Eczema and Kids with Dr. Ana-Maria Temple

This week Bree is talking with Dr. Ana-Maria Temple about eczema in kids. Dr. Ana-Maria Temple, MD is a board-certified pediatrician. She has been treating kids for 18+ years, practicing in a traditional model for 10 years until transitioning to a holistic approach where she has changed thousands of children's lives. She is known for her extensive experience in the treatment of eczema and other childhood autoimmune diseases. Dr. Ana-Maria Temple is a best-selling author and social media influencer that has appeared on hundreds of podcasts, news stations, stage presentations, and online programs.

Find out more about Dr. Ana-Maria Temple at https://shop.dranamaria.com/collections/all.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Are you looking for a space where you will learn to improve your mental strength, emotional health, and heal your insecurities from the inside out? Take the first step to living a more meaningful life with the Better Me with Body by Free podcast. I'm your host, Free. I'm a certified personal trainer, entrepreneur, and mother of three. I've helped empower thousands of women to take action through fitness, nutrition, meditation, personal development, and aligning thoughts with action. This podcast is for those who are ready to feel inspired and motivated to live a more purposeful life. Let's grow together. If you or your child has ever struggled with skin issues, eczema, or any type of allergies, and you're wanting to move to a holistic approach, I would encourage you to listen to this episode because I have Dr. Anna Maria Temple, who is an amazing resource and she's going to walk us through how to heal skin issues like eczema from the inside out, also how to check your environment and how to be an advocate for your child so that they have a more positive, healthy outlook on life, and also they're able to function how they're meant to function and their bodies can heal from the inside out. So I have Dr. Anna Marie Temple, and she is a board-certified pediatrician. She's been treating kids for 18 years, practicing in a traditional model for 10 years, until transitioning to a holistic approach where she has changed thousands of children's lives. She's known for her extensive experience in the treatment of eczema and other childhood autoimmune diseases. And Dr. Anna Maria Temple is a best-selling author and social media influencer that has appeared on hundreds of podcasts, news stations, stage presentations, and online programs. And this was so incredibly informative. I feel like every single parent needs to hear this. And it just really helps you open your eyes to see areas of your life that you can improve that will make a big impact on your child and on yourself as well. So let's take a look. Here we go. Oh my goodness, Dr. Anna Maria. I don't think you understand how starstruck I am that you are on the podcast today. I am so excited to be here. I'm so excited. We are so lucky to have you. You're just a wealth of knowledge, and I love how you make it relatable to women and to moms. And it's not overwhelming. You do it in a way that you want to change, that you want to help your children, and you're just so knowledgeable and so approachable that it's like this perfect mix for moms in my situation. So thank you.

SPEAKER_01 2:50

Oh my gosh, you're so kind. I'll tell you, you know, we're all on a journey and it's, you know, one little step because I just see so many people get so overwhelmed that you know, they'll look at me like, oh, I can't believe you eat like this and you do that. And I was like, if you're seeing a 12-year journey, right? You're not seeing the beginning steps because it was quite messy.

SPEAKER_00 3:09

Right. That's what's so comforting is like it doesn't have to be perfect, just start and do what you can. I love that. So I want to kind of give a little overview of your background. And what I love about you is some of your key principles is that you use food to heal most common illnesses. You've healed your children's gut, which then allowed their skin to heal, and you incorporate holistic and integrative medicine to find the cause of your children's illnesses instead of just treat the symptoms, which I think is really, really cool. And because you made the decision to stop the harmful medications and find the root cause of your family's illness, then you were able to watch your children laugh and play outside without stopping, itch and cry. You were able to improve your entire family's health by changing their diet and lifestyle. And I think this is the coolest and probably the scariest part for you is that you left traditional medicine and started a holistic practice, which incorporates the best parts of traditional medicine and the parts of integrative practice. And so now you get to live your dream of healing your children without any harmful medications and helping other parents do the same. So I'm so curious, how did you switch from conventional medicine to holistic pediatrician? And can you tell us a little bit about your story?

SPEAKER_01 4:34

Yeah, you know, my children are my greatest medical accomplishment, and they actually are the reason I am in the holistic space. And a lot of holistic doctors, integrated or functional medicine doctors, have a story about either personal healing or children's healing. But, you know, in 2007, my I had three kids at that time, and I was five years into my medical practice, and my children, who are two, four, and six, were plagued by asthma, eczema, seasonal allergies, recurrent ear infection, recurrent croup, constipation, ADHD, chronic sinus infection. And my little guy had seasonal allergies that were so bad that when we would do the Easter egg hunt, he couldn't go outside because his eyes would swell shut. He would have tears streaming down his face, and his body was covered in hives. And he would itch uncontrollably. It was the saddest thing you've ever seen. That breaks my heart. I know. I like I still have these vivid, he's like 15. So I have these vivid, you know, memories of that time. And, you know, my kids were on like third round of antibiotics, and I'd be like, that's it. I'm taking this three-ring circus to the doctors, and we're gonna figure out what is going on. I would travel with a bag of over-the-counter medicines that rivals my current cosmetics bag. It was insane. And if I would have left at home, I would be in a panic. I'm like, oh my god, what am I gonna do without the Benadryl, the Zyrtech, the steroids, the topical steroid creams.

