Episode #240: Life Lessons From a First Grader

In this episode of The Berman Method Podcast, Dr. Jake and Jenni Berman are joined by a very special guest, their six-year-old daughter, Stella. Together, they talk about simple healthy habits including eating vegetables and protein, staying hydrated, getting outside, and making movement part of everyday life.

The conversation also covers sleep, vitamins, blood work, and why building healthy habits early can support overall wellness. With Stella sharing her own perspective, the episode brings a fun, family-focused approach to nutrition, exercise, and taking care of your health.

Watch the full video podcast here:
https://youtu.be/WwTopQEE0_0

Check Us Out On Social Media - 

Facebook: @bermanhealthclub , @physicaltherapynaples, @Berman Golf 

Instagram: @bermanhealthclub, @bermanphysicaltherapy , @Berman Golf 

Youtube: Berman Golf, Berman Physical Therapy

TikTok: Bermangolf, bermanhealthclub

Email us - 

drberman@bermanpt.com 

jenni@bermanwellness.com 

Check out our website - 

www.bermanpt.com 

www.bermanhealthclub.com

www.bermangolf.com

Transcript

Mission And Guest Introduction

Speaker 0:09

And we're rolling baby with the Berman Method Podcast focused on treating problems and not symptoms. We're David going against Goliath, Goliath being the corporate medical system, big pharmaceutical companies, your health insurance companies. They do not have your best interests in mind. They will choose profits over patient outcomes every single time. And we're here to shed some light on it. And today we got a very special guest returning back on the podcast. Say hello.

Speaker 1 0:37

Hi. What's your name? Stella.

Speaker 0:42

And who are you?

Speaker 1 0:45

I'm I'm one of the Bermans. That's good. How old are you?

Speaker 2 0:52

Six. And what grade are you going into?

Speaker 1 0:54

First. I had Meet the Teacher today.

Speaker 2 0:58

Meet the Teacher. Did you like your teacher?

Speaker 1 1:01

Yeah.

Speaker 2 1:01

Yeah, okay.

Speaker 1:03

Good. I'm glad that she said yes because we didn't rehearse this.

Speaker 2 1:07

It's true, we didn't.

Speaker 1:08

So Dr. Jake Berman here with my beautiful co-hostesses today.

Speaker 2 1:12

Jenni Berman, physician assistant.

Speaker 1:14

And Stella June Berman, our oldest daughter, is here to help communicate on a more first grade reading level. First grade reading level. On some of the things that you should be doing and shouldn't be doing.

Speaker 3 1:31

Alright.

Summer Wins And Camp Favorites

Speaker 1:32

We just wrapped up summer. We had a great summer. A lot of travels, a lot of boating. Right?

Speaker 1 1:39

I love the boating.

Speaker 1:41

I love it.

Speaker 2 1:41

What was your favorite thing about the summer?

Speaker 1 1:44

Um going to my camps and going on the boat with my friends that came over.

Speaker 2 1:53

Nice. Where was your favorite place that we visited?

Speaker 1 1:56

Hmm. Well, I wanna say one of my camps because because I don't remember all of the I don't remember all of the places that we went this summer.

Speaker 2 2:12

Okay. So what was your favorite camp then?

Speaker 1 2:15

Um my favorite camp was my favorite camp was horse camp.

Speaker 2 2:26

Horse camp?

Speaker 1 2:27

Yeah, because we get to eat popsicles there.

Speaker 2 2:33

Healthy, healthy popsicles, right?

Speaker 2:36

Oh my goodness. Okay, cool. So favorite camp was horse camp because you got to eat popsicles. That's so fitting for this podcast. You cannot make that up.

Speaker 1 2:50

Well, because it's hot out, and when we were riding the horses, everyone started sweating, so they said we could have popsicles.

Red 40 And Behavior Changes

Speaker 3:01

It makes sense. I mean it makes perfect sense when I get home.

Speaker 1 3:04

And I and the whole time I was eating blue ones because I didn't want to I couldn't have red food, red forty, or or I didn't I don't like the white ones.

Speaker 2 3:19

Why can't you have red forty?

Speaker 1 3:21

Because it's red food dye and and I'll go body in my pants.

Speaker 2 3:29

Well, that's a good reason. So red food dye is not good for a lot of kids. Did you know that? It can make it can cause a lot of behavioral issues in kids. It can certainly upset their bellies like it does for you. It can make them feel more anxious or hyper where they don't listen very well. You gotta keep pressing on this.

Speaker 3:54

Is that why RFK is trying to get rid of red food dye in America?

Speaker 2 3:58

I don't think he's trying to. I it's gone.

Speaker 4:01

He did it.

Speaker 2 4:02

Yeah.

Speaker 4:02

All right.

