.png)
Life, Health & The Universe
Life, health and the universe are all connected. In a world where we are more connected than ever, we have become disconnected from ourselves. In this podcast, along with guests, I discuss ideas in a celebration of life, an exploration of health and some wonderment of the universe.
Contact Nadine: https://lifehealththeuniverse.podcastpage.io/contact
Life, Health & The Universe
Rethinking Nutrition and Environment for Children's Health
Let us know what you thought of this episode!
Discover how a personal battle with cystic fibrosis turned Kate Willis into a passionate advocate for children's health. With over 14 years of experience, Kate shares her insights on the rising health issues affecting children today and her holistic approach to tackling them. You'll learn about the impact of gut health, chronic illnesses, and the limitations of traditional medical practices, and how embracing functional testing and nutrition can open new pathways for healing and optimal living for our kids.
Throughout this compelling episode, we explore the intricate web of factors contributing to children's health challenges, such as ADHD and nutritional deficiencies. Kate highlights how genetics, environment, and the deteriorating quality of our food supply are all playing a role in these growing concerns. Kate uncovers the alarming deficiencies in essential nutrients like vitamin C and the obstacles parents face in ensuring adequate nutrition for their children without breaking the bank. We also discuss alternative ways to gain insights into personal health needs, beyond the conventional healthcare system.
Feeding issues, especially among children with autism or heightened sensitivity, reveal a complex world where diet preferences are heavily influenced by sensory challenges. Kate guides us through the therapeutic process to expand these children's dietary horizons. By examining the role of environmental factors like heavy metals and mould, we recognise how they contribute to behavioural and sensory problems. This episode underscores the necessity of a holistic approach that integrates diet, environment, and mindset with the unwavering support of parents to foster a nurturing atmosphere for children's growth and development.
You can find Kate's full profile in our Guest Directory https://lifehealththeuniverse.podcastpage.io/person/kate-willis
Welcome to Life, health and the Universe, bringing you stories that connect us, preventative and holistic health practices to empower us and esoteric wisdom to enlighten us. We invite you to visit our website, where you can access the podcast, watch on YouTube and find all of our guests in the guest directory. Visit lifehealththeuniversepodcastpageio. Now let's get stuck into this week's episode. Today, we're joined by Kate Willis, mum of one and passionate advocate for children's health. Kate has worked in the paediatric field for over 14 years, supporting families back to wellness and helping children to thrive. Kate's got a postgraduate degree in nutrition and a Bachelor of Health Science in naturopathy and is the founder founder of wilder kids, a pediatric nutritionist and dietetic clinic. Do I say that right? Because dietetic yeah, that's a tongue twist to that one.
Speaker 1:Yeah, she's also a qualified feeding therapist and naturopath, specializing in gut health and chronic digestive conditions, bowel disease, allergies and pediatric constipation. Kate's passion is to help children live their full potential without being burdened by health issues, and to support families by reducing the overwhelm and stress um utilize. I'm going to keep going, kate, utilizing functional testing and food as medicine key. Kate has a key interest in the gut brain connection and how this can lead to anxiety, hyperactivity, autism and mood disorders in children. She's got special interest in ibs, which is irritable bowel syndrome, microbiome and anxiety in children, and sensory feeding in children. Massive introduction hope you didn't feel awkward while I did this bill welcome.
Speaker 3:Thank you so much.
Speaker 1:It's taken us a little while to coordinate ourselves with life and work and technical hitches, but we're here. So thank you so much for joining us. I'm really really looking forward to this conversation. I am a mum of two kids, eight and ten. I'm I've got friends, um, you know, and my kids have had their own. One of my kids has had his own gut and digestive issues for pretty much his whole life um, but you know, it's something that you hear talked about a lot more in the parenting community than ever, yeah, than ever before, but I still don't think that there's enough information out there and then.
Speaker 1:So, when you popped up into my Instagram world, I was like I've got to talk to you because, um, it seems like we're on the same page and like getting your message out there and getting people to think outside the box when it comes to their children's health yeah, is super valuable. So, thank you, don't worry, I'm going to stop talking then and let you have a go. So tell us a little bit about you, a bit of background. I've already read the bio a bit yeah.
Speaker 3:So the reason I got into health in the first place, I was 14 and I was very sick and I had a disease called cystic. I have a disease called cystic fibrosis and ended up having to have, you know, organ transplants and things. Oh wow. And you know, in my generation, in the 80s, not many people were sick. Not many kids were sick, it was mostly adults, and I always thought I never want anyone else to feel like I have for the past, you know, 10, 20 years chronically ill, and there always has to be an answer to quality health. You know, it's not about quantity, it's about quality and feeling great every day. So I thought, oh, I want to study something. So I went into naturopathy and nutrition, um, when I was um school at you know, 20, I think, 19, and studied for 10 years and then come out and started working and then ended up doing a postgrad in dietetics and nutrition and, yeah, worked with kids and these days every child has something wrong with them. Yeah.
Speaker 3:Whether it be brain health, gut health, um chronic illness, autoimmune, um.
Speaker 1:It's really interesting that nowadays every child has something going on and it's really sad, yeah yeah, wow, that's pretty um good place to start, like we're just gonna spill the beans on all of it well, you know the outset, but yeah, I do think, and I I think it's almost like not normal or you're the weirdo if you're healthy, right yeah, if someone in your family or a child in your family hasn't got something yeah, it's not right. Yeah, it's not not, it's not seen as normal. It's become the norm to have uh sickness.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah yeah, so I feel like my passion is to help these kids, because, you know, I don't want kids to feel unwell for the rest of their life like I did, um, and they shouldn't feel like that and there's always an answer to every health issue. You just got to start digging and find some answers and you know, start therapy.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and what else what else will my I be I'm gonna um, so let's okay, let's talk about. I'll sort of start I've got, I'll show you my notebook. This is my brain, so I'm like which bit shall I pick? And let's talk about the work that you do okay, so sort of like that integrative health because it's really easy for us, especially in our modern day. Yeah, you kind of know that there might be something wrong with our kid.