SPEAKER_00 5:57

Anyway, so I went to And you were a doctor at that time, right? So you Yeah. I was a doctor. Yes, okay.

SPEAKER_01 6:04

Yeah, and all I knew was medicine. I mean, I I was like, that's my only solution. I just gotta carry this bag of meds around. And um, so I went to see one of my partners, and they were like, Oh, well, for the little one, we don't there's no other things that we can do. He's already on five allergy meds. The only next recommendation is going to be allergy shots. He was two years old. For my six-year-old daughter, they're like, Well, she's taking inhale steroids that will control her asthma, and the topical steroids are control her eczema. She'll take her xertic, which is going to control her asthma and her eczema and her allergies, and she'll eventually outgrow ear infections and recurrent croup, and she'll have some miralax for a constipation. And as for my middle one, who is so full of snot, let me tell you something, Brie. The kind of snot that when you see that kid these days, you dare not going to school, they're not crazy.

SPEAKER_00 7:02

You can't go anywhere.

SPEAKER_01 7:03

No, you he would have never left home. He had the most disgusting nose of all time. There's not enough tissues in Costco to hold the situation.

SPEAKER_00 7:11

And like, how do you sleep?

SPEAKER_01 7:12

Like, how do you sleep with that? It was so gross. And so for them, they were like, well, he just needs more antibiotics to clear his sinus infections. No. And by the time we got to his ADHD, I literally stopped paying attention. Well, I'll tell you what happened that day when I walked out of that office. My doctor self was like, I got nothing. I don't, I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do with this information. My mama self was like, What? My children's story is that they'll be on medicines for the rest of their lives. I was like, that is not possible. And you know when the warrior mama takes over and she's like, right? It's like, oh yeah. I don't know how we're gonna do this, but this is not the story, this is not the answer, and we're gonna figure it out, but I don't know what we're gonna do. So a week later, I went to my kids' elementary school, and it was on a Tuesday morning, sitting at like first grader desk in that blasting air conditioning of elementary school, and the fog lifted, and I totally saw the root cause of my children's issues. All the nutritionists talked was about sugar, and I was like, oh my gosh, I see what I'm feeding my children. And I thought I was doing a great job as a doctor, and they had, you know, strawberries at lunch, and they had broccoli at dinner. So I was like, oh my god, they have plants. It's amazing. And uh yeah, so 7:30 that night, I came home from work. I still had my stilettos on when I walked into the pantry and I threw out the Lucky Charms, cinnamon toast crunch, mac and cheese, chicken nuggets, juice boxes, chocolate milk, the Pop Tarts, the toaster. I mean, you name a garbage, we had it in my pantry. My children were horrified. My husband was like, What? Why are we throwing away perfectly good food?

SPEAKER_00 8:56

Like, mom's gone crazy.

SPEAKER_01 8:58

Yeah, everyone was like, What's going on? What having her? And you know, then became the era of isolation. I became an outcast in my family. My husband and I fought about over food for the next five years. My kids were like, What's going down? And my friends thought I lost my mind. My family pretty much scratched me off their will. And then my doctoral friends were like, What are you doing? Like, where's the medical evidence? I was like, I don't have medical evidence, but because it was before Google, um, but I knew the answer couldn't be wrong to get rid of garbage, food coloring, sugar, processed foods, and replace it with tons of fruits and vegetables. So over the next five years, my kids got better. My husband continued to be sick, which at which point he was like, wait a minute, how come they're all you guys are all well, but I'm still the sickly one? So then he jumped on board, which made life so much easier. And then, you know, over the next uh nine years, they came off their all their meds. There's no more steroids, no more antibiotics, no more ear infections, no more constipation, all that got better. And then in 2016, we quit our jobs and we moved to New Zealand. No health insurance, no doctors, no medications. And my children thrive. They climbed the highest mountains and bungee jumped off the tallest bridges. And I realized what it's like to feel when you return from chronic disease. So when I came back to the States, I was like, I'm doing medicine differently. And that's why I started a different kind of practice so I can teach others all the things I learned in my journey through my children and help get their kids better without medical intervention whenever possible.

SPEAKER_00 10:37

That is such an inspiring story. I love it. You know what's interesting is my holistic doctor that I go to here has a very similar story, but it was herself. She had Lyme's disease and she like couldn't even walk up the stairs. And she was an MD. And they were like, sorry, there's nothing we can do for you. Like, this is what you have to live with. And she's like, I don't, I'm gonna find something else. And then she found holistic healing and healing your gut and all of that. And now she's like the fastest one in my gym class. She's like the strongest, fastest. Like it's she's like, I healed myself. So she left traditional medicine, and now she is in the holistic field, which is like you. And I feel like it's it's a different story when it hits home. Like you're so passionate about what you do when it's personal. And so that's really cool.

