Keeping our kids healthy is a top priority as parents, but during the back-to-school season it can feel like an uphill battle. Hear from Dr. Joel "Gator" Warsh, board-certified holistic pediatrician and host of the Raising Amazing podcast, about the best ways to support your little one's immune system. His integrative approach offers natural preventative measures to safeguard your kids this fall and teaches more about what factors could be causing your kids to get sick.
Keeping our kids healthy is a top priority as parents, but during the back-to-school season it can feel like an uphill battle. Hear from Dr. Joel "Gator" Warsh, board-certified holistic pediatrician and host of the Raising Amazing podcast, about the best ways to support your little one's immune system. His integrative approach offers natural preventative measures to safeguard your kids this fall and teaches more about what factors could be causing your kids to get sick.
Welcome to raising healthy families with Moms Meet and Kiwi. We're giving you the tools to enjoy the beauty and chaos of life with little ones in the healthiest way possible. Hi everyone, I'm Chrissy Kissinger, the Senior Project Manager at Moms Meet. Keeping our kids healthy is a top priority as parents, but during the back to school season it can feel like an uphill battle. Today we're joined by Dr. Joel Gator Warsh, integrative and holistic pediatrician and host of the raising amazing podcast to talk about natural ways we can support our kids immune systems. He's sharing more about safeguarding our kids immune systems during the back to school season, the best immune supporting foods and supplements and natural remedies for when our kids do get sick.
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Chrissy:During this time of year, we can all use the help that we can get to support our little one's immune system. And we're so thrilled to be speaking with Dr. Gator. He's a Board Certified pediatrician in Los Angeles, California, who specializes in integrative medicine. He's been featured in numerous documentaries, films, podcasts and articles, including broken brain, Dr. Nancy show CBS, la parent Mind Body green and many others. He's also the owner of integrative pediatrics calm and the host of the integrative pediatric summit. So thank you so much for joining us today, Dr. gaydar.
Dr. Gator:Thanks so much for having me on.
Chrissy:Yeah, well, we're so excited to chat with you today. I'm a mom of two young kids. So it always feels like someone in my house is sick at any given point. And you know, one comes home with something and then it goes to the entire family. And then by the time we've gotten all better a new sickness shows up. So it especially during, especially during the back to school season, it always seems to hit us a little bit harder during that. So we can definitely benefit benefit from your expertise on how to keep our, our family healthy. You know, especially during back to school time, you know, everyone's kind of navigating the new norm of back to school right now. I know you're on the west coast, right?
Dr. Gator:Correct. Yeah, I'm in Los Angeles. Okay.
Chrissy:And you have a young child. So is he in school yet?
Dr. Gator:He's not in school. yet. Maybe we could put him in daycare, but we have, we're really lucky. We have a great babysitter, and my wife works from home. So we haven't put them in anywhere yet.
Chrissy:Yeah, that's awesome. So what, what made you want to get into integrative medicine?
Dr. Gator:You know, for me, it was really I just got a little bit frustrated with the regular system and super short visits and treating everything with the medication and really having you know more in my toolbox, I would see patients or I see friends or hear stories about people who had gone to doctors for years, and then you know, really not gotten better, and then would go to some natural practitioner and things would get better in like a couple of weeks. And for me like, well, what am I missing? What else you know, is out there? Why are these people going to, you know, naturopathic doctor, or they go to acupuncture or wherever they go, and they get better, but they've been in the medical system for 20 years, and it doesn't seem like it's gotten better. So that just really spurred me to start learning about natural medicine and integrative medicine. I'm not against Western medicine at all. I think it's amazing. And we've made great strides, but I just started learning a little more and more about the natural world and not in supplements and alternative medicine. Sure.
Chrissy:So what would you say is the biggest difference between Western medicine and then integrative and holistic approach to medicine.
Dr. Gator:So everybody has a little bit different different definition of what integrative medicine is to me, but to me, it's blending the best of both worlds together. So you know, Western medicine or modern medicine is the conventional health care that you think of where you go to a doctor. There's, you have some thing going on some sort of disease, and then we chat with you. And then we come up with a treatment plan. So it's usually very treatment focused in western medicine versus alternative care or Eastern medicine or holistic practices, whatever you want to call it there. There's a lot more of a focus and always has been more of a focus on prevention and thinking more holistically and using natural products to work towards bringing the body back into balance instead of just treating a disease. So for example, you know, you have a rash you could Do a steroid cream and you could treat the rash. But that doesn't necessarily, that doesn't necessarily stop the problem if the rash is because you're eating something you're allergic to, you have to think about, what is the reason why you're having that rash. So it's just a little bit of a different frame of mind combining those together. And then using some of the tools that have always been available, as opposed to just using pharmaceutical medications, which is more, you know, it's new, right? That's not something that's been around for that long, really, pharmaceutical medicine is newer, and it's great. I mean, we have great treatments for things that you would have died from years ago. Nothing wrong with that. But that's not the only thing available.
Chrissy:Yeah. So and your focus is on the pediatric side, correct?
Dr. Gator:Correct. Yeah, I'm a pediatrician, I did all the pediatric training, so I only only see kids. Yeah,
Chrissy:Yeah. So you started on the other side, on the western side within pediatrics, and then you migrated to the holistic and integrative? Why would you say the holistic approach is so important to the pediatric side of medicine?
