that area, I decided to focus on families because I feel because there's so much we can do and we learned that 2/3 of cancers are preventable through diet and lifestyle. It's much better. I feel like my work is much more impactful working with families and kids before they get to that point than, you know, so being able to prevent it instead of trying to address it. After it's already there. Um, I love that.

Yeah, and I love your perspective on everything. Like, you didn't grow up here, so you realized how different our food really is, you know. I think that's probably eye-opening for a lot of women to hear because we don't know anything different. We were raised with boxes and bagged food, you know, and TV dinners and frozen food and all this Frankenfood, and To hear that you thought it was such a cool thing coming here because it's so easy and quick, but then you quickly realized it was wreaking havoc on your body. And you know, I just think that's such an important point for women to realize. Like what you're eating really has been manipulated most of the time. It is not real food in the sense that it came out of the ground or came from an animal. It has been processed. It's been put through the factory and had all this stuff added to it, and. So I love that you're getting back to just clean, whole eating, you know, the way God intended. So that's really awesome. So now you're focused on families and kids and you do online courses, right? So, you know, I want to talk today about like the struggles that I'm seeing with my patients and that I struggle with personally is like when I revamped my diet and quit eating this the SAD diet, Standard American Diet, all of a sudden I had to make different food for myself and different food for my kids and my husband because they wouldn't eat it. You know, it wasn't important to them. They didn't like how it tasted necessarily. And so you've kind of cracked the code on helping women with this problem, right?

Yes. And so a lot of it is Having buy-in from all parties. Yeah, and I think sometimes when we see it as oh, like this is my thing; it's something I need for my body. Or especially, I mean, a lot of women that I work with, maybe they start the work because they want to lose weight, which you know, like often we have it backwards where we think, oh, I want to lose weight to get healthy. And when we really need to get healthy to lose the weight, it's like we have to bring the body to balance so that the weight can come off more effortlessly.

Yeah.

But the thing is, I think when we approach health or approach a dietary change with just this one lens of, I want to lose weight, it's harder to get buy-in from the rest of the family because it's seen as your own thing, like it's your problem or your concern, right?

Yes.

It's your goal. Like, I'm fine, you know, and I My husband is very slender, you know, so if I wanted to make any changes in that regard, he'd be like, I'm fine, I actually want to gain weight, you know, so I'm not going to eat the way you're eating, right?

Yep, yep, I hear that all the time.

So the main difference is how can we optimize everybody's health? Like, what do you most want? And really helping like everybody connect to what are their dreams? Like, what is their version of an outstanding life? What is Their image of health, and so when everybody can connect with that, then it's like oh okay. So here are some of the strategies where we can get everybody to to walk in the direction of their dreams, to walk in the direction that they want. It's much easier for everybody to adopt the same strategies, and they'll have different needs. You know, so in the case like even at home, quantities are different. So we're still all eating the same foods, but But the servings for my husband are much bigger than mine.

Right.

And, um, and there are times when, like right now, I'm in the middle of a group detox, and I usually do the detox with my participants because I love them. I'm 100% behind my group detox, and so I always do them too. And this time my husband decided to sit it out. He often will join me, and he's a somatic psychotherapist. He's also in the wellness industry. So there's a lot of it that, you know, I feel very fortunate that I have a partner in that. And I know that that's not the case with everyone, and it's not the case with all my clients, but we always find something that helps them kind of come in and feel like they also have a stake in it, right? Um, so yeah, so I was saying about quantities, you know, like there are certain things will change depending on the need of the person. And so this time he set out on the detox, so I still had things that I wasn't doing, um, and he, he continued to eat dairy, for example, and that's fine, you know, but he also was very aware of of, um, the, the sort of temptation effect, you know. And so he didn't have to bring a ton of dairy in the house. And if he was out, or if he could have it out, like, uh, or when he was having dairy, it could be a little bit separate, maybe a little bit after our meals. Whatever it is, he was just aware of like not being too in my face with it. And I think sometimes I've talked to a couple of clients about that, just the, the recognition that certain behaviors make it harder for the other person to comply with the things that they really need to sustain their health. And so how can we, you know, how can we work this so that everybody gets what they need, what they need, and, um, it makes it for a much more sustainable way of staying healthy, you know, getting healthy and staying healthy.