SPEAKER_01 11:29

Yeah, and here, you know, one of the things that actually no one has heard on a podcast ever. So you're the first to know. Oh, okay. Actually, in the journey, because you know, the journey is never over. So, over the time that this has been going on, and now that I've built my practice over the past three years, my husband, who used to fight with me over food, who's an orthopedic surgeon, has been watching all these kids and listening to all these stories of these kids getting better. So he quit orthopedic surgery. No, three months ago. He's done operating, and he is the one that actually has put together my eczema course and um actually helped me publish my book and do all the formatting because he's like, This message needs to get out there. This is incredible. We were never taught this in medical school. So he's now my fierce partner who's like on a his own warrior path to help change children's lives. And he's an orthopedic surgeon. It is the best story of all time.

SPEAKER_00 12:25

That is amazing. Okay, I have to tell you how I found you because it I just love your I love your message. I think it really is life-changing, your message that you're sharing with people. So I'll give you a little background of my daughter, Mila. She's two years old, but since the day she was born, she's had issues. Like um, they found out she was allergic to milk protein. So she had a like amino acid formula. Anyway, she's had skin issues since the day she was born. She's had ra full body rashes and really bad eczema. And then at about a year when she started eating solid food more often, she would say, like, my tummy hurts. Like when she could talk, she'd be like, My tummy hurts, you know? And um, it started getting worse and worse to like seven times a day. She's like, My tummy hurts, my tummy hurts. And then she started being scared to eat food. So I'd offer her food and she'd be like, I can't eat that. It's gonna hurt my tummy. And it was really sad. And so I'm like, Okay, we gotta take her to specialists. So I took her to four different specialists and they tested her for allergies, and they're like, She doesn't have an allergy. So um here's a steroid cream. I don't know. That's what they said. Yeah. And I'm like, what do you mean? Like, this is her body. So I'm really big on gut health as well, and I know it's tied to your, you know, everything in your body. So I'm like, well, uh don't and I said to the doctor, obviously, don't you think that her body is letting us know something is wrong? Like when it's manifesting in the skin, it's like the last resort. Like it's bad at that point. So I'm like, obviously, there's something wrong in her body. Like you there's nothing you can do or test for. And they're like, sorry, she's not allergic to anything. So I don't know. Here's a steroid cream. That was it. And they like totally dismissed me when I said that.

SPEAKER_01 14:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:23

So anyway, long story short, I did tons of research. I'm like, I'm gonna cut out gluten and dairy and just see if that helps. And um, we had tried to limit dairy for a while, but it's so hard when they're a kid and they're like at birthday parties or you're out eating. So I didn't take it serious enough. Like she would still eat it probably 30 or 40 percent of the time. And I thought I was doing good by limiting it. But until I cut out dairy and gluten completely, like it literally took five days. In five days, her rash was gone on her stomach and her belly or her stomach and her back, her eczema was completely gone in five days. It was crazy, like it was almost magic. Every day she'd wake up, her skin was clearer and clearer and clearer. And she, in the first time in like six months, didn't complain that her stomach was hurting. And I just started crying. I was like, oh my gosh, I don't feel helpless. Like what you said you experience with your kids. It's just the most helpless feeling ever. And once you figure it out, you're like, oh my gosh, I have a solution. And well, it's night and day. And then my so it took for you, like what you said with your husband, it took my husband a little while to get on the bandwagon too, because he's like, Honey, do you think it really makes a difference? You know, how men are? And I'm like, Well, you see our child suffering, like it's worth it to try. And he's like, Okay, we'll try. So she had been good, she'd been good for probably two weeks, and I her everything completely went away. And then we went on a trip and then she started complaining, her stomach hurt again, and she woke up and her eczema was back. And like, it's weird, it's almost instant, like it's this wrath she gets. And then, um, anyway, long story short, Adam was like, Oh, I gave her a bag of Doritos last night. I'm like, why would you do that? But it shows how it was almost like his evidence. Like he was like, Okay, and now anywhere we go, he's like, everything needs to be gluten and dairy free. Like we we cannot give her any, like he's now like your husband, you know, kind of like a freak about it, which is good. So, anyway, I am just as supportive and excited about your message as you are because it really changed my daughter's life and my life. And I just feel so sad for all these parents that are lost that get their kids addicted to steroid creams and you know, they have withdrawals and all of that. So I'm curious why you decided to focus your efforts specifically on eczema, because you have a lot on eczema.

SPEAKER_01 17:02

Yeah. My um, so when my husband was like, all right, we need to do an online course, and actually we launched the course March of 2020, right as the world was shutting down. But that we had that was not, it was totally coincidence. Um, because we had been working on it for a while. Was like, all right, because he's like, I feel like I'm trending out of orthopedics and I really want to create this course. I really have this need, I have this drive for some reason. I don't know why. So he's like, what should you, what should we talk about? You know, ADHD, you know, he's going through all this stuff. And I go, well, our child, one of our children had eczema, and our second child just finished his bout of eczema randomly that he's just developed at 15. And not only that, my dog, a Rhodesian ridgeback, had eczema. He had a weird skin condition. I'm not a vet, so don't do I don't do and I don't pretend to be a vet. But my dog, several years ago, as my daughter was getting better from her eczema with the food changes, my dog had this weird skin stuff, and I took him to the vet. They're like steroids and antibiotics. I'm like, oh, what's new? And then he would get better, and then we went back and he would get these giant patches of blackness on his really beautiful coat. And on the third one, they're like, Okay, well, if it keeps happening, we're gonna have to do a biopsy, but it may just be the way he is because Rhodesians have sensitive skin. I'm like, Will you tell me I have a hideous dog? This is this what you're saying right now, and so I go home, I was like, Well, I don't know, but the food changes worked for Allie. What if they worked for the dog? And my husband's like, oh Lord, here we go. And so I did. I did all this research into dog food that could be allergic. I started making my own dog food, my dog's eczema resolved a hundred percent without any medications. Okay, now I did make him constipate it because I don't actually know how to make dog food. So then, based on what I found, what I've eliminated from his diet, I then went to the dog food store that had a holistic approach, discussed my findings, and they pointed me to the correct dog food. So he ate very raw dog, very he ate raw dog food that was grain-free. Grains were actually his thing that got him all riled up. And he, in the past seven years, not a skin thing in that dog.

