Madiha Saeed, MD, also known as HolisticMom, MD on social media, is a practicing board-certified family physician in the USA, an international speaker, and a best-selling author. In this episode, Dr. Saeed shares the methods and benefits of holistic parenting. If you’re a parent or you know a parent, you don’t want to miss this one!

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Highlights

6:02 - Madiha talks about how a horrific incident with one of her children led her to the path of integrative holistic functional medicine.

12:15 - The difficulty of parenting when you deal with chronic fatigue

15:12 - The importance of sleep

17:22 - How to help babies and young children that don’t sleep through the night

22:34 - What does Holistic Parenting mean?

27:08 - How to deal with the nuances of children’s picky eating and ultimately, teach them healthy nutrition habits

32:50 - Her kids are able to make educated decisions because of their nutritional understanding

36:07 - The importance of the mind-body connection, especially in kids

40:18 - The go-to meals and ingredients that Madiah always has in her kitchen

47:28 - Madiha shares some of her favorite wellness hacks

49:42 - Madiha talks about her book!

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About Dr. Madiha

Madiha Saeed, MD, also known as HolisticMom, MD on social media, is a practicing board certified family physician in the USA, international speaker and a best-selling author. Her best-selling book The Holistic Rx: Your Guide to Healing Chronic Inflammation and Disease, a functional medicine children’s book series, Adam’s Healing Adventures (one of Dr Mark Hyman’s favorite pics), The Pandemic Prescription: Restoring Hope from the Quran, Sunnah and Science, The Quranic Prescription: Unlocking the Secrets of Optimal Health, and The Holistic Rx for Kids: Parenting Healthy Brains and Bodies in a Changing World empowering the world towards healthier living. 

She is the director of education for Documenting Hope and KnoWEwell. She sits on multiple medical advisory boards including Wellness Mama and is the president of The International Institute of Islamic Medicine. Dr. Saeed and her children speak internationally at the most prestigious holistic conferences, TV (including ABC, NBC and CBS), summits, radio, podcasts (including Mind Body Green), newspapers and the United Nations recently published her paper on religion and the food system. Dr Saeed's children host "The Holistic Kids' Show" podcast, interviewing the biggest names in the functional, holistic and integrative medicine world, and helping kids empower and educate other kids.   

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Connect with Dr. Madiha

Website | holisticmommd.com

Socials | @holisticmommd

The Holistic Rx for Kids

Adam’s Healing Adventures

The Power of Rainbow Foods

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Connect with Dr. Lauryn

Facebook | Dr. Lauryn Lax

Twitter | @drlaurynlax

Instagram | @drlaurynlax

Website | drlauryn.com 

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Transcript (Episode website contains full transcript)

Dr. Lauryn (00:01):

Well, hello, hello, hello. Welcome to the podcast. A show dedicated to quieting the noise in the health, food, and fitness world. I'm your host, Dr. Lauryn, a former TV news journalist and chronic illness patient gone health detective and functional medicine expert, helping my patients radically take their health back into their own hands. On the show I'm all about disrupting both conventional wisdom and diet culture as we know it, bringing you root-cause solutions and insights that actually work to reach your optimal potential. And today we're talking all about optimizing the potential of our kids, specifically in the wild, wild west of parenting and parenting a holistic kid. Specifically, we're getting into the weeds of picky eating and sleep training, which both can be really big challenges that parents that I've worked with for many, many years seem to deal with. I'm not a parent myself, but I've worked with parents and kids for well over 20 years.

(00:56):

I actually started my own babysitter's club back in the day if you ever read the Babysitter's Club books. I was a huge fan girl and started my babysitter's club of one <laugh> at age 10 and just really have cared for kids of all ages from then on. I also began my career actually as a pediatric OT when I got into the wellness field occupational therapist and was transitioning out of journalism. So working a ton with some of the kids with the most chronic of illnesses. And I say neurological and physiological, both genetic and systemic, and a lot of gut-derived issues that I would later figure that out too. But tons of picky eaters, tons of sensory processing, say like ADHD, autism spectrum, allergies, and food intolerances galore. And I totally can relate myself. I was a child with tons of, I would say, chronic illness now looking back on it.

