Episode 98: How to Empower Your Kids to Make Healthier Choices, with Dr. Madiha Saeed

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. Hi ladies, welcome back. I'm really excited about this episode because this is all about helping our children and creating a more amazing future. So, you know, we're always focused on what's going on with us as adults, all the problems, medical problems, emotional problems, all the issues that we have. And sometimes we forget that a lot of this stems from childhood, right? So, so much of what's going on with us actually started when we were still in our mothers' wombs or as children. Definitely, the gut microbiome was, you know, really developed and flourished into what it is as an adult when you were a child, depending on what you ate, what you consumed, how much stress You were under, how much, how many antibiotics you were put on. Like, so many things affect something as straightforward as your gut microbiome. But that is so true of everything else in your body— your nervous systems, your hormones. All these regulating bodies were developed as a child through your experiences, through your exposures. And So how amazing would it be if we really focused on not only preventing as an adult, but preventing as kids? So my guest today is absolutely incredible. She's on this amazing mission to really help children become resilient in their health, in their mental and emotional, spiritual well-being, and that is going to in turn You know, grow up some real amazing people. So I am totally on board with this. I love this so much, and I'm sure you are too. So even if you don't have kids, or if you are at the stage where you have grandkids, like, you know kids in your life, and this is really important stuff because what we need to start doing is making baby steps toward changes. We know our poor children have been You know, just inundated with fear and paranoia and so many things in the past couple years. Their whole world is turned upside down. The way they view sickness and disease has changed so much, and I want to be like my guest and just flip this on its head and focus on wellness and prevention. Like what? What can we do to feed the good bacteria in our gut? What can we do to regulate our nervous system? What can we do to keep our hormones balanced? You know, as kids going into adulthood, what can we do to prevent autoimmune diseases from turning on? So this episode is incredible. Her work is all over the place. She's doing amazing things. And as you're going to see, like, she cranked out a whole bunch of books During quarantine when she was stuck home with her 4 boys. So she's just an incredible woman, and it's because she has so much to say and so much to offer to the world that it's just like pouring out of her. So I'm really excited to share her with you today. I hope that you will follow her because she is amazing. So, Dr. Medea Saeed, she is the— Hi, everybody. Holistic Mom MD. So she's a board-certified family physician. She lives in the Chicago area. She traditionally published this book called The Holistic Rx: Your Guide to Healing Chronic Inflammation and Disease. So she was really passionate about, you know, how she reclaimed her health that she struggled through, you know, med school and residency and everything else. But once she started out into practice and was having her own children, she really wanted to teach them all the changes she was making in her life to fix herself and, like, prevent it in her children. So this just blossomed into all kinds of amazing stuff. She's had the best-selling children's book, Adam's Healing Adventures. That's one of Dr. Mark Hyman's favorite picks, so that's pretty awesome. The Pandemic Prescription: Restoring Hope for Um, her kids and her upcoming book, which probably is out by the time this is published, The Holistic Prescription for Kids, or The Holistic Rx for Kids: Parenting Healthy Brains and Bodies in a Changing World. So— oh, and that one's already out. What am I talking about? Adam's Healing Adventure: The Healing Power of Rainbow Food. So let me just tell you, like, she is giving us so much amazing, good content. I can't even keep up with her. But these would be amazing gifts around the holiday season for kids because kids, they just eat this up. They want to be amazing. They want to please us. They want to do what's right. And what's right is to help them make good choices.

Right.

In their body, mind, and spirit. So I am all about this. So let me just sing her praises really quickly because Dr. Medea, she's the mother of 4 holistically raised boys who educate the world. She's on social media as Holistic Mom MD. She's the director of education of Documenting Hope, a natural organization dedicated to heal chronic disease in children, and Know We Well. She writes for Holistic Primary Care, and she's on the medical advisory board for Mamatopolis and Wellness Mama. She was named one of the 100 most influential people in health and wellness and has one of the largest wellness blogs. She won the Up-and-Comer Award at, at our Mindshare group. She's on the board of Nagamiya Institute of Islamic Medicine and Sciences, where she speaks to physicians all over the world. Oh, and this is the really cool part, you guys. So her boys started their own podcast called The Holistic Kids Show. They interview some major players in health and wellness, including Dr. Terry Wahls, Kaya Pirohi, Reed Davis, Dr. Anna Marie Temple, Dr. Joel Walsh, and so many more. Her kids are empowering and educating other kids. So she is not just preaching, she is walking the walk, and she's teaching her kids how to do it as well. So this is pretty awesome. So she's an international speaker. She ignites the world with her energy and passion, as you're going to see during our interview. She's just got this infectious positive energy. She's been on numerous summits, conferences, radios, newspapers, podcasts. Um, I could go on and on about her all day long, so really check her out, um, at holisticmommd.com. And let's get on with this episode because it's so good and you're gonna get so much out of it. And I'm really excited to talk to her. Well, welcome, Dr. Medea, to the Functional Gynecologist Podcast.

