Ep. 127 - It's Cold Season! How to Holistically Strengthen Your Kids (and Your) Immune System, Gut Microbiome and Vagus Nerve with Integrative Pediatrician, Dr. Elisa Song, MD
Dr. Elisa Song, MD is an integrative pediatrician, pediatric functional medicine expert, and mom to 2 thriving children.
In her integrative pediatric practice, Whole Family Wellness, she’s helped 1000s of kids get to the root causes of their health concerns and helped their parents understand how to help their children thrive – through body, mind, and spirit – by integrating conventional pediatrics with functional medicine, homeopathy, acupuncture, herbal medicine, and essential oils.
Dr. Song created Healthy Kids Happy Kids as an online holistic pediatric resource to help practitioners and parents bridge the gap between conventional and integrative pediatrics with an evidence-based, pediatrician-backed approach.
In this episode, Dr. Elisa and I chatted about
The foods her children eat for lunch and how to avoid so many snacks - especially carb-loaded snacks
How to prevent “hangry” children and get off the sugar rollercoaster
What is integrated pediatrics? What does holistic medicine really mean?
The side effects of using antibiotics in children, but what you can do in tandem to help reestablish a healthy “gut bugs”
How to nourish your microbiome - especially your gut microbiome and what will help it stick and grow to improve your gut
What foods you can add into your kids diet to help increase fiber intake
The importance of the mind-body connection and the vagus nerve.
Which is the true first vs. second brain?
What are the easiest switches you can make to help improve your gut microbiome? Her list of the top 4 “mischief makers”
How our thoughts and psychological stress actually can change our gut microbiome and even our vaginal microbiome
Exercises to strengthen your child’s vagus nerve “muscle” and ways to take “mindful moments” with your kids
Tips to starting your morning off peacefully
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Ep. 127 - Dr. Elisa Song Transcript
[00:00:00] Stephanie: Welcome back to Mommy's on a Call. Today I'm excited to bring to you Dr. Elisa Song. She is an integrative pediatrician, pediatric functional medicine expert, and mom to two thriving children who are almost teenagers in her integrative pediatric practice, whole family wellness.
She's helped thousands of kids get to the root cause of their health concerns and help their parents understand how to help their children thrive through mind body. Spirit by integrating conventional pediatrics with functional medicine, homeopathy, acupuncture, herbal medicine, and essential oils.
Dr. Song created healthy kids, Happy kids, as an online holistic pediatric resource to help practitioners and parents bridge the gap between conventional and integrated pediatrics with an evidence-based pediatrician back approach. Welcome, Dr. Song.
[00:01:43] Dr. Elisa Song: Thank you, Stephanie. I'm super excited to be here today with you and all the mamas listening.
[00:01:47] Stephanie: I'm excited because I actually found you first, I think on a Facebook group. We were in this thing called Mindshare, but then all of a sudden the pandemic hit and I saw like my friends were posting your things everywhere. You suddenly became this like figurehead for covid and holistic health through covid for your kids.
So I think it's. I'm so excited to actually finally sit down and chat with you about all these things. But to get started, I wanted to ask, what is your biggest mom win of the week?
[00:02:15] Dr. Elisa Song: Oh my goodness. Okay. My biggest mom win of the week. Well, you know, we are, um, just really about a month into. School and my kids are in sixth grade and seventh grade.
It always takes a little time to get into routine. So I would have to say my biggest mommy win of the week is actually getting the kids out the door on time with really good breakfast in their belly and, you know, healthy lunches packed . That's always a win. Even, you know, I go day by day, but, but we. This week,
[00:02:46] Stephanie: And they're both now in middle school, I presume, at the same school? Mm-hmm. . So you're not in different locations. Yep. That's exciting. And when you say healthy lunch, I'm curious, what do you pack for your kids?
[00:02:57] Dr. Elisa Song: Okay, so it varies. Sometimes they actually will have like a coal slaw type salad that we make with some grilled chicken and avocado.
