Episode 30: Dr. Madiha Saeed on Raising Healthy Kids with Holistic Medicine

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SPEAKERS: Dr. Andrew Wong, Dr. Madiha Saeed

If you have kids out there that parenting can be very difficult and a struggle at times but supporting your child with holistic health care is perhaps even harder and yet even more rewarding. if you have struggled with supporting your child’s health with holistic approaches don’t miss this conversation with Dr Madiha Saeed. We’re going to learn today with Dr. Saeed, how to up level your parenting game and to help your kids get healthier in both body, mind, and spirit.

I am Dr. Andrew Wong co-founder of Capital Integrative Health. This is a podcast dedicated to transforming the consciousness around what it means to be healthy and understanding the root causes of both disease and wellness. Dr. Saeed is a family physician also known online as the Holistic Mom MD. She is also a mother international speaker and best-selling author. We are excited to speak with Dr. Saeed today about a topic I know. Many of you are interested in holistic health for children. I have been reading her most recent book The Holistic Rx For Kids: Parenting Healthy Brains and Bodies in a Changing World. It is fabulous and it’s hard to put down this book because I know how much of a difference it can make for our children’s health. It’s going to be a

game-changer for you for holistic parenting, so I hope you enjoyed this episode.

Dr. Wong

welcome Dr. Saeed, thank you so much for coming on today to our podcast. We’re so grateful and honored to have you here.

Dr. Saeed

Thank you so much for having me. I am so incredibly honored, this is gonna be so much fun.

Dr. Wong

And yes! actually I do have your book right here. It’s an amazing book. So this is called The Holistic Rx For Kids: Parenting Healthy Brains and Bodies and I think that I was thinking about this a bit before our podcast today. Meeting connecting today is that you

know we all whether or not we have children or not I have two children myself but even for people that are aunts, uncles, and children are the future right. We know that children are future. Really when we start early like that we can really impact their lives and really the future of the human race here in a really profound way. So this is going to be a game-changing interview and I think just deep dive discussion exploration about. What is it to raise kids in a holistic way. So let’s kind of start with what is holistic parenting a bit and just kind of the basics what advice would you give the patient, to parents who are looking to care for their children with a holistic approach.

Dr. Saeed

So it’s powerful that there’s so much that we as parents can actually do to raise mindful resilient children. No matter what life throws at them and then I think that’s like the ultimate goal, as us parents is that we want to make sure that we give the tools to the kids and those life skills. That no matter what life throws at them they’ll be able to manage it and tolerate it right. But unfortunately as a family physician we were taught, okay these are the milestones, these are less. What you do to keep your child safe but really how to develop a child’s brain body behavior. We were never really taught that and it was sort of just luck of the draw right. That if you get it, have a good kid, that’s the luck of the draw. If you have a kid that’s a little troublemaker, it’s a luck of the draw. It’s just who he is there’s really nothing we can do about it and that’s what I want to really emphasize. That there’s so much we as parents can do to influence biology. Their DNA their microbiome, their mitochondria lowering the inflammation. Just like we are mind, body, and soul. Our children are mind, body, soul, and holistic parenting really helps to nurture a child’s mind body soul from the inside out with the skills that they need for emotional intelligence. Enduring deep friendships making the correct decision.

Managing stress and all of these things all so they can then remain resilient all throughout adulthood. So holistic parenting is all about raising a mindful child and right now mindfulness is sort of like sidetracked especially with these gadgets that are that our kids are just sucked into. we’rejust all living on that hamster wheel and just going day to day without really truly being mindful. So holistic parenting really helps to raise a mindful child and we know mindfulness helps us to see our internal and external world. Clearly showing us how best to respond and be fully aware of multiple different levels of perception all at once. So mindful about our emotions and our social lives our environment learning to keep it all in balance and recognizing that once that what balance feels like. Just like what we do with our functional medicine patients and what we do with ourselves recognizing what that imbalance feels like. Then as soon as it starts to go off balance recognizing that and then giving your kids those life skills that they need. Digestive health detoxification the forest to stress, sleep, socia,l spiritual health, incorporate that into their everyday daily routine so they make it.