Thank you so much for having me. So incredibly honored.

I'm the honored one. Oh my goodness. The amazing work you're doing. I can't wait to share with all my listeners and all my followers because you are like changing our future. I love everything you're doing.

Oh, thank you so much. I'm so incredibly honored.

This is—

I'm just a little bit passionate about this topic.

Just a little. You guys might not— it might not come through in the audio.

Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh.

You've been on this journey for a long time, and you started out just like, I need people to understand about integrative medicine, right? So that was your original path down this journey. Tell me about that.

Absolutely. You know, I think especially when it comes to being a medical doctor, I think you have to hit the wall first before you see the light for most Most of us, right? So for me, that's, that's where my story ended up. And that's how I was able to— I hit the wall and then started to fly. But it really started with, you know, being raised in this culture. I was born and raised in Naperville, Illinois. And I've had all the same bad habits that have led most of adults and children down the road to chronic health conditions. My mom loved to cook. She was like, for her, food is love. So if we needed a specific type of food, she would actually go get it for us. because that was her love. So we had an entire basement packed with cereals of every kind, like hundreds and hundreds of cereals. We took cans of Coke to school every day, you know, so a lot of the same kind of bad habits. And it was the weight issues. I had started losing my hair, acne, eczema, you know, constipation. But again, new normal. It's okay. Just deal with it. Don't worry about it. And I continued on the hamster wheel even throughout residency. So in residency, me and my husband were both interns. So we're both family physicians. And I had my first baby in residency the first year as an intern. And both of us were working 80-hour work weeks. So I was a new mom, a new wife, a new resident all at the same time. And now you combine, you know, the stress, the negativity, criticism, the toxins, the lack of sleep. We got We got free food at the cafeteria. So what happens when you're not sleeping well and then stressed? You go for like the Jimmy John's and you go for, you know, the Ben and Jerry's.

Yeah.

Not eating really well. And we actually, you know, that's when the Hashimoto's and the digestive issues continued to get worse with indigestion and severe fatigue. Then mood, like sometimes even mood issues. It was just, I just did not feel like myself, period. Even I had shingles in residency. Like, that's how my body totally hurt itself.

Oh.

And then even was diagnosed with lupus. And, but again, just trying to keep my head above water. I was just trying to swim one stroke at a time. And one day, In noon conference, my husband's like, can you go check up on our 10-month-old child in daycare? And I was really blessed that the daycare was actually attached to the hospital. So when I would— even when I was on the OB floor and, you know, all the, all the patients would be just laboring down, and I'm like, okay, I'm gonna go check on my baby because that was part of the hospital. So I was so blessed. But then I walked into every mother's worst nightmare. And that's when, you know, the lights are dim, the daycare provider was rocking back and forth and back and forth in her chair. And the eerie silence was broken by my child's mm-mm-mm in the back. And when I went back there, my 10-month-old child was strapped down in a receiving blanket or in with the receiving blankets in a bouncer. Pacifier was in his mouth. His Winnie the Pooh blanket was wrapped so tightly around his face. His eyes were bloodshot. His face was swollen. I immediately picked him up and ran out. And I'm like, on that day, on that day, I'm like, God, you saved my child.

Oh.

And that day I'm like, okay, I promise. I made a solemn promise. I promise I'm going to take care of these kids the best that I know how. But then I'm like, hey, wait, how am I supposed to take care of these kids the best that I know how if I, as a family physician, am completely falling apart?

Yes.

Right. So then you had to, like, think back, okay, what am I going to do to fix myself? Then I went to doctor to doctor to doctor trying to figure out, because I knew some of these diseases can kill me. And I went to doctors trying to find answers. And they all told me, sorry, you're just going to have to sit back and let this disease take its course. And I'm like, are you freaking kidding me? I'm not going to let this disease take its course. They're like, oh, here's this medication. But the side effects are like, may cause death. And I'm like, that's what I'm trying to avoid. Come on.

