Welcome to the Hey Mami podcast!

Our guest is Dr. Madiha Saeed, also known as HolisticMom, MD, a practicing board certified family physician in the USA, health influencer, international speaker and a best-selling author of The Holistic Rx: Your Guide to Healing Chronic Inflammation and Disease, Adam’s Healing Adventures: From Sickness to Health and the Power of Rainbow Foods, and The Holistic Rx for Kids: Parenting Healthy Brains and Bodies in a Changing World.

Dr. Saeed is the director of education for Documenting Hope and KnoWEwell. She sits on multiple medical advisory boards including Mamapotamous and Wellness Mama, who was named one of the 100 most influential people in health and wellness. Dr Saeed and her children speak internationally in the most prestigious holistic conferences, TV (ABC, NBC, CBS), online summits, podcasts (including mindbodygreen and wellness mama), summits, radio and newspaper. She is a regular on the international Emmy winning medical talk show the Dr. Nandi Show.

Dr. Saeed’s children host The Holistic Kids’ Show podcast, interviewing the biggest names in the functional, holistic and integrative medicine world, helping kids empower and educate other kids. They speak internationally, igniting the world with their energy and passion to ignite a healing revolution to save our future. 

Or listen on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | TuneIn | YouTube

In today’s episode we are talking about holistic parenting.

Highlights:

• Dr. Saeed’s story
• What is holistic parenting?
• How to implement holistic parenting
• How to be consistent

Important Links

Find Dr. Saeed online

20 FREE healing sweets recipes

The Holistic Rx for Kids: Parenting Healthy Brains and Bodies in a Changing World

Adam’s Healing Adventure: The Power of Rainbow Foods

022: Raising A Healthy Family w/ Madiha Saeed, MD TRANSCRIPT

Dr. Carrasco:                      Welcome back to the Hey Mami podcast. Our guest today is Dr. Madiha Saeed. In this episode, we’re talking all about holistic parenting and the adventure that that brings. Dr. Saeed is known as HolisticMom, MD. She’s a practicing board-certified family medicine physician. She’s a health influencer, an international speaker and a best selling author. She hosts The Holistic Kids’ Show, a podcast where she interviews the biggest names in functional holistic and integrative medicine, helping kids empower and educate other kids. They speak internationally, igniting the world with your energy, passion, and ignite a healing revolution to save our future. Dr. Madiha, thank you so much for joining us, and we know that you’re a busy lady and we appreciate that you are here.

Dr. Saeed:                           I am so incredibly honored. Thank you so much for having me. I love talking to other mamas about very similar struggles that I have, so this is going to be so much fun.

Dr. Carrasco:                      Yes. Yes. So, one of the things that we like to ask all of the people that come on our show is, can you tell us your story and why you do what you do?

Dr. Saeed:                           Absolutely. Wow. Long, long time ago, it’s like it’s… I had all the same bad habits that have led most of adults and children down the road to chronic health conditions. And I had cereals, and my mom actually loved to cook. She’s an amazing cook. She cooks for hundreds of people, but for her, food was love. And when we wanted junk food, she would give us junk food because that’s what we wanted. And just immigrated here from Pakistan, she didn’t know. So we had an entire basement closet that was packed with all cereals of every shapes and sizes, colors. And every day we would have one of those cereals for breakfast, digestive issues, acne, eczema, even losing my hair. One thing after another, after another, but then that was sort of my new normal. Weight issues. Until residency. That’s when everything hit the fan. And I was a new mom, a new wife, a new resident all at the same time. And me and my husband were both working 80-hour work weeks. And what was crazy, it was that I just continued every day just to keep my head above water.

Dr. Carrasco:                      Yeah. Survive.

Dr. Saeed:                           Just to survive. Just to survive. And I was far away from family. The daycare was across the street from the hospital, which was awesome. It was associated with it. So, I would just literally run back and forth to even breastfeed, so it was really crazy.

Dr. Carrasco:                      Oh, yeah. I had my first kid in residency too, so.

Dr. Saeed:                           Oh my God, yeah. So you can totally relate. This is craziness.

Dr. Carrasco:                      And Christine did as well, so yeah.

Dr. Saeed:                           So it was the bad food, the chronic stress, the increased toxins in our environment. There’s one thing after another, after another. And lack of sleep, let’s add that to the mix, right?

Dr. Carrasco:                      Right. Right.