So as soon as their bodies start to sway a little bit and they can start to feel it either it’s an agitation or maybe there’s a rash or maybe they’re frust like they’re angry or just irritable, they’re constipated. Whatever it may be, they’re able to reflect and not be like victimized. But just sort of reflect and be empowered to say, okay what are my lifestyles out of balance and what can I do to help put it back into balance. These are just life skills we teach our kids to brush their teeth and we teach our kids to wash their hands after their bathrooms and or right before they eat very similarly. I want to teach them how to wake up with gratitude every morning and optimize the the food that they put in their bodies and to recognize what’s good and what isn’t. I mean the kids are learning really complicated things in school. These are simple things that we can then teach the kids to incorporate into their daily routine. So then it becomes sort of secondary, just like when they wake up they brush their teeth, when they go to bed they brush their teeth so very similar to that you give them.

These life skills and we as parents

when we start doing that our kids. Start to live more balanced lifestyles that leads to more of a balanced brain and body which we know we can dive into that. But it lowers the chronic inflammation and it helps their brain function better and so they make better decisions so these kids are actually easier to parent so much we can do.

Dr. Wong

Yes, thank you for that great overview. I think just reading your book, there’s a couple things I want to highlight there. Number one, we definitely should have cooking classes in all the schools. I think right I mean because it doesn’t make sense that they learn all these things about like math and science, which are great. English, other languages they’re learning about politics and history.

Dr. Saeed

But if they don’t know how to take care of themselves.

Dr. Wong

Right, I mean we’re like the only mammals that probably don’t spend time on our health. We spend time on everything else, but not like peeing, pooping, sleeping, and eating right.

Dr. Saeed

No we don’t and our kids and that’s for some odd reason. I feel like as soon as I start bringing that up they’re like “oh no our kid is too young for that” but they’re old enough to handle everything else but they’re too young enough to recognize what they’re putting in their bodies. We need to give the kids enough credit.

Dr. Wong

Absolutely!

Dr. Saeed

And so that’s what I started doing with my own children as teaching them to read ingredients. They know my six-year-old ,what the gut microbiome is and what insulin resistance is . All of those simple things and these are the conversations we as parents could be having on a regular basis. That really just empowers them into the future so yes there’s so much we can teach the kids.

Dr. Wong

I mean once they learn it right teaching them really how to fish or harvest for themselves essentially.

Dr. Saeed

Absolutely! because I know when they go out into the world you’re not going to be there the entire time. Again these are the life skills we need to teach them and in my house for example, the kids know because from the very beginning so I’ve had my story was that i had a lot of chronic health conditions. Lupus, Hashimoto’s, digestive issues and as I was learning this approach I started to implement it into my daily routine and then I started to talk to the kids about it and we started looking at ingredients and reading labels and so I know one time I’m like mom “that’s just a chemical” why would I want to put that in my body. That’s so we started naming it what as a chemical. Tthese foods are chemicals so someone like some of the foods, like the artificial ingredients and the red number 40s and all these things they’re like mama “why do we want to put that in our bodies”. In our house we called chemicals like these food-like substances. What they were chemicals and now because even if I’m not there the kids are able to read the ingredients. Make those educated decisions for themselves, because of the fact that whenever we found an ingredient, we didn’t know we would come back and research it and say “oh my god this leads to hyperactivity” Oh my gosh this this like these food colors are derived from petroleum would you want to put that in your. Would you want to eat that you’re like “no we don’t want” to put and so simple things so this is why yes empowering our kids teaching when they are out into the world they’re able to make those better decisions themselves.

That’s really really important, but to recognize that currently our children’s brains and bodies have really been hijacked. That’s where us as a parent will really, because we know that these imbalanced lives that they’re living are actually disconnecting the prefrontal cortex from the amygdala prefrontal cortex. Responsible for rational decision making. It looks at the entire situation and makes your rational decision. While the amygdala is a fight and flight type of decision making and you need both of these pieces to work appropriately. To make a correct decision, so you need them both to work together to make a correct decision. But unfortunately because our kids are living imbalanced lifestyle and because we’re not teaching them the skills like cooking and things like that. They’re getting fast food. They’re getting junk, they have no idea what they’re putting in their bodies. They’re not learning about sleep and stress and nature and all and gratitude, unfortunately it’s leading to these imbalanced lifestyles leading to chronic inflammation that studies have shown. That chronic inflammation can then disconnect the prefrontal cortex from the amygdala so now you have a child that is unable to use a full brain to make a logical rational decision and it then leads to like a olympic system-driven decision-making skills which then leads to irritability more violent more anger and us versus you mentality poor social relationship so yes we as parents can actually do so much to empower our children.