Right?

What's going on here? So, so It was craziness. So in my journey, I was learning, already studying parenting because I'm like, oh, parenting is how I'm going to really take care of these kids the best that I know how. So I actually taught my residents parenting and, you know, in residency, as that was my final year project. But what was awesome was that when I really discovered integrative holistic functional medicine right after residency, I joined this medical practice where under one roof there was me in OB-GYN and internists and exercise physiologists, nutritionists, counseling, chiropractor, massage therapy, all brought together for the complete healing of the whole person. So because when I was on my journey, there was only one other doctor that really understood what I was talking about. I was trying to get the answers, and he dealt— he was an OB-GYN who dealt with a lot of PCOS and endometriosis. And so I learned all my functional medicine from him.

Wow.

So yeah, so I joined their practice taking care of their, you know, prenatals and, you know, their PCOS and, you know, all their other All those women that we saw there. But what was awesome was that I learned from all of these amazing practitioners all at once.

Yeah.

Yeah. And it brought me up to speed of what conventional medicine had left behind. And when my first patients were 31-year-olds with 9 autoimmune diseases and all gone, I'm like, what? What is going on here? Like, literally, I just like told you to fix your lifestyle and all your symptoms disappeared. What? And then so when— but then when you combine the parenting and the functional medicine world, that's when I'm like, oh, this is super powerful. Because remember, that's why I started Holistic Mom MD, because as I was learning holistic functional integrative medicine, I'm like, why not incorporate it into my— you know, I'm raising a family. If it helps me, it helps my patients, it must help my kids.

Yeah.

I started to incorporate it into their daily routines and The aha moment didn't really come until my, you know, when my oldest was real younger, he would adjust his lifestyle according to how he felt. And I was like, what? This is so cool. And then obviously diving into the research and, you know, the data, I was like, oh my God. It's just like what we're doing with our patients, right? We're having them be mindful of their bodies. So that's where it's really holistic. Parenting was all about love and connection and educating and empowering your child, just like we do our patients, and guiding them along the way, giving them the positive mindset and those life skills that they need to navigate our rapidly changing world. So the same thing that we're doing with patients, why can't we do that with our children and teach them that to help them be more mindful of their internal and external world, where every conversation that you have with your child, every hug, Every, every— the food that you put in their bodies, their stresses, their sleep, their social, spiritual health has the power to change your children's brains and bodies for the better. So that's what I've tried to do. So whenever I incorporate it into my own daily routine, I incorporate it into theirs. And oh, it has been so much fun.

Oh my gosh. I just love everything that you're doing because I think kids want to be the best version of themselves and they are so much more pliable Absolutely. I want you to talk about how easy it really is to get kids on board with making these lifestyle changes, because I think there's this perception that, oh, my kid's a picky eater, my kid would never eat vegetables. And there's just these limiting beliefs, and we don't think that kids can understand, like, that's important, toxic burden, all that stuff. Like, let's Just unpackage all of that.

Okay, you're right, we don't give kids enough credit. They can do— learn all of that complicated stuff, even long division, elementary school, which technically, tell the truth, how much— how many of us even remember how to do that, right? But what I'm trying to say is that they can do complicated math and reading and science and history And then now let's just add that layer of social media that they're able to navigate and there's video games. And I mean, that's complicated stuff. That's probably more complicated than everything that we're talking about here.

Mm-hmm.

