Episode 348: Optimizing Brain Health in Children

Hello everyone. This is Rebecca Green for the Wine Exclusive Podcast, and I'm so excited to get to talk to Amy Tyler today. Amy, thank you so much for being here with me.

Thank you for having me. I'm excited to be here and talk about brain health.

Yes, we're going to have an awesome conversation, and I want to tell you a little bit about her before I dive into all of my questions. But Amy is an ND, which is a naturopathic doctor, with a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from the University of Texas at Austin. She transitioned to naturopathy, earning a doctorate from Bastyr University in Seattle. Amy is a frequent co-host on the Good News Health Radio show. She teaches public health classes and serves as a corporate wellness consultant. Additionally, she is the secretary of the Texas Association of Naturopathic Doctors and a member of the American Association of Naturopathic Physicians. She enjoys outdoor activities in Austin and is committed to helping clients achieve their health goals. Wow, you have been all over the place.

Yes, I have. I've lived a lot of different places and I feel very fortunate to have found my profession because it, like I was telling you earlier, it's a small profession and an interesting, unique way of looking at health and medicine.

And I love it, and I'm all about it, and our listeners are gonna love it. And I really wanna find out a little bit about your journey. Okay. So you were in chemical engineering and you took a shift to become a naturopathic doctor. So tell us about your journey. How did you land there?

Okay. That's a good question. So I, as a student in high school, I loved science and math and just as I was progressing, I, I had a lot of people saying, "You should really consider engineering. It's obviously, it's practical. You can get a good job." And I did really enjoy physics and science and chemistry and all those subjects. So I went for chemical engineering. I moved from Connecticut down to Texas to Austin where I earned my bachelor's degree. And towards the end of my studies, I was finding courses in biomedical engineering, which is really fascinating. And I started taking more life sciences, so biology, and I just became more and more interested in that side of, of science. And then my own health journey evolved over time. Even in college, I was— my husband calls me the canary in the coal mine. I was a very sensitive and, oh, and still am to this day, which is part of what got me interested just sensitive to everything. Did I get enough sleep? Did I drink enough water? Have I been eating foods that are fueling me? Um, even chemicals, sensitive to chemicals. So just sensitive. And so that required that I, over time, found a certain lifestyle that supported me. And that got me more interested in what role does lifestyle play in our health and our everyday choices? How does that affect us? And so I just, by trial and error, became more interested in nutrition and again, exercise and how these things impact us. And then I started looking into— I became an engineer, worked for a few years, had fun. It was really fun and interesting, but I felt pulled towards medicine and trying to figure out which system of medicine, because I felt somewhat dissatisfied with the system at large in terms of when you'd go in for a visit, it was always very rushed. And that's not the fault of the doctors. I really have the utmost respect and compassion really, cuz I feel like so many good, kindhearted, and just smart, intelligent doctors are stuck in a system that they're not thrilled with either. But it just didn't feel like the right fit for me. And so in my research I found naturopathic medicine and the boxes were all checked and it just sounded like what I was looking for. And it's really a system where it has the same background as conventional medicine. So we do a lot of the same studies that MDs and DOs do. So we're doing all the ologies, the biology, embryology, pharmacology, physiology, anatomy, all those things. Yeah. But we also spend a ton of time learning about nutrition, botanical, herbal medicine, lifestyle medicine, even just the mind-body connection, counseling. And so to me it was just much more fulfilling in terms of looking at things more preventatively and holistically. And so that got me up to Seattle and there I spent 4 years earning my degree. And then from there I came back to Austin. So it's been a bit of a journey.

You've been all over the place. And your weather is probably much better than my weather in Buffalo, New York. I'll tell you that.

Not for long. I would love to be there in the summer cuz our summer last year was brutal. We're in the 108s.

Yeah.

Yeah. But oh my gosh, winters are tough. Cause yeah, I know those winters are brutal.

Yes. Yes. I know we need to switch for winter and summer. Okay. So let's move to your idea for the Blazing Brains. You formed this. Can you tell us about it and how this formed?