Dr. Gator:I think it's important to everything, but it's certainly important that kids because, you know, we are made of what we eat, and we're built of all the things that we do, and all the things that we are exposed to over time. And chronic disease rates are skyrocketing. For adults, it's over 50% of adults have some sort of chronic disease most drawn several medications at this point. And, you know, if we want to change that trajectory, which just keeps getting worse and worse, we have to prevent it. And we have to start from, you know, day one, or even before kids are born in pregnancy. And even before pregnancy, really, the healthier we are in general than the healthier kids are going to be in the healthier, they're going to grow up. And so for me, it's so important that we focus on the kids as well. Because when kids are having all sorts of problems, you know, as it is chronic diseases, but too we want to stop them from getting those things. And if they do have a problem, then is there ways that we can minimize the medications that they're on? Get them off of medications? What can we do to prevent this from getting worse? And that's where I think again, the blend comes very well together? Because Yeah, if your kid is really sick, or having something severe, you want a medication to help them with the pain, but it doesn't necessarily solve the root cause. Mm hmm.
Chrissy:And then do you typically see like your patients? Are they normally coming to you after they've gone through the kind of steps of the Western medicine side of antibiotics and all of that stuff? Or do you typically see patients that just want to be, you know, raising their kids in a healthy way, and making sure that they're keeping that balance, which I know you're big on the balance in the lifestyle, do you do see a difference in who you typically see, or two people come to you just when they're sick, and then you help them kind of mitigate that.
Dr. Gator:It's both I mean, mostly, you know, I'm a regular pediatrician. So I usually work with kids, you know, from, you know, when they're born until when they get older. But certainly some people do join the practice midway. So I think people search out a certain kind of parent searches out in holistic medicine, integrative medicine. And so it's kind of a self selecting group of people that are more interested in this, but the reality is, it's growing and growing, I think people are recognizing that, that there is a lot more to health than just Western medicine. And, you know, it really depends on how you do it, you can go way out there and be very Woo. And you can go to someone and they can make a magic potion. And that's not necessarily the best thing, right. And that's the stories you hear on the news. But that's not really what we're, we're aiming for. It's just really combining both worlds. But at least in my practice, we you know, most of the kids are would call, you know, regular average healthy kids just so parents have a more holistic mind, but certainly some some people come after they have been through the western system, or they aren't happy with their current, you know, whatever they're doing, or they moved or whatever it is, and they, you know, want that kind of practice.
Chrissy:Yeah. So when if there's somebody that wants to make that switch, so for instance, I bring my kids to a normal pediatrician. But if I wanted to make that switch, where would I start looking for a holistic or integrative doctor? What kind of things should I look for?
Dr. Gator:It's a good question. And there's not, I would say a ton of doctors that are very regular Western doctors that are also into holistic medicine. You can certainly just Google it, Google integrative pediatrician and look for holistic pediatrician, just search those keywords. And certainly if you're in a big city, they'll have some, you know, there's not a lot, let's say in LA, but there's definitely a few. So if you're in a big town, there's probably a couple but then also, you know, a lot of Doctor regular nutritions are somewhat holistic minded or they're still you know, fantastic pediatricians and you can work with them and somebody else so there's a lot of people if they move, let's say out of Los Angeles, they go to like a smaller town there isn't necessarily going to be a holistic pediatrician per se, but they'll go see the great town pediatrician and they might get a naturopathic doctor or, you know, an Eastern medicine doctor or something like that and they can go to both their Western and they Couldn't get there Eastern. But just from two different people.
Chrissy:Yeah, that's a really great advice. So my next question might be a little silly. And I probably should know the answer to best, but just in case anybody listening does not know the answer. What is there a difference between integrative and holistic? Or is it the same thing?
Dr. Gator:I think it's the same thing. And I think it's just terms that people use. Okay. integrative is probably the most common just because that's more academic, I would say that. There's like, you know, fellowships and programs that are integrative medicine. So I think that's the more common term just maybe holistic. Sounds a little more woowoo? I don't know. I think it's all the same.
Chrissy:Really? Yeah. Okay. All right. Well, that's good for my own knowledge. But so the biggest reason we wanted to talk to you was to talk about the back to school time. And you know, it's a it's a time that kids typically get sick. And obviously, with everything going on in the world, people are more heightened to it more aware. And they want to be more preventative. So what would you give? What kind of advice? Would you give them some of the best ways to help prevent our kids from spreading colds and illnesses? Not only to, you know, their family, but to other kids in school as well?