Yeah, I think it's so important for women to just have the conversation with their partners or their kids, like explain why they're doing this and what the thought is behind it. And like you said, that you want to feel better and live a better life, not necessarily lose weight because they're not going to connect with that, right? But if you really say like, this is important to me, I need your support, I need you on board. I just think that women would be so much more successful because I oftentimes hear of Partners bringing in food that they shouldn't be eating just to make it more difficult for them sometimes, just for the temptation. And you just need to ask them, hey, I need you to support me or get on board with me. I love when my patients go to the nutritionist appointments, you know, bring their partners and do it together because you're going to be so much more successful if you're doing it as a couple or as a family. So that's why I love that you're doing it this way. It's so good.

Yeah, absolutely. And it's interesting, I think, um, the thing about having the partners come together is so powerful, it's so important, and I don't see it done much. And I'm so glad that that happens in your practice too, because that's where the gold is, you know, that notion of like having people connect with what is it that they want. There's always— we have all these universal needs, right? And so there's always something that you that both people can connect to even though they may have different goals, um, you know, specific things that they want. And so one of the examples, uh, one of my clients who would like to conceive, and so that's, that's something that both of them want, right? They want to grow a family. And although they have different specific needs as it relates to their bodies and their metabolism, they have this common goal. And so in This time my client reported that, yeah, after working with other nutritionists and, you know, doing other programs, like this time they really connected because they were both on board. They both felt like they were working toward the same ultimate objective. And, and that makes a big difference. And it wasn't a problem for him this time, whereas before it was like, this, that's your thing, I'll do my thing. Now it's like, oh. Like, he's actually excited about helping her balance her hormones, for example, you know, because he knows how the sugar and the fast food and everything else was really, um, you know, harming her body, her chances of really being successful at their, their dream.

Yeah, exactly. And I think that so many couples don't realize that men's health Plays a huge factor in whether they can get pregnant. I mean, they— it really is the misconception that it's all on the woman. And so I love that you're debunking that because I see men with, you know, sperm issues all of the time, and it's because of their poor diet, their lifestyle choices, right?

Mm-hmm.

So the men have to be involved.

Yes.

So I want to talk about your program, Feeding Your Kids for Success, because this is where a lot of my listeners, you know, have been asking, I just need help so that I'm not making 5 meals a night. I need to figure out how to get my kids to eat healthier. And sometimes it's not as easy as just clearing out the pantry, right? There's a lot of behavioral changes that need to happen.

Yeah, absolutely. And I think too, depending on the kind of exposure, you know, the age of the kids, I think there's some considerations that are more specific for the families, the size of the family, whether they're going to school in person, you know, now there's even the in-person versus not. But the kinds of foods that they're exposed to outside of the home, and then what's inside of the home. And so when there is buy-in, and when I get to also have a conversation with the kids. That's all again, like you start by, you know, getting everybody involved and like, what do they really want? And for kids, it's harder to think like future, right? When we're really young, it's harder to conceive like, oh, building health, you know, in the ways that we as adults can do. But there are things that they like doing. So they know that they like feeling energized, that they like swimming or whatever it is. And so we're like, okay, how can we feed that sport or that love of— even if it's a love of reading, we can talk about eye health and, you know, different things like that.

Yeah.

So I think first is just considering like, who are the people in this family? What do they love? And really helping everybody connect to the sense of like, what do I, what do I like? What do I want most out of life? And then connecting food with that, with helping kids connect how they feel after they eat.

Yeah.

Not in like a super intense, like, so how do you feel now? But, but really helping grow that conversation and modeling that. So sometimes even like if as an adult, you know, we made something that we're like, oh wow, I just noticed that I, I had that ice cream with you this afternoon and I'm feeling really sluggish and I'm, I just, I'm sorry, I don't have a lot of energy to play right now. You know, whatever it is, like really being aware of that for our own sake, but also to model it and be able to talk about it with our kids because they pay attention and they learn. And I think from what I've seen in my practice and with my son, he learns much faster than I do. Like he can make connections now that I'm like, wow, that's amazing. Yeah.

Well, I am so glad that you mentioned that because I've been having the same issue with my son. You know, he, is definitely sensitive to gluten and possibly dairy. Like, he has physical ailments from eating it, and he's making those connections now, but it's taken a lot of discussions and just like processing through, you know. He'll start complaining of joint pain and muscle tenderness and just being tired. And, you know, I have Hashimoto's. I definitely have a gluten issue, and I'm afraid I You know, passed that down to them. But I've just been really working on helping them understand, like, food makes you feel differently. It can make you feel amazing or it can make you feel bad. And so figuring that out and having, you know, that introspection, that's so huge for kids. So I love that you are really honing in on that. I think that's really important for people to just be more conscious when they're eating, more mindful about how it makes them feel.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

And I think, you know, so much of it comes too of like making choices and finding— because we all— our kids are all different, but finding like what is it that motivates someone.