SPEAKER_00 19:19

That is so crazy how our food is directly tied. That is so crazy.

SPEAKER_01 19:25

I and then that's I think my husband was like, okay, all right, respect. Okay, so now when he's you know, for the dog food, he's like, must be this free and that free, because even the dog is high maintenance.

SPEAKER_00 19:35

So eczema is just all around you. So you're like, I'm gonna tackle this. And how many, like, do you have a stat for how many children suffer from eczema? Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_01 19:45

So in 1970, the rates of eczema were one in 15, and now they are one in five. And I can even tell you that in certain populations, it's one in two, which is 50%. But even one in five is mind-boggling. So the situation is getting worse, not better. So if we said, Oh my god, but we have the greatest medicines and we have the greatest medical system, right? We should technically have children with less disease. Instead, we have kids with more and more disease. And eczema is just the stepping point. Just like you said, when you saw Mila's skin, it was like, that is because her body is trying to tell us something, and we don't, when we go, oh, they're all gonna outgrow their eczema. Well, I'm here to tell you that 75% of kids who have eczema develop seasonal allergies, 50% develop asthma, 20% carry it with them in their adulthood, 6% end up with ADHD and anxiety. So, I mean, it is a march. Like this, the body has laid out some yellow flags and it's going, something's not right, something's not right. I don't like something. And we're like, uh-oh, no, you're gonna outgrow it. Here's a little steroid cream, let's keep going. And then what happens is that they have one more thing and another thing. And in the traditional model, here's the thing the traditional model is really great for acute things. You're in a car accident, they put you back together. You're appendix burst, they take it out. You have an you have pneumonia that needs to be taken care of right away, it's helpful, right? So it's acute things. The problem is in our traditional model, because I won't be able to be with people, it often comes across that I'm bashing medicine, but in the chronic model, we are applying the acute care model and the chronic model. And you cannot do that. They're two different entities. Somebody who comes in with a one issue is one thing, but when that issue keeps happening over and over and over again, we have to change our approach because it's why do you keep having ear infections? It's not, it doesn't mean you need stronger antibiotics, it means your body's inflamed and you're doing right. There's something underneath it that it's ticking it off. What is it? Same thing with eczema, it's not about stronger and stronger steroids or dupixin or stronger uh immune modulators. It is well, why is your system so on fire? We gotta dig deep because if your system's on Fire over time, there's going to be the next thing and the next thing and the other thing.

SPEAKER_00 22:04

Right. And since it's all starting in your gut, that's also tied to your brain and depression and mood and hormones and everything. So perfectly said. Everything.

SPEAKER_01 22:15

Yeah. And you know what? One of the things that I see in our uh my eczema program is I'll have kids and of various ages, and some of them are toddlers, and you know, toddlers are generally annoying. I'm speaking out with great love. I'm a beauty personal, but let's be honest, they're slightly annoying. And sometimes you can't tell, is it because he's two? Is that why he's having a tantrum? Is it because they're three and try and dominate the world? Well, it turns out that when we heal their eczema, their mood gets better. And the parents are like, oh my gosh, I thought that was just like a normal toddler behavior. But it turns out they were so irritated by other things, and the eczema was showing us the way, but the inflammation was also on the inside. And with food reintroduction, some of the kids, their eczema never comes back, but their behavior goes downhill. So then they're like, okay, well, forget that. Their skin's good without food, but clearly their brain is not. So we have a clear understanding of how to feed them now.

SPEAKER_00 23:06

That's amazing. That's so incredible. So where does like what causes eczema? Do you have a couple tips for what causes it?