(01:55):

And even though looked healthy and normal on the outside, I had tons of strep throat infections and ear infections that were recurrent antibiotics galore there. And just lots of gut issues, gut issues from as little as I can remember, age two, <laugh> constipation, bloating, gas. I popped tums like candy and drank Miralax every night as dessert for a time as well. And a lot of that spearheaded me too also into my anorexia and anxiety in my early teens and up and through my twenties. And so just seeing this landscape of like what we maybe consider as normal conditions nowadays, like just because something though is common does not mean it's normal and kids of all individuals should be the healthiest, most robust creatures of all walking this planet and it's such a time in our lives where yeah, immunity is so fresh and being formed and brain health, gut health, all the things.

(02:56):

And so as I was working in the clinics and seeing this landscape, it was super challenging. I found that in the work that I was doing, I oftentimes felt like I was just remediating or just teaching skills and strategies as an occupational therapist to help these kids with healing or mitigating their symptoms, but not really seeing them like overcome that hump, like seeing these diagnoses that, that seemed like incurable. And so when I just began getting into the work of functional medicine though, and nutrition, and really began utilizing that kind of underground wise in the clinics and just educating and talking with parents about their children's health and adopting my Family Fuel program, which was like a nutrition-based program I've created for helping parents and kids really change the landscape of what's on their plate as well as helping heal the gut, specifically like doing some stool testing with kiddos and just some smart, I call it supplementation with helping reshape the biome, proper probiotics and or herbs to help mitigate any dysbiosis.

(04:02):

But seeing kids heal a lot faster, discharge a lot faster from the clinic, like within two to three weeks, sometimes seeing kids that had tons of issues with ADHD or picky eating for example, just really make an overnight seemingly change by supporting their gut and really focusing on the nutrition piece. So fast forward to today and really health is an inside job, something that I've witnessed in my own life, and I believe the same to be true for our kids. And why I'm really excited to have Dr. Madiha Saeed and the house who is better known as the holistic mom on all things social and on her website, and a medical doctor by training who has since just really like taken the role of an educator and thought leader and helping parents in very practical ways time wise and financial wise really become a holistic parent for their children, which then radiates down to the kiddos.

(05:05):

And she's got four amazing children she'll tell us more about. And we really dive into the weeds on this episode about sleep optimization for the parents, sleep optimization for your children, as well as picky eating. So if you're a parent or you know a parent, this episode will really bless you. And don't forget to keep up just with all the latest and greatest on the podcast and show notes, et cetera on my website, drlauryn dot com, and at Dr. Lauryn on social media. So without further ado, let's get to the show.

(05:39):

Well, Madiha, I am so pumped to have you in the house today and just talk all things holistic kids and parenting as well, which can be difficult in this day and age, seemingly. A story we tell ourselves. Before we dive into all that though, please give us just a little bit of background about who you are and what got you doing this work that you are doing in the world.

Dr. Madiha Saeed (06:02):

Oh my gosh, thank you so much for having me, Lauryn. You are so amazing. I've listened to your work. You are phenomenal. So I'm so incredibly honored to be here. I was like most Americans with chronic health conditions and you know, I just had all those same bad habits that have led most adults down the road to chronic health disease. And what is so crazy was that I continued on that hamster wheel and continued on the hamster wheel thinking, you know, constipation is normal and chronic pain is normal, chronic pain fatigue is normal. And you know, all of these issues were all normal. Not knowing that no, they're not normal, You can actually live your life full of energy and no pain and actually pass bowel moments normally like normal people. But unfortunately, that's not the norm anymore. But I continued on the hampster wheel even through residency and me and my husband were both interns, and we were both working 80-hour work weeks until one day my husband had this gut inclination.