Dr. Saeed:                           80-hour work weeks and then have a newborn with really no help. So, it was Hashimoto’s in the digestive symptoms even continued to the point where I was literally sticking steroid suppositories up my butt just to go to the bathroom norm…

Dr. Carrasco:                      Wow.

Dr. Saeed:                           Yes, I was so inflamed. I was miserable, crying, and that was really sort of… and I was like, there has to be something here that I could do? But I continued on the hamster wheel, and I even had shingles and lupus.

Dr. Carrasco:                      Wow.

Dr. Saeed:                           And until one day my hamster wheel came to an abrupt stop, and I walked into my daycare provider almost suffocating my child to death. I know. That I just, I was, oh my gosh. It was like the worst nightmare a mother can ever have, is walking into the daycare provider strangulating her child, almost. It’s-

Dr. Carrasco:                      Yeah. Oh my goodness, that’s horrible.

Dr. Saeed:                           And that was at a time that I normally would’ve come. I usually come at… after the day is done. This time I decided just to come at 2:00. And I immediately picked him up and ran out, and on that day, God saved my child. The universe saved my child. And I made a promise to God, to the universe, and I promised I’m going to take care of this blessing the best that I know how, but then I’m like, “Wait. Hold back.” I’m a family physician and I’m completely falling apart. So, how am I supposed to take care of these kids the best that I know how if I, myself as a family physician, don’t even know how to take care of myself? And I know you guys have all had very similar stories.

Dr. Carrasco:                      Yes, absolutely.

Dr. Saeed:                           So, that’s when I went on this mission. First, to really improve my own health. And on side, I was already studying parenting because I made this… that’s what we’re supposed to do, right? We’re supposed to study parenting to see how you’re going to raise this child. But when I on my own journey, when I discovered integrative holistic functional medicine and then combined it with the parenting world, both of that together blew my mind. And that’s when… 12 years in the making is my new book, The Holistic Rx for Kids: Parenting Healthy Brains and Bodies in a Changing World.

Dr. Carrasco:                      That’s amazing. Yes, I think you’re right in that most of us that are physicians that practice integrative functional medicine, we have our own story that brought us into this field, because the paradigm that exists is broken.

Dr. Saeed:                           It’s very broken.

Dr. Carrasco:                      And how does it make sense for the people who are training to take care of the sick in this country or in the world, to have such a brutal training that we sacrifice our health and don’t even know how to cultivate it? So yeah.

Dr. Saeed:                           It’s so sad [crosstalk 00:06:20].

Dr. Carrasco:                      And many of us are ill.

Dr. Saeed:                           Absolutely. And really struggling.

Dr. Carrasco:                      And really struggling in this-

Dr. Saeed:                           And really struggling, but then I think because we’re sort of stuck in this medical paradigm, where most of us have loans and we have to pay back those loans. Now you had school loans and then you have the house loans and car loans, and you have to stay on this hamster wheel.

Dr. Carrasco:                      Absolutely. It’s hard to get out. It’s hard to get out.

Dr. Saeed:                           Yeah, until you get out. I was very blessed that I didn’t have that situation, and I was able to get out of that hamster wheel a little bit sooner.

Dr. Carrasco:                      And it’s hard too, because I think even just the… not everyone buys into integrative functional medicine so it’s also hard just from a professional standpoint, so.

Dr. Saeed:                           Oh, absolutely.

Dr. Carrasco:                      So, I want to hear more about what it means, what does it mean to parent holistically? When you are talking to new parents and you’re sharing with them, what steps can they take to really kind of create a healthy, wholesome life and foundation for a child? What are those steps?

Dr. Saeed:                           Well, we know that we are mind, body, soul, and our children are mind, body, soul. And holistic parenting can really help nurture a child’s mind, body, soul from the inside out with the skills that they need for emotional intelligence, enduring deep friendships, and making correct decision, managing their stress, viewing life with a positive outlook and being able to remain resilient all throughout adulthood. So, no matter what life decides to throw at them. So, holistic parenting raises these mindful children, and mindfulness allows us to see our internal and external environment clearly, showing us how best to respond and be fully aware at multiple different levels of perceptions all at once. So, holistic parenting is all really about educating and empowering our children to be mindful of their bodies, their minds, their emotions, their social lives, the environment around them, learning how to all keep it in balance.