Speaker 1:You know, something's not quite gelling, but we go to the, we go to the GP, the GP and we go down that path and it's like take this, try this, and they don't necessarily know what's going on.
Speaker 3:No, and there's not a lot of options.
Speaker 2:There's not a lot of options, no, and it's just what they know.
Speaker 3:And I know parents, and as mothers, you're so intuitive. You just know what something's going on and if you want to keep digging, there's always an answer and you know. So, um, yeah, so what?
Speaker 1:yeah, yeah, so how would you um sort of describe the difference between what you do when, when we talk about like integrated? Wellness for a child, yeah, or for an adult? For that matter. Um like, what does that look like and how might it be different to like just kind of scheduling an appointment with your gp?
Speaker 3:well, I think the gp is always really good to schedule one in because there's, you know, they always have, um, some testing they can do for free.
Speaker 3:Um, so if you go to a gp, it's sort of quite mainstream and they sort of do the normal diagnostic testing, blood tests or maybe poo tests but they're quite restricted these days because of the you know, the government. Um, so when they come to me, um, I guess I dig a little bit deeper and look at the whole body, not just the one or the one thing. So when you go to gp, you sort of, um, they say, oh, um, I'm having breathing issues, and they look at the lungs only. But I look at the holistic picture and start digging from different areas and what affects what, and, and so, yeah, we just do a lot of functional testing and then, once we get the testing back, because I'm very scientific based, so when we get the testing back, because I'm very scientific based, so when we get the testing back, then we start treatment and, you know, getting to the root cause and the underlying issue. So we can, you know, there's no use working from top up, you've got to work from bottom up.
Speaker 3:Okay, yeah, so you might look at like a kid presenting with a particular issue and you look at sort of like environmental factors, yeah, so just say, someone comes in with a stomach ache and so we look at environmental factors, their food, their genetics, their family history and what they're eating and things like that and then we go down some functional testing to see. You know, if we find out it's environmental, then we probably don't do testing, but if it's sort of family history or genetics or something chronically going on, then we do some functional testing. Okay, and a gut issue doesn't mean it's a gut issue. It could be just be a brain issue, so that anxiety like causing that, that, you know the nerve in the brain goes right through the bowel. So they could just have anxiety and not presenting and just present a stomach ache and pain to the stomach or constipation or things like that.
Speaker 3:Or they might have some sensory issues. And you know these sensory issues that kids feel. They feel everything that you know from when they put it in their mouth goes right down to their stomach. Okay, you have to look outside the box, not just at the specific place where they're feeling pain or discomfort. Yeah, you know what I mean yeah yeah uh, we talked about.
Speaker 1:Well, in the intro I mentioned that you're you talk, you're very interested in the gut brain connection. Yes, um, and you sort of meant mentioned a couple things that I read from your bio about how the how, those things like anxiety, adhd, yes, autism, did autism, that that can actually be something affected by the gut or caused by the gut. Is it like the chicken or the egg?
Speaker 3:Well, I won't say too much, but autism is not caused from the gut. Okay, yeah, we don't know too much yet we don't have much, you know. Yeah, research and things on that, but definitely there's a lot of chronically gut issues in autistic children, okay, okay. So when I see a lot of autistic children and they present with anxiety and gut issues mainly and you know that nervous system disability, where they're, you know PDA, which is pathological avoidance syndrome, so it's all the nervous system, the gut, most of the issues that are coming from the autistic children. Okay, and ADHD as well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, okay, but it's kind of like a there's still lots of research being going, there is, and nobody really knows the cause.
Speaker 3:But I would say it's everything. You know genetics, history, you know environment, everything, yeah, yeah, food, wow yeah, yeah, um, you mentioned that when you were a child.
Speaker 1:Yeah you, you were the only sick child. Yeah. They didn't know anyone else in your class who was unwell? No, but now that is like a normal thing, as we said. That has changed significantly. That's changed significantly. Is there anything that stands out for you? Do you have to be cautious about what you say?
Speaker 3:Yes, Okay, I don't want to turn my attention.
Speaker 1:No, we're not. No, but like we know that food quality is not as good, right oh, no, no.
Speaker 3:And you know what most of these kids I see are chronically nutritional deficiencies. Okay, we do testing and they're just the fruit and vegetables don't have any nutrients in them whatsoever. You know they're sprayed, they they, and then that takes the nutrients out of them. They're they just don't eat. Like you know, in my, sprayed they they and then that takes the nutrients out of them. They're they just don't eat. Like you know, in my grandmother's generation they ate five vegetables a night. My mother's generation they ate three, we eat one. Like it's just the quality and the quantity of food that is just getting. Um, yeah, they've just got lots of deficiencies. And is that the main cause of everything? Maybe food and stress is a big one.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and these kids feel a lot of stress these days because look at our life well, the fact that, yeah, if you like, we know that stress isn't just, like you know, emotional stress, it's the stress from our bodies trying to process stuff that's not supposed to be there as well, right, I agree, yes, so that can cause, um, imbalances.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I was talking to someone yesterday and she was sort of saying, uh, she was saying something about her kids don't eat many vegetables and they'll eat their fruit, and she was, yeah, thinking that they might be like vitamin c deficient. And I was like to be quite honest, like we can't guarantee, even if we are putting a whole host of veggies in front of our kids, that they're getting any nutrient no, we don't and they're probably not.
Speaker 3:And every test I've done, every child every day comes back with their vitamin c deficient. Really, and we wonder why these kids are getting so chronically sick during winter. Because they've got no immune system. Um, so, it's, it's just everywhere.