Dr. Wong

Yes a lot a lot of sub questions I was thinking of as you were talking. One thing is we know that it is it does come down to us as parent us adults really in a way. I was reading this book about kids I realized that hey I got to change my life right. How are the kids going to change without someone in the adult world. Whether it’s the parents, whether it’s the school system, whether it’s the government I don’t think government’s going to be the answer completely. Current I was actually just kind of imagining as you were talking like what if the government actually put on labels on food, one label would be real whole food that nourishes their bodies and brains and then the other label would be ultra processed chemical concoctions that will hijack your brain. They’re not going to do that right I mean that would be very effective you know to be like oh okay it’s going to hydrate my brain. Maybe I shouldn’t eat that yellow number five or whatever food but people don’t know that I don’t think most adults know that. How do we we get entire families, entire communities to really do this. I have a question for you on that do you have I know you do a lot of communities or Holistic Mom MD etc. Do you find that taking a community approach where people are talking to each other moms are talking to dads and like etc. and communities versus individually . This stuff like how do people learn this stuff so they can teach their kids.

Dr. Saeed

So I do the family the community approach is really powerful but it really starts with just like, what you said you got to start with yourself. So as I was learning this myself again they don’t teach us this in medical school.

Dr. Wong

So Ino definitely not

Dr. Saeed

They do not teach this is in medical school. They don’t teach this as a residency and I mean in any residency. My brother is an interventional cardiologist. My sister’s a pediatric icu physician like and my husband’s a family physician. So I literally have every doctor in the family we’re not taught any of it in any residency but so when we recognize that we’re not taught this and you’re not gonna really get it from your doctor really searching these things out and trying to learn this yourself through all. I mean there’s so many amazing resources out there right now but so first start to learning yourself and try to start implementing it and then start. I just like start with your family. Our kids are actually they’re smart enough to have these educated discussions and show them the research show them the study. Show them the science behind your reasoning and then provide them healthier alternatives so that’s what i’ve done in my own household. Actually I live with a family of eight and I cook for a family of 20 regularly so that in it, so if I can feed a family of eight on a daily basis with me and my four children, my husband and then my in-laws. See now you have multi-generational if we can start to do that and have start having these conversations and start with your own house and be like oh my gosh so let’s find replacements for like let’s say pasta. My kids used to love like before I started all of this. Obviously everybody like ramen noodles and things like that and so. Now I’m like okay but look at all those ingredients and that versus now let’s find out a healthier alternative instead of that pasta. Let’s use lentil pasta instead of the fake coloring stuff that they put in. Let’s just use regular spaghetti sauce.

Dr. Wong

And they get used to it.

Dr. Saeed

Yeah! they get used to it. That’s the thing all about training your GUT microbiome, because we know that there’s a direct connection between our GUT microbiome, our taste buds,and our brain. All that but it’s all about retraining your GUT microbiome, your brain to like those things. But I recognize that for example the community does help and I’ve actually done cooking demonstrations in the community for like 500 people. Where I’m doing like an entire cooking demonstration and that’s where you start off with the things that people really love. So everybody love like most people love pasta. Then what I would do is I would show them that okay let me recreate this pasta for you guys and I would have the lentil pasta there already boiled doone, so that was easier but lentil pasta and then I would create the sauce. But in the sauce what I would try to do is I would add like bone broth. I would add cauliflower rice . I would add broccoli sprouts . I would add like you can even do like a spaghetti sauce that has tons of vegetables in it and super simple. But now you’ve got all these like key nutrients and sulfurophame right. Now you’ve turned

like a regular pasta into like a super powered pasta that any kid would love because when you cook the cauliflower rice, like frozen cauliflower rice. So when you cook broccoli sprouts it just sort of disintegrates. It just takes on the flavor of whatever is there so just by doing these simple things in the community and showing them and tasting that and then i’ll do the same thing like brownies right. So my my kids love brownies most people, love brownies but I’ll change it. I’ll make them out of almond flour or cake right. I use almond flour, I use avocado oil pasteurized eggs.

Dr. Wong

I saw that recipe in your book I’m definitely going to try that one out.