Speaker 2 4:03

Red food dye is gone. They haven't eliminated all the food dyes yet, but we're moving in that direction. But yes, part of the reason being is because it's essentially toxic. All the food coloring is toxic to the not only kids but adults too, and our gut health and our behavioral health and our mental health. It's very impactful. And we saw that direct correlation when she was accidentally getting some that we didn't know about in one of her other camps this summer. And it was a black and white difference of behavior and gut issues that we had in the house for a week until we realized what was happening.

Speaker 4:39

Yeah.

Speaker 2 4:40

It was that gymnastics camp. You don't have to tell on yourself or anybody else. It was an accident. Yeah.

Speaker 1 4:49

It's okay.

Speaker 2 4:51

Okay, okay. She says it's okay. It's okay to talk about it, right? It feels good to talk about things, right? Yeah. It helps us mentally and emotionally when we can actually talk about things out loud. Yeah, okay.

Eat Veggies First For Metabolism

Speaker 5:05

What else, Stella? What are some other things that we should be doing throughout the day? Um like what are some healthy things that we should be doing?

Speaker 1 5:13

We should be eating fruits and vegetables and eating healthy and going outside and running around so we can get some exercise.

Speaker 2 5:27

Those are all great things. Do you eat all your fruits and vegetables?

Speaker 1 5:31

Sometimes. Well, if they're last on my plate, then like I would eat a little bit of them, but if if I eat them first, I would eat all of it.

Speaker 5:44

Sometimes you're too full, teacher, vegetables, but somehow you're not too full for a treat after dinner. So we figured that one out real fast a couple of months ago where nope, no treats. If you're too full, you're too full.

Speaker 2 6:01

Do we always talk about eating your vegetables first?

Speaker 1 6:03

Yeah.

Speaker 2 6:04

Why?

Speaker 1 6:05

Because then if we don't, because if we don't, then we'll never eat them after we eat all our other things on our plate.

Speaker 2 6:19

So sometimes, yeah, well, we don't want to skip the vegetables just because we're too full because we ate everything else first, but actually eating your vegetables first helps your blood sugar and your metabolism, it helps with fat loss, it helps with digestion of your food, it helps with your sleep when we eat our vegetables first on the plate, right?

Speaker 1 6:41

Only sometimes I eat my vegetables first. It's in certain it's at certain times and days.

Speaker 2 6:52

Yeah, but we're working on it, because it's always better to eat your veggies first, then your protein, then your carbs, right? Do we say to have your rice or your mac and cheese after you eat your protein and your vegetables? Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Or mix it all together and eat it all together? Yeah.

Speaker 1 7:08

Okay.

Speaker 2 7:09

Yeah. What else? What else do we do? What do we talk about every day when we have healthy meals?

Speaker 1 7:15

What do we need to eat to eat the fruit and vegetables, the healthy food before the carbs?

Speaker 2 7:26

That's right.

Hydration Tricks That Actually Work

Speaker 2 7:29

How about your water?

Speaker 1 7:32

We need to drink at least two cups of water the day.

Speaker 2 7:36

Two of your cups, right?

Speaker 1 7:38

Yeah.

Speaker 2 7:38

Yeah.

Speaker 1 7:39

Because I have the small version of a cup.

Speaker 2 7:42

Yeah. Is it better when we have a refillable cup that with a straw so we know exactly how much we drank? Yeah. Do you think that you drink more water when you use a straw or without a straw? Um with a straw. Right. We drink more water when we have a straw. It's much easier. It's actually better for your esophagus so that you're not swallowing a bunch of air when you drink, but you also will drink more water when you have a straw versus when you don't have a straw. Oh.

Move After Meals For Blood Sugar

Speaker 2 8:16

Yeah. What do you do for exercise, Stella?

Speaker 1 8:19

I sometimes I do like I do like um I do like gymnastics exercises because I do gymnastics gymnastics on Thursdays.

Speaker 2 8:37

Mm-hmm. We do gymnastics almost every day, don't we?

Speaker 1 8:40

Yeah.

Speaker 2 8:41

Yeah. Do we go outside after dinner?

Speaker 1 8:43

Yeah, and we do the cheese mat, the that's gone for my backhand springs, and we get our beam out. Yeah. So I can practice my walks and my hops on the balance beam.

Speaker 2 8:57

What else do we do after dinner a lot outside?

Speaker 1 9:02

We swing on the swings at the monkey bars and well. If it's not really as buggy as it is, some nights then we will jump on our trampoline.

Speaker 2 9:17

What about that two-wheel thing that you ride?

Speaker 1 9:23

Oh my bike with no training wheels. Or my Jeep is for walking the dogs.

Speaker 2 9:30

Yeah. Yep, so we always go outside every night and move our body after we eat dinner, right? Do you know why we do that?

Speaker 1 9:37

So we can get some exercise. Why should we exercise after we eat? Because that that's good for our health and and and our heart would is better if we do that after dinner.