Speaker 1:It's our life, it's our world, it's our food yeah, it's very difficult, I think, because, like, if it I mean there's a whole scale, isn't there like you can be feeling, like you're doing the right thing yeah putting everything in front of your kid, but, um, if it's just not caught, if the quality is not there, and you can't see that, that's exactly right, yeah, but then there's the other end of the scale, where we're just not giving our kids the the variety and and also supplementation.
Speaker 3:Not sustainable, but we probably need it these days, but it's expensive. So um so it's hard to to you know um build our children up when there's no quality there and things are expensive to buy yeah yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:So when, um, when a parent brings a child to you yeah, have they do they feel like they've exhausted all other avenues. Is that often the case? Most of the people that kind of changing and people are stepping into that kind of well more awareness in the last sort of 15 years.
Speaker 3:Initially people would just come to me because it was their last resort. But now people are going to gps and just not. Some people aren't even going to gps because they're just like they're done with not getting help and they won't that. You know. These gps are so overstressed, busy and they just don't have time and then they're restricted by the government what testing they can do, and you know okay and a lot of people don't want medication. Now they want some answers. Yeah, are they, are they?
Speaker 1:restricted just because of the cost. The gps, yeah, like for tests? Well, I think they're not they're not all.
Speaker 3:I think the government restricts their the budget because of that, yeah, yeah and then um, and you know it's expensive to go to gp now too, yeah.
Speaker 3:So, um, it's hard, it's a hard one, but I? But if someone comes in and say, oh, they can't afford some functional testing or their um insurance won't pay for it, then they, I say, go back to the gp and get this, this and this. Okay, still test, blood test. Yeah, and you really have to push what you want. These days you can't just go and say can you give me this? You need to say I need this, this is what I need, like you really have to advocate for yourself, yeah, yeah, because nobody will, yeah.
Speaker 1:When I went to the GP, I wanted to get some tests, just you know vitamin. D hormones and it's almost like they had to know why, like they had to justify it. Yeah, exactly. If you're presenting with this symptom, then we can test, but if you just want it for the sake of knowing how you're doing, but I mean, you can go and just do your own blood test online for free you don't have to go to a GP.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, so it's really easy to do that.
Speaker 1:It is, yeah, getting more easy to take control of your health.
Speaker 3:Exactly, yeah, definitely, yeah, getting more easy to take control of your health.
Speaker 1:Exactly, yeah, definitely yeah. So when um you said that you specialize um mostly, or you've got a keen interest in irritable bowel syndrome and um SIBO as well, yeah, small intestinal bacterial overgrowth. Yeah what do you think causes it? Or is it different for everyone? Because we've already kind of identified that there's some prevalent issues that are showing up and we've talked about food and you know food quality.
Speaker 3:So small intestinal bacterial overgrowth. I think the root cause is food and stress. Okay, because the motility stops in the small bowel and then, when the small bowel slows down and it builds up in the small bowel over months and months and months, um, but when you look at irritable bowel syndrome, that can be caused by stress and food. So it's pretty much the same thing. But you know, and but also with neurodiverse children, it's very common to have both because of the food intake and the stress that they feel like they're always in fight and flight. So, okay, a motility stops and all the nerve endings in the small and large bowel are always on edge. So you know, when you're eating food and there's all these nerves just running all the time, you're not going to be able to allow food to go through smoothly. And you know, calmly, they feel everything.
Speaker 1:So, um, yeah, wow yeah, do you think some of it starts with like having a cesarean. Have you ever kind of explored that? Because they're like, um, that idea that or that idea, that thing. I don't know what to say when we don't, when a child doesn't pass through the birth canal. I had two cesareans they don't get the flora. No, they don't, no, and that can affect their gut.
Speaker 3:I don't think it's the main cause, but I think it's contributing cause. Yeah, one of the causes yeah definitely Because they're not getting that first. You know, biome into the bowel, into the mouth, so you know that doesn't set them up for a good you know a good life. I guess yeah, but sometimes in some hospitals they can take a swab and, you know, pop it into the baby's mouth if you do have a C-section.
Speaker 1:What about? I'm just, I'm jumping around a little bit. That's all right. I just want to know all the things and what about you've? Talked about um feeding issues and problem feeders. Is that something to do with the gut as well?
Speaker 3:um no, oh well, it depends. The kids that I see are autistic. They um they're feeding issues. They are white eaters, so they only eat white and beige food okay, because they've got too many sensory issues.
Speaker 3:So what we do is help them um, integrate into feeding and um, you know, integrate into those steps of feeding and break down so they can introduce more foods into their diet at home. So it's a bit of a therapy process over, you know. Maybe it can take a year, six months, months, depending on how old they are, but it helps them eat more variety of food and get their sensory system get used to different types of food and textures. And, interestingly, the food they don't like is fruit and vegetables, because there's very textural vegetables and fruit. So, yeah, it's hard for them to, you know, eat it and process it sensory wise quite common.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, I mean there's. There's difference between fussy eating and feeding issues. So feeding issues are quite, uh, significant, but fussy issue eating issues are, um, just because the child wants to eat sugar, but um, but the feeding issues are, you know, with autistic children or, you know, sensory children or highly sensitive children. Um are, because they're, you know, sensory issues in the mouth and the throat and the stomach and yeah, so they're almost like so connected to their physical, the physical sensations of
Speaker 3:yeah, wow, and, and, and. They don't have to be autistic, they can just be highly sensitive children and they're so intuitive and feel everything. Yeah, and it's really interesting the way they live and are, you know, naturally, yeah, yeah, yeah, wow.
Speaker 1:What about? I've seen your on your instagram. I'm just kind of going through some of the things that you're working with um about speech as well, or stuttering is that?
Speaker 3:have you got something about? I? I work closely with um stutter free kids with lauren okay so she, yeah, we work together to treat some highly sensitive kids that stutter can that be food derived or is that like, is it?
Speaker 1:um? It's a nervous system chemical, so can that be caused by like chemical imbalances in the body?