Dr. Saeed

Oh my gosh almond flour brownie so good. Then on top of that like the cake so super simple thing. You just want to give people the alternatives and once you show them in the community that it is possible then they are really apt to change. Then when they have that develop that community and they’re able to switch out recipes and try this and try that. We have multiple whatsapp groups and then I have my social media and then we have the facebook groups. There so all of that, community is key to change that but it really starts with you and trying to find what works for you and your family. Finding those

healthy alternatives so then you can take that into your community and then start to grow to change. But that’s what I did even when I have so because we’re in like a traditional Pakistani household my in-laws. I’m the oldest daughter-in-law, they’ll all come to my house but I cook the same way. I’’ve cooked for 20 some people on the weekends especially before COVID but I would just cook this exact same way. Finding again those hea lthier alternatives to the foods that they really love.

Dr. Wong

I love it because when you’re cooking for your family and everyone’s eating together and connecting in community right . Rather than having like four people or eight people and they’re already eating likefour or eight different meals, that doesn’t really work long term.

Dr. Saeed

No it doesn’t. It’s exhausting and I told myself, I told them I’m like this is what I’m going to do but I promise to make it delicious and and nutritious and obviously in the indo pack community there’s a lot of like breads and rice. Basically that incorporates every one of their meals. So I had to sort of find alternatives that they would love because my father-in-law was a diabetic. He had heart , but now he was on 30 units of insulin just by

showing him different alternatives. He is now off of his almost all of his diabetes medication you see how simple things. When you and then they feel energetic, they love it and now actually it’s really cool because again when you got to make this fun. If you focus on the stuff that you can’t eat you’re going to make a negative association with food. But when you start focusing on all the things that your children your families and your in-laws and everybody can have fun with food and still enjoy it. The color it really creates a better relationship and with the food plus on top of that they’re able to really take this on into their own lives after. Because right now for example, they’re in Pakistan it’s so cute they’re actually making videos. We actually started our own facebook page here, Holistic Urdu MD and my mother-in-law took over that literally that channel.

Dr. Wong

That’s awesome!

Dr. Saeed

So it’s me and her but now they’re over. There making videos on how we should be eating more color and it’s so good spreading the word.

Dr. Wong

That’s awesome!

Dr. Saeed

Because the fact that now there’s like a positive connotation with this food. We made it fun. We’re able to find healthier alternatives anywhere you go and then same with again my kids started in their own podcast called the Holistic Kid Show. Podcast honored to have you on there.

Dr. Wong

Yeah absolutely.

Dr. Saeed

We got to connect but so where they interview the biggest names in integrated holistic functional medicine but because of the fact that there’s not that negative connotation. They’re like this is fun, what are you talking about. Because anytime you bring in healthy food you’re like, what that’s so boring, what no we don’t want to do that, let me celebrate, no but celebrations can incorp they incorporate those healthy foods so.

Dr. Wong

That’s fantastic. Make it fun get connected with the celebrations and then let’s go kind of

pivot a little on. I just want to definitely ask you about as a Holistic Family Doc. There’s really two things that I see with kids nowadays. Well you’re a Holistic Family Doc, I’m saying. I also do primary care and stuff. I guess my my question is for kids, looking at kids we know that there’s really this epidemic of what’s called in the conventional world “ADD” Attention deficit disorder and and I think in a functional sense we could look at that. We could give people meds and all this stuff. We can do the neuropsych testing which is well and good in some ways but then at the end of the day we know that that’s a label right we know that there’s some deeper root cause things for what’s causing it. Even though this podcast is not about ADD I was just thinking about that your book and holistic arcs for kids and how some of the things that kids could be doing more of like getting outside and playing ball. Like getting into the sunlight, looking at nature is kind of getting usurped by being indoors, being on screens, tablets, even like cell phones and things. So I have a couple questions for you there. Hey how much time should our kids be outside? What do you recommend there and then on the correlator of that, how much time do you recommend if there is a specific time for screens and things like that?