Yeah.

It's such an important part of just like coaching in general. But I think if when we think of ourselves as our kids' coaches, so removing a little bit of the parent lens and just like, how can I— if I was his coach, whether it's a sports coach or, you know, Nutrition coach, like, how could I help them? Because with, with, say, moms and kids, sometimes we have our dynamics, and it may seem like a criticism, or, you know, we might have our face where we—

whether we roll an eye, or we—

oh, you're doing that again, or you're— oh, you know, you shouldn't eat this thing. You know, like, there's that— there's kind of a tone that comes from the dynamic of being a mom.

Oh, yeah. I mean, I'm still struggling with that. So I would love for you to, like, Give me any kind of tips for coaching. I mean, I even went to the point of doing the food sensitivity testing, and I showed him that his body is reacting to gluten and dairy. You know, he's creating the antibodies. And so that was really eye-opening to him. But it's really hard when you're 12 years old and that's all you have for lunch at school, or—

Right.

The other parent in a divorced home isn't necessarily on board with the plan and stuff like that. So I would love to just hear How to approach, you know, maybe shifting their mindset a little bit and taking ownership of that.

Yeah, well, so that's— so he's 12, right? And he has the exposure at school, at the other household. Um, so that's a lot. You, you definitely, you know, there's a lot less that you have control over, just to say. And it would be different if it was like, um, Father, mother, same household, the child is maybe 6, you know, like there's different things so that different situations will call for. And I think on this is also getting the father involved with a— and that can be hard sometimes depending on whether it's a collaborative process or not.

Yeah.

But just understanding like what down the road Usually comes from this sensitivity or intolerance, you know, and what are the things that we have a big control right now that we can actually work so that those things don't happen? And what can we do to make sure that the things he wants most happen? So I think with the, with the child, to me, it would be about talking. You have a choice. And you always have a choice. And I understand that sometimes your choice will be to go for this because it's what's available. It's the only thing that sounds good in the moment, whatever it is. So let's work on supporting your body for the moments, for the times when you do make the choice to eat this thing that is harming your gut or your, you know, your overall health. And then with that, I, you know, you could even, if he's able to take a pill, which depending on kids' ages, they're not quite, but whether it's, you know, a digestive enzyme that might help, making sure that they have some foods like sauerkraut, you know, some fermented foods. Like the other— like, how do you support them on the other end, knowing that, okay, they're gonna have this exposure? And even with my 6-year-old, we talk about the foods for his bugs. He knows that he has bugs in his body that are really his superbugs that help him be amazing. And so sometimes when he's feeling like, oh, I'm gonna eat this but not that, and I see him pushing like some of the veggies to the side, I'm like, have you taken any bites for your buggies yet? And then he'll like, oh, okay. And then it's for his bugs, you know.

So I love that.

And I think, yeah, for some, I even feel like, is bugs a bad word? But anyway, for him, it works. For some kids, knowing that there's bugs in their bodies might be weird. So it's like, you could call it the superheroes in your gut. Or, you know, like, there's, again, knowing our child is so important for those little details. But the thing is, maybe then for the, for your son, you know, is just saying like, okay, you have this whole universe inside your body. And this one food that I know you really like, it like it doesn't help that universe live in balance. So how can we help the universe live in balance? And are there times like if at home if we just don't have this food at home, here are some of the options, right? I actually just found locally here a really amazing gluten-free bread that I was like, wow, it's like all whole ingredients and actually tastes great. And everybody at home likes that likes it. Oh, that's awesome. That's a win-win, you know. And so they're not missing. Missing, not, not bringing bread in the house. Yeah. And maybe when they're out, like, it might happen. So then it's kind of out of my control. But I think it's this combination of getting them to go problem solving with you.

Yeah.

How can we do this? Like, what do you really want? Okay, so we know this, you know, this particular food is a problem. Um, and my son had a really bad skin irritation over the winter. And eczema, really. And so he—I made sure that he was off like gluten, dairy, and all of that. And it was hard because at school there was a time when you know somebody brought in cupcakes for a birthday. But he was so proud. He's like, "I didn't have one," and the teacher gave me—they had gluten-free bread at the school, and I think the teacher made him like gluten-free bread with jam so he could feel like. he wasn't being left out.