Dr. Gator:Yeah, it's a great question. And it's super important. I think the first thing to recognize as a parent, especially if you're a new parent out there, and this is your first time send your kid to school is getting sick is a part of reality, there's nobody comes through my office, and goes through, you know, kindergarten and all school and they never get sick, that's not gonna happen. I mean, you're supposed to get sick, right? You don't want to get me six, we get to go to the hospital. But you're you want to be exposed to things, we're always exposed to germs and bacteria and viruses and all sorts of stuff. And you're usually you get sick, you're gonna go home, you drink some liquids, you rest to get better. And when you're in a school setting around, and 20 other kids or 50, other kids, every, someone's going to have something and it's going to go around and you're going to so you know, going in with appropriate expectations, I think is important, because most kids will get sick a few times the first year, that's part of the deal. But we certainly want to minimize their risk, you want to keep them as strong as possible, so that we can avoid them getting sick in as much as we can. And if they do get sick, then then their bodies have everything that they need, you know, to the best of our ability to fight it off. So to me, what I always talk about with my patients is what I call the seeds of health are the foundations of health. And so that really means that we want to, we want to keep our foundation strong. So SEEDS as being stress, E for environment and toxins, other e exercise, D for diet and S for sleep. So these are the very basic things that we do on a day to day basis that we know, because there's been tons of research that have been done over the years that, you know, kids or adults that are sleep deprived, they get sick more frequently, you can they did research where they stuck viruses and in people's noses. I don't know who was volunteering for these studies, but they did it right. And, you know, you stick viruses in people's noses who are sleep deprived versus who got good sleep, who are stressed versus not stressed, and the people that are sleep deprived, get sick more, we know this, your body needs to recover. And so there are so many basic things, especially the pandemic that we have forgotten about. And now that everybody is going back to school, you have to get back into that routine. And you have to make these things a priority. Because the best chance that you have to keep your family healthy is to have a good foundation. If you're eating crappy food and your body doesn't have the nutrients that it needs to to work with your immune system, then then you're going to get sick if you're if your mind doesn't have the fuel that it needs. How can it fight off? invader? That's true of just anything in the world. It's very logical, but we just forget about those things, right? You're literally built of what you eat. And so if you're eating junk food, you can't expect that your immune system is going to function at its best. Yeah, you your kids don't sleep, and they go to bed and they go in there. They're, you know, on their phone till one in the morning. And then they go and they have a test, you know, nine in the morning, how good are they going to do and what are the chances that they're going to get sick? It's obviously going to be heightened because their body just doesn't hasn't been hasn't gotten the rest that it needs to recover. Hmm. Yeah.
Chrissy:I love that the SEEDS work because it reminds us exactly what what's so important and to really hone in on to help prevent, you know, the spreading of the illness. I think one of the ease was the environmental aspect, right. So yeah, so that's one of the things I feel like people and I know at least for myself, typically forget about whenever I hear, you know, when you think of sickness, you just think of kids spreading it and then not washing hands and sleep like you were talking about but are there environmental factors in our homes that we should be aware of that could be hindering our child's immune system?
Dr. Gator:Yeah. Really. Everything that you are surrounded with and everything that you touch and everything in your home can affect Your immune system, right, it's logical, you're touching things, your skin is an organ. So every chemical, you know can affect your body. Now we're obviously built to deal with the world, right? And so your body can handle some chemicals and some toxins, we have great key toxification systems, liver, kidneys, sweating, so you can get some of this out. But we were never built, humans were never built to be surrounded by the chemicals that we're surrounded by today, the the, the world has changed so rapidly over the last few decades and centuries, but our, you know, our bodies and our, you know, genetics haven't changed that much. Right. And so there's just so many chemicals that we're surrounded with. And and most people can handle most of what we're surrounded by, but everybody has a different genetic makeup, and some people are better at dealing with things and others, and everybody gets to a point where it's just too much. And when your body can't handle it anymore, that's when you get sick, that's when you get, you know, major illnesses, chronic disease, whatever it may be. And so you need to think as a parent, what am I bringing in the house? What are my kids surrounded? In? What, what cosmetic products do I have? What cleaners do I use? What's been sprayed on their clothes, what's been sprayed on the new couch that we bought? What paint are we using every, every thing matters a little bit, right. And if you decrease the chemicals a little bit, then that can that can be very helpful to them, especially if they're kind of right at that threshold where their body's, you know, teetering on handling things versus not, you can throw them over, you know, one way or the other. And there are so many things that you can do, we don't have to spray everything down with 99%, antibacterial, Lysol, you know, whatever, right? It doesn't have to be used, you use it when you need it. But there are all sorts of, you know, grandma's recipes that people always say, you can just clean your floor with vinegar, you can use water, you can use baking, baking powder, baking soda, you know, things like that, that everybody used to use, you don't always have something with a lot of chemicals. And at the end of the day, you know, we'll probably talk about food a little bit more, but just like food, you know, reading labels is really the key read everything that you're bringing into your home, if you're putting a makeup on your skin, read the label, if it has a bunch of really long chemically names, that you have no idea what it is, it's probably not good for you, it's the same thing with kids, right? If you're giving them a toothpaste or, or, you know, whatever you're using, and that goes on their body, and it goes into their body, and then your their body has to deal with it. And just think about it very simply, if your body is dealing with a toxin, then it doesn't have the full capacity to deal with the infection. And so, at some point, if you're dealing with too much, you can't deal with the basic things. And that's when you get sick,
Chrissy:right? So at what point would you say, you know, so you take it into consideration, your child gets sick? And how how would we know as parents, if they're getting sick from just like a virus? or bacteria versus something, you know, environmental where they're constantly getting sick? How would you know that difference? I guess it would be more chronic? If it was environmental, you'd probably see the same kind of symptoms.
Dr. Gator:It's a tough question, because it's so you know, so specific to each person. But I think just your point, that if you get sick once, okay, well, you know, everybody gets sick. But if your kid is chronically ill chronically has a runny nose getting sick, you know, every other week, then it's something to start thinking about. But it really, honestly, it doesn't matter. Anybody can improve their health by improving their environment, and you're really just giving your body the best chance to be healthy. Because you know, even if it's just one time, well, maybe if yet if your body was was really strong, he wouldn't get sick that one time and that one time could be really bad for you. And even if you don't get sick, it's how is it a bad thing to not put chemicals on your body or not have chemical is never a bad thing. So whenever you can do to decrease that chemical load on yourself and your kids. Why not do that? It doesn't have to be more expensive. It doesn't have to be hard. You don't have to do everything. But every little bit counts.
Chrissy:Yeah. Okay, for sure. So I want to talk a little bit about supplements with our kids. So I know you know, there's so many supplements out there for both adults and children. So I guess the first question would be should we be giving supplements to our kids daily? And if so, which options? do you suggest in terms of what you've seen work the best, especially during this time of year?