(07:06):

He goes, Can you go check up on our 10-month-old at daycare? And I was just gonna, you know, I'm like, He's fine, don't worry about it. But when I went over there, I walked into every mother's worst nightmare. And the lights were dimmed, the daycare providers rocking back and forth, back and forth in her chair. You know, I hear a sound in the back and I run back then I see my 10-month-old arms and legs tied down by the receiving blanket, passive virus in his mouth, his Winnie the Pooh blanket was wrapped tightly around his face. His eyes are bloodshot, his face was swollen, his cheeks were glistening with tears. He just couldn't breathe. I picked him up, and I ran out. And that day I promised I would take care of these kids the best that I know how because that day God saved my child and I made a solemn vow.

(07:49):

But then that's where I had to really take a step back and think, Okay, wait, I'm a family physician. I don't even know how to take care of myself. I'm falling apart. I have all of these literally for the - I know when I was dealing with this, I was for the year, I had severe indigestion, you know, I had fissures. I was popping all these pills, a thyroid and Hashimotos and lupus, and even shingles. I mean, my, literally, my body was literally falling apart because <laugh>, I was in my twenties and I had diseases of like 70-year-olds. So this is ridiculous. So I was like, I had to then look for answers, and when nobody could help me find answers, because specifically with the lupus and the Hashimotos and you know, severe digestive issues, I felt stuck. And so I went to the doctor to say, What can I do to stop these chronic conditions?

(08:46):

And they say, Oh, here's a, you know, here's a steroid suppository, or here's this and here's that. And I was like, I can't just keep on using steroid suppositories and taking all these medications. I need to figure out what's causing this so I can stop this in its track. They're like, No, no, you just sit back and let the disease take its course. And I'm like, Are you freaking kidding me? I can't let this disease just take its course. That makes no sense whatsoever. So I discovered integrative holistic functional medicine as I was already studying parenting. And the combination of both those worlds blew my mind. I not only was able to help improve my own chronic health conditions. Actually, I no longer suffer from any of those chronic conditions that crack my life. But I was able to help my children currently their ages 6, 8, 10, and 13.

(09:36):

And I'm able to currently help them build, you know, healthier brains, bodies, behaviors, you know, to help them. Just like I was able to help myself put my body back into balance. I'm able to help them to recognize when their bodies are starting to get out of balance and how to fix it on their own along with all of those key pieces that helped me heal and helped my thousands of patients heal, I'm able to help them incorporate that into their daily routine to really optimize their health from now to the future. And that's what I'm so passionate about, is really saving our future. And thereby holistic mom, MD was born <laugh>. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, and I, you know, wanted to show people the journey of what I went through and what I'm doing on a daily basis. I'm not perfect, but as a family physician, if this crazy world was difficult for me to understand and I've been through all the research and the studies and then how to actually implement it in our lives. And I feel like that's a lot of things that people don't do is that they tell you the research but then they, we have no idea how to really implement it into our crazy daily routines. And so for me, I love to find cost-effective, time-effective strategies that we can incorporate into your daily life that can optimize health on a daily basis. So becoming a lifestyle sort of medicine.

Dr. Lauryn (11:00):

Amazing. Thank you for sharing that. And just your story just makes me think instantly of an oxygen mask on an airplane of like, in order to help others, i e your children, you must first help yourself, and also just gives I think, perspective. I was sharing with you before the show, and I worked with as an OT, occupational therapist, and pediatric clinics and school systems and just seeing tons of kiddos with a lot of chronic health issues or neurological issues autism spectrum sensory processing, just really picky eaters, et cetera. And it makes me think like, you know, maybe the parents themselves like are also feeling out of sync and imbalanced, <laugh>, it's, it's just like maybe a family I don't wanna say even issue, but just like it models on down or like can radiate on down when you're not feeling well, it's hard to help your children too. And so but would love to know what you have seen thematically like between parents and kids based upon your own health journey. Like you were not feeling super well, so able to maybe like foster some of these healthy habits for your children that you talk about now. What did that look like when you were sick?