Yeah.

But it was like he was so proud of that because he knew, like, oh, and now— and his skin irritation went away. It might have not been the gluten. Sometimes I, you know, I tend to go to those foods that we know are the big irritants and that are the inflammatory foods. Sometimes something else might be happening, so it's important to, you know, notice that too. But in this case, it was just like I— he had— he was totally committed to it because he could see what was happening in his body. And I was like, we can totally clear this, we can work together, we'll be detectives. So let's see if it's this or it's that. And even now he said, oh, I think because I'm not wearing like 3 layers of clothing, I think it's getting better, you know. But so I think getting their buy-in with, with helping them participate. I also have meal plans. So we do meal planning because it's one way to keep mom Sane is by just having like a good plan for the week. But I, I get Sid's buy-in, like, hey, what do you think of this meal plan? Should we do this breakfast or this breakfast? And once the meal plan is on the fridge, he's— he looks at it. Oh, what day is today? Is it like, oh, you know, overnight oats, or is it something else? And so the more we involve them in the process, the more they commit to it. And and that's been the case with my clients too, and and people that took my course too. And I one mom, she was telling me how like oh like my daughter is not gonna like this. My daughter's not gonna like that. Oh she won't do it. Oh I tell her I'd and we we just worked on this like what about if you just invite her because they already had their dynamic and so there was already this way in which food was kind of a power struggle right and she already was kind of giving up like ah she's never gonna do that so I was like okay. Okay, just where it's fresh. Now you're like her coach. Yeah, yeah. It's like, how do you invite her into the process, you know? Or even say, hey, I want to make a different snack. Do you want to help me? I have this recipe from Thais. Um, does this look good to you, or can we find something else online? We have these ingredients. And one time her daughter is was like, no, don't, you know, was reading, doing something else, didn't want to. And I was just— one of the things we talked about is like, it's okay if she doesn't do it. Don't be like, oh, you, you know, I wish you would help me or whatever, but just like, okay, I'll just do it. Maybe you join me next time. Did the thing, then invited her like, hey, do you want to eat it with me? Do you want to have some tea? Do you want to have some, you know, whatever makes maybe a little bit of a ritual? And I think at that time her daughter just ate the things like, yeah, not Okay, great. Then the next time she invited, the daughter was actually willing to go and help make it, right? So it's like, it's little steps. And then also making sure that we don't make them wrong for not wanting to, or for not liking what they just ate. Because that's one of the things that then sometimes they can even build this thing that's like, oh, there's something wrong with me because everybody at home likes this food and I don't. And we want to avoid that as much as possible so they don't start identifying with being the picky eater or being the person that doesn't like a lot of things.

Oh, I think that is such great advice. You know, I was just thinking back to the times where I've asked my son to chop the vegetables, you know, cut up the onions and the carrots or whatever. And he was so much more interested in trying the food once it was finished, as opposed to just me cooking it, you know, and having no interest in it. So I love getting them involved, getting them to just invite them in and not make them feel bad if they're not ready to jump in with both feet, right? And just, it's a process for sure.

Yeah. And even things like, you know, it's interesting, the process of making food. So whether it's like making a pesto or a tomato sauce, things that may Kids might identify. Maybe they see it in a jar, you know, coming home from the store, and it's like, oh, did you know it's really easy to make that? Do you want to make it? Like little things that can be so empowering, you know. Like, and my son can make an omelet. And the other day, he decided he was going to make his breakfast. He's six, and I was like, okay. And I said, do you want help, or do you want to do it on your own? I want to do it on my own. So I had to really trust, even though I was hearing him grabbing a pan and like stove coming on, and I was. like, okay, I have to, you know, just be, just be nearby, be at the ready, but also trust. And he wanted to make us oatmeal. And he, you know, so when, when it was ready, he called us. And we had to keep our eyes closed. And then he served us at the table. It was so sweet. It was so beautiful. And the oatmeal wasn't cooked. You know, like it was like it was warmish. Right, right. Thankfully, it was actually sprouted oats that I had purchased. So I knew it wouldn't be too bad if I ate some, you know, not fully cooked oats because they had already been sprouted. But it was that he was so proud of himself.

Right, right.