Dr. Saeed:                           And when it does start to sway, they’re able to recognize that even before it even really becomes a big problem, and then recognize, “Oh, I’m off balance. This is not the way I normally feel. Well, what can I do to…?” And as parents we need to provide our children with those skills that they need, that immediately when they do feel like they’re going off balance, to be able to put it back into balance and increasing resilience in any situation or environment. So really, it’s that… the digestive health, the detoxification, the four S’s: stress, sleep, social, spiritual help. That if we can start to give our children these tools that we give ourselves as integrative, holistic, functional medicine practitioners, why not teach these to our children? And so. Just like what we do with our patients; as soon as, “Oh, I have eczema.” Oh, what is your body trying to tell you?

Dr. Saeed:                           Or if my children, for example… it’s so cute. So my seven-year-old, I walk down and he’s eating a bowl of sauerkraut for breakfast. And I’m like, “Why are you eating sauerkraut for breakfast?” And he’s like, “Oh, mama. I woke up feeling a little agitated and I think it was because of the sugar that I had at Nana’s house yesterday, the organic sugar. And I didn’t feel like it did well. My body didn’t like that, so I’m giving it… the sauerkraut will feed the good bugs in my belly, and that will help my brain feel better.” And I was like, “What?” And that’s when I recognized that, oh my gosh, these skills that I was doing for myself, we can then teach our children these same skills. And before now he was able to recognize that he didn’t feel so great when he woke up. And then these are the skills that he can use to apply it to his own lifestyle, to put his body back into balance, to see if it helps.

Dr. Saeed:                           Now, that is so powerful. Or my 10-year-old. Walking into my 10-year-old meditating on his own because, “I wanted to put my nervous system back into balance.”

Dr. Carrasco:                      Mm-hmm (affirmative). That’s awesome.

Dr. Saeed:                           Isn’t that awesome?

Dr. Carrasco:                      Yeah.

Dr. Saeed:                           So, holistic parenting really can influence a child’s DNA, their cells, their mitochondria, their microbiome, their immune system and even their brains, really helping your child make rational, prefrontal cortex-driven decisions versus our irrational, limbic system-driven decisions.

Dr. Carrasco:                      Right. And it’s tough because when I think about the environment that most children are growing up in, I mean, it’s like a sugar-laden… their peers… It’s just, it’s hard because they’re, at least when they’re little and also when they’re teenagers, but just when they’re little, their peers are eating a lot of candy. Eats a lot of junk food. My kids are always the weird ones and they’re okay with it, but then what happens is… my question is what happens when they become teenagers and then the peer influence is so much greater? So, those are things that I think about.

Dr. Saeed:                           Absolutely. And so, what’s really important to understand is that when it comes to our kids’ decisions; what they wear, what they choose to eat, the decisions that they make, how they feel, is all dictated by their brains. Right? So, there’s two main critical players in the child’s brain, which is an entire study called neuroeconomics; the prefrontal cortex and the amygdala. The prefrontal cortex is responsible. It’s like the more developed part, responsible for rational decision making. It actually examines the pros and the cons and helps our child make a rational decision after taking a look at the whole picture. While the amygdala is the reactive part of the brain, and that’s responsible for a prefrontal, impulsive fight and flight type of decision making. So to make a rational, thought-out decision, and to form healthy habits, we need to have both of these pieces working together.

Dr. Saeed:                           So, that’s what all of these parenting books got right, but the problem is that because our children are living such imbalanced lives; unhealthy diets, the lack of diet variety, lack of sleep, lack of nature, lack of exercise and play, negative social environment, increased toxins inside and outside the home, all contributing to this imbalanced child that is then driving inflammation, which is one of these underlining reasons for chronic disease. Chronic inflammation has been shown to hijack a child’s brain. So, studies have shown that this actual inflammation was what decreases the connection between the prefrontal cortex and the amygdala. So therefore, the child is unable to use the full brain to make a rational decision, and it’s us versus your mentality; more anger, more violence. So, more irrational decisions.

Dr. Carrasco:                      Right. More impulsivity. Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Dr. Saeed:                           Yeah, more impulsivity. Absolutely. And so, if we can give our children these just tools that they need to help them put their bodies back into balance, then no matter what life throws at them, they’re able to then… obviously, they’re going to go… just like us. We had to go through our lows to get to our highs. So obviously, kids are also going to go through their ups and downs, but at least us as parents, we’ve provided them with these skills that they need to really be resilient in any situation.