And we need to give their children more credit. So, I mean, you have a child, their decisions, their everyday decisions, what they're going to wear, what they're going to eat, you know, how they're going to behave. You know, the outcome of their whatever it is, is all based on their brains. And we know as science, right, we know in science that this, this brain, there's 2 main pieces of decision-making, and that's also called neuroeconomics. And then there's the prefrontal cortex and the amygdala. The prefrontal cortex is responsible for your rational decision-making. It looks at the pros and the cons and comes up with a decision after looking at the whole picture. Then we have is your irrational fight-or-flight limbic system-driven decisions that all come from like, you know, the amygdala. And so you need both of these pieces in order for your child to make a logical decision. But unfortunately, our imbalanced lifestyles the lack of sleep, the lack of exercise and play, the lack of nature, limited diet variety, increased junk food, increased toxins, increased stress, and terrible social lives is all leading and contributing to your child having an imbalanced lifestyle that's leading to chronic inflammation. And now science has proven that chronic inflammation is actually hijacking our children's brains and their bodies. So that child that doesn't want that food or that child that is like agitated and irritable and throwing temper tantrums, that's really not your child. Your child is being hijacked by their environment around them because studies have shown that inflammation is found to decrease the strength between the prefrontal cortex and the amygdala. So therefore, your child is unable to use the full brain to make a rational decision. And they're more angry, more violent, poorer social relationships, along with an us versus you mentality. So behavior and inflammation are really intimately connected. And let me just tell you, like, there's this awesome study that they did in Harvard and Columbia where they took 4,000 children, and they saw that those children with behavioral issues and, um, you know, emotional imbalances at the age of 8. They checked their blood at the age of 10, and they saw that they had 2 levels in their blood that were elevated: the C-reactive protein and the interleukin-6, which is a pro-inflammatory cytokine that's produced in response to infections and tissue injury and was associated with inflammation in adulthood. showing that there was potential childhood origin of adult inflammatory risk. And actually, even prenatal inflammation was shown to lead to behavioral problems. So researchers actually found that the brain networks in the brain can reflect the degree of inflammation their mothers were experiencing in pregnancy.

Yeah.

So they actually had those mothers that had higher interleukin-6 levels during pregnancy. When the child was assessed for working memory, memory at the age of 2, they actually scored lower.

Hmm.

So it really is your child, back to, you know, how can we really train and educate our children? It's by understanding their brains and their bodies because we can use science now to raise these healthy, resilient, mindful children that are able to use their full brain to make a logical decision. And where you can actually, when you talk to them, You can talk to them like real human beings.

Yes.

Not the agitated, irritable, temper tantrum children that you just can't talk to. It's really difficult. And just because they're doing that, I mean, kids are smarter than we think they are. So we can then really, you know, because we know that we are mind, body, soul, and our children are mind, body, soul. So how using holistic parenting can help nurture this child's mind, body, soul from the inside out that they need for emotional intelligence, the enduring deep friendships and making the correct decisions, managing stress, and even basically being resilient all throughout life.

Yeah.

So it's all about— so where are you going to start? Teaching your child about mindfulness, because holistic parenting helps raise mindful children. And this mindfulness allows us to see our internal and external world environments so much more differently and clearly, and how best to respond. So because when your child is mindful, what happens is that they're— when they know where they are on their baseline, like this is what I do feel when I feel great, they're able to recognize when they're getting off balance, even just a slight bit, and make changes. And if you provide, if parents provide our children with those skills, and even if it's you're just role modeling these skills for them, they know, oh, mom, this is what mom does when she's a little off. And so I'm going to try to do this too. So first, role modeling these behaviors, teaching your child to be mindful and to use these tools that we're going to talk about as soon as they start to feel off balance, to put their body back into balance, increasing their resilience at any situation and environment. So it really starts with, okay, yes, you can do this. Hope that your child is not just this little crazy monster that you can't control. But what we can do is we can give the child The autonomy, yes, but then also provide them the petri dish that they— the environment that they need to help them really use their brain and bodies and give the child the freedom, you know, and it's so much more powerful once you provide them with the environment.

Oh my God.

Allow their brains and bodies to— yes, I know, it's so powerful. There's so much that we can do.

Yes, and I'm so happy that you explained that because, you know, I was thinking of a scenario that literally happened this morning. My daughter has had light lifelong constipation issues. And it took me 7 years as a physician, mind you, to figure out that she cannot have dairy. And when she stays away from dairy and too much sugar, she's okay. But she also had the issues so long that she stretched out her colon and everything else, which I'm sure she doesn't want me to talk about.

Mm-hmm.

But she requires fiber and magnesium supplementation on a regular basis. So what just happened We had Halloween. She ate a crap ton of candy and she didn't want to take her gummies anymore. She didn't want to take that. And, you know, she's at the age where I'm like, okay, let's see how you do. You know, you need to eat your vegetables, you need to get that fiber in. But she's been struggling. And this morning she was like outright mean, angry, nasty. And I immediately realized, oh my gosh, she's having gut issues because now—

Oh, boy.

I understand that so well. But the amazing thing is that she understood it. I said to her, I don't— you know, you don't seem like you're yourself this morning. You're not feeling very well, you know? And she's like, yeah, I'm, I'm having issues. And I'm like, do you want to get back on your gummies and, you know, really focus on feeding those good bugs? And she's like, yeah, I think so. And I just felt I had such a breakthrough for her because she was making that decision as opposed to me forcing it on her.