Sure. So I started working as a naturopathic doctor in Austin and working with really a variety of different people. I'd say mostly women, men, and, but over time I started seeing more and more kids, and before I had kids of my own, I started noticing so many kids are struggling, seeing kids that have, whether it's mood issues, anxiety, depression, energy issues, that one really threw me because we think of kids as boundless energy and I was seeing so many tired kids and that bothered me. And then focus issues, just behavioral issues. So many, just, it just surprised me to see how many kids were struggling and then the families are struggling, right? There's that saying. That a mother is only as happy as her least happy child or something to that effect. Oh, it's so true. Yeah. So whenever a child's struggling, it permeates to the rest of the family. And yes, it was just really, it just got me thinking what's going on. And when I had my own kids, I feel like I got more insight into the, obviously the challenges that parents face and the how hard it is to feed kids, right? Because coming from my background as a naturopathic doctor and knowing what I knew about nutrition, and then you're balancing that with the practicalities of sending a kid to school with lunch every day and what are they actually gonna eat and dealing with picky eaters. And so it just brought me to a place of, I learned a lot by working with these families, by working with my own kids, and I realized how much there's just a gap in understanding how nutrition can improve brain health. So there's a lot of different ways that whether we're talking about hydration or blood sugar, there's a lot of different ways that how we eat every day affects mood, energy, focus. And that became a passion of mine. And my mission with Blazing Brains is to share that information. So there's a blog up there where there's articles, and I have what we'll talk about a little bit more as a, you know, new hydration guide to help with that piece of the puzzle. And I'm building a course, and the course is gonna be a comprehensive resource for parents to learn these nuts and bolts of how to use nutrition in a practical way to help their family. So I come at it from a very, like I said, practical perspective. 'Cause I know it's not easy and I know that it doesn't have to be perfect, but I think there's a lot of things that parents aren't even aware of. There's a lot of things I didn't know until I studied these things and I just tried, I'm trying to bridge that gap and, um, working one-on-one, it's a challenge to convey all the different things that are so important. And so that's what led me to want to build the course as a comprehensive resource.

I have a list of so many questions from what you just said, but I'm like, oh my God, I got more questions from what you said. But before I jump into that, I want to ask you about your concept of the food bingo game. Can you tell us about, tell us about that?

Yes. So this must have been, this is right before the pandemic because I found myself in an evening community college class trying to learn how to create an app. And I never, I, my desire was to design an app that would help picky eaters try new foods. Cause one of my kids was a picky eater and it was really challenging to try to encourage like new foods and variety of foods. And I had developed a game that I played with my kids at home that really helped. And it's a bingo game where on the bingo card are different foods that they have to take a bite of in order to put the little bingo chip down. And so it made it really fun and like less scary to try new foods. And I ended up with COVID happening. I didn't complete my certification to learn how to develop apps. I had to let that one go. But I hired someone and so I had a developer build. So now at foodbingogame.com, people can go in and they can make a custom bingo card with foods that they want their kids to try. It's always good to combine it with foods that they already like, so it's not overwhelming for the kids, but it can just be a really fun way to just introduce new foods. And even for some kids who have more extreme sensory aversions to food, even just holding the food or sniffing it can be enough. You decide as a family, like what's gonna really help with depending on how averse the child is to eating things that are new or maybe a little scary.

I have, I have one who is a texture issue.

Yeah.

She does not like certain textures. We're talking, I make the best mashed potatoes in the world and she will not try them. She's— the texture is just mushy and gross. And what do we do with these sensory issues?

Yeah, it can be tough. I feel a lot of it's exposure. So sometimes just— there's some people who will tell you sometimes up to 15 different times that we have to try something before we like it.

Yes. Okay.

And yeah, and it can change over time. I feel like one thing we've learned academically is that Pressure doesn't tend to work. So a lot of times it's tempting to say, you have to eat this or XYZ, or you have to eat this in order to have that, like dessert or whatever. But yeah, tho— those tactics tend to backfire and they tend to create, again, pressure and resentment. There is, I like this concept that comes from a woman named Ellen Satter. It's the division of responsibility with feeding kids. And what she recommends is that the parents decide what if and when to eat. So you decide what to serve, when it's gonna be served, and then the kid decides if they're gonna eat it and how much they're gonna eat. And that may sound radical, but it does take the pressure off. And so the recommendation is that again, if you're serving something, ideally there's something there that your child will eat, but there's also some new things. And if it's served in a family-style way, a lot of time, just over time, like very patiently over time, they will come around. So a lot of people who were picky eaters when they were kids are now eating more of a variety. And but some, depending on the age, there's some kids who benefit working with an occupational therapist or feeding therapist, even depending on the degree of the challenge. But I think just continuing to encourage in a non-pressuring way or finding things like games, like this food bingo or other strategies to just, sometimes it is a fear and then more extreme cases can be very limiting where some kids are literally only eating 5 different foods and it has to be this certain chicken nugget from the certain restaurant at a certain temperature. So it can be a big challenge.