Dr. Saeed

Absolutely I mean ADHD has increased 167. We know we’re doing something wrong. Our kids are literally bombarded with chronic stress. The lack of nature. The lack of exercise increased stress and inability to sleep. That’s all contributing then to the destroys the

GUT microbiome. Because of all that stress, nature is super important. We know studies have shown that just getting outside in nature and playing can actually heal our bodies and actually it can lower when you’re when you’re not doing that. When you’re not getting in nature it actually leads to increases the risk of autoimmune diseases, asthma, food allergies. We have activation of the prefrontal cortex like lower activation of the prefrontal cortex. So getting ready in nature really does help de-stress us and boost our immune system Restores our brain connections all of that but and even improved science has proven that it actually does improve cognition. It helps us our children focus. It improves their attention and even get increases energy,so even if they can just get out into nature at least 30 minutes a week. Like just that’s really it is you just need 30 minutes a week in nature to do it, like that’s it because let’s just start.

Dr. Wong

Everyone can do that.

Dr. Saeed

Everyone anybody can do that 30 minutes in nature so I try to incorporate some sort of like hike or just get the kids even in the backyard. Just getting outside we have like trees in our yard. Just getting them there, I’m throwing even if it’s dark. I mean right now there’s snow here in Chicago. Even going sledding or just being around . Simple things and we try to incorporate just minimum 30 minutes a week. That has had profound effect on their prefrontal cortex activation and improving their focus and lowering their stress. Then we know that there is tons of research again on screens. Screen time and how the blue light is really affecting our children’s brains and their body. Trying to limit it to, I mean right now they always tell us like the two hours of just some sort of screen time is like way too for me. I even think that’s even way too much.

Dr. Wong

Probably

Dr. Saeed

But yeah! so at least like I mean I just try to keep it to an hour for the kids

Dr. Wong

It’s pretty good that’s a victory

Dr. Saeed

Right here you can do that yeah. Like because right now I know we were taught like two hours a day of screen time, because they’re already getting so much more.

Dr. Wong

The promethean boards or whatever

Dr. Saeed

Yes, they’re adding, getting so much at school. For me I really just stick with that hour

Dr. Wong

Yeah that’s a great. Also we know that if we at least not let the perfect be the enemy of the good like, okay let’s try for an hour at least have a little bit of a a stricter time.

Dr. Saeed

Actually but would I recognize that it’s it’s easier to sit down with your children to make up those rules and regulations so my kids know. They sit down together now that they’re older they’re 14, 11, 8 and 6. So we sit down together and we were like okay. What this is the effects of screen time. What do you guys think like they’re like, okay we’ll do a little bit longer on the weekends and then just maybe a little bit shorter here and so that’s what we try to focus on so sit down and come come up with like a plan of action with your children because then they’re more apt to following those rules.

Dr. Wong

Yes!

Dr. Saeed

Because again you just want to like this is all the research. What do you guys think and again remember when the kids have their own, when they’re able to make those own choices. They actually cause more like prefrontal cortex activation, so they’re able to be more logical otherwise if you start to force it on them and these rules and regulations. Nobody wants to be dictated even little kids, they don’t want to be dictated. so that’s why coming up together so I really try to treat them. They’re not adults obviously their brains are not built like adults but at least start to have those conversations with them.

Dr. Wong

Thats amazing

Dr. Saeed

And that’s what I try to do again with anything so we have our chores with our screen time with our nature time and again just like what we talked about at the beginning of this conversation is again incorporate this. If we start to just incorporate this into their daily routine so the kids in my house, they have the daily routine of when they wake up. They know gratitude more immediately when they wake up. As soon as they open their eyes I’ve taught them to say thank you. Thank you for my eyes, thank you for my ears, thank you for my nose and if they forget it’s okay because it takes time. But I when they come downstairs we’ll be singing our thankful song and then we try usually in the summertime we’ll run outside get them get the produce from whatever’s in the garden. Then come and go through the meal and like oh let’s make a meal out of this together and then I used to have a day for how does it to get nature have it. To make sure there’s a time for detoxification. Making sure there’s time for a meditation. Making sure then there’s time for sports or whatever it is to keep your body moving so all of those just like what we do in for adult adults, we have our schedules.I try to do the same thing with with the Children.

Dr. Wong

I mean it sounds like routines yeah routines and rituals they create a sense of safety and I guess circadian rhythm right.