SPEAKER_01 23:17

Yeah, well, so I think the biggest misconception, and I'm gonna go into is that there is a one thing. If I can find the one cream, the one food, the one supplement, the one thing, then that is gonna help me figure out eczema. And it's not, it is a whole bunch of things that cause eczema. You can have environmental allergens. So when pollen and uh dust mites and your dog and all that's too much, it can add to inflammation of the system. I look at the body as a cup of inflammation. So if your cup is full from pollen, from antibiotics, Tylenol, stress, uh processed foods, it's gonna overflow. And then you come in contact with a dog, you're overflowing. So environmental allergens are a huge thing. Then we have foods. Processed foods and sugar are number one and two. Often people go, okay, you know what? I'm dairy free. And then when I do the dietary intake, I'm like, um, right, but we have loads of sugar, and a lot of parents are like, oh, but I feel so bad because I took away the cheese, and I mean they're a kid and they should have fun, and their diet is laden with processed foods and sugar. So processed foods and sugar are number one and two. And then, of course, dairy, like you talked about, that is also super common. Then we have stress. Stress is the most under-recognized toxic thing in our American lifestyle. Let's look at our current pandemic, shall we? Everyone is losing their mind, everyone is so woundly tight. Parents are stressed, children are stressed, and we're, and you know, it's we it's hard to tell how stressed we are when we live in the US. When I moved to New Zealand, it was so obvious that we were the whack-a-doodle family on the block. Everyone else was totally chilled. And I thought we were chilled. I was like, oh, we've decompressed, we've reduced our activities, we've done this. And then I looked around and I was like, oh my God, we are bonkers. And then the everyone outside the United States looks at the Americans and like, you guys are all bonkers. I'm like, okay, yeah, true that. So our stress is incredible. The other thing that no one talks about is the overuse of Tylenol, right? Babies. Teething this, teething that, they're a little fussy, a little tylenol, a little tyle. How about colicky babies? How about a little Zantac? No, Xantac is directly correlated with increasing the risk of eczema. Tylenol dosing is directly correlated with increase of eczema. How about antibiotics? And not just in children, antibiotics that mamas got while they were pregnant, antibiotics mamas got at birth, because no one is talking to us about the rates of C-section. Do you know we have the highest rates of C-section in the world?

SPEAKER_00 25:51

That's so sad. Is that because they want to speed it up or why?

SPEAKER_01 25:55

So I have lots of moms that they've elect to have a C-section because it's more convenient.

SPEAKER_00 26:01

Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_01 26:02

I have uh OBs that are pushing inductions. Oh, you're about to be a 40 weeks. We should schedule your induction.

SPEAKER_00 26:08

Well, mine did that. Like, oh, you're 39 weeks. Let's get you started. I'm like, wait, is my baby ready? Like, let's strip your membranes. Let's do you want to schedule your induction at 39 weeks? I'm like, why?

SPEAKER_01 26:21

Thank you. Exactly. It drives again, not an OB. However, Mother Nature knows when the baby's ready to come out. And at 39 weeks, we know that pregnancy is 40. So why are we in a rush? And so there's a because of a lot of inductions, this is what I noticed. This is me noticing in in practice, and that actually the studies correlate with that. Because we're doing more inductions leads to more C-sections, because when you're doing an induction, you're forcing the uterus to start to contract against a pelvis that is not ready to open up. And that leads to failure to progress, which then leads to C-sections.

SPEAKER_00 26:55

Oh my gosh, why did they do this?

SPEAKER_01 26:57

I feel like it's so backwards. I know. So I can't tell you. So, you know, when I take care of uh kids in my practice, I want the mamas to see me before they deliver. I'm like, we need to have a talk. I'm not giving them OB advice. I say, can you please talk to your OB about not doing an induction before 40 weeks? Can you talk to your B about natural ways that we can get the body ready for delivery? You know, like things like that. And you know, how about a doula? How about a midwife? How about all these different things? So we start exploring other things so we can put us in the better position to not have a c-section. My firstborn, which happens to be the sickest, so my firstborn was a breach presentation, which means she was upside down and had to be cut out emergently. And um, so she was the one with the recurrent ear, recurrent croup, eczema, asthma, allergies, constipation, my sickest one by far compared to my other two. And when I had my second child, they were like, okay, we're gonna schedule your c-section. I was like, uh, no, no, no. And it wasn't because what I know now is because I didn't want to have three or four major abdominal surgeries because I knew I wanted like three or four kids. And I didn't want them to cut me that many times. I was like, can you please just let me push this one out? I really feel like I'm healthy, I work out, I'm doing all this stuff to in order to be able to push a body out. And it took a lot of convincing for them to let me to do a V back, which is vaginal delivery after C-section. And because and I did a successful V back, of course, it was really hard, but I did it. And then my third one I had via vaginal delivery as well. And those two were much healthier than the first one. And that, you know, that story repeats itself because I didn't have antibiotics at birth, which you do with a C-section. So that and also the antibiotics in our food supply. 60% of our antibiotic exposure comes from the foods we eat. So back to why food is medicine and food is poison. And um, so a lot of people are like, well, I don't take antibiotics. I'm like, right, but do you know how many antibiotics are in your food? Because that will alter our microbiome and cause eczema. So those are a few things that are can be triggering eczema that a lot of people are not aware of.

SPEAKER_00 29:05

And what about fragrances? Like I had to switch out our laundry detergent and our dryer sheets and her lotion, her shampoo, her body wash.

SPEAKER_01 29:16

Oh, yeah. And I put that in the environmental allergens. But I'm glad you brought that out because we need to separate that. You're right. Because people, what what are people told in a pandemic? Bleach everything. Bleach is so toxic to the human body, it's not even allowed in other countries. FYI.

SPEAKER_00 29:34

Oh my gosh, I saw an article of them spraying an elementary classroom full of bleach, the entire classroom just spraying it. I'm like, that's gonna help. Right.