Dr. Gator:Yeah, that's another really good question with there's no one answer to that question. A lot of things in natural medicine especially there's no one answer, because there's not a ton of research on all of these things. But you know, it's more opinion based, I would say, and, and for me, I don't think that anybody should be taking a supplement. Just because I think that that supplements are exactly that they're supplemental to, you know, our health and if you're low in something, then a supplement can be a great way to boost it up really quickly. But at the end of the day, it's better to get your nutrients from food. Brian, you want to be over Long Run, eating healthier and getting good nutrients from food. But at the same time, a lot of food is not nutrient dense these days, we're not getting as much sun as we used to get. So there are a lot of deficiencies that we can see. So I don't think it's an issue to take supplements. But I don't think you should be just taking supplements forever, just because the common ones that you know will suggest and this again, talk to your practitioner about it, because everyone's a little different. But pick a multivitamin can be really good to take for a couple of months. The most common deficiency that we see in pediatrics is vitamin D deficiency, because nobody's outside enough anymore. So you know, this is what's the solution, get more sun, right? Get out there and be active, within reason. But But vitamin D can be a really good one. Omega is like a fish oil or something like that can be really good for brain development. For viruses, especially right now one of the biggest one of them, one of the most evidence is for zinc. So, yeah, really good. Vitamin C's always a really good one. Again, you're not to be taking these all the time. But if you're just about to go to school this week, for the first time, you know, you can load up your kids for a couple of days, on some of these things, or if you were exposed to somebody who is sick, or you're traveling, these are the kind of things where I can just say for myself, I can't tell anyone what to do, because everybody's different. But like for when when I go away, you know, I take these things for a couple of days before a couple days after just load up. You know, who knows if it really, really helps, but it definitely doesn't hurt. And it probably does help to make sure that you have, you know, a high amount of vitamin D, a high amount of vitamin C, a good amount of zinc, going in there to give your immune system everything that it could possibly need within reason to function optimally. Because you know, you're about to be exposed to an onslaught of, you know, germs when they go to school. Yeah,
Chrissy:for sure. So in terms of I know, you mentioned the multivitamin, so and then also, you mentioned that we shouldn't we don't necessarily need to take specific vitamins every day. But would you recommend doing a multivitamin every day for kids? Again, just on an as needed basis
Dr. Gator:For healthy kids in my practice, I don't generally recommend taking it just because I when parents asked me and I say, Well, you know, lots of kids do have some vitamin deficiencies. So it's definitely fine if you want to do it for a couple months, boost things up. But that's not the solution to any problems. Thinking multivitamin is not going to be the solution to anything, it might be like a band aid. But you're not giving super high doses of anything such as a little bit of everything. So I think it's fine to do it, you know, it's not going to most likely cause any harm. But when people ask me is it Yeah, take it for two three months boost up the boost up the supplies, and then you know, do it when either you're you know, feeling like you're going away, you're going to school you need it maybe during the winter is a good time to do it. Because there's more coughs and colds during the winter. So everybody's different. You know, some people do it every day. But I feel like if you're doing something every day, then it's probably not doing anything at some point.
Chrissy:Yeah. So they wanted to like especially right now with back to school, if parents wanted to start giving their kids just that added boost just leading up to that school. starting time with Do you see any types of kids vitamins that you like over? others? Like do you have any recommendations on types? it? I know a lot of them are like gummies, obviously chewables? But some, you know, a summer loaded with sugar and who knows? No additives?
Dr. Gator:It's a good question. And the short answer is whatever they'll take, you know, yeah, right. But the real answer is, yeah, you want to look at the ingredients, right? You don't want to give them something with chemicals and dyes and extra sugar, a little bit of sugar could be okay, if it's not too much. But you know, you want to avoid whatever you can in terms of bad ingredients. And so you have to do what you need to do. And the different forms would be you know, you can have a they're older kids, they can swallow a pill, there's chewables there's liquids, and there's gummies. And the better it tastes often the worse the product is going to be. Like you're losing something from a supplement by turning into a gummy form doesn't mean that it can't be good. And there's definitely some gummies that are better than others and giving them a gummy. They won't take anything else is better than nothing. But the the more pure The form is, the better. It's going to be absorbed, the better. You're going to you're going to you're just gonna get a better response from, like a pill, man. Yeah, yummy, but that doesn't mean that Gumby can't be great, right? Just want to balance that. So if that's the only thing they'll take clinical for, just try to find a good one. And then you know, you can go to chewable or liquid and then once you can swallow a pill that's probably going to be the highest quality but again, the highest quality is food.
Chrissy:Yeah, right. And which we're definitely going to jump into in a minute. But one last question on the deficiency so you had mentioned you know, kids having vitamin deficiency, so what symptoms should we look for, for the vitamin deficiencies and our kids?
Dr. Gator:Well, that's a good question. It's a very broad question because every you know, vitamin deficiency can have all sorts of different symptoms. But you know, just in general, it's chronic type symptoms of chronic cough, chronic congestion, chronic stomach aches, rashes with no explanation, cracking of the skin cracking of the lips. Anything where there's just mild, vague symptoms, it's a possibility that you could be nutrient deficient. It's hard, because when you get into that world, it's like, there's 10,000 things that it could be. Yeah, right. And one of the things on that list would be would be deficiencies. But, you know, if, if something is very, very deficient, then it might point you in one direction, but every vitamin has very different, you know, toxicities and deficiency symptoms. So it'd be hard hard to get into that. But it'd be something I talked to the doctor about, I think, yeah. You know, the very simple answer is chronic symptoms that just don't seem to be going away. vague. tiredness could be related in some way. To that, but also could be many other things.