He made breakfast. He had put cinnamon on it, like he— and he put butter on it. I don't know, he just liked it. And it was so sweet. And it was like I could have I could have done it a couple of different ways. One would have been to just go, no, I will help you because I really need to make sure you're safe, which for some moms might be the way they take just to deal with their, you know, own anxiety around the safety issue, which is big.

Right.

I just feel like I've been in the kitchen so much with my son that I felt like it's safe to let him do this. But maybe, you know, if a child has never used the stove before, you wouldn't start By you know letting them be on their own, and then and the second thing was to say anything about whether it wasn't cooked right. And I was just like, no, just thank you. This is so delicious. I so appreciate you making breakfast for us. You know like that. And he's like, well, maybe I could make you breakfast every Saturday. You know, and we're like, that would be great. You know so, but I think we give them a little bit, and then also kind of the. needing to walk away. I have these knives that I work— I used to teach kids in schools to cook too. I worked for an organization called Rainbow Chefs way back, right after I graduated, and it was amazing how, um, capable kids are. You know, that was my first experience with being with a lot of kids at once, and I remember thinking, we're gonna have all these knives, even though they were sort of— they're safety knives and they are like a really hard plastic, it still felt a little It was a little scary to be in a room with 20 kids that all had knives.

Right.

But they're so capable. And I think so then just being really clear with our communication, you know, we had— we established certain safety rules and I taught them how to hold the knife and hold the object they were cutting, how to stabilize that on the— so like once we take all those steps to really help them succeed from the beginning, We can relax a little bit and really let them have that autonomy that then makes them more committed, more excited about continuing to do that and making food and connection with food a part of one of the things they love to do.

Yeah, I love that. I think it's super important for kids to learn how to cook. You know, I think we completely got away from that in the past couple decades. Everything is just throw it in the microwave or, you know, if it's cooking, it's a frozen pizza. Or, you know, or mac and cheese on the stove. Like, we really do need to get back to teaching kids how to cook and how to prepare food and grow food. And so I love everything you're doing. I think it's super important. So it's so good. How long is your Feeding Kids for Success program? How long is the course?

Oh, thank you. Yeah, so it's designed as a 4-week course.

Okay.

That one module is released every week for 4 weeks. There are 4 modules with around 8 lessons each. These are video lessons, and then I also provide support by having a live call each week. There are 4 live calls, and people have email access to me. We have a Facebook group so that the moms, the parents can talk and ask questions, and I'm there monitoring, answering questions. Often another mom will offer an idea or, um, you know, answer a question too, which is great because you get this group involvement. And, um, but people have access to it for a year. So, um, I've seen now like some of the moms, especially depending on how busy you are, um, people don't get through all of the modules each week. And so they may get through the main ones with the more practical advice. And then if they want to learn more about how to support the microbiome, so one of the modules is, um, the immunity community. And we talk a lot about supporting immunity for our kids and how the microbiome is a big part of that and one of the most important parts of, of our immunity for ourselves, for our kids. And so there's a lot of information there. They can just kind of take the, the first couple of lessons and really get the practical advice and the things they can implement at home. And then if they want to learn more about like how, how exactly does this work and why is this important, they can dive into the other lessons. And so they have access to all of that for a year. So yeah, it's a really— I find that it feels very doable because in 4 weeks we have little ways of keeping people engaged with it and little assessments that people can take every week and a little worksheet that they can fill in the blanks. And the kids can be part of helping with that too, depending again on the kids' age.

Yeah.

And then if, say, they go through it, they do a lot of the practical stuff, and then they decide that maybe they commit to once a week watching 20 minutes of classes just to catch up with the more in-depth subjects, they can do that for a year.

Oh my gosh, I love that so much. I'm gonna have to sign up. It's so good. Yeah, so you're talking about gut health, you're going over digestion, you're also doing immunity, metabolism, the seasonality of food and mindfulness, right? So it's like the complete package. I think that's why you're so successful because you are, you know, not just telling people, here, eat this healthy food. Like you're actually making it, you know, possible and giving them reason and purpose why they should do it and continue to do it. So kudos to you.

Thank you so much. It feels like really work that is near and dear to my heart. It's, as I mentioned, you know, it's about prevention, but really it's also about just more quality of life and connection with our kids.

Yeah.