Well, and I want to tell everyone based on what you just said, she's 15 now and I want to tell you she's come a long way from when she was 5. The difference is awesome.

Yes. And that tends, especially when you see that progress, that tends to just keep happening. And then there are some people, because there's this concept of supertasters, some people have exquisitely sensitive taste buds or maybe that sensory aversion. And so they may even as adults be somewhat more selective and maybe not have as much variety. But again, I think it's just continuing to present things and you never know. Sometimes it's a different setting. Sometimes. A kid might be at a party and they see their friend eating something that they normally wouldn't eat, or maybe they're really hungry because they, it's been a while since they've eaten and they might just in that moment go for something that they've never eaten before. So I think it's good to keep an open mind and also about the foods, even younger kids, what they will eat. I've seen some interesting situations where there might be a kid who won't eat, say like a cheese stick, a mozzarella cheese stick that most kids like. But they will eat some fancy brie or some really fancy cheese.

Funny.

Yeah. Yeah. Or they won't eat a banana, but they'll eat olives. So I think it's good to keep an open mind about what you offer to kids and just always assume that there's a chance they may eat it even if they haven't before. Just keep that open mind. Yeah.

Yeah. That's really good advice. So I wanna talk about hydration, but before we do, I wanna talk about more about nutrition because as a parent, I don't think a lot of us know what is our goal for the day. Can you give us some sort of guideline for a typical day?

Yeah, I think, and when it comes down to, there's macronutrients, which are like the proteins and the carbohydrates and fats, and then there's micronutrients, which are the vitamins. And so it really, it's very, that level of detail is dependent on the kid's age and size and all that. But in a broad brush, one of the recommend biggest recommendations I have is just really as much as possible serving whole foods and nutrient-dense foods. And so that would mean like when we go into the grocery store, the perimeter of the store where we find like the meat, the fish, the nuts, the seeds, the beans, the— and dairy. If someone's not reacting to dairy is one of those foods that a lot of people have sensitivities to, but if someone tolerates it, then again, that's got protein and calcium and it does have some great things to offer nutritionally. So just really trying to focus on whole foods as much as possible and balance. So again, we want the protein is really important to include in the main meals and make sure kids are getting enough because even though it may sound strange to think of not getting enough protein in a developed country like the US, there are kids again, sometimes for, for picky eaters who are snacking so much or gravitating so much towards crackers and bread that they might not get enough protein.

It's true. It's true. They love their carbs. Okay. So when your, when your children are going to grab a snack, are you encouraging like fruits and vegetables and nuts and that sort of thing? Because my kids want the chips and the Goldfish.

Yes. So I do. And my kids, I'm sure they roll their eyes about they, we, we make jokes about me being a naturopathic doctor and how that's affected their lives. But I, some of my favorite snacks that I stock are, like you said, just fruit, bananas, apples with nut butter, whether it's peanut butter, almond butter, seaweed. They, and that's not super filling, but the seaweed snacks can be yummy. Nut, like trail mix. And those are like beef jerky is a good one too. So those are. The things that I prefer, but I do feel like it's good to find a balance. I think if a kid feels deprived, like all my friends get X, Y, or Z, then that can create issues. So I don't, I really try not to have hard nos for most things. I try to really let them have variety and if there's something that they think is really fun and exciting, okay, that's fine to have some of that. I try to. Be choosy about, most of the time, about the quality. For example, I would prefer if I'm gonna get crackers that they don't have a lot of, again, they don't have the food colorings or preservatives that are chemicals. So when I can, I will get that. But there are times I'm not gonna grab a bag of chips or Goldfish crackers out of their hand at a party or something. I do think it's important that kids feel a positive relationship with food.