Chrissy:Yeah. Okay. So this, this next kind of topic, I know, you've, you've obviously touched on it. You also you spoke with us, for us at the beyond the lunchbox event, which is how we first got connected to you. And I loved your session, you talked a lot about the balance, and it made me feel better as a parent. Because, you know, as parents, oftentimes we're like, it has to be all healthy, and you can't have anything like bad for you. And, and even not just from a food perspective, just everything in our lives, right, especially when it comes to our kids. So I want to talk about the food aspect, obviously about, you know, how it affects our immunity. And then we can kind of go into some of the foods to stay away from that really aren't that great. I know, you know, when I was a kid, I would get sick. And my parents were like, Here eat some oranges, like, but and that's probably still great. But I guess we should really be shifting our thinking that we shouldn't be reactive with our food but proactive, right? Correct. Exactly. Yeah. So what, what would you say are some immune boosting foods that we can give to our kids to be proactive so that they're not, you know, high at higher risk of getting sick?
Dr. Gator:Great, great, great question. So before I even get into specifics, I think just from a more bird's eye view of this, again, kind of we talked before we are made of what we are, we are made of the food that we eat, the nutrients that we put into our body and all the crap in the junk that we put in to ourselves and our kids. And if you eat crappy food, you're going to have crappy health, from, you know, I have a podcast and like summits and all sorts of things. And if there's one commonality that you hear amongst, basically every natural practitioner that always comes back to food, that's always a thing. There are other stuff that people talk about. But they're you know, by and large message for people. And my message is always, you know, think about the food, we have the biggest control over that one factor and you choose what your kids eat. At home, especially if you have younger kids, you you choose what you buy, you choose which store you go to you choose what snacks are in your home. And if you put crap in the house, if you put sugary chemically snacks, that's what they're going to eat, because they're there, and they're addictive, and they're tasty. And that's what they're going to do. If those things aren't there, they're going to complain for a couple of days, and they'll get over it and delete what's there. And you have to take a stand and buy better food for the house. It's nice. People talk about, oh, well, it's expensive. And it's this and that. And sometimes it can be a little bit more expensive, but doesn't have to be, and you got to do whatever you can do within your means. But if you're going to put something as a priority, it has to be food, you have to prioritize that you got to prioritize cooking, spending the time to cook, you know, if you if you really can get into a gardening and having some of your own food at home, all these things can be helpful. And again, they don't have to be more expensive. You don't have to do everything. But the more that your kids and you can eat healthy, the healthier you're going to be. And this is a lifelong, long term kind of thing. You said it's about balance. And and I truly believe that it's not like your kid can never eat a piece of cake. You know, unless you have like a gluten deficiency. Or like celiacs or something like that you you can never eat a piece of bread. But we have to think about those things and just minimize the sugar and minimize the chemicals and minimize the toxins. And when you go to the store if your kids love chips, well there's like 10,000 kinds of chips. Now it doesn't have to be like the really crappy version, you can buy, you know, some other version that's a little bit better. And at least that's better than the version that you had. And just keep working your way through it. You don't have to buy everything organic. It'd be nice, right? I think that's important, right? You don't want to have chemicals sprayed on your food. But even if you can pick one thing, it's better than everything right. So yeah, ruin things in 1% 1%. And you know, back to your question. So what can we eat to help boost our immunity? Well, it's basic right we know this eat healthy food ready real food, eat fruits and veggies. tables. And if you eat me then eat you know, pasture raised grass fed, well treated animals that actually ate real food. Because if they're shot up with chemicals and hormones and they eat, they should eat food, then you're eating them. And that stuff goes into you, right? And if you you know, if you're a vegan or vegetarian, then same thing with how will How was the the vegetables? How was the? How are the grains produced? How, what did they do, and where does the soil like, because there's a very big difference between picking an apple off a tree and eating it versus, you know, an apple at a field somewhere that's factory farm, and they spray with chemicals and pesticides, and, you know, it's overproduced, and they're making millions of apples every year, and then they pick it up the tree, put it in a truck, spray with more chemicals, send it across the country, it goes into your grocery store, then you eat it a week later, yeah, food, but that's what we mostly write, we mostly eat those foods that are shipped across the country. And so you're you're devoid of nutrients. And it's no wonder that kids are nutrient deficient, how are you supposed to have all the nutrients when your food has no nutrients in it, I don't tend to say one thing versus the other, because then it becomes too hard for you, I think. But obviously, vitamin C is very good. So anything with that is great. But I think eating the rainbow is usually what I recommend. So thinking about different colors can be really helpful. Because you know, just like anything, we're very complex beings. And so any one food is not going to make you healthy. Yeah, eating an orange per se, it's like vitamin C, it's great. But eating an orange and of itself is not going to be the thing that's gonna keep your kids healthy. It's eating oranges and grapes, and blueberries, and watermelon, and whatever it is. And so I like to use a rainbow for kids in terms of, you know, let's go to the store and pick out one food of each color. Let's, let's make sure we eat one foot of every color this week, you know, whatever it is, that will work for kids, depending on their age, but just varying those things up, you get different nutrients and different phytochemicals. And, and that is what, by and large will keep your family healthy.