Dr. Madiha Saeed (12:15):

When I was sick, it was difficult. You know, when you're fatigued and when you're tired, and you're having joint pain, and you feel like you're basically just trying to get through all of these obstacles just to do simple daily tasks, that gets really complicated. And I know as when I was dealing with, you know, chronic fatigue and I'm like, this is tired, they're like, Oh no, you're just stressed. And I'm like, I know I'm freaking stressed, but I can barely, I feel like I'm being trapped in my own body. Like I feel like my mind wants to do all of these crazy things and fun things when my body is like, Nope, sorry, I'm not gonna let you go nowhere. <Laugh> mm-hmm <affirmative>, that's when I really needed to find answers because as a mom or as just a human being who just doesn't feel well, you can't even contemplate doing some of the things that I'm doing now, right?

(13:09):

Like for example, what we're doing or what you, what a healthy, somebody with tons of energy able to do. Like even just a thought of doing extra interviews or extra work or you know, taking out the dishes. It's just so much extra work or just playing with the kids. I can barely get up myself. I can barely take care of myself. How am I gonna take care of you? So I think that as mothers, as practitioners, as caregivers, we need to start taking care of ourselves first so then we can then really give to others because we can't give out of an empty cup. You can only give out of a cup that is, you know, has flown over into the saucer and you only give out of the saucer. So that is my analogy because for me what I was doing for so long was I was giving out of an empty cup, and that cup had really nothing to give.

(13:58):

And so there's only so much that you can actually give to your children and your families. Until I started taking care of myself and now I feel like I can handle like everything that's around the house because my husband works full time, he literally works like 90 hours a week and <laugh> maybe even a hundred hours a week actually. And with the in-laws. And then I feel like now I'm able to handle home and business and then still do so much more easily because I, and I'm gonna still give time to the kids and because I have that energy because I was able to take care of me first.

Dr. Lauryn (14:37):

You saying that instantly brings to mind several of my patients who are young mamas in sleep being probably one of the number one issues that for them of just a season of life and maybe multiple seasons of life if they have back-to-back kids of just not sleeping. And we all know how much sleep is a nutrient for health optimization. Would love to know how you if you see that for one and how you address that and help parents address maybe, I see that as being a really big issue and the patients that I work with.

Dr. Madiha Saeed (15:12):

Absolutely it is. Sleep is a big issue, especially with all these electronics that are <laugh> going on, right? Because people wanna get their stuff done right when they put the kids, especially as new moms or moms, we want to make sure that, you know, like we put the kid's bed and now, oh, now I can finally do my things, and I know I'm working on that myself, but I try to get, I like prioritize my eight to seven hours of sleep every day. That is a must in my house. But the thing is if you look at what's going on in the world, we are all so sleep deprived, and specifically our children, our children are saying that you know, 6 in every 10 middle schoolers and 7 in every 10 high schoolers are not getting enough sleep. Studies have shown that almost half of children in the United States don't get enough sleep but... Recommended nine hours of sleep.

(16:09):

So when we as adults and children don't get enough sleep, our bodies can't complete those important tasks it really needs to keep our children's brains and bodies and our brains and bodies to work effectively. And they've done studies where one week of sleep deprivation can actually alter a function of 711 genes, including the ones that are involved in metabolism, immunity, inflammation, and even stress. So just the lack of sleep, it increases the chance of developing problems due to inflammation, hormone imbalances, influences bad decision making as it you know, decreases the connection between the prefrontal cortex and the amygdala as it leads to inflammation, negative emotions and even addictive behaviors, which is craziness. So prioritizing sleep is one of those big pieces of the puzzle that we as parents, need to first role model for our children, <laugh>. Cause if we're not gonna be prioritizing our sleep, our kids are not gonna prioritize their sleep. So I think it really starts with us.