Oftentimes it's leftovers. If we have, you know, a veggie curry or if we have chili, um, we'll put that in there. Sometimes I'll make a sandwich for them and we'll put spinach and, you know, some melted cheese and maybe some. We use the Applegate. Honey ham. I, I do, I, you know, I do cater them to a bit, so I, I pan fry it so it's nice and, you know, crisp on the edges,
So, and then, you know, I'm not gonna say that we never, ever, you know, eat prepackaged foods. I mean, sometimes we'll get tamales or we'll get burritos, and then I put we, they always have a variety of crispy vegetables. Kenzie is particularly fond of cherry tomatoes and Persian cucumbers. Bodhi likes Persian cucu.
Snap peas and carrots. So we kind of mix it up, but there's always a vegetable, there's always a main with really good sources of protein. Kids need that protein and healthy fats to get them through the afternoon without, you know, uh, that sugar rollercoaster that sometimes happen if they're just eating starchy, kind of refined carby foods.
And then for snack, I have to say, as my kids have gotten older, I don't pack them a snack. I mean, they have a really good breakfast and then snack is about an hour and a half later. And then lunch is about an hour and a half. After that, they're old enough that they can sustain, you know, three hours in between breakfast and lunch.
And oftentimes, and you know, we all have this at moms, your kids come home and they're starving. And so you put out a bowl, you know, maybe of some chips and guacamole. Fine snack, right? But then they eat so much they're not hungry for dinner. Right? Dinner is where kids oftentimes will get the majority of the vegetable intake for the day.
So we really reduce our snacking. And if they're snacking, we might have maybe an apple with some almond butter, or like I said, some chips and guacamole or carrots and hummus. But I really try to minimize the. Snacks when they're little, it's a different story. You know, they, I know I was gonna say
[00:04:57] Stephanie: my snacks so much and I try and stop that.
And they're always like, the snacks they go to are obviously like the high carb ones. Yeah. Yeah. So how did you, I was gonna say, were your kids always like, I'm going to eat the cucumbers, I'm going to eat the snap peas. Did they like the vegetables and stuff when they were younger?
[00:05:13] Dr. Elisa Song: I have to say I'm very, very fortunate that my kids are not very selective eaters.
I mean, Bodhi, the, the younger guy, he's a little more selective than Kenzie, but still, you know, he will eat what I put in front of him. So we are very, very lucky. But you know, we don't have a lot of snacky foods in the house. So oftentimes that's just. Really not an option. I mean, we have popcorn in the house and we have some things that are a little more of the easy snacks, but even when they were little, I didn't have a lot of the, I mean, yes, I had the puffs in my bag, right.
You know, or the baby mom mums that kid. It's like, baby, baby crack. I mean, they're just so addicted to those baby mom mums. I just thought there was something a. Strange about how much kids like them so much.
[00:05:56] Stephanie: Right. Well, they remind me too of the little, like, um, so my kids love the little senbei Asian crackers.
Mm-hmm. and so, but they're like the same thing. I think maybe it's just they like to hold them and they have the perfect crunch .
[00:06:06] Dr. Elisa Song: But even then, you know, I'm always mindful of, and, and I knew this from the beginning, right? When you have that, you know, like a little rice cracker or you know, something that's a, a a more refined carb, that's, you know, gonna really have to, we think it gets immediately converted into sugar in their bodies. And we've all seen this. You give them, you know, a package of little chips or, or crackers, they get really energetic, maybe a little hyper and active and super happy, right? And then all of a sudden, an hour later and a half later, they're kind of crashing again.
They get. Grumpy, cranky. They're crying and you're like, Oh my gosh, I have to get more food into them. So you're chasing them down with maybe another squeezy of like, you know, apple sauce and then their blood sugar spikes up again. So we, we get, we do this, we get our kids on the sugar rollercoaster.