Chrissy:Yeah, yeah. And as a parent, I feel like I always struggle with that, because you know, and I'm just gonna lean on lean into your balance idea, because you know, usually with so for instance, with breakfast, I'll give them some sort of cereal, but I always give them a fruit and something healthy, right, like a cottage cheese or yogurt. But my struggle is apparent is I'm always finding that they eat the unhealthy cereal first. And then there's their full and they don't want to touch their fruit. And so it's always a struggle, because I also am really big on not wasting food. And half the time, all the fruit or the veggies on their plate are being trashed while I'll eat them, but they don't eat them. Right. So how, but it's a struggle, because I also want to stick on that balance piece of, I don't want to only have them eat just healthy, strict foods, because then I feel like and I felt like this when I grew up. If it's so restrictive, then when they're older, they're just gonna binge on things that they're allowed to eat and not eat healthy because their whole lives. They weren't able to eat that stuff. Right? So that's going back to the bounce. But how do you I guess what would your recommendation be for picky kids or even for even not picky kids, but kids that know they want to eat the good tasting things before the veggies or the fruits?
Dr. Gator:I mean, it's kids are picky, I got a toddler. So I know he's not always eating exactly what I want him to eat. But it is a balance and you chose to do the best that you can for your kid that day. It's not a people like to shame each other and be like, Oh, man, my kid doesn't eat, you know, your kid only eats junk food and ever, but just do the best that you can. But prioritize healthy eating. I think that's really the key is to prioritize healthy eating, and you have to know your kids and try to figure out what it is that you can do to encourage them to eat healthier food more. And that might mean you know, you give the healthier food first and they got to eat some of that before they can get the other food and if they don't eat if they don't get any of that could work. Sometimes it is learning how to cook healthier food better. I mean, that's a big thing, because healthy doesn't have to mean bad tasting. Right? Yeah, that's like a big issue that we run into these days is we think, you know, we grew up Oh, eat broccoli, and it's like, oh, this broccoli tastes horrible. Yeah, there are. There are ways to to cook that broccoli or cook the food. You know, cauliflower is like in everything now and like fancy restaurants, you can spend like 50 bucks and get cauliflower if it's prepared, right. And so there are ways to do things. And so it might mean okay, go take a cooking class. Go watch your YouTube videos on different ways that you can, you can prepare things, maybe maybe your kids like ketchup or whatever, you can get some healthier version of that or sauce or something and put it on and then then they're gonna, they're gonna like that. So it's about knowing your kid but it's also about making making the best efforts to do what you can do to be successful. And that comes from prioritizing and and if you if you need to do X, Y or Z to prioritize food, then then do it. And yeah, I know we're all busy. I'm very busy too, but it's just a big priority in our house. Yeah. healthy. And and you know, we spend half hour an hour every day cooking meals, and we go out and we go to restaurants and we do all the things that other people do. So it's not like it's 100% of the time. But when we're at home, Eli, our two year old he eats healthy heats the food that we prepare, we just we don't buy crappy food. It's not there. Yeah. And he can't eat it because it doesn't even know it exists yet.
Chrissy:Yeah, yeah, that's Yeah, I know, I was I was just having this conversation with someone the other day that if it's not in your house, you're not going to eat it right? If so, that's a huge thing to remember too. And it's hard to as an adult, because there are sometimes things that I want to eat that I don't want my kids eat, but then I have to hide it. So I had my daughter come to the grocery store with me the other day, and she wanted to try a red pepper, which I don't like peppers. So I need to be more conscious of that as a parent, like even if I don't like something, I still need to cook with it and introduce it to my kids. But I have cut it up for both of my kids. And they both hated it. So now I have to figure out another way to introduce something like that. Maybe I just cook it for them next time. Or maybe we just revisit it. But I think really just the key is introducing right and revisiting and revisiting.
Dr. Gator:Yeah, and that' a great, sorry, it's a great oint. And one of the big thi gs that I always recommend to eople who have picky eaters is take your kids with you, when yo shop, go to the farmers market, go to the store, bring the with you because they're way m re likely to eat something that they picked out. And you ay, okay, go in this section, want you to pick out one food that blue or one or one food tha 's right, and let them pick i and then they just have to try it didn't have to eat if they on't like it, that's fine. Yeah way more likely to try it. And then once they do start tryi g things, they might not like h lf of it. But if they like four more veggies, then grea , we, you know, we have four mo e veggies we can use. Yeah. And that, you know, that seems to e really, really helpful for the picky eaters. And then you know, the one step even beyond hat is is gardening you know, you don't have to have like a g rden, you can do it on your ba cony, you could plant someth ng in the window sill. But kids hink that cucumbers come You kno , plastic wrap, right? They on't know where food comes fro anymore, they get it from t e grocery store. And that's here food comes from. And if they take ownership, ownership o it, just like if they have a pu py or you know, just appreciat it more. And if they've grown a carrot, they're way more lik ly to eat it if they like we e part of creating it than just getting a store it's just there's a different level of und rstanding that comes with garden ng. super picky eaters, esp cially if they're a little old r. That's what will work almo t all the time because they will understand Wow, this ood comes from the ground an somebody makes it and there's a fine they just don't get that they just you know they just
Chrissy:Yeah, no that's such a good point too. And I know my daughter she's four she at her daycare they actually have a mobile farmers market that comes to the daycare which I love and she's like very chill picket she gets to pick out our vegetables and then she gets angry if I eat any of her stuff. But to your point of you know they they'll take ownership of it and love the gardening aspect even just like growing lettuce or something simple. Tomatoes are really easy to but then being able to see that and also seeing like the work that goes into it and they're gonna want to try it because they know how hard it can be so that's really great advice that's something I feel like people don't talk about very often of you know farming your own food and again like to your point you don't have to have a charm you could do it on your back patio or you know whatever resources you have back to kind of the conversation about you know managing our kids when they get sick you know, we talked about food a little bit but with what kind of natural remedies wood wood could we lean on when our kids do get sick
Dr. Gator:So it depends on which kind of sick that they are but the things that that living there's different areas I kind of think like different branches of the tree and so if you're thinking about supplements for example, then immune booster type supplements are always good. So a lot of the stuff we already talked about that you would do providing really those are also in general going to be pretty good for a sick child and obviously depends on the age and depends on what the situation is. So you know, speak to your practitioner but vitamin D is a big one vitamin C's have very big one you know, you see those like energy emergency type things out there. But the reason for that because vitamin C it's it's fairly it's a good antioxidant and it's really good for you. elderberry is a really great immune booster. Honey is a really really good one. I mean everybody used to just you know tea and honey now you can't have honey before one. Yeah. Oh, but other than that, for a cough or a cold honey is a great first step. If your kids are otherwise, pretty healthy. Magnesium is really good for calming your kids. Zinc is always Good for immune support and a multivitamin just to give them, you know, all the things that they need. So those are like some of the bigger ones that that we see. But there's so many different things depending on on the specific but but those are some, you know, you're unlikely to have an issue with those, they're, they're pretty, pretty safe overall.