Speaker 2 9:55

That is very true. Moving your body after dinner actually helps one with metabolism so that we can digest our food and make sure we're using it right, but then it also helps our blood sugar, and having a stable blood sugar, especially after meals, is gonna help with our energy, our sleep, our brain function, our hormonal balance. Do you know what all that means? No.

Speaker 10:20

Jesus.

Speaker 2 10:21

I was telling everybody else. But you were right. Moving your body after you eat is better for your health and for your heart, right?

Speaker 1 10:31

Yeah, because if you don't, then your heart would probably get weak.

Speaker 2 10:37

That's true. Should we walk after every meal? Yeah. How many minutes? Um an hour.

Speaker 1 10:47

An hour? Maybe.

Speaker 10:50

Oh my gosh, you're gonna kill me. Between you two. I'm never gonna stop exercising. My whole day is just exercise between you two.

Speaker 2 11:00

So we'll go with 10 minutes. A 10-minute walk after every meal.

Speaker 1 11:05

Yeah.

Speaker 2 11:06

Yeah.

Speaker 1 11:07

Or if if not, then like you could run for 10 minutes or like a mile or two.

Speaker 2 11:17

Yeah, pretty much. You can run a mile in 10 minutes. That would be good after a meal. What do you think, Daddy?

Speaker 11:24

No.

Speaker 2 11:24

You're not running a mile after every meal?

Speaker 11:27

No.

Speaker 2 11:27

Why not?

Speaker 11:28

Because I don't have a saber-toothed tiger chasing me. It's not the caveman days.

Speaker 2 11:34

It's the only time you'd run?

Speaker 11:35

That's the only time I would run a mile after every meal.

Speaker 2 11:39

Okay. But you know you should move your body after every meal, right?

Speaker 11:44

Should. Okay.

Speaker 1 11:45

And you just and you just walk down your st the stairs and up, Daddy. You don't even run or move. You don't really move that much after a meal. You just walk down steps and up. Well, at least he's moving something.

Speaker 12:05

That sounds like exercise to me, walking downstairs and back up again.

Speaker 1 12:10

Well, there's seventeen stairs, but I mean like Taddy, you gotta do more. You can't just walk up the stairs and down like once.

Speaker 12:24

Well, how many times should I do it?

Speaker 1 12:26

Well, if you're not gonna go walk around the office or run around the office, then do it.

Speaker 12:39

Wow.

Speaker 1 12:40

Like um, do it nineteen times.

Speaker 2 12:50

Nineteen times You want him to go up and down the stairs nineteen times? Or at least in the teens that does going down count as one and then coming up counts as one?

Speaker 1 13:01

Yeah. Okay.

Speaker 2 13:02

So that's really just eight laps and down and up eight times. You could do that.

Speaker 13:07

I could. Sure.

Speaker 1 13:10

Or you could you can't do like after ten. You can't do um eleven, twelve, or thirteen. You gotta do more than eleven, twelve, or thirteen.

Speaker 13:26

Okay.

Speaker 2 13:27

Alright, so we've learned from Stella that we should eat our protein, we should eat our fruits and vegetables first, or vegetables primarily first. We should drink our water out of a straw and make sure we have a reusable cup so we can actually tell how much water we're drinking. We should move our body after meals, like walking or running a mile, she says, or maybe just ten minutes of movement.

Speaker 1 13:52

Well, walking for ten minutes, but if you're gonna run then for like a mile. Okay, fair.

Sleep Support And Smarter Supplements

Speaker 1 14:02

And what about your sleep? You need to sleep the whole night, but if you have dreams then bad dreams then t go to the store and buy some bad magnesium gummies for sleep. Or buy those little orange gummies. Yeah, speaking of gummies, do you take vitamins in the mornings? Yeah. Take vitamins in the mornings too, guys. Yeah.

Speaker 2 14:34

But our vitamins, we should we should take the vitamins dependent on our blood work, right?

Speaker 1 14:39

Mm-hmm.

Speaker 2 14:39

Do you get your blood work done?

Speaker 1 14:41

Yeah. In this office downstairs.

Speaker 2 14:45

Yeah. Miss Janie draws her blood work. She does a good job, doesn't she?

Speaker 1 14:51

But last time I got my blood work down, I started crying, but I'm six and I can't cry.

Speaker 2 14:58

But you weren't crying because it hurt. You were just a little nervous, right?

Speaker 1 15:03

It hurts too.

Speaker 2 15:06

It didn't hurt. Miss Janie did a good job. But we do your blood work, so we know what vitamins you should take and how your body's doing with all the food that you're eating and the exercise you're getting, and we monitor that, don't we?

Speaker 1 15:18

Yeah.

Speaker 2 15:19

Yeah. And then then you know exactly what vitamins you should be taking, just like our adults. Do mommy and daddy do their blood work too?