Dr. Carrasco:                      So, what are some of the ways in which you could share how to help our kids’ brains not to be hijacked?

Dr. Saeed:                           Yes.

Dr. Carrasco:                      What are some steps people can take today?

Dr. Saeed:                           Today? Oh my gosh, yes. Gratitude. Immediately when they wake up in the morning, say ten things that they’re thankful for every day, because we know that gratitude, that optimism, strengthens the connection between the amygdala and the prefrontal cortex, improving overall health and wellbeing. And currently, our children are being raised in a world with the negativity, with fear, chronic stresses. This is not the same world that when we were growing up.

Dr. Carrasco:                      Mm-mm (negative). It’s very different. I mean, I-

Dr. Saeed:                           So different.

Dr. Carrasco:                      I mean, I grew up in the ’80s, so there was no internet.

Dr. Saeed:                           Yeah, so did I.

Dr. Carrasco:                      There was very little TV. We didn’t have cable.

Dr. Saeed:                           No. Well, we didn’t even get our cell phone until high school. [crosstalk 00:14:41].

Dr. Carrasco:                      Yeah, I got my cell phone in college. So, it’s very different, a very different world.

Dr. Saeed:                           Very different. But the children now are raised… and then they’re being bombarded by all this negativity, all day long. So incorporating this gratitude, these words of appreciation or encouragement, even teaching a child to forgive just through that positivity, helping a child find his purpose; all of these simple things to optimize their spiritual health, can optimize their brain and body connection. And then we also, the next thing that we want to do is… so, that’s gratitude. And in my house, actually, let me just give you a tidbit. In my house, immediately when we wake up in the morning, we say ten things that we’re thankful for, or the kids actually like to incorporate it into a song. Yeah. “Thank you for my eyes, thank you for my ears. Thank you for another beautiful day to change the world.” And then each one of them goes through, as we’re all making lunches or doing chores or whatever in the morning time. And then my littlest one was like, “Thank you for my belly button.” And as they get older, obviously it gets more grotesque. I have four boys, so forgive my imagination [inaudible 00:15:53].

Dr. Saeed:                           But okay, so then we have, is obviously the love and support that we can give our children, because building that loving parenting can actually build that connection to release oxytocin, decreasing stress response system develop… so, developing this bonds of love and respect and honor; that’s so important because I feel like a lot of us, one, we don’t give the kids enough credit. I talk to my children like I would talk to any other one of my peers. And so, it’s really important to incorporate some of that love, and sit down and talk to them; eye-to-eye communication, empathize with them. What I try to do in my house is we don’t treat others the way that we don’t want to be treated.

Dr. Saeed:                           So, helping them understand each other’s feelings will help to then build that prefrontal cortex, and teaching our child to recognize what other child might be feeling, and then teaching them even non-verbal communication and tuning into others. Educating and empowering them just with this mindfulness, because again, just like we talked about earlier, this mindfulness, especially in a sense of, okay, their environment and their social life. Is this person really benefiting you or not benefit? How do you feel? So these are the kinds of things that even as they get older, they’re like, “Oh mama, we didn’t want… that he wasn’t good. We didn’t feel good around him.” So I’m like, “Okay, then we go find somebody else. There’s so many people that you can interrelate to and talk to.” So, those are the really key pieces there.

Dr. Saeed:                           And then obviously, our sleep. Currently, oh my gosh, we have, oh, sleepless children. According to the CDC, 6 in 10 middle schoolers and 7 in 10 high schoolers are not getting enough sleep. So if we’re not getting enough sleep, how is our children’s brains and bodies even supposed to be working in the way that they should? Because we know that during their sleep, that’s a time when it optimizes our immune system, builds our hormones, cleans out our brain, basically repairs everything that needs to-

Dr. Carrasco:                      Helps you grow. Yeah.

Dr. Saeed:                           Helps you grow. So in my house, what we do is we… I really give the kids autonomy on what they want to do for their sleep routine, just like what they want to do for their morning routines. And so, then they sort of choose their sleep routine, and I have them listen to their bodies. And obviously, where we have to guide them and teach them, talk to them about those kinds of things, but my kids now know that, “Okay, this time I’ll try to turn nine o’clock. Time to start to wind down.” They come upstairs on their own. They love their baths. Sometimes it relaxes. Their Epsom salt baths. And it will do that, and then even those… put in a little lavender in. So each child is different, but then I know… what we’ve done in our house is they’ve, which I’ve actually done since they were babies, actually in my belly. Was I would put either a song or a scripture on, and now each one of them actually sleep to that song.