Speaker 3:I don't know about chemical imbalances, but it's more like um, you know, um speech therapy and, um, you know, with autistic children or highly sensitive children, they always seem to have swallowing sensory speech issues, tongue ties, okay, sort of things. Yeah, so, um, but also, um, these kids also chew up all their nutrients really, really quickly, so, and they're always deficient with everyone if we test them, okay, so, um, so, yeah, we work, you know, specializing in helping them build their nutrients up to help with their speech and their you know their sensory issues.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah wow, so you so, um, I've kind of asked you about the like some of the causes like you've talked about anxiety and food being those like um, what about like exposure to toxins? Like, yeah, um, heavy metals, all of the like environmental stuff, not just in the home but like yes, so when we do testing we see a lot of.
Speaker 3:So in these kids that I see a lot of heavy metals, heavy metals and mold mold up in the bowel um and interesting. The mold build up will cause a lot of um, you know, um, personality traits, I guess, which can be quite hard to deal with. They're just that affects their nervous system. So they're just very, um, you know, highly strong things like that so we yeah, angry. Yes, so you know, like they don't like demands on them and things like that. Okay, that's interesting.
Speaker 3:So yeah, and I guess when I treat holistically, we treat with, you know, mold, heavy metals, food, environment, stress, gut, it's just everything. Yeah, wow, I feel like our environment's very toxic, if I can say that without sounding.
Speaker 1:I think it's a reality. Yeah, it is a reality. So like the healthier choices you can make, the better, because every single one stacks up to give you better protection. But like we're still in it right.
Speaker 3:So you know, even filtered water is better than normal water. Yeah, so just little things that add up over years. Um, yeah, um has a contributing effect massively. Um, trying to eat organic where possible, um, which is quite hard for some people if they even live in regional places, and things like that, but even shopping at the markets is better than not. Yeah, no-transcript. Yes, and obviously we can't um, you know we can't affect what we breathe in, but just things we put in our mouth, like more food.
Speaker 1:Um, and in the way we think, as well, mindset is massive um, yeah, and I would expect, like when you talk about mindset, my first thought was well, how do you do deal with that with kids? But then if you've got, if you can help the adults have a more positive mindset.
Speaker 3:You have to keep moving forward and keep them moving forward and keep positive and not getting caught up in the drama or the stress or the negativity. You've got to keep them moving forward and you keep moving forward. And it's all about working with the parents, with mindset yeah, right, that's a big job. Yeah, it's such a big job because it's so hard for parents to hold that space for them, for years.
Speaker 1:I would expect that if a parent has been through all of those other processes as well, they're probably, they reach out to you and they're at the end of the tether yeah yeah, it's like I've tried, you know.
Speaker 3:I've heard people say that I've tried everything and still can't get to the bottom of yeah, and when the parents are in a good space, the kids are always in a good space. Okay, because, because, um, you know, they're so insured that they just pick up anything that we don't even have to say anything because they know what we're thinking. So when we set a good routine and mindset and positivity, they pick up on it. Very transferable energy. Yeah. It's just yeah, if you keep yourself good and moving forward, they'll be good. Mindset, yeah, wow.
Speaker 1:Yeah it's really important, yeah, very important.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, good mindset, yeah, it's really very important. Yeah, yeah, yeah, can you talk about hard to do?
Speaker 1:yeah you're like the psychologist, the counselor, the well, yeah, I um, I, we will we.
Speaker 3:I work in a pediatric collective where we have lots of psychologists and, okay, probably just you know.
Speaker 1:Learn a lot off them yeah, okay, yeah, and maybe you need to talk to these people. Yeah, um, can you talk a little bit just before we move on? Talk a little bit more about what heavy metals are, because I've kind of heard about it and and I've heard about it, you know, uh, in adults like that, when they've had the old-fashioned fillings, for example, and that can cause, um, what's aluminium, aluminium, aluminium yeah, yeah, but yeah, and there's any metals, just in the environment where we can pick them up, and some foods, but not um.
Speaker 3:So you know, and you know aluminium were in those fillings but they don't do those fillings at all and I feel like we environmentally try not to use a lot of heavy metals in our but people, you know, but they can. Most of them are picked up by our family history and genetics. That gets really um, yeah, so, um. So, you know, and a lot of the kids that I see are low in selenium and selenium helps detoxify all the heavy metals, a lot of them, or detoxify anything out of your body that you don't need. So, yeah, there's always a lot of heavy metals in the kids, highly sensitive kids that I see, and when you're highly sensitive, you're always picking up so much, you're always taking in so much. Naturally, like it's funny, like emotionally, um, spiritually, and you know everything. They always just pick up so much and they take on a lot. So it's, yeah, it's very prominent in these kids heavy metals.
Speaker 1:Okay, yeah um and how do? How would you treat heavy metals?
Speaker 3:is it a detox process or well you know, with kids it's like low and slow. You've got to be very gentle.
Speaker 3:So it's up to the parent whether they want to go down that road or not. But you know, the first basic things to do are lots of fruit and vegetables and fibre. Even though they don't have a lot of nutrients, they've got fibre in it to help cleanse the liver, cleanse the bowel. You know you're still getting really good things out of that. So that's the first port of call and then we sort of go down that road if they want to. But you know, kids are very sensitive, just like, you know, sick or older people. Um yeah, so they're not as resilient as, you know, us adults. So, um yeah, gentle processes are best yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:And what sort of age group do you work with? Does it vary, or or do you specialise in younger kids?
Speaker 3:I work with usually, say, from four years old to seeing someone at 16 next week. Okay, yeah, and. I see adults too, though, so it's not just kids that I see. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Okay, so when someone comes to you, what sort of things might they be presenting with? Like, I think it would be good to talk about this, just because if there are people who kind of don't know, if they should be doing anything like they can't. Like you said with as parents we can be quite intuitive, but if there might be some like classic signs and symptoms, that you start to um you know, so classic signs are like um, and I see a lot of constipation.