Yes. Oh my God. You gave me goosebumps.

It took a few years, I will tell you, you know, because I've listened to you talk on other podcasts and you just, you have to keep planting the seed.

You have to keep planting the seed. You have to keep planting the seed. But my son also, he was 6 years old when he started having severe sinus issues. And he would wake up in the morning, even though we, mind you, we were already grain-free, dairy-free, sugar-free. And then we went to Pakistan. He had severe diarrhea, whatever I fed in Pakistan. Now he's sensitive to, so like drainage, like we called him Waterfall. And we, I explained to him what was going on. We opened up this book. We're like, OK, you have inflammation. This is, he's 6 years old, by the way. You have inflammation. This is why your gut— It's because otherwise we're like, We're trying to fight these symptoms. And if you look, I know in conventional medicine, these symptoms you're supposed to fight against. These are bad symptoms. You don't want these things. And here what you're doing with your daughter and what I'm doing with my children is showing them, read your body. These symptoms are not bad. They're just talking to you.

Yes.

And so that's what I've done with my kids also. That Bless, Bless, we did his food sensitivity test. We got him off of all those foods. He did that himself. That I don't, because according to how he felt, and now he's eight years old. So this started before before the quarantine, and he's eight years old, and we're able to introduce those foods back in. But like just this morning, he knows that bananas bother him. I don't know. That's his body. I'm like, okay. He has a little more congestion. He woke up this morning. It is so powerful. He's like, oh no, mom, I'm not gonna have a banana for breakfast today. I think I had too much today. I woke up a little bit more stuffy than usual. Where's my sauerkraut? Where's my? And he was able to like. use these tools that we've taught them, just like you've taught your daughter, to help put their bodies in balance on their own without you bribing them.

Yes.

And what's so powerful is that now they're in charge of their own health. So however they want to live, because our job as parents is to provide them with those skills. So just like we teach them how to brush their teeth in the morning and wash their hands after they go to the bathroom, Why can't we teach them gratitude early in the morning? The importance of sunlight, grounding, dry brushing, detoxification. These are simple things. And that's what I really wanted to do with this book is show you how I do this in my own house. And if I can do— if we tell patients to do this and if we are doing it ourselves, why can't kids learn this either?

Yes.

And so we incorporate these things. I call it like the foundations of holistic parenting, which is your digestive health and detoxification, the 4 S's— stress, sleep, social, and spiritual health— that if we can put a child's lifestyle back into balance, we can put their brains and bodies back into balance. And now these children are so much more easier to parent.

Yeah, I mean, honestly, we're doing it for us.

Let's be honest. I know! Why not do it for the kids?

I know, no, we love them to death and it will make them have such a better life going forward and then they don't have to go through all the pains we went through.

Absolutely, absolutely, because remember, you as a parent, like, the child is actually born with tons of different cells and very limited connections. So there's so much that we can do as parents to help them build these connections And, um, it's, it's so powerful because I know— I don't— I mean, you're an OB-GYN, so you know when we give this child, you give this beautiful baby to the mom, we don't give them a handbook that comes with it.

Right, right.

And you're supposed to now raise this beautiful child to be a constructive member of society. How? And I feel like most of it we just sort of leave up to chance. Like, if you have a good kid That's up to chance. If you have a bad kid that's troublesome, that's also chance.

Mm-hmm.

And you just— but no, there's so much— we have come so far that there's so much that we can do as parents to help our children's brains and bodies develop and to lower inflammation, to optimize their DNA, their mitochondrial function, so then they can have the energy and the health that it is really going to take to save the world, to fix our food system. And really fix the economy. So that we got— there's so much that we can do, so much hope.

I love it. And your book addresses all of this, right?

Oh, absolutely. And the science of it too, right? And so, for example, like, let's just dive in a little bit more detail about those pieces. Where I start off every single one of my patients and my children and families is the power of gratitude. I love that. Immediately when you wake up in the morning, say 10 things that you're thankful for every day, because science has proven that gratitude and optimism have strengthened the connection between the amygdala and the prefrontal cortex, improving the overall health and well-being. So in this world of negativity, I mean, the kids are waking up to negativity, they're going outside, you know, negativity, social media is so negative, fear, fear, fear, especially this last year and a half has been like all about fear. And it's, it's more critical today to train their subconscious from instead of thinking negative to consciously train it to be positive. So what I try to do is incorporate gratitude into my children's daily routine every day. And immediately when they wake up in the morning, I have my teenagers, you know, I have a 14-year-old now, he says his 10 things that he's grateful for. Just like you get up, you could say a prayer, whatever it is, but gratitude immediately when you wake up, that changes the subconscious from instead of thinking, oh crap, I have to do this again, to so thankful that I have this beautiful day to change the world, whatever it is.