Dr. Carrasco:                      Oh. That’s awesome.

Dr. Saeed:                           It’s so beautiful. I did the same thing in my belly, and now, I mean, my oldest is 14. He can’t sleep without it. He loves it. So, that’s why it’s part of his sleep routine. And he’s, they’ve done it since very beginning, and it really does help calm and comfort them down. And then, and so sleep, and then stress. Our kids are really stressed. So, if we can just teach our kids these simple things to incorporate into their daily routine. Play. I think we, as parents, need to take a step back and say, we can’t just… and I don’t know about you. I didn’t have these overpacked schedules when I was a kid. So we are scheduling, especially when “mom guilt” comes in, our kids are going from one sport to another sport, to another sport, to another sport. They’re being overly scheduled, and exhausted.

Dr. Saeed:                           But not recognizing that this play, specifically unstructured play, is so important for their immune system, lowering their blood pressure, increasing BDNF. And that enhances the development of noradrenaline and dopamine and systems in their child’s brain that is vital for the child to be able to focus and learn and build new growth in the hippocampus and even improve self-esteem, just by letting them play. And then obviously-

Dr. Carrasco:                      Totally. Yeah. It’s very, yeah, everything is so scheduled.

Dr. Saeed:                           It’s so scheduled. We need to… and then on top of that, it’ll decreases the stress in our house.

Dr. Carrasco:                      Oh yeah. I mean, for me, that was one of the hidden blessings of COVID, where-

Dr. Saeed:                           Yes.

Dr. Carrasco:                      … I realized how overscheduled we were, because after I’d see my patients I’d schlep my kids around for three or four hours a day to all their different activities, which I didn’t plan on, right? But it’s kind of like, “Oh, there’s piano and then there’s swimming lessons and then there’s this.” And so, it was very nice to get a perspective on how it’s just great to stay at home and play in the yard.

Dr. Saeed:                           Oh my gosh. So much. It’s so nice. And then what about responsibilities?

Dr. Carrasco:                      Right. Chores. Big time. Yeah.

Dr. Saeed:                           This is what I loved. Yes. Giving the kids chores and responsibility decreases stress in everybody’s home.

Dr. Carrasco:                      Absolutely. Yeah. We say in our house that teamwork makes a dream work, so.

Dr. Saeed:                           Yes. Oh my gosh. In my house, and again, giving the child the autonomy that they need to make those decisions on their own. So I, for example, “These are the things that mama would really like done beforehand, because it’ll decrease the stress for everybody in the house.” So, they’ve divvied it out, up amongst themselves. So, my 10-year-old makes all the lunches. But he’ll wake up, and as soon as he wakes up he’ll finish all the lunches. Yeah. As soon as my six-year-old wakes up, he will take out the dishes from the dishwasher from a late night before, because my eight-year-old will actually put those dishes up. So now laundry, and then actually, like today because it’s Monday, when we’re recording this, we did laundry yesterday. Today was laundry day, so they actually put away all their laundry too this morning.

Dr. Carrasco:                      That’s awesome.

Dr. Saeed:                           So, guess what? Dinner’s done, because that’s what I was doing. So dinner, and they were helping with that too, but dinner’s done, laundry is done, the cleaning is done because they’re helping me with that. Dishes are done, lunches are done. And it decreases my stress but now we have so much time in the rest of the day that we can actually use to our advantage.

Dr. Carrasco:                      Yes. Absolutely.

Dr. Saeed:                           And then obviously, trying to incorporate nature and meditation into your daily routines, and finding a time that your children want to get that done. Like for example, we have… nature we’ll go… on the weekends, we’ll go on our little hikes and we’ll explore a different park, whatever it is. And at least trying to get a couple hours of nature a week. Trying, right? Do the best we possibly can.

Dr. Carrasco:                      Totally. Yeah.

Dr. Saeed:                           And then also meditations and prayers, and when do they want to do that? When do I teach them that? When I was first teaching them how to meditate, I was actually learning it myself, during this pandemic time, actually. Mostly, but I was doing a little bit beforehand, but when I full fledged really started to do this more so was during this pandemic. And I would put the video on in the background on the main screen in our television room, and everybody, I would do that every day. And then [inaudible 00:23:36] they now have those tools, even subconsciously, that they need to incorporate this into a daily routine. Even the deep breathing. They actually come and they started in core doing this in school. It’s called Mindful Mondays.