Speaker 3:so constipation, diarrhea, anxiety, you know, um, that child, that's just really good health but just highly sensitive to things and just you know, just mental health issues. And when someone comes to a consultation with me, we have a massive discussion about the child, without the child initially, you know, and work our way into what's happening. So they may come in and say my child's just having pains in the stomach and just not right. And and then we, you know, then we sort of you know, then we sort of go down that road of talking and is there mental health issues there? Is it just environmental? Is it guts? Is it food? You know those sort of things, yeah, so, yeah, mainly when, yeah, to look out for is, you know, highly sensitive anxiety, any bowel issues? You know bloating and yeah, but usually if they were to present with like severe symptoms, you'd go to the GP or the hospital. Okay, but these are just long-term chronic issues.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I was just sort of wondering, because it'd be. It's very easy for us parents to kind of like well, what go, one way or the other, you either kind of go you'll be right, mate, or you're, like I know, the head of runny poo well like, yeah, what is? Anxiety right? Is that like like when it when? Is it like because we all have a bit of anxiety? But yeah, like, how extreme does it need to be to be if they?
Speaker 3:won't go out of the house. Yeah, okay, and if they have one bad diary, you don't take them and see someone. It's more like a chronic thing. You know chronic constipation, chronic diarrhea, things like that. Um, and then and I know what you mean I say to my daughter you'll be right, you're right, yep, you've got to go.
Speaker 1:And every morning it's like that you've got to go, you'll be right, you'll be right yeah, yeah, but but then, on the other hand, you do know if there's something really up, right you?
Speaker 3:do and as long as they're going to a safe space, you know they'll be right, they're, they're quite, you know they'll be fine. But I think, know if there's something bad going on, because it's chronic and it's long-term and yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so they come. So a client, or do you call them clients? Child Children yeah, children, the children and parents who come to you. It's kind of like a team, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:Well, usually they see all of us, they see OT speech see ot speech psychology okay yeah, you know everyone and then we work, they work.
Speaker 3:We worked in a holistic I guess, a holistic way with them. So, as in, we treat everything within there. You know, if they've got trauma background, I say you need to go to the psychologist. So they go to the psychologist next door because I'm not going to be able to fix their trauma. So you've got to work out whether it's trauma or the physical stuff going on. Yeah, or they might need no tea or a speech or something like that. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 1:So you've had your first consultation and then you kind of determine if the child needs blood tests, what other and, like you, refer out what kind of things do you start to test, for it's like every child every child.
Speaker 3:It is dependent, but every child I see I do always do urine and um. I still test. Okay, that's with every child. Okay, um, and the urine test, um tests all the nutrients for the brain health and all their heavy metals and all their um neurotransmitter levels. So I work with the kids that I work with um with a lot of mental health issues. I work with neurotransmitter levels like serotonin, dopamine okay, that's heart and flight response, so that is tested in the urine tests. So instead of got low serotonin um, then we work on that serotonin pathway and help them anxiety with that way. So, yeah, I only really do um, mainly urine, poo and um. Sometimes I'll do blood tests, but that's rarely because I really try not to do blood tests on kids. Okay, okay, because it's a bit, you know, traumatic and invasive, yeah, and yeah, Especially if you've got a highly sensitive child.
Speaker 3:I would expect that yeah, and most yeah. But and then the allergy. We do allergy testing. If it may go down the allergy pathway, yeah, but depending on what it is, and usually when we do the stool test it'll tell us why they've got constipation. Is it allergies? Is it you know? Does it look like they may have some sort of autoimmune bowel but they have to go to GP for that? Is it inflammation? Is there food intolerances? It'll tell us why. Okay. That's pretty yeah, it's pretty straightforward yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And then what do you? What? What happens next? And then they do all the testing and come back and then we start sort of going over what pathways are affected in the body and how we can treat them and get them better is there?
Speaker 1:is it like um, do you take a priority for one thing at a time? Or is it like a full overhaul?
Speaker 3:No, we'll do a full overhaul, but sometimes we'll do one at a time, but depending on what the child's like, but it's not always supplementation. Sometimes we just do feeding therapy and then, you know, for 12 weeks and then that is really good, and then, yeah, and sometimes we do treatment with some supplements, but I try not to overload them because it's expensive and it's a lot for a child to take supplements and they don't want to take them and all the supplements I do use don't taste like anything, which I try to keep it that way. Yeah, so it's a tricky industry working with kids because they're really sensitive.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so it's a tricky industry working with kids because they're really sensitive and also I feel like it can be hard. Well, I guess it's child dependent, but I was talking about this to someone the other day and sort of saying if the child feels like they're constantly being taken somewhere to be fixed because there's something wrong with them, like that can emotionally impact them long term. Right like there's something wrong with me. I need to be I need to be fixed. I agree, yeah, so that's really yeah I only then.
Speaker 3:That's why a lot of the parents I I just see parents only yeah, yeah, so that we can treat the child without the child thinking we're, you know, listening without layers and thinking things that they shouldn't yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah, I think that's a difficult sort of thing that we have to deal with.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and some people just want to know what's wrong with my child and, once they know, just just do some allergy testing and just do they just take away the foods you know that they're allergic to, like it doesn't have to be supplementation or, okay, anything invasive.
Speaker 1:Yeah yeah, what are some of the? Um sort of things that stand out um in terms of like deficiencies? You said vitamin c. Is that the main one? Yeah?
Speaker 3:uh, yeah, um. So usually all the deficiencies they mainly see is zinc, vitamin c and your b vitamins. Okay, they're big ones in these kids and, yeah, you know. Is it because they're chewing it up so much in their brain? Because they're, you know, these autistic kids and highly sensitive kids are just the way they are or is it because they're not getting enough fruit and vegetables? You know the nutrients in them. Okay.