Dr. Lauryn (17:13):

Definitely. Well, and how about for kiddos, like babies for example, that are waking up in the middle of the night? Like is that also just sleep training being part of...

Dr. Madiha Saeed (17:22):

So that is a crazy world <laugh> because a lot of people are like, Oh yeah, that's the way we need to do it. And we've sort of let children cry it out for such a long time that we just don't know how to do that anymore. And I, and I, for me, that just is not the way that we need to do it because it causes a lot of stress for mother and child. So for sleep training specifically, we need to, you know, really take into consideration the child's brain and body. We need to just use logic, use our own logic to see what works with our family. So everybody's different. And so just because we've been taught quiet out and sleep training, this is the only way to do it. Just let them cry, like sort of abandon them in a room and let them cry.

(18:14):

Like just think, I mean that doesn't even sound, would you wanna do that? <Laughs>, like if you had no idea, is that the way you would wanna sleep? I wouldn't wanna sleep like that crying myself to sleep. And that just doesn't even make any sense until there's different pieces that we can put with that that will help to really decrease some of that stress responses right before the child sleeps. So we know that sleep is important, but then leaving a child crying in a room can actually lead to increased stress activating some parts of the brain that are actually activated during pain. But if you can then comfort this child like a child, which helps then, in turn, to turn off stress cycles and studies have actually shown that these times of early stress can actually lead to cell death and other important structures in the child's brain.

(19:02):

I mean this idea has been around since the 1880s. So what I really like to do is to decrease this stress because kids then start to, you know, they need to start to learn how to create like a soothing routine. So similar to older children and teens and adults, it's important to create like a sleep routine to the best of your ability because the prefrontal cortex is still developing. So the brain needs a routine, and when they are newborns they might be a little difficult, but the earlier we can start the better. So for example, for me, my children will start doing like a bath and then start a story then that will then help regulate the child's bodily arousal systems. And then my children till this day actually have like this bedtime routine that they've had since they were newborns. Just the calming activity, the shower, the back, reading a book, and then even having scripture or you can put a song on right before they go to bed.

(20:02):

So really puts their minds in okay, now it's, I'm gonna go to sleep. And remember, consistency really matters. And then now that you mention sleep training, so gentle, mindful sleep training is really important. So not all sleep training is bad for the brain. Holding a child's hand, having them play with like something that you're like a scarf hugging them every time he tries to get out of bed and letting them know that you're still there, that you're safe, that you are with them will help to calm their immune and the immature brain systems. So for a baby, like what I would do is I would, when the kids were really young, I would hold their hands while singing to them while they were in their beds. And therefore the crying was not that much because they knew that mama's not going anywhere. But I said, No, you gotta stay in this bed.

(20:52):

There would be a little bit of crying, but I would hold onto them, they would hold a scarf of mine, I'm holding their hands through the crib. They would sit there and then they, okay, they realize, oh, mama's not... Okay and just stay here and lay with mama. And then I'm near them patting their back, so they know that they're supposed to stay in this crib, right? But then you're patting their back, you're holding their hands, you know, for a little bit. It's gonna take, maybe the first day they won't, it'll be a little bit longer. But that's like as gently. Because for me, especially when you have one child after another, you can't have 'em all on your bed. You need to, you need your own sleep. So having them in the crib, but then how are you gonna get them in the crib is by being really gentle and knowing that you're there.

(21:32):

Because this is your time to sleep, you know? And but having this routine and remember that any learned behavior takes time and stick to your gut, but every situation is different and what works for one family may not work for another. So talk to your primary care physician really to determine what works for your individual situation. But you can, there's so many ways that we can use like holistic parenting to help mold this. A mindful child is able to prioritize their sleep, learn the signs of insufficient sleep because I know my kids immediately when they recognize, oh I'm feeling a little agitated. And then they'll go back, they'll do it on their own. Now my seven-year-old, my six-year-old actually do it. He goes, Mama, yesterday I woke up, I think I only got like eight hours of sleep instead of 10 hours of sleep. And I don't feel good, I'm gonna go to sleep a little early today. Okay, good. And this six-year-old, actually six years old, he to sleep on his own early because he was able to listen to his body and then go to sleep.

