Ever wondered why your child is always picky about certain foods? Ever battled with recurrent infections, allergies, or even challenging behavior? It all could be tied to something as simple as gut health.
I'm excited to announce that I've put together a brand new kids' gut health assessment. This assessment will help you determine just how healthy your child's gut is, and give you guidance on what next steps you need to take.
In this episode we will go through a series of questions to determine if your child falls under three categories: 1. Gut Repair; 2. Gut Nourish; 3. Gut Maintain;
The information in this podcast episode, together with the gut health assessment will help you make the most of the information I share in my upcoming Free Gut Health Masterclass that I will be hosting next week.
Have you registered? If not, check out the information below to save your seat, and together we can work to improve your child's behaviour, fussy eating, allergies, and so much more..
Ever wondered why your child is always picky about certain foods? Ever battled with recurrent infections, allergies, or even challenging behavior? It all could be tied to something as simple as gut health.
I'm excited to announce that I've put together a brand new kids' gut health assessment. This assessment will help you determine just how healthy your child's gut is, and give you guidance on what next steps you need to take.
In this episode we will go through a series of questions to determine if your child falls under three categories: 1. Gut Repair; 2. Gut Nourish; 3. Gut Maintain;
The information in this podcast episode, together with the gut health assessment will help you make the most of the information I share in my upcoming Free Gut Health Masterclass that I will be hosting next week.
Have you registered? If not, check out the information below to save your seat, and together we can work to improve your child's behaviour, fussy eating, allergies, and so much more..
Welcome to the Natural Super Kids podcast, where you will discover practical strategies to inspire you to boost the health and nutrition of your kids. I'm Jessica Donovan, a qualified naturopath specialising in kids health, and I want to make it as easy as possible for you to raise healthy and happy kids. Let's get into it. Hello, hello, welcome back to the Natural Super Kids podcast. I am super excited about today's episode because I'm doing something I've never done before. I've put together a brand new kids gut health assessment that I am going to talk you through so that you can determine, through the questions that I'm going to ask you today, just how healthy your child's gut is. How does your child's gut measure up? If you've been listening to this podcast for any length of time, you would have heard me talk a lot about gut health, and I thought it would be really helpful to come up with a way that parents can figure out where their kids gut health is at, because a lot of people think about gut health as in digestive symptoms, and if my child doesn't have digestive symptoms, then their gut health must be fine. But that is not entirely true. As I talk you through the questions, you'll also be learning those things that lead to better, more robust gut health in kids and the things that lead to compromised gut health in kids. Before we get into the assessment, I want to start by talking about why it is that I am so passionate about kids gut health. Now, if you're not very familiar with my background, I've been a naturopath for 23 years now, specializing in kids health, since I had kids myself, which was 16 years ago, and so I've worked with a lot of families, a lot of children, with a whole range of different health challenges, health conditions, and it always, always, always, comes back to gut health, and there's good reason for that. Unfortunately, we are seeing more and more health challenges, health conditions in children. Allergies are on the rise, eczema is on the rise, asthma is on the rise, our kids are experiencing more chronic infections, adhd and autism is on the rise and yes, of course, part of that is to do with better diagnostic processes and more awareness, for sure, but there's no doubt about it that our Western diet, our lifestyle, our environment are not doing any favours when it comes to our kids health and wellbeing, and, as a naturopath, I'm all about addressing the underlying cause when it comes to kids health issues, rather than just sort of treating symptoms, which is a lot of the time, is the sort of the approach that Western medicine takes. It's like, you know, if your child's got eczema, let's use a steroid cream to bring that skin inflammation down, but nothing is done to look deeper. Well, why is that inflammation there in the first place? You know, if your child is constipated, let's give them a laxative, but why are they constipated in the first place? They're just a couple of examples, and so when it comes to, you know, uncovering and addressing the underlying cause of kids health issues, the gut is a great place to start. So the gut, or the digestive system, is often described in naturopathic philosophy as the root of health, of the organs and the systems of the entire body, and our children particularly. You know, young children, those early years are so important. If you're past that, you know, don't stress, because there's certainly things that we can do to nourish and rebuild the gut, but the things that children are exposed to, particularly in those early years, are having a detrimental effect on their gut health. You