Speaker 3:We don't really know. But yeah, and the mother always wants to put them on some sort of compound. So when I look at supplementation, I don't put them on 10 different things, I just make a compound up, okay. So one thing. I don't put them on 10 different things, I just make a compound up, okay. So one thing, okay.
Speaker 1:So deficiencies are quite significant in those three areas. I think soil health can have an effect on the levels of zinc. Is that?
Speaker 3:right yeah, selenium and magnesium.
Speaker 1:Selenium and magnesium okay.
Speaker 3:So we wouldn't be getting any magnesium from our food these days because it's soil and selenium. So if the mother says there's one thing you can recommend, I would say magnesium, but not in a supplementation. In the child, probably in a bath like an Epsom salt bath, yeah, okay. And using the right amount, you know a good cup for a bath getting that magnesium into them if they won't take a tablet. Yeah, and it's an easy way to get them okay, that's good to know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you can get magnesium sprays and stuff as well, can't you?
Speaker 3:yeah, yeah. So magnesium cream or spray or just anything, because you know we're not getting and maybe some sometimes kids can come in the only way. Reason why they're getting anxiety is because of the low magnesium they have. Wow, it's just simple.
Speaker 1:And it must be quite a relief for a parent to be able to like having gone through a whole process to then find the answers and be able to resolve it quite simply I agree, yeah, yeah, I agree, yeah, okay. Might be able to like resolve it quite quite simply yeah, yeah, I agree, yeah, okay, so treat.
Speaker 3:So treatment varies depending on um what's going on, yeah, yeah, exactly yeah, and you always treat everyone individually. Just yeah, because it doesn't one thing, doesn't go on for everybody let me have a look at my notes.
Speaker 1:Uh, okay, so what do you think? So I I might have said this already, but I'm kind of circling back because I just wonder, like that, the changes that we've talked about, that you know compared to when you were a child, and what we're seeing now, do we know what it's caused by? Did I already ask you that? What do you think?
Speaker 3:well, you know what? I have this conversation with a lot of colleagues and I think it's everything. I don't think it's one thing, okay, I think it's food, it's our environment, our stress, our school system, our. It's not one thing, it's everything, even our toxins in our um. You know, on instagram they all, the, all the skincare products and makeup that all these young kids are wearing. It's just just that as well.
Speaker 1:It's everything like, yeah, right and when you think about it, like I was talking to someone, uh, the other day, and and they were, you know, we kind of go, oh well, I don't say this necessarily, but it's one of the things you could kind of go.
Speaker 1:well, I had telly when I was a kid and I was all right, or I had you know Game Boy or you know played video games, but the difference for the kids now is that that has been their entire life, whereas for me you're in the 80s. You said Internet wasn't invented.
Speaker 3:No, and you know, is iPad having a significant effect on the mental health issues. Yes, yeah, it's a massive contributor and they affect serotonin. Yes, so I took my daughter's iPad away from her six months ago. Oh my god, different, different child. Wow, like it's amazing. And it was really hard initially, but now she just potters around and plays and doing what she should do, rather than looking at a screen. Like it's just amazing. How, how, yeah, how much she's changed. So I think that ipads have a significant effect.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I agree, we, we, um, yeah, limit screen time, yeah, great, um, but it's a, I mean, it is a challenge for parents, um that, because you know we use our phones for work right, I know communication because you and I were yeah instagram like tag, you know tag teaming with that conversation, so they just see us doing it and even if you're like, I just need to send a message to someone I know, and then they think, oh, that's normal.
Speaker 3:So then they think they should be doing it, which is, yeah, I know yeah, so I guess it's hard yeah, yeah, I was going to ask you about that.
Speaker 1:It like with how old's your daughter? She's eight, she's eight as well. So, um, when my kids were younger, I found it a lot easier to have influence over the foods they ate and making sure they got you know all of the food groups and yeah yeah, we still pretty. We're still pretty good with got. You know all of the food groups. Yeah, yeah, we're still pretty good with sugar, but you know it's hard, it is so hard. Because like preparing a full meal at the middle of the day and then they don't eat it.
Speaker 3:I know.
Speaker 1:I have to say my kids, like if you put cereal in front of them, they'd be like what's that? Yeah, I know, I know. I have to say my kids, like if you put cereal in front of them.
Speaker 3:They'd be like what's that? Yeah, I know, I know.
Speaker 1:Because there's some things we've just never done. But it's hard, like bread, pasta, those kinds of things which they kind of tend to go for. Have you got any?
Speaker 3:hot tips. Yes, well, I have been through this and number one rule for me in our house is no pressure at the dinner table, which I don't put any pressure on anyone to eat anything, and which is great. And I don't put a lot of pressure on at night, because they've eaten all day. They don't want to eat at night, then go to bed. You know they've eaten all day, but you know, kids adapt so easily my child anyway. I can say so. We don't have white bread in the house. We make our own bread and I do all that and she's just adapted. Like I said, well, we don't buy white bread anymore and she's eight, so I don't know if that's easier. Yeah, um, and I said to her when she's 12, is she gonna do what she wants? She can eat what she wants. Um, if she goes and buys it. So she wants to go and white bread, what buy white bread? She can go and buy it. Yeah, at the moment I'm making all the food, so she's going to eat what?
Speaker 3:is in the house and she doesn't complain. But sometimes I'll cook dinner and she goes no, I'm not eating that. And I said well, okay, that's okay, yeah, and and you know she'll survive. Yeah, like I'm not going to panic over her not eating, because they will eat if they, if they're hungry yeah, yeah, uh, yeah.
Speaker 1:It's kind of interesting it, because we we spend a whole bunch of like when we have kids, giving them food all the time, and then we spend our adult life trying to stop eating so much.
Speaker 3:I agree but I'm not going to say that every family is like mine.