Dr. Lauryn (22:28):

Well, I would love if you could just define what does holistic parenting mean?

Dr. Madiha Saeed (22:34):

Yeah, so holistic parenting, I mean we are mind, body, soul. Our children are mind, body, soul. And holistic parenting can help nurture those child's mind, body, soul from the inside out with the skills they need for like emotional intelligence, enduring deep friendships, making correct decisions, managing stress, and being able to remain resilient all throughout adulthood no matter what life decides to throw at them <laugh>. Cause we know their life is not gonna be smooth sailing cuz no ones is. So how are we gonna then create these mindful children? Because mindfulness we know allows us to see our internal and external environments so much clearly showing us how best to respond and be fully aware at many different levels of perception all at once. And holistic parenting can then help educate and empower children to be mindful of their bodies and their brains and their emotions and their social life, their environment, their sleep.

(23:33):

But basically, everything that's going on around them, learning how to keep it all in balance. And when it starts to sway a little bit here and there, we're able to recognize that and then fix it on their own before it really becomes a problem. Increasing resilience in any situation and environment, but holistic parenting can really influence our children's DNA, their cells, their mitochondria, microbiome, their immune cells, and even their brains. And we know that when children are coming into this world, I wish it was just one and done in the bedroom, but it's not. So therefore when they come out into the world, they're born with this blank canvas with lots of different cells and very limited cell connections. And depending on how they live their lives is how we can start to inform these connections. And we as parents can use holistic parenting to then help our children organize and create these beautiful cells and connections that will help to benefit them not hurt them. Because specifically when it comes to our children right now, their brains are literally being hijacked.

(24:41):

There's two main pieces of decision-making. There's a prefrontal cortex, and there's an amygdala. The prefrontal cortex is responsible for the rational decision-making. It examines the pros and the cons and helps our children think through their actions after taking a look at the whole picture. While the amygdala is a reactive part of the brain, it's responsible for primitive impulsive fight and flight type of responses. And in order for your child to make a thought-out decision used in the whole brain, you need both of these two pieces to work in unison. But because our children's lifestyles are completely out of balance with unhealthy diets, the decreased limited diet variety, lack of sleep, lack of nature, lack of exercise and play, negative social environment, increasing exposures to toxins in and outside the home, all that can contribute to an imbalance child. And inflammation is one of those underlining reasons for chronic disease. And that inflammation then can actually disconnect that chronic inflammation actually hijacks our children's brains. And studies have actually shown that inflammation was found to decrease the strength of the connection between the prefrontal cortex and the amygdala. So now you have a child who's unable to use their whole brain to make a logical decision leading to a child who is thinking us versus you mentality. Increased violence, increased anger, poor relationships, the brain is not able to function appropriately.

Dr. Lauryn (26:03):

That is a big problem that I see stemming a lot from what we do put in our body as well. Just in my nutrition background, would love to know kind of like how you help parents from a holistic parenting perspective approach like that wild, wild west of like picky eating, kid food, what we're nourishing our kids, what they will and won't eat, et cetera. Cause I know I feel like that's probably if we think about food as medicine, one of the first lines that can impact our physiology, especially when I think about back to my younger years like I, I never saw a processed food until I was a nonprocessed food rather until I was in my late twenties. And so I grew up on processed foods, and that was just a staple and the diet. So yeah, would just love to know from a holistic parenting perspective where you start with nutrition and parenting and integrating that into kiddos. And then working with the nuances of things like picky eating and kid food and yeah, all the things.