Right.

And we have it for when the kids were younger. We actually incorporated this into their daily routine where I would be like, thank you for my eyes, thank you for my ears, thank you for another It's a beautiful day to change the world. And the kids started doing videos at the age of 4 with this. It was so cute. So cute. So I have him, like my 10-year-old at the age of 4 doing these videos. But, um, but it's powerful. It's like, because now you've gotten up on the right side of the bed. I—

oh my gosh. Like, I deal with grown women all day who can't even think of 5 things to be grateful for.

Yeah. So that's why this is where I start everybody off.

Like, like, let's start with our children so they don't have to get to the brokenness point that we are at. We don't love anything, our bodies. We, we can't find anything to be grateful for because we are stuck in that negative mindset, and that's all our neurons firing wrong, right?

So, yes, so you can change those brain connections.

Yes, and it's so much easier for children. So I just love this.

Yes, so that's what exactly— so immediately when you wake up in the morning, say 10 things that you're thankful for. And then, um, the next thing what we do— I'll just go through the routine and then, you know, talk about it. But we do that, and then they— then we talk to them. So this is when you know that digestive health and detoxification, the 4 S's— stress, sleep, social, and spiritual health— are important. How are we going to integrate these pieces into their daily routines? That does take time. It doesn't happen overnight. Incorporate one piece at a time. So we know, the kids know that, for example, stress management. The kids know that stress leads to sickness and kills the gut bugs. So what are we going to do every day to incorporate some sort of stress management technique into our daily routine? So prayer, meditation, nature, play. So my kids love to play. So that's that. And then when they tell me, they're like, oh, I'm like, do you want to go out here and do this? No, Mama, we need our unstructured play. play to help our body, to help us decrease stress. I was like, okay, you do your thing. So you have to talk to them. Like, what do— each one of them has an individual— what, like, how they would like to relieve their stress. So we teach them mindfulness and meditation and yoga and all these things. But for the kids, they love the nature. So immediately when they wake up in the morning, we'll do some breathing, gratitude if needed. But otherwise, they love to go out, ground, Sunlight, play outside for a little bit just to get like the garden vegetables especially. I mean, we're in this last summer, they love to do that, to see vegetables or fruit and then use that in the, in their breakfast in the morning. And then also stress management is also chores. Decreases the stress on everybody.

Yeah.

Because our children's brains are over— they're stressed if they're not given structure.

Hmm.

So they've decided each— I told them, okay, this is what needs to be done in the morning time, so it decreases mama stress, it decreases your stress, and you guys don't have to worry about it when you, uh, get home either. Because it's like, you're at work all day long, I don't want to do it. Okay, so the dishes— so my 10-year-old does the dishes. I mean, so my 10-year-old packs all the lunches. My 6-year-old takes out the dishes from the dishwasher from the night before. And my 8-year-old puts all the dishes away. And like yesterday was Monday, so Mondays they know that we're gonna do all this, plus also put away the laundry from the weekend, because I only do— I only do the load, the, the laundry on Friday. So then we have all this, so Mondays they put it away. And so now they're set for the rest of the week. They don't have to worry about the laundry, but now it decreases the stress. We all sort of work together. I'm doing my grateful song, we're focusing on vegetables, vegetables, clean protein, healthy fats. And I stock my house up for success so that he can easily pick and choose what he wants. Like, oh, I want— Mama, I want— like this morning, Mama, I want— we all— I'm gonna— my 10-year-old packed everybody bell peppers. Then, um, we did some chicken that I had. I made some turmeric chicken with all— with avocado oil and all those. So I gave him a little bit of chicken, and then he wanted dried mangoes as carbohydrates. Right? So vegetables, clean protein, healthy fats, and even a carbohydrate is really— and that's what he packed for everybody else. And then orange for snack. But you teach them alongside, along the way that, you know, why vegetables are so important, protein, healthy fats, listen to your body. Like my children now are able to listen to their bodies. Like my 7-year-old one day was having sauerkraut for breakfast. And I was like, why are you having sauerkraut for breakfast? And he said, oh, because Mama, I woke up feeling a little agitated. So I thought I can come downstairs and eat sauerkraut and it'll help my belly feel better. And then when my, when my friends in my belly feel better, it'll help my brain.