know whether it's antibiotics or whether it's. You know the food that they're fed, the way that they are birthed. You know all of these modern day conveniences and also you know very helpful things when it comes to like. So, for example, we know that babies that are born via cesarean section don't pass through the birth canal to pick up all those microbes that are so important when it comes to, you know, the first sort of seeding of that gut microbiome. But of course, there are so many benefits for cesarean sections. You know so many babies are saved, so many mothers are saved. So it's not an either or sort of scenario. When we're talking about modern medical approach and naturopathic approach, we can use these things together. So if your baby was or is born via C-section, then let's just give their gut some extra attention to make up for that lack of exposure to microbes, as because they didn't move through the birth canal. That's just one example. Let's talk quickly, before we get into the assessment, about why gut health is so important for all aspects of a child's well-being. So first of all, you know it is where our kids absorb their nutrients. Our kids have a very high nutrient need compared to adults because they're growing, they're developing and so if they've got a healthy gut they will be you know that absorption of those nutrients will be optimal. And it's also where they eliminate waste, which is also a very important process. If the gut isn't working well, that waste can be reabsorbed back into the body, which means a greater toxic load for the body to deal with, which can lead to a whole host of other complications. Gut health is also paramount when it comes to appetite and even the food that our kids prefer. Now we hear from a lot of parents in our community that they are struggling with fussy eaters. So if your child is a fussy, picky eater, you want to be thinking about their gut. We often notice and get feedback from members and clients that we're working with that kids start accepting a wider variety of foods after we address digestive symptoms and issues and work on optimizing the gut. So kids you know particularly fussy picky eaters. They often lean towards the sweet foods, the carbohydrate rich foods, the beige, starchy foods and an overgrowth of bad bacteria in the gut or pathogenic bacteria can increase these cravings, making it difficult to get nutritious food into kids. The bacteria in the gut also alters the signals that the gut sends along the vagus nerve to the brain, which can change taste receptors to prefer processed and highly refined foods over whole foods. Also, the gut is really important when it comes to the immune system. There is a very close relationship between the immune system and the gut. In fact, 70 to 80 percent of the immune system is located in the gut. So it's no surprise that a healthy gut, a healthy gut microbiome, plays a key role in protecting kids from infections and illnesses, as well as allergies, which are essentially, you know, an immune, dysregulated immune system. So a balanced gut microbiome can strengthen our kids immune system, reduce the frequency and severity of infections. But you know, I guess, on the other side of the coin, medications such as antibiotics that are used commonly in kids when they do have infections, can deplete and damage the balance of the immune system and the gut microbiome. And, of course, antibiotics have their place, but they can lead to issues in the gut and the immune system. So it's just being aware of this that's so important, so that we can, you know, if our kids do need to take some antibiotics, we can, you know, do the post-antibiotic work to make sure that their gut microbiomes are, you know, are bouncing back after that. The other thing, the other really interesting link between when it comes to gut health and kids is when is their mood, their sleep and their behavior. So the gut and the brain are directly connected by a nerve called the vagus nerve and everyday researchers are discovering new ways that this gut brain axis is influencing health. So, using the vagus nerve, the bacteria in the gut are able to communicate with the brain. Isn't that fascinating. So mood and behavior and sleep are all reliant on balanced brain chemicals or neurotransmitters. These neurotransmitters they regulate mood, behavior and sleep. Most of them, or you know a big proportion of them, are actually produced in the gut by our gut microbiome. So, specifically, our gut microbiome produces serotonin, that happy hormone, gaba, which is another really beneficial neurotransmitter for balanced moods. And if you don't produce enough of these chemicals, you're at a higher risk of things like depression, anxiety, behavioral challenges. Good bacteria also have stress relieving effects, so they increase feel good oxytocin and decrease stress hormones, including cortisol. So you know that, I think, illustrates the importance of the gut microbiome and gut health in general when it comes to mood, sleep, behavior and brain health in children. And the research tells us that the diversity of the microbiome is super important and is often compromised in kids with allergies, with eczema, with anxiety, with ADHD, kids on the spectrum. So we want to really support a healthy microbiome diversity in these kids specifically and all kids will benefit from you know that higher diversity in the gut microbiome, meaning lots of different beneficial species of bacteria. So I hope that has helped you understand a bit more about the importance of