SPEAKER_01 29:46

And you know, and there's studies that actually show that in households where bleach is used one or more times a week, the children have more respiratory issues, tonsillitis, and flu. Oh my heck. And yet we're like, no, no, spray everything with bleach. I'm like, oh MG. And like it kills the virus. I'm like, it kills the virus. Yes, it does. So I'm not denying that, but it also kills all your bacteria that lives on your body and inside your body, which will fight the virus.

unknown 30:12

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 30:12

Exactly, exactly. So then we bleach, but then all the fragrances and all the, you know, because there's no FDA regulations on our detergents and dishwasher cleaner and window cleaners. There's not. There's just you don't even have to put ingredients on the label. And they're like, oh, it's fine. The the amount of chemicals in this product is not that much. I'm like, well, if you expose your body one time, but if it's something that I'm cleaning my dishes with every single day, I'm exposing my children to this every day on their plates.

unknown 30:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:44

Right. Man. Yeah. Okay. So I have a so I have a question about eczema. So I say you have the seven biggest mistakes you see when it comes to Western medicine and the treatment of eczema. What are those? I'm so serious.

SPEAKER_01 30:59

Yeah, number one is that uh our traditional doctors refuse to acknowledge that gut health plays a major role in the development of eczema. And food is not taught in medical school as a root cause for a lot, I mean, a lot of issues. And what I mean by that is like, eat healthy is told, but it's not, we don't go into the depth. So just like for Mila, when you have an allergy test and it's negative, they're like, yep, food is not a problem. Number two, an extensive dietary history is not routine part of the patient visit. And what I mean by extensive, when I was in traditional practice, I had 15 minutes to see my patients. And because I had learned over the years how important this was, I formed a form. I formed a form, I create a form where my patients could quickly I like circle things in their diet. So I can do a dietary history somewhat in, you know, on a 15-minute visit, which is really hard, but it's not, but that's your well check once a year. It wasn't you have an eczema exacerbation, let's do a dietary history. You have an asthma issue, let's do it. It wasn't, you have asthma, let's talk about the inhaled steroids. You have eczema, let's talk about the topical things. So food is not treated as medicine. And you know, Hippocrates said, let food be thy medicine and let medicine be thy food, which is, you know, we take the Hippocratic oath, but we forgot that part. Number three, it's the blatant overuse of antibiotics in pregnant mothers and children, like we just talked about, especially with C-sections and you know, ear infections, we are so eager to give antibiotics for a child with ear infections. When the Academy of American Academy of Pediatrics has stated that 80% of ear infections in children over the age of six months get better without antibiotics. But yet, the moment an ear is red, we jump for antibiotics. So a little pro tip for my parents out there if always ask, what does the ear look like? And if they're like, oh, it's just red with a little bit of fluid, that is not an ear infection. That does not require antibiotics. If it's like it's bulging hot lava and pus is about to explode, okay, that's an ear infection. But even that doesn't need um antibiotics. Number four, we talked about the overuse of common medications such as tylenol and Xantac. Number five, the uh the use of topical steroids is a first-line treatment for eczema. We go to the topical steroids instead of gut healing. Number six, the continued and highly profitable development of powerful immune-crushing medications and acting like they're no big deal. Dupixen is an immunomodulator. It is a chemotherapeutic agent, but we're not gonna say that because you want to say chemotherapy because people think it's cancer. It is that powerful. It is as powerful as What are you gonna use it for? Dupixin is to, it's an immunomodulator for eczema. Oh, okay. Yeah. So it costs over $3,000 per dose.

SPEAKER_00 33:56

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_01 33:57

And so, but again, it's like, oh, your eczema's not getting better. Dupixin, rather than like, should you send you to a nutritionist? Are you pooping every day? Are you sleeping? What's your stress? And then the number seven, which we talked about, was excessive use of C-sections in deliveries.

SPEAKER_00 34:12

Oh my goodness. So why do they encourage styried creams instead of getting to the root problem? Just because they don't teach it in medical school, so it's not on the top of their mind.

SPEAKER_01 34:20

Well, so in medical school, when we talk about uh eczema stuff or dermatology, we talk about the skin, we understand the anatomy of the skin, we talk about the layers of the skin, but you don't go, and then this is how it's connected to the rest of the body. We just talk about the skin as the skin, like it's an individual organ outside the rest of the body. But we do the same thing for lungs. Like if you have asthma, you talk about the lungs, like they exist all on their own. When you do ADHD as the brain. Because in the traditional model, we don't do the holistic, and you know, holistic approach really means a lot of people think it's uh no medicines and no vaccines and no whatever. No, holistic means that when a child comes in with an issue like eczema, we look at the whole child, like at the skin, at the gut, at the brain, at the lungs, at the family, at the community, at their full environment. So we're stepping back and looking at a huge picture of what's causing eczema or asthma rather than one organ system.

SPEAKER_00 35:20

I love that. And that's why it's so effective, too. Now, I'm a little nervous that some of our moms might be feeling a little overwhelmed right now because of all of the like toxic things in our food and our environment. So I know. So a couple questions for our listeners. How can a mom know what foods are causing their children's skin issues to get worse? Or maybe it's not food, maybe it's the environment, like you said, or like how would they know? Like, is there are there steps for them to do? Sure.