So if you're just aware that it's like the apple squeezie or those rice crackers, they're not bad, you know, by themselves.
But if we pair them, you know, with a healthier fat or healthier protein, we slow down how quickly their blood goes up. We also prevent that crash from happening. So they're, they're just a lot more, even, we're not running around, like digging in our purses for, for food, you know, to feed them fast because they're just in that hangry scheme.
Hangry, Yeah. Yeah. So I've, you know, I've, I've been pairing that, you know, with like avocados when they have the baby crackers or having the whole. Instead of the pouches. Because the pouches, you lose a lot of the fiber too that slows down that blood sugar rush. So I would say if we could get our kids off that sugar rollercoaster from from the beginning, we as mamas would feel much more calm.
Right. And our kids would feel much more calm in their bodies and their brain. So just be, you know, thinking, being aware. I was gonna say,
[00:07:48] Stephanie: I listened to your, um, interview with Dr. Michael Gorin on sugar Proof, and that was so eyeopening because I think even for parents, we need to figure out our sugar consumption and all of that.
But I'll take a step back because I wanted to talk a little bit about how you are an integrative pediatrician and not a lot of people. Maybe know exactly what that means. They see the word say like essential oil, and they're like, What is this? Like what? I'm gonna rub lavender and suddenly my kid's gonna feel better.
A lot of us moms are in like the fight or flight mode where it's like your kid gets sick. And especially over the last three years, it's been this like roller coaster of like, He has a fever, what do we do? Oh no, they're throwing up and I feel like my kids have been more sick in the last year than they have their whole life.
Not even covid, just they're getting all of these things. And my default and a lot of my friend's defaults are their ear hurts. Let bring them to the doctor. They probably have an ear infection, get them checked out, put them on antibiotics, and move on instead of really like taking a step back. Explained to me like what you do in your practice and also how did you start down this path?
Were you always into it? You know, how did you get involved , we go to school. You went to school, you're a pediatrician, an md. How do you break away and how did you get to where you are today?
[00:09:03] Dr. Elisa Song: So let me start by just defining what integrated pediatrics is, because it can mean a lot of things, as you said to different people.
And I really moved away from calling myself a holistic pediatrician because really and truly every single pediatrician should be holistic. We should look at the child in front of us and take our child, that child in the context holistically with their family, their friends, their schools, their communities, and really take a, a whole child approach to what's going on.
So integrative though means. I integrate conventional pediatrics and I was very conventionally trained. My mother was a conventionally trained ob gyn. I grew up, you know, with antibiotics in a conventional household, and that is the foundation.
We have to understand what's going on from a pathophysiologic standpoint with your child, right? We have to understand when certain pharmaceutical prescription medicines are necessary, but then as we go through and realize some of the downstream unintended effects of let's say maybe antibiotics or antiacid medications. How do we take the benefits of necessary medicine without having some of the adverse effects that I was never taught in medical school?
But as we go through and understand some of these implications for our kids gut health and their brain health and their immune health long term, how do we integrate them? Functional medicine, which is a way of looking really at how our genetic makeup interacts with our environment to manifest the symptoms of wellness or illness.
And our environment. And our environment includes the air we breathe, the food we eat, the. Thoughts. We have the, you know, environmental chemicals we're exposed to. Um, I also use homeopathy, verbal medicines. I teach parents pressure points. I do acupuncture in the practice. I use essential oil, so I integrate these.
And I'm not throwing the kitchen sink at kids. Right. You know, I'm, I'm using what I know from the evidence and the literature, and also clinical evidence from my, you know, 20 plus years practicing this way. So it's really integrative and I, I use that because we are not throwing the baby out with the bath water.