Speaker 1:Like I can't speak for your family, I feel like sometimes my, my little girl, especially Louie, pretty much eats everything, but she's I refuse to call her a fussy eater, because if she hears me, then she'll be like no, I'm a fussy eater, yeah, but she's kind of like. I don't know whether she, you know, sometimes doesn't eat dinner and then want something after dinner, but she and she'll go. Oh yeah, I always get that yeah and.
Speaker 1:But she'll be like, maybe she's just hanging out because she doesn't like what's on the dinner table. She'll be like, oh, I'll be okay, because I'll just go and get something out the fridge afterwards. So I don't know how, how conniving she's being. Yeah.
Speaker 3:I know Well, look, I come out some nights and see my daughters in the drawer getting food out, but I don't.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because you don't want to cause a whole bunch of emotional issues around eating either.
Speaker 3:I've given her a whole bunch of good food throughout the day If she wants to go and eat junk food at night and not eat dinner then, I'm not going to fight every night with her, yeah yeah we, we also have this thing.
Speaker 1:Like I just say to the kids um, if they want something sweet, they need to have something savory first yeah, they can't just, can't just start with a sweet thing, like yeah right, doesn't matter what meal of the day is, like a sweet thing's, not a snack. Have something else first. Then if you want to have the cookie afterwards, you can yeah amazing, yeah, and they kind of understand that energetically that roller coaster if they just eat sugar, but it's not good for their mood and stuff. So that's good yeah, yeah yeah, can you?
Speaker 1:um, that was kind of a little bit of a tangent, but I think it's important for people to know, like what we're doing in our own lives as well.
Speaker 2:Right, because we're all like we're all wondering whether we're doing the right thing right, we do always yeah, yeah, every day yeah um, what are some of the?
Speaker 1:so we've talked about some of the deficiencies that you might see in a kid selenium, magnesium, zinc, vitamin C, the Bs, pretty much everything that we need. Yeah, yeah. So could you kind of just give us a little rundown on, like, if someone's low on zinc, what that might present as yeah, okay. If someone's low on magnesium, what that might present as.
Speaker 3:So someone that would be low in zinc would have well, not everyone, but the kids I see. So zinc is for regulation and hormonal regulation. So the kids I see are not in their hormones yet but they have dysregulation, nervous system dysregulation. So when we're taking zinc, so sorry. When we don't have zinc, so when we take zinc into our stomach it produces stomach acid and then we eat protein and our stomach it produces stomach acid and then we eat protein and then protein. The stomach acid breaks down the protein and turns into neurotransmitters like serotonin, dopamine, all those, and tyrosine, all those type of things, um, but when we don't have zinc, our stomach acid is low and we eat protein and we're not bringing in those proteins to increase um neurotransmitters. Perhaps you know hormones. Does that make sense? Yes, yes, so it means that if we're not eating zinc, we're not getting the neurotransmitters serotonin, dopamine, all those sort of things. Okay, yeah, so it's really important that zinc um is in the diet or it's in a supplementation in highly sensitive kids because they need those or any mental health issues.
Speaker 3:Yeah, magnesium, magnesium, you'd probably see that, muscle twitching, fatigue, you know just anxiety, sleep, sleep, yeah, everything Okay. So it's a pretty overall magnesium and you know I don't think people are taking enough when they take supplements. Okay, the overall magnesium, and you know I don't think people are taking enough when they take supplements. Okay, so, um, yeah. So for myself, I take a thousand milligrams of magnesium glycinate a day. Okay, but the tga recommends 150 milligrams of vitamin magnesium a day.
Speaker 3:But it depends on your body and what you feel like you need yeah, some magnesium can give you an irritated gut, yeah, so you'll get diarrhea if you've had too much, but you know your system will be full if you're having diarrhea.
Speaker 1:Oh, right, okay yeah. Dave Asprey godfather of biohacking. He calls it disaster pants.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, Don't want to take too much. Don't want to take too much. Some people can take a lot. Why not? You've got to. Don't want to take too much. Don't want to take too much. Can take a lot. Why not be careful? Maybe a bath might be more safer and for kids.
Speaker 3:Yes, yeah, so zinc, magnesium, selenium you don't really hear about selenium supplements no selenium's for thyroid and okay, and you know, heavy metal detoxification and things like that. So you know deficiencies of selenium is for thyroid and you know heavy metal detoxification and things like that. So you know deficiencies of selenium would be toxic buildup in the body and thyroid issues long term when you're in an adult?
Speaker 1:Yeah, and where do we find the Bs Like what?
Speaker 3:happens if we're deficient in Bs. Same as magnesium. You just become irritable fatigued low energy, lethargic, yeah things like that. But a lot of people I see don't have an MTHFR gene. They don't uptake B vitamins properly, so they need an activated form, okay. So they don't methylate properly in the liver and some people that come in with anxiety are just not methylating properly. So all we do is give them activated B vitamins and they're really good to go. Wow.
Speaker 1:What does methylation mean?
Speaker 3:Well, that means when you're eating a B food that's got Bs in it, you won't uptake it properly, okay. And if you have it in a supplement, it's a synthetic form and the body doesn't like it, it doesn't won't uptake it. Okay, that means in an activated form, yeah, um, so the liver can uptake it. So these sort of people that have this methylation issue have a lot of nervous system issues and anxiety because of this issue.
Speaker 1:So it's sort of like an absorption situation.
Speaker 3:Yeah, okay 50 percent of the population has this gene.
Speaker 1:Really yeah wow, yeah so, wow, interesting. Would you recommend like when, like you're obviously um treating um kids that have had chronic or have chronic, uh you know, problems with um digestion and behavioral stuff? Um yeah, do you recommend a particular particular protocols for, like, general pops? So, like you know, no dairy, no gluten, get these foods in your diet kind of situation.