Dr. Carrasco:                      Uh-huh (affirmative). Oh, cool.

Dr. Saeed:                           It’s so cool. So, but then they start, they bring that home now. So, that’s the same stress… but we can start doing with the little ones at home. And so, those are the stress management techniques. And then obviously, there’s digestive health and detoxification. So, just like my children know how to read labels and what things that they should put in their bodies and what they shouldn’t. But what’s really empowering is that when they know what those ingredients are. So, I think we don’t give our kids enough credit. When I went to grocery store, especially when they were… when they even just started to read at five, six, he would just see the word red. That was it. That was enough. So, I would look, I’m like, “Oh, what is this R-E-D? Do you know where a plant that red number 40 came from?”

Dr. Saeed:                           They’re like, “No, mama,” and then the older ones will help them out and they’ll all come… will come home, will research it. So, I’ve started that from very beginning, just slowly little gems one day at a time, having these constant conversations with the children, focusing on tons of vegetables, clean protein, healthy fats. And really stocking up for success. Like, “This is the kinds of stuff that we eat,” and then therefore, there’s zero fights in our house about food. So, there’s not that negative connotation that comes with food anymore, so it’s that positive. So, it’s so powerful when you can empower your children. Like vegetables, I have a vegetable drawer and we have a fruit drawer. We have the proteins, they have the nuts and the seeds and the avocados. They get [inaudible 00:25:29] olives. They all know where it is.

Dr. Saeed:                           So all day long, if I’m even working from, when I would start even working from home all day and seeing clients, they’re downstairs. I had no stress because I knew they were eating everything-

Dr. Carrasco:                      Yeah. There wasn’t a junk food drawer.

Dr. Saeed:                           It’s not a junk food drawer, exactly, that a lot of people are having issues with because then they’re like, “No, don’t eat that. No, don’t eat that. Don’t eat this. Eat this first,” not knowing that these artificial fake foods are actually destroying our brains. But, so that’s how I’ve empowered the kids because you can give children the autonomy in the world, but if you don’t provide the child with the environment that it needs, or to help the brain and the body grow, it’s really hard. And then chronic inflammation can hijack, and as soon as the child leaves your house, then they’re going to be going against everything that you said. So it’s all about developing that love and the connection, and to know that every conversation, every hug, every bite that they eat to the things that they’re putting on their body, leading their social, their spiritual health, has the power to mold our children’s brains and bodies for the better.

Dr. Carrasco:                      Yeah. Yeah, that’s beautiful. That’s really, really beautiful.

Dr. Saeed:                           So, that’s really simple but the thing is, that’s what I wanted to write in this book, that if I can incorporate these simple, key, basic tips… I mean, you are doing it. I know Christine’s doing it. We’re all doing it.

Dr. Carrasco:                      I mean, it’s not rocket science.

Dr. Saeed:                           It isn’t.

Dr. Carrasco:                      It’s what I tell my patients every day. I mean, I don’t believe God over complicated the way that we’re supposed to live, and I think the answers are very simple. And I think we’ve complicated it as humans because that’s just what humans do. But I think that the answers are pretty darn simple.

Dr. Saeed:                           Pretty simple.

Dr. Carrasco:                      We just need consistency.

Dr. Saeed:                           They need consistency. And then it’s just start with one thing. So just like we teach our children to brush their teeth. They don’t learn to brush their teeth by themselves overnight. And that, it’s that consistency. “Oh, did you remember to do brush your teeth? Oh, okay. Let me do this with you. Let’s do this together.” And so, that’s what I was truly trying to hope with this book, The Holistic Rx for Kids: Parenting Healthy Brains and Bodies in a Changing World. One, really guide people and shed the light on what’s going on with our society, because kids are getting sicker and sicker so we have more chronic inflammation. Our children’s brains are not the same brains that when we were growing up. So, these kids really need these skills. Please, all right? To be taught, because right now kids don’t care what they’re… kids or adults don’t know what they’re putting in their mouth, on their skin, their environment. So, how are we going to save the planet? If you look at the statistics, one in every four children will have autism by 2033. And-

Dr. Carrasco:                      And now with the introduction of this metaverse or whatever, that’s going to be where you’re going to be using virtual reality all the time. It’s like, we’re just-

Dr. Saeed:                           It’s really scary.