Some people, when they think holistic medicine, it means nothing, never ever gonna touch ibuprofen, never ever gonna touch antibiotics. And that's not the case, right? I mean, there is a time and a place for almost everything, but we have to be judicious and recognize that. In fact, one study that just came out showed that 70%, you know, in these records of hospitals and clinics, 70% of antibiotics that were prescribed to children were inappropriately prescribed
[00:11:50] Stephanie: Actually, I'm a case, just this week I had tmi, but a UTI from a surgery I had. Gave me an antibiotic. Four days later, the office calls and says, Oh, I'm sorry your culture came back. We prescribed you the wrong thing. Here's a new antibiotic. Yep. So now I've been on two antibiotics in the last two weeks, plus it was the same antibiotic I was given after surgery.
So now I've been on the same antibiotic in a span of eight weeks. Oh my goodness. Okay. And now I'm like, okay, this is not good, but this happens to our kids too. Yes, for sure. And so, and I feel like that has a bigger effect than like, I, Yeah. I'm all, and yes, it's not good for me, but your kids are so little and their guts are just developing.
And so, yeah. I wanna hear more a little bit about this .
[00:12:33] Dr. Elisa Song: Yeah. Yeah. Well, because, you know, this study found that really, um, those kids who were inappropriately prescribed antibiotics, whether it was because they were given a prescription for. For a viral infection, your common cold, the influenza, , you know, any number.
All of these common childhood viruses that have come roaring back, you know, as since after we've come out of lockdown, antibiotics do nothing for, or maybe using a, a much stronger antibiotic than needed, they found that those kids actually at a much higher rate of having serious. Complications or side effects, like c diff infections bacteria, c diff infections afterwards.
So, and we also know, and this is not, you know, I say this lightly because as mamas, when we think back about, you know, maybe. What we, I mean, I think about the tuna fish that I ate when my daughter, when I was pregnant with my daughter, I just needed that one tuna fish sandwich, Right? or, you know, you think about, and we all think about should I have done something different?
But you know, we only know what we know at the time and we are, we're always doing our best as moms. But we do know that, you know, antibiotics or antiacid medications, When given in the first six months of life to that young baby can increase the risk of virtually every single allergic disease by the time they're four years of age.
You know, whether it's asthma or eczema or, or hay fever or anaphylactic food allergies. And you know, one round of antibiotics is a toddler. When you follow those kids, that has been shown to increase. The risk of mental health concerns, anxiety, depression, other neuropsychiatric disorders in older children and teenager. By up to 50%, right?
So now why is that? So that can sound a little scary. And if your child has eczema, asthma, or maybe is suffering from anxiety, you might be thinking, Oh my God, was it that one time I gave antibiotics for ear infections and maybe the multiple times I gave antibiotics for a strep throat, those were needed.
But now we have to understand what happens when we take antibiotics is. Antibiotics don't choose which bacteria they're gonna kill. Yes, they kill the bad stuff, which is what they want, but they also can kill all of that good, you know, probiotics, those good bacteria in your gut microbiome that as a child has an intimate connection between your gut and your immune system development, your gut, and your developing brain, your gut, and your developing hormones. So the health of your gut microbiome is really key for your child's future health.
So if we understand that, then we know, all right, let's take these necessary antibiotics, but let's support your gut child's gut in the meantime with all of our functional medicine approaches.
And when antibiotics are needed, like let's say for a common cold, As a mom, the worst thing in the world is to have your child sick with a fever and feel helpless. Right? Yeah. And you just wanna give the antibiotic and pray that that's gonna make your child feel better. Right? Well, when we use our evidence based, you know, natural medicines, like different homopathic medicines or herbal medicines, or even essential oils and accupressure points, we can do something that's actually helping your child get better, faster, and recover so that they're actually, you know, possibly.
Hopefully their immune has been stronger for the next time they're exposed. So that's my goal. Okay.
[00:15:56] Stephanie: And so I wanted to ask on that note, like being, you know, a mom and you're scared because your kid has like an infection or you know, an actual infection, they like confirm. You're like, and you have to take the antibiotics.