Speaker 3:We don't want to remove gluten if it's not necessary, because gluten has lots of B vitamins in them. So if they want to do a test for that, then a microbiome test is a good test to get done to see if they have a gluten tolerance or a gluten issue. But you know it's a bit expensive to get done, if you know. Just see that Dairy depends if they have an allergy, like if they have sinus or they have congestion or tonsil issues, you know, or gut issues. So we do go over that in every consultation but it just depends on what the child presents with. I don't take everyone off. Gluten and dairy Depends if they need it or not.
Speaker 1:It's very individual, so you're not kind of like in your own lifestyle. They're not things that you kind of don't have in your law.
Speaker 3:Well, we do have it in our diet, but we just have it in moderation, like everything should be. Yeah. So I think the problem is dairy people just have too much and we should only really be having half a cup a day, naturally, okay. And then, yeah, people just overdo things. Yeah, you know too many carbs all day, things like that. So moderation is key. Yeah, everything can help.
Speaker 1:Yeah moderation is key. Yeah, everything can help. Yeah, I'm surprised there's such a gluten's been given a fairly bad rap for a considerable amount of time, I think, when it comes to gut stuff it has, but I don't don't think everyone's affected by it and if you have it in moderation, your body's okay, unless you have some.
Speaker 3:So anyone with autoimmune conditions should not have gluten. Yeah, um, so, depending on the person, um, and just the same, as fruit like too much fruit, like sugar, sugar in the body, you'll be having your two serves a day moderation yeah yeah, my dog's outside the door scratching, so hopefully that's gonna be on the recording.
Speaker 1:Hang on a second, that's okay. I'm.
Speaker 1:I wasn't gonna, she wasn't gonna give up all right, I'll tell you my dog wouldn't have barked in here today oh dear, I've got my fan on as well, because it's hot today, so that might be wearing around in the background. But all right, I I tried to. Uh, I was. I tried it without the fan and I nearly died of heat exhaustion. Um sorry, so we were on the glue. Yeah, we were just talking about gluten. So you'd probably say, like, if someone was going to have gluten, would they just? Would it be preferable to have organic, like or not? I?
Speaker 3:mean, if they were going to make their own gluten bread, I would say make use the um, the, you know, the italian flour from olives. Yeah, it's a better quality. Okay. So I don't know if you ever watched Live to 100 on Netflix. No, they eat so much gluten. Okay, so you should watch it.
Speaker 1:But they make all the room with quality, good quality flour. Are they like in one of the blue zones? Is that like the? Yeah, yeah, the blue zones, yeah, oh cool.
Speaker 3:So I think it's just about the quality, not about the quantity, and just moderation and moderation. In Australia, if you're in a Blue Zone, yes, you can have it wherever you like, I guess, but in a Western country, where we process everything, moderation is key. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, great tips. We're getting close to closing. Yeah, you're um, you're a pretty busy woman but. If someone, if, if, if, uh, someone's listening and they you know what you're doing resonates for them and they want to like contact you, contact you for their child or for themselves. What would be the best process to go through and what would it look like? I guess like from a, like you know, appointment, consultation, point of view. Like what would someone expect?
Speaker 3:so, um, so I prefer people to book online through our website, okay, and then the consultation is an hour and 15, yep, and then we just go through every and you know when. Usually I would say don't bring the child, or, if we're doing online, don't have the child there, because it's just better to talk about the child without the child being there. If that makes sense, yeah, yeah, so, um, and then we book them in and go from there and if it's online, um, do you kind of prescribe the tests and then the yeah everything's done online okay, uh, not, no, not, because it's poo.
Speaker 3:And it's poo and urine so I just send them out to their house, okay, and they send them back to the company and then the results come back to me. Oh, how good's that. But if I don't want to um some tests, that um, you can, blood tests, you can get done. I just say, go to the gpu to get these done, so you can get them done. Yeah, yeah, but depending on, yeah, what they want.
Speaker 1:Yeah cool, amazing, and we've got your um. We've got your profile in the guest directory, so if anyone's seeking you out, they'll be able to find your website and also your instagram, which is yeah really um, cool, educational, yeah, um, and just eye-opening, I think, like just uh, like I said at the beginning, bringing awareness to this um and like not just, not just kind of letting it pass you by, but if you do think that there's something wrong with your kid, that you've kind of indicated that it could be something simple like that can be simply fixed and that will help them to live a more happy energetic life what's your um, well, let's like, just go big picture.
Speaker 1:What's your like vision for the future? Have you got a plan like going forward? Are you happy going, happy doing your thing?
Speaker 3:and well, I'm happy to just keep going, but I just I want to bring some online programs out so I can just help people get more education. So I'm in the middle of process. I'm getting one online at the moment, just so people don't have to um, you know, maybe they don't need me, maybe I just need some education around it. Yeah, just little, um little online programs and still seeing people. But you know, eventually, eventually I'll go online full time because that's the way the world's going. Yeah, you know. Yeah, amazing, yeah.
Speaker 1:Cool, that's brilliant. I've loved it. I hope I haven't jumped around too much.
Speaker 3:No, you're fine, you saw my bit of paper. So it's like oh yeah, lots of questions.
Speaker 1:But it's been really really yeah, super helpful and yeah, as I said, I'm really keen to like help get the word out there more.
Speaker 3:Yeah, thank you, and just build awareness around these issues.
Speaker 1:So I appreciate you taking the time. Yeah, all good. Thanks, kate, no worries, bye for now.
Speaker 3:Bye, yeah, all good Thanks, kate. Bye for now, yeah, bye.
Speaker 1:Before you go, can I ask you a small favor? If you've enjoyed this show or any of the other episodes that you've listened to, then I'd really appreciate it if you took a couple of moments to hit subscribe. This is a great way to increase our listeners and get the word out there about all of the wonderful guests that we've had on the podcast. If you'd like to further support the show, you can buy me a coffee by going to buymeacoffeecom. Forward. Slash life, health, the universe. You can find that link in the show notes. Thanks for listening. Wwwlifehealththeuniversecom. You can find that link in the show notes. Thanks for listening.