Chrissy:Yeah. What do you recommend for parents with children who have allergies and can't eat all of those types of foods that you named or can't eat some of the foods that would really help their immune system during, you know, anytime, but especially back to school time.
Dr. Gator:Um, so I think it depends on what the allergies would be, but it's not as common, I would say, to have allergies to mostly like the fruits and veggies, certainly some people do. But that's, you know, less, less common, but just try to work around it, you know, hopefully, there are some kids that are alerted to a lot of stuff, and that's a lot, but they're gonna be on special diets and, and amino acids and things like that. But there are special protocols for kids that have severe severe allergies, but for the most part, you know, you have like a peanut allergy or, or those kind of things, obviously, you avoid the food that you're allergic to, but, but other than that, you just try to eat as healthy as you can. And those might be the kids where, you know, a multivitamin would be good. For there are certain foods that you aren't eating very frequently, then you're making sure that you're getting some of the things that you're missing, it's not necessarily as good as eating it from food, but it's better than nothing.
Chrissy:Yeah, for sure. And so depending on our kids ages, are there different things we should be giving them, you know, is like, if you have a one year old versus a 12 year old should there should we be giving them different things, or can they be eating and eating the same things taking the same supplements.
Dr. Gator:It's, it's not reall different other than, obvio sly, a newborn probably can't be taking, you know, a lot of su plements. But once you're getti g older, it's not really diffe ent. It's just more the dosin . So the bigger that you get, ou're gonna have, you know, more vitamin D than a littl kid. But for for the most part, once you hit like six month or a year, you can be doing the same, same suppl ments, just lower lower dosag for most of them. And that' where again, you got to talk o your practitioner, becau e there are some things that ould be dangerous. But a lot o times, if it's a suppl ment, you know, for the most art, this is a gener lization, but most suppl ments are not dangerous in a sma l amount. It's just if you take ton of it, or you run into n issue. So you know, in gener l, you could be doing most most hings for kids. But that's why y u have to speak to someb dy, so you can make sure you'r doing the right doses and make ure that everything is safe nd make sure that it's not mixin in appropriately. You know, with whatever if they're takin medication or something that t couldn't interact with it be ause there are, you know, just ecause it's a supplement or na ural doesn't mean it can't be da gerous. Mm hmm. Yeah. knows knows both.
Chrissy:Yeah. And what do you typically suggest, when, you know, parents have kids of different ages. So for instance, if you have a school aged kid, that's probably a little more at risk of getting sick versus someone in daycare or someone at home with a like a nanny or a newborn, right. So if you have those kind of things going on, we have different ages, different life stages. How would you recommend kind of, would you really just like kind of try to quarantine that one kid if they come home sick, so the others don't get it? Or would you ramp up, you know, the immune boosting foods that you're giving to the other couple kids that aren't sick? Like how would you recommend dealing with that?
Dr. Gator:You can try to quarantine but the reality is you probably Yeah. I mean, sometimes people will tell me that they do. But I don't know. Yeah.
Chrissy:There's no way.
Dr. Gator:I mean, if you have like a super big home, I guess maybe you can if you're like not seeing when your kid for a couple of days, but I mean, the reality is, by the time we even know somebody's sick is probably too late, they probably already were contagious. And everybody, you know, probably has it already. And unless you're completely quarantined away from people, if you're going to be like, eating food together, or in the same room for some of it, then they're gonna have it, they're gonna pass it on to whoever they're gonna pass it on to the other one. So it's like it's Yeah, all into quarantine. You know, it's it's possible, I guess, but I don't think I would, you know, be super worried about that so much as if anybody's sick, then yeah, just everybody should be taking their immune support and washing their hands a little bit more. And just trying, again, going back to the foundations, because most people don't get sick when they're exposed to something, right? You're thinking about in the winter, right? You walk around, and everybody's sick, usually with something and you're not getting sick every day. Right? You're not you go to work, or, you know, when when we're in, let's say, in university or something. Somebody's sick around you all day, but you're only getting sick every now and again. So why is that? Why? Why when you go to your office, and you work as an adult, you don't get sick every day. But somebody there is great. It's because you have an immune system, you deal with most things and for whatever reason, whatever time you there, get exposed to something that it doesn't really matter what you did and you're going to get sick or you're stressed out, you do Sleep well. You didn't eat well and it overwhelms your body and especially with stress, you know, we tend to get sick when we're stressed. Yeah, that's a big fat For a lot of adults, especially where, you know, you had a really tough week, you got some really bad news, you're really nervous about a test or whatever it is, and then you get sick right after that. It's not brain surgery, it's, your body just can only deal with so much. And so that's where the same thing for kids, it's like, we want to keep them as healthy as we can make sure they sleep well. And then hopefully they don't catch it.