But then now I'm stuck with this in my head going, am I gonna screw up my kid? My kids are young, like, am I gonna screw up their gut health for the future? You said there are things you can do. In tandem or to help support that? What sort of things do you have? Like your top go-to things to help support that?
I'm more also thinking about like me right now and like I'm on my third antibiotic in six. Yeah. In eight weeks. But then I don't know what else to do. Like you're stuck in this situation where you have an infection. You need to, you know, I've tried different things, but it's not working. I need the. If I'm the kid, what do you do?
[00:16:41] Dr. Elisa Song: Yeah, 100%. And also, if you're a mom listening and your child has already had antibiotic, you can do these same things, right? It's never too late to reestablish a healthy gut microbiome. You know, The older we get, the harder it is, right? It just takes a little while longer, but that's okay. Everything is modifiable.
And so, but especially if your child's on antibiotic or has had antibiotics or you know, Stephanie, for you right now, what we wanna do is make sure that we get. All of those good gut bacteria, antibiotics only kill bacteria, right? We all have healthy. Low level amounts of yeast in our gut, but this is the experience for many, many women, right?
They take an antibiotic and all of a sudden they have a raging vaginal yeast infection. Right? Why does that happen? Because the antibiotics kill the bacteria in your gut, but, and also your vaginal microbiome. We have microbiomes. Everywhere. Our vagina has its own microbiome. Our breast milk glands has their own microbiome.
Our skin has its own microbiome. So if we disrupt that with antibiotics, then all the yeast can, you know, have their heyday, right? They have no competition now, right? They can take over the field and you know, where the bacteria used to be. And then we develop a vaginal use affection. So we wanna make sure that we're replenishing all of those good gut bugs and creating an environment where the good gut bugs actually stick and grow.
Right? So it's not necessarily enough just to take probiotics. Right. I mean, you see, there's, I mean, seemingly an endless number of new probiotics are coming outta the market all the time,
[00:18:14] Stephanie: and everything's a probiotic. You have like probiotic cookies and gummies and like everything is a probiotic's, right?
It's like, I'm surprised I don't have just probiotic water now, but I, I understand there's a difference between what they actually do and Yeah,
[00:18:27] Dr. Elisa Song: for sure. Because, you know, it's kind of like if you, if you think about growing a garden, right? You. Throw tomato seeds onto the ground and po it's like Jack, you know, jack in the magic beans the next day.
There's an amazing tomato plant. You have to nourish the soil that the, that those seeds are gonna grow. And so same thing with your gut microbiome. So what, what do those probio seeds, Yes. Take a probiotic supplement, you know, eat those fermented foods. Right? That we've so much variety of fermented foods that hopefully your child.
Likes, maybe some miso if they're not quite into sauerkraut or yogurt or kombucha and keefer. , but you're, you are, we need to feed those gut bugs. And those gut bugs need fiber to grow. They need fiber as fuel, so we wanna make sure that while we're on antibiotics and even after go, we're trying to recolonize your gut with all the good gut bugs.
We are feeding those gut bugs. With, you know, a rainbow of different fruits and vegetables we're getting in our legumes, right? Our black beans dip or refried beans and beans in your chili, gar bondos in your salad because the, the legumes are one of the richest sources of fiber in our diet, and we want a good variety, getting in those whole grains.
So not, you know, process, you know, crackers in breath, but, you know, getting in some quinoa. Brown rice and, you know, variety of different, different grains that are gonna nourish your gut microbiome. So
[00:19:56] Stephanie: I was just saying, how do you get those into your kids? I'm just .
[00:19:59] Dr. Elisa Song: Well, we just, you know, we, we bee cream, like if you're, you know, I, I actually made a lasagna the other day with lentil pasta sheets.
[00:20:07] Stephanie: Oh yeah. I've seen the red lentil ones
[00:20:09] Dr. Elisa Song: or just the lentil. Yeah, it was, it was really good as, as a lasagna, right? And you know, if you're doing, you know, let's say if your kids are into soup, you could actually grind up, you know, with a, uh, I love my immersion blender. Just throw in some, the lentils in there and just grind them up so it makes soup a little thicker. But you still get that great fiber in there.