Dr. Saeed

Absolutely! so they know they do that okay. This is the time okay, nine o’clock we wanna start. We work to get to bed and then we wake up at eight o’clock you know or seven o’clock. The next day we got our ten hours to sleep, they know the importance of then obviously as a parent you need to be flexible to do the best, but I put that in their hands. Actually have them if they go off a little bit. Let them do it like for example if they went to sleep a little later then they wake up a little grunky and then I’m like you just suffer the consequence.

Dr. Wong

Yeah cause an effect

Dr. Saeed

Yeah cause and effect because they need to know or like for example if they ate something and they immediately felt something different. Like what do you and then have that conversation with them. Let them be their own, let them grow, let them make mistakes and then sit there really have that conversation I’m like, you didn’t feel so great you weren’t able to get up and get all of your chores done before school. Because we have a bunch of chores that need to be done just like adults. We got to get all these things done before you get to school. If you don’t wake up on time how are you going to get your chores done and then you suffer the consequences but or they don’t feel so great when they wake up because they didn’t get their hours of sleep. Those are the conversations that you want to start to have with your kids with all aspects of life.

Dr. Wong

That’s great. I’m just curious this is a kind of a side question but are they internally motivated. Are they are they getting allowances ? I’m just kind of a if you don’t mind.

Dr. Saeed

No! I don’t do allowances, but no. We know my kids know that oh so this is sort of it’s really funny my my eight-year-old said this today and that’s what I started to tell them they’re like let’s get this over with so that we can get on with our lives right. We know these things need to be done like for example the dishes need to be done. The chores need to be done, so the kids my 11 year old he makes all the lunches in the morning. My six-year-old takes out the dishes from the dishwasher from the night before. Then my eight-year-old will put them all up and then they’ll work together to put whatever dishes are left in the dishwasher. On the days that we do the laundry they’ll do the laundry, so they have like a system where they do it themselves. But then by 8:30 or 9 o’clock all of those are done and I can finish. I like i’ll put something in the in the instant pot or whatever it needs to be.

Dr. Wong

That’s awesome it looks like they’re working together as a team though, which is great.

Dr. Saeed

So that’s where we work together as a team. Then while we’re doing our gratitude, our thankfulness we’re we’re talking about our purpose for the rest of the day and they’ve now accomplished so much already at like nine o’clock and now the rest of the day is theirs so. That’s what he said mama let’s finish this up so the rest of the day can be ours so they are internally motivated because they see. Like I mean I was able to write five books during this pandemic wow and with all four kids at home. When it was in quarantine so that’s what I wrote them all.

Dr. Wong

That’s great it’s

Dr. Saeed

Craziness you’re like how do you get it done. Because we work as a team because we have those. We sat together as a family to come up with those rules and how mama’s life does not evolve revolve around the kitchen nor choices right.

Dr. Wong

That’s great

Dr. Saeed

I gotta get that established so we got exactly. Then they helped me as a team to get that done and empathize. They’re like you know you wouldn’t want to do this yourself right. Why would mama want to be doing this yourself.

Dr. Wong

Well your book is amazing. I just wanted to highlight how really comprehensive it is having gone through IFM (Institute for Functional Medicine ) and other trainings I’m like wow. This but I’m like learning all this stuff from from your book. I mean it’s so detailed. I think as deep as people want to get under biochemistry. But I want to focus on the broad aspects for listeners like the four S’s in the book. I think seem really important stress, sleep, social health, and spirituality which we’ve touched on today on our conversation which I’m really appreciative of I kind of love to talk about stress and sleep a bit. What do you recommend for meditation or some sort of grounding exercise for kids for parents that are out there with kids and then maybe the kids are a little hyper active or maybe they can’t go to sleep for whatever reason. Even if they’re going outside they’re still like you know mommy or daddy. I’m ready to go to sleep but I can’t go to sleep so I’m curious how you kind of intermingle those two aspects stress and sleep.

Dr. Saeed

Absolutely! So it all really starts with how you start your and that’s I know you don’t want to say that. I mean I didn’t say about spirituality. But for me, for us we start our day with gratitude.