Speaker 1 15:27

Yeah. All people should do blood work.

Speaker 2 15:31

That's right. So we know exactly what vitamins to take and how much protein we should be eating and how many carbs and fats and what our brain function looks like and how healthy our heart is.

Speaker 1 15:44

So if you don't go to school, your brain wouldn't be so smart. And you gotta eat healthy for your brain to be smart.

Speaker 2 15:53

That's right. You're not wrong about any of that. We didn't even re uh prepare for all this. She's just full of knowledge.

Speaker 16:02

I mean, she's just I mean, when if there's ever a moment in my day where I don't know what I should be doing, I just asked Stella.

Speaker 1 16:11

She's brilliant.

Speaker 16:13

She always has the answers on what I should be doing.

Speaker 1 16:16

Yeah, God. Duh.

Strong Leadership And Family Health Roles

Speaker 16:19

So in the Meet the Teacher, they have this sheet that says, What are some things that we should know about your child? And the first thing that Jenni writes is strong leadership skills.

Speaker 2 16:33

That's true. Everybody should know. Jake's like, Are you sure we should be writing that? And I'm like, everybody needs to know that she has strong leadership skills, she needs to be challenged, and we gotta figure out how to navigate it. But at least she's prepared.

Speaker 16:50

Oh man.

Speaker 2 16:52

So can you tell everybody what you think mommy does and what you think daddy does at work? Yeah.

Speaker 1 17:00

Daddy does. Daddy does. He helps with with your body if you're hurt. But if you break a bone, he can't help that. And then mommy, he helps with vitamins.

Speaker 2 17:21

Very good.

Speaker 17:22

Yeah. Okay. Very good.

Speaker 2 17:28

Do we help more with vit than just vitamins?

Speaker 1 17:33

Sometimes mommy helps with like Sometimes Mommy sees patient to see patience to see if to see what food they need be eating.

Speaker 2 17:53

That's right. Yeah. We look at their food and their again, their blood work, their belly, their gut.

Speaker 1 18:01

Because mommy, you're daddy and mommy's a doctor. But but mommy mommy is like a vitamin doctor and a food doctor. And she still does doctor things like like blood pressure and and your heart. She does stuff like that.

Speaker 2 18:28

Yeah, but we do all of that. And Daddy's a doctor for physical therapy. And for their joints and their back pain and their neck pain. Has he ever helped you before?

Speaker 1 18:42

Yeah.

Speaker 2 18:42

Yeah. What would you hurt that he helped with?

Speaker 1 18:47

Like, if my back was tight from doing back bends, then he would like give me a little massage. Yeah, that's what you do.

Speaker 19:03

Oh boy. It makes me cringe every time I see her doing these back bends. And just going, this is all the crap that I'm gonna have to fix 20 years from now.

Speaker 2 19:15

And she does about a hundred of them a day.

Speaker 19:17

Yeah.

Speaker 2 19:18

Well, you gotta exercise.

Speaker 19:21

Yeah.

Speaker 1 19:22

Gotta do exercise you like anyway.

Speaker 19:25

Yep.

Speaker 1 19:26

And I like doing back bends because I can do them now. Only if I have a soft mat soft mat under me. Mm-hmm. So what do you think?

Speaker 19:39

I feel way smarter now than I did 20 minutes ago.

Speaker 2 19:43

What do you need to elaborate on?

Speaker 19:45

I I think I'm good. I think that was great.

Speaker 2 19:49

Thank you, Daddy.

Speaker 19:54

Anything else?

Speaker 2 19:56

I mean, I think we covered a lot on the nutrition side and Stella was on point.

Speaker 1 20:01

Never give up working.

Speaker 2 20:04

I love that too. It's her favorite thing to say, right?

Speaker 20:07

Not actual work. Like we don't want to say that because we know there's somebody in this room right now that will do that. We're talking about never give up working hard to live better, right?

Speaker 1 20:22

Yeah.

Speaker 20:22

Yeah, not computer work.

Speaker 1 20:26

Yeah.

Speaker 20:27

Yeah. Okay.

Speaker 2 20:29

So never give up.

Speaker 1 20:31

Never give up. No one give up. Everyone's stay and work. Hard. Hard.

Speaker 2 20:43

On your health.

Speaker 1 20:44

On your health.

Speaker 20:45

Okay, good. Well, I don't know if there's anything else that needs to be said after all

Never Give Up And Website Signoff

Speaker 20:51

that. Other than go to bermanboomers.com and see if you're on track to arrive at 80 feeling 40. And if you're already in your 80s, kick your 90s asses. That's all right. What do you think? Yeah.

Speaker 1 21:08

I don't know.

Speaker 2 21:10

You don't know about that. Bermanboomers.com.

Speaker 21:16

Good. Say bye, Stella.

Speaker 2 21:18

Bye bye. Ciao for now.