Cauliflower. If you freeze cauliflower, it is tasteless in your. Right. Oh yeah. I mean, that's another great way to get in some phytonutrients and fiber into, into those smoothies so that they're not just, you know, all fruit. And then, you know, bone broth. If your kids love bone broth or, or make rice or pasta with bone broth.
Saute your vegetables and bone broth. The bone broth has amazing sources of gluten mean. Um, and glutamine is an amino acid that helps your gut lining stay healthy. So that's another, you know, easy thing, especially as we head into the winter. Just you can buy amazing bone broths now. Just make a, that a bone broth in your crock pot, you know, and have it for the week.
So that's another really, uh, I think. An easy, easy-ish way, right? You could even put a little bowl broth in your smoothies. Or if you're making soups, use foam broth instead of just putting chicken stock. And that'll be really helpful too.
[00:21:21] Stephanie: Yeah, so many nutrients. And on that note, I was gonna say, of cooking and the gut, my new favorite word is the vagus nerve
Oh yeah. I don't know if that's like, I read about it and. So I wanted to ask you a little bit more about that, because besides the gut being super important for immunity and everything else, I was reading more about the gut and the mind and for especially young minds and kids. Can you talk a little bit about why the gut is so important for other stuff besides just, you know, our immune health there?
[00:21:50] Dr. Elisa Song: Yeah. Well, let's talk about the gut brain connection then. Okay. The gut brain connection, it's, you know, it's, it's, I'm not gonna say it's our most important connection, you know, with the gut, but it is really important for our kids.
What's fascinating is babies when they're born, they kind of have a relatively clean slate in their gut and the gut microbiome rapidly grows and changes depending on the environment around birth, you know, whether kids were birth vaginally or by C-section, and also what happens right after birth and how babies are fed. What's fascinating is that the explosion of growth in your gut microbiome. Exactly mirrors the explosion of brain connections called synapses in your baby's brain.
And we wanna think what comes first. Is it the brain growth that's driving your gut microbiome growth, or is it the other way around? And it's a two-way street, right? There's this connection, this communication that happens between your gut and the brain called the vagus nerve.
Now, just to take a step back, the vagus nerve is part of what's called our autonomic nervous system, and part of the parasympathetic nervous system that we need to rest, digest, heal, stay calm, and it's in direct opposition to the sympathetic nervous system, which where is where most of us are living in these days, right? The fight or flight, panic gotta go, go, go, right Fight, flight, or freeze response.
And so there's a balance. We need both, right? We need a little stress in our lives to get, keep us motivated and going, but we don't.
But right now, we're living in almost constant stress all the time. So what we need is a way to improve that vagus nerve and live in more of that calm, mindful, restful digestive state. Now, the communication between the gut and the brain, as I mentioned, happens via the vagus nerve. What most people don't recognize is that 80 to 90% of the communication happens from the guts to the brain.
Wow. Only about 10 to 20% happens from the brain to the gut. Your gut nervous system. Has has cells and nerve cells that look just like your brain cells. They're called glial cells. Okay? Your guts and nervous system can live without your brain. Your brain cannot live without your guts and nervous system, huh?
Right. So then we have to step back and think. All right, when we're talking about the second brain, which is really our first brain, right? So we have this intimate connection with the gut microbiome and brain development, both in toddler years, that same explosion and changes in your gut microbiome and, and growth of your, of your child's brain synapses, connections happens in your teenage years too.
So it's really important to have a healthy gut microbiome because your gut microbiome communicates to your brain. Tells your brain what connections to make and to keep, and the vast majority of neuro transmitters, brain chemicals like serotonin that keep us calm and relaxed and manage stress and help us fall asleep, and also dopamine, which keeps us motivated, helps us pay attention, stay focused, you know, stay on task. 80 to 90% of those brain chemicals are made by our gut microbiome.