SPEAKER_01 35:54

So, you know, I always take a complex thing, and when you guys listen to this, you know, it's we're giving a huge broad picture. And let's break it down to simple steps that we can just kind of take some action. For environmental stuff that is outdoor stuff, you can actually ask uh for it's called immunocap. That's a traditional test done by a traditional doctor, covered by your insurance most of the time. And what it does, it tests for you know, polls grasses, molds, dust, mic, cockroaches. So then you kind of know, okay, that is a trigger, so it's something to keep in mind when, depending on the season. When it comes to foods, let's look at our children's diet and let's look at it with a critical eye. We often look at it with an eye that's like, I don't want to be judged as a bad mom. Nobody's a bad mom. We are not bad moms. Did you hear what I used to feed my kids? Pop tarts. And on a good day, when I was a good mom in my head, I gave them toaster strudels with icing on top just to make sure they had plenty of sugar before starting school. And then I didn't know why my one of my children couldn't be kicked himself in the seat. It was weird. But what I'm saying is, we're not, we just have all that information and life is hard and we're busy, children are whiny, and you know, we just want peace in our house. So we're gonna look at our children's eye with a critical eye. Do your children eat packaged foods, at least one packaged food at every meal? The answer is yes, your child has a processed diet, and it's okay. It's okay. What that means is all right, so let's tackle breakfast. If your child grabs a protein bar for breakfast, we may need to substitute it with a smoothie. We may need to substitute it maybe with an egg, maybe with toast and peanut butter, maybe with toast and avocado. So simple something like that. And then once you get breakfast under your belt, then you go, let's look at our lunchbox. We're not gonna look when I started, you know, one of the reasons I when I wrote the book, my first book, I actually did an outline of exactly what I did. And when you look at how slow the steps were, you're like, seriously? Step one was literally this Cheez-Its. How can I get a similar cracker with natural ingredient I can read? Because if you can't read it, you can't eat it. So I went to the store and I bought different kinds of Cheez-It likes I figured out one that was a suitable replacement, and then I got rid of the Cheez-Its. Then I moved to the Um Ritz Crackers, and then I was like, all right, well, the cinnamon toast scrunch gotta go. And but I didn't get rid of the cinnamon toast scrunch. What I did is I was like, all right, kids, we're gonna have a smoothie in the morning, and after your smoothie, you can have your cinnamon toast crunch. So my people were like, well, all right, and in my smoothie, and I kid you now, my smoothie was ice cream, strawberries, and milk. And my kids were like, sweet, ice cream. So, but over time, I was like, okay, so as long as it tastes like this and it looks pink, we're good. I started adding spinach. I started taking away the ice cream and added vanilla yogurt. Over time, the vanilla yogurt became plain yogurt. Uh then more fruits and vegetables. The smoothie today looks nothing like the smoothie from 13 years ago. But it took a long time. And as they were eating the smoothie, they became fuller and didn't want their cinnamon toast crunch. So instead of becoming a no mom, I was still a yes mom. Of course you can. But they were full from the smoothie because over time I packed it with so many goodies. And but it was one step at a time. I didn't do that, and you say, Whoa, we hear a lot of dairy. Right, because I went after food coloring first, then I tackled sugar, then the dairy was really late in the game for my kids. And I'll tell you, my daughter's eczema got better 95% without removing dairy. And then at the age of 16, I did this full elimination dye because I for the Institute of Functional Medicine, that was my homework. And when she eliminated dairy, her skin, like acne, most gorgeous skin. She's always known for her amazing skin. So that's really when the but her old eczema otherwise had gone completely away. Um, and so just look at one thing, don't do it all. Are your kids playing outside or too much screen time? What is your stress level in the house? Maybe, you know, some things in the for screen time that isn't uh easy, and I use quotation marks. Is the children have to be outside to earn the right to use screen time? For every one minute they're outside, they can get one minute of screen time. So it becomes a barter system. They don't want to play outside, wonderful. They don't get any screen time. Now we don't have we don't hear about any more whining. For the children that are picky, or the kids that are like really snack, snack, snack. Sure you can have a snack, but which fruit or vegetable would you have, would you like to have first? Because we feed our body with something from the ground before we eat something from a package. Again, you're a yes mom, not a no mom, because you say, Of course you can, but what fruit or vegetable? They say, I want fruit or vegetable. You say, Wonderful, you're not hungry. See ya, go outside. So it becomes, they make the choice of not eating, you're not making the choice for them. When it comes to stress, certain things you can do, a small thing you can do right now is, and you go, Well, how does stress affect eczema? That doesn't make sense. In our bodies, we have these cells that are called mast cells, they look like pinatas, and inside these pinatas, they're histamines that look like, let's say, candy. So we have these pinatas with candy in them that travel the body, and when the body, when these guys come in contact with uh a pollen, a dog, dairy, processed food, they explode and the histamines get released. And when the histamines get released, eczema flares up. And cortisol, when we're stressed, the level of cortisol rises, and when the level of cortisol rises, it creates more mast cells, more of these pinatas. So your body is patrolled by thousands more histamine-producing cells in your body. So you're much more likely to be irritated by the environment when you're super stressed. Just think of when you're super stressed and your child is like, Where's my hat? You know, and you're just like, ah, I told you a thousand times to leave it on a hook. You know, that was a terrible example, but you know what I mean. Right. So those, so I would just do small steps. I often recommend people to just get my book. And if you're like, I can't, there's like way too many things I can do it. So my book kind of walks you through step by step to turning your lifestyle around. And then I have an online rule of five. Yes, the rule of five, a parent's guide to raising healthy kids in this unhealthy world.