Yeah.

I want, yeah, I don't want them to have any guilt or shame associated with food. And so I try, and that was a learning curve for me with my training to really try to be neutral about food and not think of it as good or bad.

Yes. It's hard. It's challenging. I told you I was raised by parents who own a health food store and oh, we won't talk about. School lunch, and when I saw my friends eating it, I was like, this isn't fair.

Oh my gosh, that's so funny. You and my kids could probably have a chat.

Oh, we could bond. Oh boy, could we bond. Okay. So we also need to talk about blood sugar because parents are not aware of needing to have stable blood sugars for our children. So what do we need to watch for with that?

Yeah, that's a big one. In a nutshell, when we talk about blood sugar, most people have heard of that in terms of things like diabetes. They know that like high blood sugar isn't good and that's associated with diabetes. But on an everyday level for all of us, having stable blood sugar is very important for our brain. And so we need stable blood sugar to be able to focus, to feel energized, and certain foods give us a spike in blood sugar. So the, you could think of the real obvious sources like the refined sugar, so candy or cakes, things like that that we know are real sugary, but also certain foods like white rice, pasta, bread have a higher, what we call glycemic load. And so those are also gonna lead to a spike in blood sugar. And then our body deals with that by releasing a lot of insulin, and sometimes that's followed by a crash. So you get on a roller coaster. And so the main things to watch for are added sugar. If there's one takeaway from listening to this episode, it would be just become mindful of how much added sugar is in everything because there's, it is, it's really fascinating and it is scary. And when you start paying attention to it, it's mind-blowing. So the recommended, the most conservative recommendation I could find is from the American Heart Association, and they recommend that kids— and it's interesting because this is kids as little as 2 and as old as 17— they say to cap added sugar at 25 grams a day, 24 or 25 grams a day. So when you start reading labels, some sugary cereals have 12 grams of added sugar in one serving of cereal, and there's plenty of kids who are going to pour a couple bowls of cereal, so they might have already met that limit before they leave for school. So it's really, that one is important because again, when we have this abundance of sugar in our bloodstream, it affects our health in a lot of different ways, but it definitely affects our brain health. And it's something very insidious. Most of us aren't looking. I'm looking because of my job. A lot of people are just grabbing food because they need to feed their family. They're in a rush. The grocery shopping is on the list of things that have to get done. And it's just, you don't, and sometimes you just don't know, like no one ever taught you how to read a label. And so one thing to start looking at is on a label, it gives you total grams of sugar and then added sugar. And the total is the added, so sugar put in the product in addition to what the other ingredients are, plus any natural sugar. So for example, fruit is natural sugar that has some fructose. And so if you, for example, buy plain yogurt that doesn't have any sweetener added, you're still gonna see around 7 grams of sugar per serving cuz it's the lactose. And so that is different. Wow. Yeah. But then if you get a sweetened yogurt, you might see something between 15 and 20 grams of total sugar. 7 of that is the lactose, the rest is added sugar. So really it's that added sugar looking at and needing to pay attention to. So I usually just start looking at that when you're in the grocery store. And if you're noticing, wow, our favorite cereal has 10 to 12 grams of sugar, and that's getting you to half of that 25 grams a day. Yeah. Then you wanna look for another one. Look for something that's less sugary and our taste buds adapt. Mm-hmm. So when we start eating less sugar. Our body adjusts and things will start to taste too sweet. And I've had even my kids, and I have one who does like sugar, but they have said, oh my gosh, that's just so sweet. I just, it's too sweet. It makes my brain hurt. I think that's probably one of the most important things to look at is just, and of course soda, one soda is going to give you around 40 grams of sugar.

Oh my God.

Yeah.

The good news is that I don't buy them soda, but if they go to a party, we go out for dinner, they're like, can I have a Sprite? Yikes.

We need—

so I need to see how much sugar my kids are eating in a day because I can't even tell you.

