A house cannot be builT without a sturdy foundation
Developing a child’s health from birth until adulthood is similar to building a home. You cannot build a sturdy home that lasts a lifetime without a firm foundation. I have created four foundational pieces that I address when I work with families. Without these pieces in place, overall health and wellness cannot be achieved:
Nutrition: I love to address food quality with families. Kids can be extremely difficult and picky eaters, but there are always ways to get a variety of nutrients into a child without taking away their favorite foods. They are also ways to increase food quality, which improves nutrient intake.
Environment: This can include air quality, household toxins, parental stressors, and even outdoor time, grounding, sunshine and screen time.
Stress: Kids are not immune to stress. They absorb it like sponges, and there are helpful and easy ways to ground children and reduce stress. This also includes ensuring they get adequate sleep.
Supplementation: No supplements will be effective unless the first 3 foundational pieces above are in place. There are some supplements that can fill in gaps until a child’s nutritional pieces are in place, but they should not be used to “Band-Aid” bigger issues that need to be addressed.
My Approach
I am especially passionate about lowering a child’s overall “toxic load bucket.” This is everything that a child comes into contact with through their surrounding and environment, that can negatively affect health and wellbeing.
Much of these things are beyond our control, but so much is within our control! This may include addressing things such as food quality, air quality, household toxins that we use daily, sleep problems, stress, the list goes on.
When a child’s “toxic load bucket” becomes overfull, symptoms may appear; in babies this could look like eczema, colic, reflux, sleep issues, or irritability. In older children this can look like frequent sickness (gut health issues), sleep issues, behavioral issues, picky eating, allergies, and more.
I strive to educate parents on how to balance these pillars for their children, and how to always go back to these basics when dealing with anything health related.
No gimmicky supplements, no fad diets or trends - just pure “back to the basics” child care.
It may sound simple, but over the years, the true and simple needs of our children have been muffled out.
We must learn to listen again.