Dr. Carrasco:                      … progressing so much further away from our nature and from the way we were created to be. And so, how do you create a healthy brain when you’re getting these dopamine hits all day long?

Dr. Saeed:                           All day long, you can’t.

Dr. Carrasco:                      It’s already happening with screens, but then what if you enter this new virtual reality thing, and then how is that going to… well, what’s that going to do to our brains?

Dr. Saeed:                           Absolutely. Not recognizing that teens, especially those people… the teens can easily get addicted. How, why? Because they have more dopamine receptors, but even adult brains do. So, that’s why they’re able to easily get those hits and get stuck and addicted to these things, so it’s really scary. And that’s why I think, in core, really getting kids now today mindful of their bodies, their environment. It really starts there, but first we as parents got to start to role model these kinds of behaviors ourselves. And it’s really powerful. Anybody can start this today. And that’s where, I mean, we started actually The Holistic Kids’ Show podcast, which I can’t wait for you guys to come on.

Dr. Carrasco:                      Oh, thank you. We’d love that.

Dr. Saeed:                           Yes. It’d be so incredibly honored. So my children during this last COVID time, I mean, what else am I supposed to do with you? So we started a holistic kids’ show podcast, so my now 14-year-old, 10-year-old and 8-year-old actually run this podcast, talking to the biggest names in functional medicine.

Dr. Carrasco:                      That’s so cool.

Dr. Saeed:                           They actually, Dr. Terry Wahls, and this week is Dr. Tom O’Bryan.

Dr. Carrasco:                      Wow.

Dr. Saeed:                           And I know it’s crazy, and there’s Dr. Deanna Minich. And then we also started writing children’s books together. The first one is called Adam’s Healing Adventures: From Sickness to Health.

Dr. Carrasco:                      Wow. That’s so cool.

Dr. Saeed:                           Yes. To talk all about how Adam wasn’t feeling so great. And then, how can we incorporate these things into his daily routine? Just like everything we talked about; gratitude, stress management. And I even have a little checklist here for the kids to start to add into their daily routine. Simple. Super simple. And to keep their body back into balance.

Dr. Carrasco:                      Wow. That’s wonderful.

Dr. Saeed:                           And then, and the one that’s coming out actually Thursday, this Thursday, it’s called Adam’s Healing Adventures: the Power of Rainbow Food.

Dr. Carrasco:                      Oh, yes. Yeah. A food rainbow. We talked about that a lot.

Dr. Saeed:                           Yeah. So then, there is so much that we can eat besides for artificial junk food that’ll give us more nutrients.

Dr. Carrasco:                      Yes.

Dr. Saeed:                           And because we know these nutrients, our kids’ brains and bodies are going at a dramatic rate and we need to provide them with these nutrients. With 90% of Americans that are deficient, it’s more and more important now today to get these nutrients through these bioavailable sources. So, that’s where we started doing these with the kids, but this is the kinds of conversation that you guys can have every day with your children; how they feel, their emotions, their stress, sleep, social, spiritual health, and their digestive health, detoxification, to try to help… because can you imagine for a second, what would happen if we can create an entire generation of children that are living mindfully? Recognize, know first how they feel when they are feeling great, and then able to recognize when they’re starting to feel a little off balance, and then you have these tools necessary to correct it on their own before it becomes a problem.

Dr. Carrasco:                      Yeah. Yeah. That’s incredible.

Dr. Saeed:                           That would be so incredible!

Dr. Carrasco:                      Yeah. Yeah.

Dr. Saeed:                           So, we can do this and that’s why I wrote the book, The Holistic Rx for Kids: Parenting Healthy Brains and Bodies in a Changing World.

Dr. Carrasco:                      And that’s awesome. So, can people find that on Amazon?

Dr. Saeed:                           So they can find that on Amazon, any of the stores that books are found; Walmart, [inaudible 00:32:25]. So, they have them all. And this book really dives into sort of five books in one, and it dives into the first, what’s going on with our children? And why are our children’s brains and bodies being hijacked? And then using holistic parenting to fix it. And then also, addressing common dilemmas that we see, like how to deal with the child of trauma. How to… substance abuse or different types of abuses. Addictions. And sleep training, discipline. So all those common things that us parents have; issues with that we need guidance with. And really seeing in a functional medicine, integrative, holistic view; in that and how to resolve those. And then the third part of the book dives into the holistic mom MDs. Functional, integrative, holistic medicine guide to healing your child’s sickness. And that incorporates supplements, homeopathics, acupressure importance and aroma therapy for common chronic conditions our children are dealing with. And then going into recipes that I work in my own house.