It does go by so fast, right? And so the mindfulness piece is actually my favorite module because it brings it all together. We even talk a little bit about body image and self-esteem, which is something that when we are addressing food, whether it's about, you know, gaining weight, losing weight, or if a child has ADD or ADHD or You know, like skin issues, the food sensitivities. I think it can become so easy to like overfocus on the food, and then and sometimes the child starts feeling that you know there's a problem with them, and they can't do this, they can't eat that. And I think that that's just it's hard living that way, right? And it's more limiting. And so I feel like the mindfulness piece is really about how do we accept all those things? things and work to improve them and get them to again problem solve, right? And like collaborate on ways that we can all live life to the fullest and not feel limited, even though we may have limitations on quantities or things we can eat, but that our life is not limited, that our spirit's not limited.

Yeah, I love that. And I think you made a good point earlier Just maybe not focus on what you're removing, but if you put enough good stuff in, you know, the bad stuff will fall away. You know, that's kind of how I approached my son was like, I know you're going to eat this stuff, but if we can minimize it and then maximize your nutrition, get your fatty acids and your vitamins and your other healthy nutrients, if all of that is up to par, then your body will have such a better fighting chance against You know, the times that you do eat gluten and whatnot. So I think, you know, you're right on point with just like focusing on the overall picture and getting to optimal health, and then you'll be able to handle all that stuff so much better.

Yeah, right, exactly.

Oh my gosh, I love it. So where can my listeners find you and sign up for this course?

So my website is nourishtogether.com. So Nourish Together, the whole family, get everybody on board, nourishtogether.com. And there's a tab in there for families where all the information for the course is available. I'm also at nourish.together on Instagram and Nourish Together on Facebook.

Awesome. I'll have all those links in my show notes so people can connect with you. And your next program is going to be what, in June?

In June. That's right. Right now I'm finishing up group detox, as I mentioned. So I keep providing that, and that for parents can be great. Don't, don't do detox with kids, but for with adults. And, and then Feeding Kids for Success comes in in June. And then I also see people individually. So outside of the group programs, I can work with families or individuals. And so I have a couple of programs for that. And that's usually a 3-month package because I like working with people over time and implementing changes, um, in, in small ways so that they become sustainable and really become part of the lifestyle.

I love that. That's awesome. So everybody needs to go to your website and sign up for the free 3-day wellness guide, right? Yes. And check out your courses. So thank you so much for all this awesome wisdom and for everything you're doing. Thank you so much, Dr.

Tabatha. It's such a pleasure to be here on your podcast.

Hopefully we'll have you back, all right? I hope so.

All right, bye. Bye.

Well, that was great. My favorite part, the little golden nugget that I took away, was to teach your kids that they have superbugs that keep you healthy and happy. You're little superheroes inside of you. And that you need to feed them and keep them strong so that you can stay strong and healthy. I think that's a great way to get kids on board with eating more fiber, because fiber is what feeds our good bacteria in our guts and on our skin and everywhere else in our body. So, like, find fun ways to get your kids to eat better. Healthy food. You know, we, we don't need to make them feel bad if they don't like how it tastes. We don't need to call them picky eaters or make them clean their plate, right? We want them to have a healthy, good relationship with food and getting them involved, having them understand that they have choices and what their consequences are, positive or negative, of what they eat, like how they feel afterward, that type of thing. I just think it's so empowering. And I love that she's doing all this work because I think that is the future for kids. I think teaching them to have a healthy relationship with food and not think of food in terms of just their weight. Like, we have gotten it wrong over the past 20 or 30 years. We have been so focused on food as this negative thing that makes us fat and, you know, instead of nourishing our bodies and food actually being medicine and being something to get you healthy. So our thought process has just completely been twisted by the food industry. And so let's really, you know, just embrace the idea that food is nourishment, food brings health if you're making the right choices. And let's empower our kids and teach them that. Let's teach them how to cut up a pepper or cut up their vegetables and, you know, make choices to feed their gut microbiome and all that good stuff. So, so much stuff I love today. So share with me your golden nugget for today, what you're going to start incorporating with your loved ones, your family. I want to hear from you. So shout me out on Instagram or Facebook at Dr. Tabatha, T-A-B-A-T-H-A. Remember, there's no I's. And you can check me out on my website at www.drtabatha.com. You can sign up to work with me one-on-one. I see women all over the country and I would love to help guide you back to— on your health journey, if that's what you need from me. Otherwise, keep meeting me here every week. I'm here to serve you. Let me know what you need. All right? So go out and have a kick-ass week, ladies. Bye!

Bye!