Chrissy:Yeah, yeah. Okay, gre t. So that my last question h re is kind of going back o the balance topic that you alked about a piano lunchbox. A d so, you know, I would love t know your thoughts on Well, I guess this would be more eared towards adults. But I'd l ve to hear your thoughts on die . And like, you know, specific iets. So for instance, like ke o and all like those diets. And o for instance, my husband and were doing that for a little bi . But then we were also cooki g and trying to have our kids ea that way too. Because who wa ts to cook like five different meals every night? But curiou what your thoughts are? If yo know somebody in the fami y, is dieting? how we deal wit that with our kids? Do we try o get them to eat along with s? Or just do we try to give th m the whole rainbow like yo were talking about and let t em do their own
Dr. Gator:Yeah, I mean, I guess it would depend on what the diet is. But by and large diets don't work. In the short term might help to some degree, and there really isn't any diets that I've come across other than for medical reasons where, you know, you're going to use that on kids. I mean, you can you can, as long as you're eating within reason, you can give them that food. But at the end of the day, through everything I've ever seen for adults or kids diets don't work, eating healthy does, right, your diet can't shouldn't be, oh, it's keto. Oh, it's gluten free. Oh, it says I mean, you can do any of those things if it works for you. And that's fine. And for some people, they need a very strict regimen. And it's very helpful for them. And that certainly can be great in the short term. And it can be better than whenever they're doing. The only thing that will work in the long term is changing your life. You have to change your life and eat healthy on a consistent basis and prioritize healthy eating. And that comes from only buying healthy food. Not eating fast food, not eating junk, not eating sugar, not eating chemicals, 90, whatever percent of the time, it doesn't mean never It doesn't mean you can't go out with your family and have a fun dinner. It doesn't mean you can't go to a birthday party. He doesn't mean any of that. But at home, you eat healthy and healthy means real food, real food, real food, nope, those fruits, vegetables, you're cooking, you're making meals, because anything that you don't make yourself has crafted simply, yeah, being in you know, unless you have some really fancy chef hired to come to your house or your meals, you know, because we all have that. It's not gonna be healthy. If it's sitting in a box for a week, there's got to be crap in there. Do that. I mean, if I make my own almond milk at home, within like, five minutes, the thing settles right, you're like, players and you got to shake it up. Well, how does the thing in like, a package somewhere sit there for like, you know, months, there's got to be something in there, it doesn't mean that that you know, drinking that milk is bad for you, per se, but it's definitely not as good as the thing you prepared for yourself. But it's still better than the crappy version of the rights. The things that we can do and doesn't mean okay, don't ever buy a you know, packaged almond milk, that's great. Like, it's gonna be, you know, good for you comparatively to something else. But if you don't think about things, as what I'm eating either heals me or doesn't like, you know, causes symptoms and what I'm eating. If there's chemicals and crap in it is going to be in there. It's going to be in my kids, it's going to be part of them getting sick and you don't think like that you'll never change and you just, we have to prioritize it and we don't a society we do what's easy. Yeah, yeah. And we're tired and we're stressed and I get that I am too. But you know, for me, I made it a priority. And that's just what we do now, most of the time.
Eleanor King:Like today's podcast? Head over to integrati epediatricsandmedicine.com/pod ast to listen to the raising a azing podcast, featuring Dr. Gator and actor and autho surina Vincent. This parenting podcast focuses on the mental an emotional health and well bein of kids and families. Every par nt hopes they're raising a azing humans from fussy fir t months to testy teenage y ars parents are searching for solutions. With celebrity guests from hit TV shows to orld renowned doctors and thera ists. This half hour of honest science based help will trul educate, entertain and enlig ten everyone from exhausted new mamas to season parents. ere's what's new at Moms Meet and Kiwi magazine. Don't miss Kiwi magazine's Fall issue out now. We're covering how you c n create a more connected family through peaceful arenting and back to school ti s, tricks, supplies and so mu h more. We've got some amazing s mpling opportunities going on t Moms Meet. Right now you ca apply to try Mighty Sesame Com any Organic Squeezable Tahini, Megafood elderberry zinc, Immune Support syrup, and Undercover Snacks, milk choco ate gemach crusts
Chrissy:Well, I know I talked your ear off and asked a ton of questions. So we're really appreciative. appreciative of your time. Thank you so much for joining us. It's been such an eye opening conversation. I can't wait to get my kids started eating there's healthy foods. And I love again, I love that rainbow aspect to bringing them to the grocery store, having them pick out a color right say pick out a blue food, bad food, like you said. So I love that and the conversation around eating those healthy foods that helps boost our immune system as well. So thank you so much for joining us.
Dr. Gator:Thank you for having me. Yeah, absolutely.
Chrissy:And thanks for ever one listening today. Make sure you hit that like and subsc ibe button to not miss any of the latest podcast episodes So we'll be back for season two later this f