Oh my gosh.

Can you imagine if like adults and the children can all learn That way?

Yes.

That would be so powerful. So obviously, just like a kid doesn't learn to read in one day, this is going to take constant— like, obviously you're reading to your child, so you first read. So it's all role modeling these type of behaviors. See what works best in your lifestyle by incorporating stress, sleep, social, spiritual health, digestive health, and detoxification into your daily routines. And then this then provides these kids the skills that they need. To really when it does come in handy when you're starting to feel a little out of balance and then looking into that. But we look, you know, they make their lunches and then they try to get their meditations in and then they take their Epsom salt baths for detoxification, which we've done. They've decided they want to do that on Wednesdays, you know, so you just work with your children to create, to integrate that and weave that. into their daily routine, just like we do with sleep. Like, the kids have chosen their own sleep schedule and how they're— what their sleep routines and what they're gonna do. And obviously they're not perfect all the time, and I— there's some arguments that you just wanna, you know, but they're not perfect all the time. But then they recognize if they go to sleep a little later, these chores still need to be done in the morning because that was their job in the morning.

Mm-hmm.

Or I don't wake them up for school. So if they wake up later, they're gonna have to suffer the consequences. So giving them— I treat the children like real human beings with real consequences.

Yeah.

Now, I've never had to wake up my 14-year-old, even though he wakes up at like, you know, 5:30 every morning. But he may— he knows I need to wake up because I need— these are the things I need to get accomplished. So he goes to sleep exactly at 9:30, and then he's up to get up. And he has— I've never— that was his schedule. He did it himself. And then if he doesn't, then he suffers those real-life consequences. If we baby the children, we need to give the kids enough credit that if we can do it, they can do it. And it's really empowering.

Yeah, because if you don't give it to them as a child, then they're not gonna be able to do it as an adult. So absolutely, we have an entire generation of kids who can't function in college and can't hold a job.

Absolutely.

So absolutely.

So why are we spoiling these kids now?

I know, it's very sad.

It was not like— I mean, my— this is very similar to what, you know, when I was growing up. And, um, we didn't have social media all the time. The kids weren't on their phones all night long. We had a routine. We said good night, we did our bath, or read a book, you know?

Right.

But now kids are like on their phones, they're doing screen time, So you gotta work with what works best for your family.

Yeah. Oh my gosh, I love everything. So good. So you have another book coming out, Adam's Healing Adventures: The Power of Rainbow Foods. So tell me what this book is going to be about.

So this is the first one, The Holistic Rx for Kids: Parenting Healthy Brains and Bodies in a Changing World. And then during this quarantine, obviously you're like, what else am I supposed to do with the kids? We started a podcast called The Holistic Kid Show podcast. And that has been amazing. We've had like almost over 40 guests and the like New York Times bestsellers. It's been so awesome and powerful. So I'm like, what else am I going to do with them? Because remember, they've been— every time I learn something, I talk to them about it.

Yeah.

We incorporate it into our lifestyles, just like I'm incorporating into my lifestyle. They're incorporating into theirs. And we wrote this book together called Adam's Healing Adventure from Sickness to Really helping a child understand that these are the pieces of their bodies that are super important that we need to put into balance. That stress, gratitude, and make sure you live in a clean environment, low chemicals, playing with good friends, sleep, and good food and drink. So, and then the things that they can do to incorporate into their everyday daily routines, simple things like gratitude, eating the rainbow, drinking your water. natural products around you, detoxification, sweating, prayer, meditation, gratitude, playing outdoors, sleep, and surrounding yourself with love and positivity. So simple things anybody can do.

Yeah.

And then so the next one is the children's book is called Adam's Healing Adventure: The Power of Rainbow Foods. How Adam now, you know, was eating too much sugar, he didn't feel so great, he was moody and agitated and irritable like Your daughter.

Yes.

That's literally like, were you eating too much sugar? No. He's like, oh yeah, I was. Oh, no sugar.

So what can we do?