Dr. Wong

That’s huge

Dr. Saeed

That’s huge because if you can start to change our subconscious from instead of thinking negative all the time to thinking positive. That immediately gets you off on the right side of the bed every day and therefore your children stress out a little bit less and so we start our day with gratitude and positivity. That really starts to decrease the worries that the kids are dealing with on that day. So starting off with that again incorporating that into their daily routine and gratitude. Every morning and then in our house obviously there’s prayer and meditation. But finding a meditation practice that works for your kids, my kids the breathing technique is really really important. There’s great books I’m written like, Alpha breaths by a Harvard psychologist about to talks, about mindfulness and in kids. That maybe they love to use their breaths, but I even in my house we actually do, because I was learning it. We’ve incorporated it with our prayers but it’s even. If it’s like five minutes that’s it just getting them into that routine is important so in the middle of their day I’ve gotten them like right before their screen time. That’s what they’ve got to do. So to help them de-stress they will so that because obviously they want to watch screen time. So therefore they’re like ah.

Dr. Wong

They’ll do it

Dr. Saeed

Yeah! they’ll do it. Let’s just they’ll do it, they’ll do it at that time. So it’s we talk about our day and then actually we’ll do it together after they come home from school. We’ll sit down and they’ll eat their food because at that time they’re obviously hungry. They’ll eat we’ll, talk we’ll, talk about their day and then we’re like okay before screen time let’s go ahead and do this five minutes. Let’s just start with five minutes and it’s we start off with the breathing techniques. We’ll do a couple of those two and then four out three and six out and then same with the four and the eight okay and then mindfulness. What are we listening, what are we hearing, what are we seeing what are we feeling, and again it only has to be like a minute each right. Even just for even younger kids for them and then we’ll go into like the mantra meditation or mantra. We’ve all had their little word and they’ll just say that and we’ll just sit for just five five minutes so that was like one minute and then

three minutes really that simple and then just have them do that at that time and then end with gratitude. Then i’ll help guide them through that, but again I’m like oh we got to do this so again we’ve incorporated that into their daily routine to try to help them with that to help them lower that stress and then for sleep again. Same routine one of them and then have them develop their own routine in my house. What we’ve done is we they there’s a specific melody that they love to listen. Actually they started listening to that. I started making that routine for them when they were in my belly so they would act. They actually start put they put that on and as soon as it says they’re it like for us it’s like the scripture.

Dr. Wong

That’s so smart! You started in the womb that’s amazing.

Dr. Saeed

Yes I started actually scripture in the womb. Because it’s like a tone but either anybody can do anything and then that they can put that up and as soon as am I kid you. Not my 14 year old still has to put that melody on as they’re falling asleep and same with again. Then one of them needs an epsom salt bath before they go to bed. They all have their different routines so as long as they they set their routine themselves they’re able to then prioritize that.

Dr. Wong

That’s so great well thank you so much Dr. Saeed for coming on today. We really appreciate you coming on and definitely check out Dr. Saeed book The Holistic Rx for kids. It’s an incredible book it’s on Amazon barnes and noble I’m sure it’s like everywhere. You have your own website too I think it’s Holistic Mommy.com

Dr. Saeed

Yeah so this is the book and then also just I don’t know if you have this I gotta send you these but I have like we started a children.

Dr. Wong

No! yeah I’d love to have those great thanks

Dr. Saeed

Oh my gosh. So my kids during the pandemic so we started a children’s book series functional medicine children’s book series.

Dr. Wong

That’s amazing! That’s so cool!

Dr. Saeed

Adam’s Healing Adventures. Adam is actually not feeling well and then he needs to recognize that in order to feel better. He has to put the holistic prescription back into balanced rest sleep.

Dr. Wong

I like how the gut’s right in the middle there. That’s nice ! That’s awesome!

Dr. Saeed

And then same with that. This is the one that just came out the same time the book came out so I was literally doing two book lunches at a time but this one’s all about rainbow foods and how adam wasn’t feeling so good on sugar but then recognizing that oh my gosh when we start eating the rainbow foods now the rainbow is in the in the dye so when we have like the GUT and the social the spiritual the mental emotional and then the rainbow foods we can feel amazing. Then right now I’m working on the one about gratitude so that’s the health series the functional medicine children book series that I’m working on again.

Dr. Wong

Awesome! I’m super passionate about this. Anything trying to get the kids on board with this exactly. I feel like those books should be required reading for both

schools and homeschoolers yes that would be amazing. Are they out those are out yet too

Dr. Saeed

Yes those are all out so it’s all on Amazon. Yes okay well thank you so much.

Dr. Wong

Thank you so much Dr Saeed and I’ll talk to you soon.

Dr. Saeed

Thank you