Dr. Saeed:                           Along with… I don’t know if you remember, we were giving well child checks. You know how when you’ve got a well child checks, you…

Dr. Carrasco:                      Yeah.

Dr. Saeed:                           So I created, actually I started creating this in residency, was well child sheets and guides, handouts that you can use at every stage of development, because we know the first 36 months is critical for a child’s brain and body development. So I mean, us as medical doctors, we were taught, “Oh, this is all just milestones. And then keep it kind of child safe, cut the grapes, make sure they’re not eating [inaudible 00:34:15] basic. But not really emotional, psychological, spiritual. So, I’ve incorporated that along with digestive health, detoxification, whereas it’s translated to social, spiritual health. In each one of those, your-

Dr. Carrasco:                      That’s awesome. What a great tool.

Dr. Saeed:                           … two weeks. Yes. At 2 weeks, at 2 month, 4 months, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 24 and 36. And then resources and weaning guides and so much more.

Dr. Carrasco:                      So, that’s amazing. Wow. It’s encyclopedic.

Dr. Saeed:                           Well, it’s encyclopedic. It has just enough scientific knowledge. So, I have the latest research on how these things influence us, but then really it came down to these simple things that we can incorporate into our children’s daily routine, in our daily routines. Because I know, I mean, for those listeners, my life is crazy. I know, I know; your guys’ life is crazy. So, if we can do it in our crazy lifestyles, anybody can do it. I feed a family of eight on a daily basis, and on the weekends, because I’m a traditional Pakistani household. So, I’m the oldest daughter-in-law, so everybody shows up at my house for the food. So, I can feed a family of 20 on the weekends, but this is the way I cook. I need to, by taking it and really making sure you fill your own cup first, and then only give what’s out of the saucer. But then that, then role and really role modeling these things I talk about for yourself, and teaching your children along the way.

Dr. Carrasco:                      That’s incredible. So, if our listeners want to find you, where can they find you on social?

Dr. Saeed:                           HolisticMom, MD. And then I have an entire larger channel also called Holistic Urdu, MD.

Dr. Carrasco:                      Oh, awesome.

Dr. Saeed:                           I know. I started really educating the other side of the planet.

Dr. Carrasco:                      Good for you. That’s incredible.

Dr. Saeed:                           And then I have, and then my books are available on Amazon, and then our podcast can be streamed on all podcast platforms like iTunes and Stitcher.

Dr. Carrasco:                      And I think you also have a generous offer for our listeners.

Dr. Saeed:                           Yes. Yes. I think I have my recipes.

Dr. Carrasco:                      Yeah.

Dr. Saeed:                           Yes. All of my delicious, trialed dessert recipes.

Dr. Carrasco:                      Vetted.

Dr. Saeed:                           They’re vetted, yes. Kid-proofed. Recipes are there that I wanted to offer you.

Dr. Carrasco:                      [crosstalk 00:36:41].

Dr. Saeed:                           Because I think that sort of thing… Yes, because it’s all about giving our child the alternative. So, kids I have over there, people are like, “Oh no, my kids would never eat that kind of food.” No, but it’s all about changing it up. So, if they’re going to eat brownies, let’s change it up for almond flour brownies with pasture-raised eggs and honey instead of sugar. And so, those are the kinds of things that I really wanted to provide your audience with.

Dr. Carrasco:                      Oh, that’s wonderful. And we will provide that on the show notes. So, we’ll get that to our folks.

Dr. Saeed:                           Yay.

Dr. Carrasco:                      We’re so happy to have had you on the show, and thank you for your time. I’m sure we’d love to have you again, and there’s probably many more things we could talk about.

Dr. Saeed:                           Oh my gosh. I tried to keep it super basic today, and we can go into the science next time.

Dr. Carrasco:                      Totally. Totally. Well, thank you so much.

Dr. Saeed:                           My pleasure. Thank you so much for having me. Thank you for all that you guys do.

Dr. Carrasco:                      Thank you.