Yes, it's a great exercise. And even to let them— and that's what I find it is a tricky balance, but I think it's educating them, helping them understand, even understand that, like, what, why you're looking at it and what it means, but also Knowing that, yeah, it's fine. Sometimes it's fine to have most things, right? So if you're at a party or you're with your friends to dinner and you wanna have that Sprite, that's okay. But are you gonna refill it 3 times? Because then you might be at 100 grams of sugar. Oh my gosh.

So it's just, so no refills, right?

So, and then just maybe if there's seasons of life where people have to eat out more for different reasons or find themselves against sports and everything, then if it's more frequent and you find, oh wow, 4 times a week. I'm going for that Sprite, then it's maybe, okay, let's have water sometimes.

And yes, yes, that is really good to teach them. I'm going to have a sugar conversation. They're going to love it.

They're going to be mad. Like, who is that lady that told you about this?

Okay. So let's talk about hydration because we are, as a culture, very ignorant about this. And I read your hydration guide and I went, holy cow. So. Let's talk about what are the symptoms of dehydration.

Yeah. So everything from headaches to brain fog to irritability, difficulty concentrating, memory issues. So it is staggering because—

Yeah.

Isn't that amazing? And we have to remember our bodies are over 60% water. So if you think of a pie chart and that's over half of our body is made up of water, but our brain is even higher in water content, 73%. So that's, if you think of it, your brain is mostly water. So you can understand how if you don't drink enough water, that's gonna have a negative effect. And I've seen it play out in clients I've worked with. I can think of one that really stands out was a middle school boy who had chronic headaches, was constantly taking Advil or Tylenol to deal with the pain. Just because of all that, his energy wasn't great cuz he was battling this chronic headache and he had been checked out. There was really no cause they could identify, but we just sat down and really looked at the nitty gritty. What are you doing every day? What is your, what are your habits? How much are you drinking? What are you drinking? Cuz some beverages are more dehydrating than hydrating. Again, the real sugary or caffeinated beverages. And so once we looked and saw he was probably drinking a third of the water that he needed. And some people don't feel thirsty, so it's really, they really have to rely on an external cue to make them drink enough water. And in that guide, and we'll, I can give you the link for the notes or whatever, but that does help people. There's a calculator and a table so you can determine for your kids how much water do they need. And then once you determine that, it's just really getting religious about water bottles. I think that's one of the easiest ways to make it happen. Is bringing them everywhere. If you're going for a walk, you bring your bottle. If you're going— there you go. Love it. That's nice. That's a big one.

I want to tell you about this. This is why I'm showing you. If you're watching us, I'm showing my huge water bottle. And the reason I'm showing you is because my 11-year-old definitely was dehydrated. And I got her a fancy water bottle and it's 40 ounces. And I'm like, when I looked at your calculator and I was right. I didn't know I was right because I didn't research it, but I was like, I want you to drink more than one of these because 40 ounces isn't even enough.

Yeah, exactly.

She needs to refill it. And like, how much— I don't know that off the top of your head, but like, how much are our children supposed to be drinking? A lot more than we think.

Yes. And it's age dependent again and size dependent. So that's that calculator in the guide, I think, is a great tool for knowing for your specific kids how much. And then, so we really don't know what we can't measure, right? So if we're not watching and measuring, and that can be tricky depending on the age with school kids, but if they fill up their bottle in the morning and then you ask 'em, did you refill it? You see how empty it is when they get home from school. Yeah. You can get a good idea of how much they're drinking. And if they're active outside, like we're getting into the warm season here in Texas and if they're doing outdoor sports and they're out sweating sweating for an hour, you're gonna wanna add another cup or two to that, you know, equation so that they're replenishing that water. And sometimes with a lot of sweating in the summer, we also need to replenish the electrolytes, those minerals that we're losing when we sweat.

Yeah. When my kids complain about a headache, my first question is, did you drink? What did you drink today?

Yes, absolutely.

Because I know I've been terrible this week. And actually, like, reading your hydration guide, I'm like, you got to get back on the water train. I don't know why. I think it's because I get so tired of looking for a bathroom.

Yes, I know.

Because it's like you're going to this event and then you're going to this event and I'm like, oh my God, I can't constantly need a bathroom.