Dr. Madiha Saeed (27:08):

Yeah because you know our children's brains and bodies are made from food. So if our children are eating the wrong foods currently, they're not eating the right amount, the right types of foods and we're also overeating, and all of those are really causing our children's brains and bodies to suffer. Because if you think about it, our children are at a critical phase of neurodevelopment that's of hormones and structural and behavioral and molecular connections. So children specifically adolescents are vulnerable to stressors that lead to behavioral changes. And when our children's bodies and their brains are not getting the nutrients they need from real food to function, how do we expect them to work properly, right? So when we put junk food in our children, we are only gonna get junk behavior, junk body, junk brains out because bad food, fake food destroys the gut microbiome and leads to inflammation imbalances our hormones and it threatens our children's prefrontal cortex and hampers their ability to function optimally creating bad behavior and even impairing intellectual development.

(28:15):

The studies have actually shown that kids who ate ultra-processed foods had 10% smaller brains and seven points lower IQ. So that's craziness. So food is the single most powerful tool that can really impact our brain's bodies and our children's behaviors. And we have to understand, I think that junk food shapes the adolescent brains in ways that impair their ability to think, learn, remember, perform lower on memory tests and even control impulsive behaviors, increasing risk of teenage depression and anxiety. And they've actually shown how junk food really affects an adolescent's brain because the adolescent's brain is not fully formed yet and actually leads to three problems as their brain is still developing. The ability to assess the risks and control their actions. The teen's brains are more... Like get more pleasure than adult brains do from these rewarding behaviors, as adolescents have more dopamine receptors in their brains, and adolescents' brains can actually be more easily influenced by their environment.

(29:17):

And actually, just a recent study just came out last week where a research team actually studied 9,000 children in 50 schools, and they found that the type of breakfast and lunch they were eating were significantly associated with their well-being. Which we knew, but they say that these kids actually the ones that were eating more vegetables and less processed foods, actually had better brain health. And it's so crazy, so crazy that more and more research is coming up, but we're still not doing it, right? Because of this picking eating because we think that, oh this is too complicated. But I think really starting with educating and empowering your children is the biggest piece of that puzzle and to really role model this behavior. So in my house, the kids don't ever not get something besides junk. We just replace it with healthier options. Like for example, the kids want pasta, we use lentil pasta, and then in the meats a little bit of the meat sauce, I'll put cauliflower rice, I'll put broccoli sprouts, I'll put mushrooms of all different colors and kinds, and they can't tell and now they, they're having pasta, but it's like a healthier version of that. Because I feel like a lot of times in these houses, there's a lot of, no you can't do that.

(30:34):

No, you can't do this. No, you can't do that. Stop doing this, stop eating the sugar, eat your food. There's so much stress around food. And so if you can compile your pantry and stock your pantry in your fridge with all of the foods that they can eat and not have all the junk food in their house and artificial foods, I mean my kids have chips, but they're ones that literally looked like, you know, they look like Doritos, but they're made out of cassava flour, and they taste equally as delicious. My kids can get cookies, but then we'll do them out of almond flour or coconut flour, or cassava flour cookies. Today my son had, my 10-year-old, he reminded me, he goes, Mama, we have a, we had a fall party today, and so they're gonna serve popcorn and Oreos. So then I said, Okay, what do you wanna do?

(31:28):

He goes, Can I make popcorn at home and then organic popcorn at home, and then I'll take some of your cookies that you made? And I was like perfect. So he doesn't, he's not gonna feel left out. He has alternatives that taste equally as delicious, and my house is stocked up with the foods that they can eat. So I'm never worried that they're eating the wrong foods because even if they're eating like a cookie, it has almond flour, it has pasture-raised eggs, it has avocado oil, it has honey in it. And all of those ingredients are so nutrient-dense and packed with antioxidants and healthy fats for the child's brain. So here he's eating a cookie, and I'm like, Good job for you <laugh>. You should never really have a child feel they're being left out or put any negative connotation against real food.