gut health. As I said, the gut is often a, you know, underlying many challenges and issues and conditions that kids are having with their health, and if we can start to work on the gut, you know we can really be addressing the underlying factors of inflammation, for one example. So the gut is a huge source of inflammation and a lot of these conditions that we're seeing on the rise in children are inflammatory. You know eczema, asthma are good examples of that. Okay, so let me walk you through how healthy is your child's gut assessment? So I'm going to read out the questions and then it's basically a multiple choice, and so what I want you to do is take note of your answers and at the end you will have a score. This will make sense as I walk you through. So the first question is how fussy is your child when it comes to eating their main meals? Very fussy, Give yourself one point. A little fussy. Two points, not fussy at all. Three points. So I want you to keep track of the points. Now I understand that the different children may have different answers, so you can do this for multiple children if you like. You probably need a piece of paper and a pen handy if you're going to do that. If you're just doing it for one child, I think it's probably possible for you to keep count of this in your head, okay. Second question how many serves of vegetables and legumes lentils, chickpeas, kidney beans Does your child eat a day? If it's less than two serves one point. If it's two to four, serves two points. And if it's five or more serves, you get three points. Don't overthink this. Just you know, this is just sort of a general guide. So yeah, obviously different age children will have different sort of serving sizes, but if you just sort of keep it general, that's going to give you a really good idea of how healthy your child's gut is. Number three how many of your child's grains that they eat are whole grains? So, for example, oats are whole grain, whole grain bread, brown rice, you know, spelt flour these are all examples of whole grains. So very few of your child's grains are whole grains. Give you one, gives you one point, about half gives you two points and almost whole grain gives you three points. Almost all whole grain gives you three points, sorry. Question four how often does your child consume gut boosting foods or supplements? So, for example, fermented foods, bone broth, supplements could include things like probiotics, prebiotics such as green banana starch or Ph, g, g. If you're giving your kids supplement gut boosting supplements you will know about it. So very little is one point. A few times a week is two points and daily is three points. Next question how was your child born? C-section is one point. A vaginal birth with antibiotics or C-section with a focus on microbiome health is two points. So if you were aware that a C-section was potentially going to be detrimental to the start of your child's gut health but you focused on microbiome enhancing sort of practices, then give yourself two points and a vaginal birth three points. Next question what is your child's antibiotic history, including mum's antibiotic history while breastfeeding or pregnant? So have had one or more courses of antibiotics each year is one point. Has had antibiotics but less than one course a year is two points. And either never had antibiotics or haven't had antibiotics in the last four or five years is three points. Next question Was your child breastfed For less than six months? Is one point. For six months to two years is two points. Two years or more is three points. Next question how often does your child spend time outside? Less than an hour a day is one point. One to two hours a day is two points. Two or more hours a day is three points. Next question how would you describe your household? We don't use low-tox products, so we just use sort of normal cleaning personal care products. Normal as in you know, mainstream. We don't sort of look for chemicals is one point. Some low-tox products and some sort of conventional mainstream products, chemical products is two points. We use almost all low-tox products is three points. Does your child have eczema or experience skin rashes regularly? Yes, is one point. Sometimes is two points. No is three points. What is your child's recovery from infections like? So, when they get a cold or a cough, what is their recovery? Like Slow, they seem to be sick or winter is one point. Normal, you know you'd say that the recovery is fairly normal is two points. They recover really quickly and get sick infrequently is three points. Next question does your child have allergies? Yes, is one point. Sometimes they experience allergy type symptoms is two points. No, allergies is three points. How are your child's bowel movements? Often a regular? So they're either hard to pass and pellety or loose and frequent is one point. They can vary a little but generally they're pretty healthy is two points. And their regular, formed and healthy is three points. Next question does your child experience digestive complaints? Do they have reflux, regular tummy pain, constipation, diarrhea, smelly wind? Yes, is one point. Sometimes or occasionally is two points, and no, or infrequently, is three points. And last question does your child have mood or behavioral challenges? Yes, one point. Sometimes, two points. No, is three points. So I know there's. You know that there can be a lot of like oh, hang on, maybe, like I said, don't think too too much of it. This is a guide to you know. Really let you know