SPEAKER_00 42:26

Great. I love that. And you make it so approachable. And if people haven't seen your Instagram, what I love is you're like, hey, here's a traditional dinner and here's an easy swap idea. And you give like five or six easy swaps, and I'm like, oh yeah, that literally looks amazing and way healthier. And your kids won't notice a huge difference. And I noticed too when I swapped Mila out. I'm like, I kind of have to swap everything out because it's just easier. And there were brands that I found that I was like, oh, like they don't even notice the difference. You know, like I can buy, you know, the muffins that are made with almond flour or or whatever. And and they're they don't even really notice the difference, but they all feel so much better. Totally.

SPEAKER_01 43:15

You know, I'm so glad you said that. A lot of times it's our mindset. Like we're the problem because we'll we'll say, ah, they're not gonna eat that. When in fact, we have no idea, but we have we parent with our fear, you know, we're like, Oh, I don't want to spend money on this. Oh, I don't want them to be upset at dinner. And when you change your mindset, you're like, uh, this is just how it is because food is medicine, and sometimes your medicine doesn't taste good. Okay, let's do this.

SPEAKER_00 43:40

And all of a sudden we'll eat what you buy. Like, if it's not in the house, they like my kids. I'm like, this is what we have. Like, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 43:48

And then, you know, and then people that go, but but they walk around, there's nothing to eat. I'm like, Do you know how many times I hear that in my house? I'm like, but that's weird because the fridge is full of food. And my kids nothing good to eat. My friend's house has a Amazing stuff. I'm like, your friend has a lot of acne and you don't. So I rest my kids.

SPEAKER_00 44:06

Yes, I love that. That's so helpful. Um, and I'm so for the moms that want even more information, because this was just kind of like a general overview. I know you have your whole um eczema transformation course that helps uh moms. You have an amazing YouTube channel. You have your book, Rule of Five. Where else can my listeners find more information on you?

SPEAKER_01 44:32

I would love to help you guys, you know, on my um, just like Bree's talking about, on Instagram. I do a ton of free information. Of course, it's bits and pieces here and there because it's Instagram. And um, you know, uh you and but I go every weekend I go shopping to a local grocery store, Target, Walmart, or Costco to make it affordable because that's one of the things I get all the time, too, is eating well is really expensive. So I try to break through the myths and the barriers. So I show you how to buy breakfast at Walmart and dinner at Costco and lunch at Target. And um, so anyway, so that's free. And then if you're struggling with eczema, I have my online eczema transformation program that has helped hundreds of families achieve incredible results. Um, then it's reduced mom stress, and I've tried to make it super affordable for, you know, a lot of people are like, well, can it be? Yeah, it's not gonna be a $2 because it's so much information. I take you through a step-by-step approach on how to see what the story was, the root cause. You will be able to identify the root cause of your child's problem. You will be in charge of the foods, you'll be in charge of the supplements, you'll be charging the food reintroduction, and you are gonna be the one healing your children's eczema, and I'm just gonna be there to guide you. And in our VIP course, we actually have one uh we have group sessions on Mondays with my health coach and on Thursday with me, where we walk you through the personal problems that you're having, and we address all individual questions for eczema so we can give you additional support in this very difficult, very challenging chronic issue.

SPEAKER_00 46:08

That's incredible. And I will link everything in the show notes as well so people will be able to see all of your resources so you can help them as well. So thank you for your time, Dr. Anna Maria. I'm so grateful for your knowledge. We're gonna help get this message out to as many people as possible.

SPEAKER_01 46:27

So yeah, I'm so thankful to you and your audience and your team because you know the only way we can change the world is as a team and to um help one another because we are not supposed to be isolated individual things. We are a community, and this is so wonderful. My mission is to help, you know, a million children change their skin over the next 12 months. So I'm so grateful for your help in this mission.

SPEAKER_00 46:51

Oh, thank you so much. We will talk to you next time. Bye. Bye. Thank you for joining us in today's episode. If you liked the content and want to hear more, remember to hit that subscribe button and write a review. As a small business owner, I appreciate it more than you know. If you are looking for a program to help with self-confidence, to lose weight, get in shape, and work on your mental, physical, and emotional health. Check out my training programs on www.bodyby.com. My team and I help to hold you accountable through the Body Bybrie app, where you log in to see all your workouts, custom meal plan made specifically for you and your needs, and communication through the Messenger. You are never alone when you're on the Body by Bree training program. Click the link in the show notes to get more information on how to transform your life from the inside out of the