Yes, that is part of the struggle. Yeah. And that is a struggle. And that's part of the electrolyte piece of the puzzle too. So people who feel like they're always having to use the restroom and that they're losing all their water, they feel like they're hydrating, but it's all just passing right through them. I always recommend trying the electrolytes and there's just powders or tablets. Yeah. And just watch, there's a lot of different options out there. Just make sure some of them are caffeinated, so you just have to be careful about that. They're more like an energy tablet with the electrolytes, but it's, it is a tricky balance. And so I think it's good to hydrate throughout the day and just for some, especially for women, it's good to sometimes prehydrate and so that there's a cutoff time before bed so that you're not coming up all night. Yes, 100%.

100%.

And you'll appreciate this.

I showed up at my parents' house with my water bottle and my parents are like, what is in that water bottle? And I was like, I'm like, I put some electrolytes in it, so I wanted to bring it with so I would finish it. And my mom's, are there dies in that.

Oh my gosh. That's, oh, that's so fun. I want to meet your parents.

I was like, oh crap. Did I look up the ingredients? I think I bought a good electrolyte. Did I look at, I have to look at ingredients for everything. I have to remember that.

Yes.

Yes. Yes. You'd think it would have sunk in by now, but yes. Okay.

So funny.

So my question is, you had taught me that children are more prone to dehydration. Can you tell everyone why this is?

Yeah, a lot of it has to do with their size, like their body mass versus surface area. And also for some kids, we talked about sensory issues involving food, but there— some kids might have issues either recognizing they're thirsty or communicating that they're thirsty. And that can lead to less hydration, especially in those years where they're relying on adults to be meeting their needs. And whereas when kids get older, they're gonna, they can reach for something when they're feeling thirsty. But really we wanna stay ahead of the curve. If you're feeling really thirsty, you've probably gone too far and you're already dehydrated and it's gonna take time to get back to where you were. And then with school-aged kids, some of what you were talking about, I see kids avoiding drinking water during the school day because they don't have time, especially when we get to middle school and high school, they feel I could think of at my son's school where they have a 4-minute window to get from one class to another, and sometimes that's at opposite ends of the building and they just don't feel like they have time to hydrate and deal with it. So it's tricky. I think in those situations, just making sure in the windows that they can, that they're hydrating. So maybe that's having a bottle waiting for them when they get home or in the car or whatever, but just trying to just be proactive. And there's also smart water bottles. These are pretty neat. They work with, they sync with the phone. Phone app and there's a few different brands out there, but they light up and they remind you to drink water. So it's a visual reminder for those people that don't tend to feel thirsty. Oh my gosh.

That's awesome. I didn't know that.

Yeah. Those are neat.

You'll appreciate this. 3 kids in school who have all complained about not wanting to have to go to the bathroom. And I'm like, if any of your teachers, if you, I'm sorry, teachers listening. Any of your teachers give you a hard time about going to the bathroom? That is really important to me, and I want you to tell me. There's a lot of things that I fluff off. Not letting my kid go to the bathroom, that I just can't deal with.

I agree completely. I think it's, it is an issue if a child isn't being allowed to use the restroom, right? So I, whenever there's restrictions around that, I know there was a period of time one year where one of my daughter's classes, they weren't allowed to have their water bottle near them or something. There's some kind of restriction, I remember I was like, okay, restrain yourself. Don't call the school yet.

Like, Dr. Amy Tyler does not agree with you.

Yes. But I think it's just like throughout the whole day, just trying. And then I think starting the day with water, making sure that, you know, try to have a cup of water first thing before you do anything else. Like setting those anchors throughout the day. The car is another great time to hydrate, so just making sure everyone's bringing water into the car. Again, taking walks. I know our family's a little crazy. Like, we walk with some friends and I think they're always like, oh, there's their water bottles. Like, they don't really— they really don't go anywhere without them, do they?

Well, but you're teaching your family such good habits. I love it. I'm soaking it all in. My kids are not going to be happy. No, you know what? I have already been on them about the water issue. What I need to focus on is how much sugar they're eating in a day, because I don't have that calculated.

Yeah.

Yeah. So I'm sure that there's parents who are like, I really want to get more nutrition into my kid's day. Can we leave them with one of your best tips?