We can do the rainbow foods and it's part of the holistic prescription. And just with gratitude and all the other pieces and then how important it is. And this is where this book, this book is really meant for 6-year-olds old all the way to 11-year-olds, 12-year-olds can read this book. That's a time, again, I, we don't, I mean, I use words like, you know, phytonutrients, just like they can use really complicated other words. We need to start now integrating these words into their daily routine. So it is a little bit, it's not like it's just an ABC book of colors. This is an actual, like, we are empowering our children with knowledge. And you start slow, you start reading, you know, a little bit, and then as they get older, they can read a little bit more, but then the importance of red foods and orange foods and yellows and then greens and then purples and browns and whites.

Yeah, because they all have their special jobs that they do in our body.

Yes.

How amazing would that be?

So yes, and then we would— I mean, the comments that I've gotten, it's so powerful. The comments that I've gotten just from this one, they're like, my child's— my child has, uh, my, you know, I have twins and one of them has autism and the other one just doesn't understand what's going on. And since then I haven't— there was no book that I could really go to. She goes, I read this to my other twin that doesn't have the autism and now she's able to understand what's going on with her brother. Oh my God. You know, and that's what I really wanted, that we need to give kids This understanding that it's not just bad or good or this is just like coincidence or, you know, but there's so much that is going on in their bodies that they can start to incorporate into their daily routine to help them lower inflammation, optimize DNA and mitochondrial function.

Oh my gosh. Well, you— everything you touch turns to gold because you are out there on mission to really help kids be their best selves and, you know, not go down the paths that we went down. So I just am so grateful for you for all this work you're doing. It's incredible.

Oh my gosh, my honor, my pleasure. Thank you so much for all the amazing work you're doing.

Oh, thank you. So tell my listeners where they can find you because they need to start following you. They need to read your books and get them for their children and their grandchildren.

Wouldn't that be like a sweet— I thought this would be the cutest. Uh, you know, we give all this stuff out for like Christmas and holiday gifts, right? So we got great holiday gifts. Um, but they do— so it's on Amazon. They're all on Amazon, local bookstores, bookstores. And, um, and they can follow me on Holistic Mom MD.

Awesome. I will have all the links in my show notes. Thank you so much. You're incredible, and I can't wait to see what else you and your kids do because you're raising some amazing humans.

Well, at least we're trying. That's what we're trying to do. Let's equip them, and then the rest, we've done our job. But at least, like, not just leaving it up to chance from the very beginning.

Yes, exactly. Oh, thank you for being on. Oh my goodness, don't Don't you just love her energy? I love it so much. I could talk to her all day. She's the best. So please check her out because she has so much valuable information. And if we can actually make a shift in how we're raising these children and getting them to be more mindful and making good lifestyle and diet choices from the get-go, oh my gosh, it would be incredible.

Thank you.

Don't have limiting beliefs on your children. Like, don't just say, they're picky eaters, they're never going to change, or, they would never be into that, or, you know, whatever your limiting belief is. Have faith and try something. And sometimes you got to try it 5, 10, 15 times, but there's always hope. And I say, keep trying. Because that's what we're supposed to be doing as parents, is we're supposed to be trying to raise independent, productive, you know, thoughtful human beings with good common sense who have good self-worth and make healthy choices for themselves more often than not. And hopefully they won't have to go through all the struggles that we went through. So I know that is my goal as a parent. So my little golden nugget from this episode is waking up and being grateful for 5 or 10 things. Like, if you purposely do that, you know, it's going to take a while for it to be just an automatic thought because our mind always goes to the negative. You know, we're created to survive before thrive. So it's innate in us to have fear and worry and be in the negative mindset. So it takes a lot of training and reframing to be in a positive healing mindset. And so if you actively make the decision that you're going to think of things that you're grateful for every morning when you start off your day and you teach your kids to do that, oh my gosh, how amazing. Like, I've seen firsthand how amazing it really is. My mornings go so much smoother. There's not yelling, screaming, fighting, drama, this and that. Like, it's just a beautiful, enjoyable morning getting them ready for school. So that's my golden nugget. That's what I've added, you know, in the past and will continue to do. So whatever you do, I would love to hear, like, what did you take away from this episode? What did you think of Dr. Medea? Because she's incredible and I just love her. So check out the links in the show notes, follow her, get her books, help your children. So go out and have an amazing week, ladies, and make sure that you're following me on Instagram and my new handle, Your Voice Your Health, because my old Instagram handle, Dr. Tabatha That was hacked and hijacked. Please don't follow that. That is some evildoing. Um, so Your Voice, Your Health. Follow me, um, on Facebook at Dr. Tabatha and shoot me all your questions and I will get you taken care of. So have an amazing week, ladies.