How childhood aliments are related to our food

Everything we discuss in this episode, although focused on child nutrition can be directly applied to adults as well. 

Many of the studies and scientific research quoted in this episode are from "Cure Your Child with Food: The Hidden Connection Between Nutrition and Childhood Ailments" by Kelly Dorfman.

When it comes to child nutrition in the US right now the biggest culprits is called the white diet. The white diet consists of foods that are the color white:

sugarpotatoesfrench friesspaghettiyogurtmilkcheesebreadchips

In nature, we know that different colored foods provide different nutrients. So we can infer from this diet that many children are nutrient deficient. 

We mentioned a video of kids eating sack lunches from the past 100 years.

Now there's a binary system at play here. Anytime there are behavior issues and picky eating going on, it's either something being consumed is irritating the system. Such as out-of-control insulin or gut inflammation from dairy, or something that is needed is missing.

Often times cravings can be our body's way of telling us that we need certain nutrients. Like women craving red meat during menstruation because their body needs iron which is used by their body during menstruation.

Zinc deficiency was first documented in Egyptian children. The children were not developing properly and they were able to link it to the diet of the region which was severely lacking in zinc. This is an area where supplements can be very helpful, but some kids won't or can't swallow a pill so here are some foods that are a great source of zinc:

red meatseafoodpoultry beanscashewspumpkin seedschickpeas

Brandon talks about how to use the E.A.T. process to get kids to try new foods and expand their diet.

Does milk do a body good? We'll discuss it from a scientific angle to debunk some of the myths around the role of milk in our diets.

We discuss some of the common pervasive illnesses that kids deal with like ear infections, upset stomachs, runny noses, etc. and how certain aspects of their diet may be the cause of these issues.

There is no shortcut or magic pill to instantly cure some of the issues that have developed because of your diet. It will take work but it's worth it, the long-term compounding effects on your health, the longevity of life, reduction of obesity will pay off if you stick with it. 

You want the process of improving your diet, much like exercise to be sustainable. That means it's not a crash course but a slow and steady methodical change in your nutrition until your diet is healthy and you no longer need to "diet" ever again.

Also mentioned on this episode:

Thorne Research supplements for children