(32:18):

Obviously, the kids don't even want to touch artificial foods anymore because they know what it's all about. They know that it messes them up.

(32:28):

Yeah, they know how they feel. It sounds like...

(32:30):

They know how they feel after that. And on top of that, my kids have really been educated and empowering them. So they know starting from very young when they were just looking, they're like, Mama, I want this. But then I'm like, what's the difference between this and this? They're like, No, no. And like it looks the same, but then one will go through the ingredients and say, Oh this one has red number 40 in it, but this one, look at this, this one just has beat, you know, flour in it just to give a color. So then which one do you think is better? Do you know what a beat is?

(33:00):

Yeah, but do you know what red number 40 is? No. So let's go ahead and when we get home, let's go ahead and check what that is. And so then they'll look at, they're like, I'm like, I'm like, Oh no, they're like, what mama? They'll, I'm like, then when they get old enough to read it, they'll read it on their own. They'll be like, that can cause cancer, that can cause hyperactivity, that can actually destroy our brain cells? I mean the list goes on and on, but that's how you educate the child about what they're actually consuming and putting in their bodies and to be mindful of that. And so as the kids have gotten older, they don't even see this other food as food anymore. So it's literally disgusting to them. Even if I take them to a party where I know my, one of my best friends I know that she only has like the cleanest ingredients.

(33:47):

So I'll take them for a birthday party, she'll make the cake, you know, whatever it is, they'll still be reading the ingredients cuz they're so used to, and they're like, No, I'm not, I'm not in the mood of putting organic <inaudible> in my body right now. So you know, even that, but that's their own decision to make. But that's what you get when you give the children the autonomy, right? When you talk about autonomy and parents. But the problem is you can give the child the autonomy, but if they're constantly making the wrong decisions, how is that autonomy gonna matter? So you have to give them the autonomy and then provide them the environment that they can be in to really create that healthy decision. Their brains are not working, they're obviously gonna be making an amygdala decision or their limbic system, you know, where you're a fight and flight type decision making.

(34:30):

But if you're able to like use the whole brain to make a rational decision. Weigh out the pluses and the minuses, be mindful, look within it is so powerful. And that's where, I mean my children have, what's so much fun is, and it's really rewarding when you're, when you have like a seven-year-old when you have a seven-year-old, and you walk into them eating sauerkraut for breakfast. And I said, Why are you eating sauerkraut for breakfast? And you said, well mama, yesterday I had I think organic sugar at Nano's house, and Nana's house and I woke up a little agitated, and I think that's why it was so I wanted to keep my good bugs happy and healthy. So I'm eating the sauerkraut. And that's all literally he had for breakfast. He was feeling agitated when he woke up. So he thought that maybe it's, he immediately started looking within, tried to figure out where his imbalances could be. I have them go down lists. I go sleep, social, spiritual, I call it my digestive health, and detoxification of where his stress sleep, social and spiritual health. And they're able to take a look at all of those pieces and then look within and figure out which ones are imbalanced and then how they can fix it all on their own. And can you imagine if all of us could do that?

Dr. Lauryn (35:44):

Yeah, more intuitive.

Dr. Madiha Saeed (35:46):

So intuitive. And that's what they do with food. And so for them, food is fun, but then it's others also lots of positivity and love.

Dr. Lauryn (35:55):

Yeah. So it sounds just like really educating one, but also really encouraging kids to tap into how they feel can be really empowering for that food-body connection. Mind, mind, body connection.

Dr. Madiha Saeed (36:07):

Absolutely. And it's so powerful. Well, you talked about like picky eating. So for picky eating, I mean for me in my house, what I do is, again, for picky eating, I feel like there could be some sort of like food sensitivity even or deficiencies. They even say that sometimes there's actually a zinc deficiency with some kids with picky eating. But what I really try to do is make sure that if you can put