Yes, I would say take the opportunities that is more convenient for you to feed them something nutritious. So For example, breakfast is often a good window, but I know, and this is where I come back to that practicality of knowing every family has different constraints and this may not be realistic. And so you take what works for you and you ignore the rest, honestly. Yeah. But in a family where it's possible to serve a more nutrient-dense breakfast, then that can be a great way to make sure again, they're getting some protein. Protein's giving us the building blocks to build neurotransmitters that help with focus. And so starting with a protein-rich, low-sugar breakfast, some fiber would be great in there too. But I have a, and I can, I'll have to put that up on my website. I have a recipe for fiber and protein-rich muffins. They have banana in them too. And I make a big, they're good. And I make a batch of those. They don't have any, if you put a few chocolate chips, they'll have a tiny bit of added sugar. But maybe less than a gram, right, for a muffin. And then, or you could put blueberries in them and they'll have no added sugar at all. So I make a big batch of those every week and that's a nice breakfast option, or eggs, smoothies, things like that. And then school lunches. So if your kids are— school lunches come a long way. I have to say here in our school district, I've been really impressed with how far they've come. They've really gotten to the point where, again, there's protein, there's fiber, there's they're lower in sugar. There's, I think school lunch is looking a lot better than it did when we were kids. And so I think you can mostly feel good if there's vending machines and your kids are buying a bunch of that, that's another story. But, and then dinner again. So when your kids are home, just really trying to serve nutrient-dense foods. If obviously this isn't if you're a vegetarian, but for those who eat meat and fish, again, protein sources, vegetables. And some kids aren't going to eat the veggies, but I think you keep offering them and you try to see if you can find— some kids like raw vegetables instead of cooked vegetables or vice versa. Or adding them into things like you can make, again, muffins that have sweet potato or pumpkin in them. So you can cook things into different dishes. And so I think it's just taking opportunity of when you get to decide again what to serve them. And knowing it's a process, if kids are not used to eating more whole foods or nutrient-dense foods, just slowly changing things, not overhauling it all at once. Again, just introducing one new thing that you want them to try and having them rate it too. It could make it fun. I know at one point we had a little book and we would try something and we'd see what everyone's rating was. And we'd say, oh, I love that.

That's adorable. I've asked you so many questions. Is there anything that you think I missed that you wanna share?

I feel like we covered a lot of ground and I love that you're so interested in this topic. I think it's, again, it's near and dear to my heart. And the other thing I like to mention is that this isn't to say that nutrition's gonna solve every problem, right? So the, I think of it as a scaffold or even like a, a net. And it's a big important fiber in the net, but there's a lot of other important parts of that net, right? And I've talked to other guests about things like screen time and just like social support. And some kids benefit from having a therapist of different types, and sometimes kids need medical support. There are some kids who need— again, whether it's for a physical condition or, um, something going on more in the mental-emotional years. It's an, just a network approach of just trying to do all these different things to build a scaffold of support under the child. And so I just look at this topic of nutrition and, and lifestyle. Again, we didn't get to talk about some other things like sleep and exercise, but all those components as being a, a foundation to support the kids and adults for that matter. Most of the things that apply to kids' brains also apply to our brains, right?

Yeah. And we neglect our nutrition too. So we can't just feed our kids. We need to feed ourselves, which I've been guilty of.

Yes, definitely. Yeah.

So tell everyone where they can find you.

Okay. So I'm at Instagram. It's blazing.brains and my website is blazingbrainskids.com. And the hydration guide is blazingbrainskids.com/hydrate. You can find it there. It's a free download. And foodbingogame.com is that bingo game we talked about. And I think that's it. I think that's plenty of places to explore.

Plenty of tools to find. I can't thank you enough. I apologize for my technical difficulties making me late, but I so—

Oh, that's fine.

I so appreciate your time and your expertise today.

Oh, this has been fun. Thank you so much for having me, and let's stay in touch and Yep. I'd love to come back and talk about all the other fun things sometime.

Absolutely. This is Rebecca Green, and I wanna remind everyone to spend every day laughing, learning, and loving. Thank you for tuning in to the Whiny Palooza podcast. If you like what you heard, please be sure to subscribe so you never miss an episode. While you are there, leave a review. I love to hear your feedback. Thank you so much for listening. Until next time.

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