how, or give you an idea so you can determine how healthy your child's gut is. Now I want you to take a moment to add up your scores. You might need to pause this episode because I am going to now give you your results. So, based on your scores you will have, your child would have fallen into one of three categories. If your score is between 15 and 24, your child falls into the gut repair category. I'll explain more about what that means in a moment. If your child is somewhere between 25 and 35 points, you are in the gut nourish category, and if you are 36 points or higher 36 to 45 points you are in the gut maintain category. So let's talk through those three categories. If you were between 15 and 24 points, your child is in the gut repair. So this means that your child's gut health needs some attention and could benefit from restore and repair. Your child is likely experiencing health issues or digestive discomfort which could be related to factors such as dietary choices, environmental factors. You know history of antibiotic use or other health history. But don't worry. With the right approach, you can repair and rebuild their gut health. By focusing on healthier eating habits, reducing exposure to toxins and exploring gut boosting foods or supplements, you can start the journey for your child towards a happier, healthier gut. So this is the category that sort of needs the most targeted gut care work. If you fell into the gut nourish category, so if your points were between 25 and 35 points, this means that your child's gut health is in a reasonable state, but there's definitely room for improvement. Your child's gut could benefit from some nourishment and care to improve and enhance it. Some tweaks to their diet, environment or lifestyle, or and all lifestyle, will help to fortify and nourish their gut, providing benefits to their immunity, allergy tolerance, mood behavior and appetite for healthy foods. So this category needs some, you know, some tender loving, care and nourishment. And the last category is gut maintain. So this is if your points are between 36 and 45. This means that your child's gut health is in good shape and your focus should be on maintaining it. Your family's dietary choices, environmental exposures, wellbeing practices and lifestyle are conducive to good gut health. Consistency is key and by maintaining these practices your child can enjoy the many benefits of a healthy gut, including digestive discomfort, sorry digestive comfort, a robust immune system, balanced moods and a healthy appetite. So the you know I always say that gut health is a work in progress because, just even if you're in this category, you know where your child's gut health is in good shape. It's really important that you you know that you make it a priority to maintain that, because things in the gut can go downhill quickly, you know, even if it's one course of antibiotics or, you know, a parasitic infection. So we really want to make sure that we're maintaining that good gut health, as I said. So that helps you to understand a little bit more about where your child's gut health is at. I would love to hear from you Send me a message on Instagram over at Natural Super Kids and let me know what your score was and what category you fell into. Regardless of what category you fell into, you know gut health should be a priority for your family. Obviously, if you're in gut repair or gut nourish, it needs to be higher on your priority list and you know you need to be sort of doing doing a bit more to ensure that your child's gut is well nourished and potentially even repaired. And if you're listening to this in real time and it is before the 24th and 25th of October in 2023, I would love to invite you to come along to my free Masterclass three surprisingly simple ways to transform your kid's gut health, to improve behaviour, immunity, allergies and fussy eating. So in this Masterclass, I'm going to be giving you more information about the exact things that you should be doing practical things that you should be doing within your child's diet, their lifestyle, their environment, based on where they are at in that gut health assessment. So, as I said, if your child is in the gut repair category, then you know the approach to gut health is a little bit different to whether to if they are in the gut maintain category. So I'd love you to come along to the Masterclass. You can sign up via the link in the show notes. If you're listening to this, after the October the 24th and 25th I'm running two sort of classes the same class on two different dates. Then still head on over to the show notes and there'll be some links in there to our gut health ebook and some other resources that will be helpful for you to start either repairing, nourishing or maintaining your child's gut health. As I said, I'd love to hear from you over on Instagram. Let me know what score you got, what category your child is in in terms of their gut health, and, yeah, I would love to have a conversation with you over there and I hope to see a lot of you at the Masterclass as well. Be free, you've got nothing to lose and there's going to be some really great information in the Masterclass that I am going to be sharing. Thanks so much for listening and I'll be back next week with another podcast episode. Thank you so much for joining me on the podcast today. Head on over to our website, naturalsuperkidscom, for the show notes for this episode, as well as a whole heap of inspiration to help you raise healthy and happy kids. I'll see you next week.