[00:25:14] Stephanie: Wow. So if we already messed up, you know, when they were born and we didn't do all the things, and now we have elementary age kids or toddlers and moving on, what are some of the things we can do just.
Do we just wanna facilitate this like healthy gut? Do we, is there anything we can do to help these kids thrive? Especially, I mean, I've seen so many kids suffering from, you know, ADHD and all of these things and being told like, Oh, go gluten free or go this. But no real explanation on why. So this kind of like brings it back to the why, you know, what are some of the like daily things or things we can start doing, implementing that are easy besides completely overhauling our life right now.
[00:25:53] Dr. Elisa Song: Mm-hmm. . Yeah.
[00:25:54] Stephanie: To start on that path of really improving that connection.
[00:25:57] Dr. Elisa Song: Yeah. Well, and I wanna, I, I'm so glad you said that because when we as. As moms begin to understand the why it gets easier to implement these changes.
[00:26:08] Stephanie: Yes. I'm, I'm so big on the why, like, and so that's why I'm not wanna know like all the details because why is this, like, why does it work?
[00:26:15] Dr. Elisa Song: Yeah. And the why also, as we can then teach our kids and explain to them. Did you know, you know, I did you recognize how hard it was for you to sit still in class and I, you know, I know you don't like getting called out by the teacher. Did you know it actually could be because your gut bugs aren't happy, Right?
Or, you know, have you ever had worries that were so big that you couldn't fall asleep at night? It could be your gut bugs, you know, that are, are making it difficult. All kids. You know, at a certain point they recognize that they don't, you know, maybe they're getting sick more often than their friends, or it's harder to, you know, get along with their friends, or it's hard to fall asleep, or it's hard to sit still in class.
And we can tie all of those back to our gut microbiome and the health, our gut microbiome. And so when we sit and think, okay, we know that the gut is the root of, of virtually everything that's going on for your kids, we then wanna. Ourselves as parent and also our kids to know they can change their gut microbiome.
They have the power by what they put in their mouth and eat and even by the thoughts that they have, right? And so we're, we wanna look at that. Truly thinking about food as medicine and lifestyle is medicine, and also mindfulness is medicine. So let's just think about sometimes food is the hardest thing to change, right?
I'm, that is, I'm not gonna lie, that can be the most challenging, especially if you have a selective eater. So when we think about food, let's think about not necessarily diving into like a salad with 20 different foods and vegetables in it, right? What, what I, what I think about first is what are the major disruptors to your child's gut microbiome?
And how do we then, given what our children are, Make those swaps so that our child's diet is a little more friendly, gut friendly, Right? So, you know, one, the, the biggest, biggest gut microbiome, you know, what I call mischief makers, are food additives, ultraprocessed food, too much added sugar and glyphosate or Roundup, you know, that we eat when, that we get, when we have non-organic food.
Glyphosate actually was, was patented as an antibiotic, okay? So it is going to directly harm your gut microbiome, so that's easy. We choose the majority of the time. Look at the environmental working groups list and the foods that are most heavily sprayed with pesticides. Choose those organic as much as possible, right.
With added sugars, look at the labels, right? If, if we could teach our kids how to read labels in a gut savvy way, that would make one of the biggest differences for their whole life. Because at a certain point, your kids are gonna be tweens like mine, and they're going downtown, buying food for themselves. So I want them to be able to look at the label and say, Hmm.
Um, maybe I'll make a different swap, a different choice. I'm still gonna buy a, a bag of potato chips, or I'll make a choice that isn't gonna be as harmful for my gut microbiome.
Food additives are, you know, one of the biggest growing industries in the world. , and food additives in particular. , those artificial food dyes and food emulsifiers that keep food together can directly cause imbalance or gut microbiome.
So make a lateral swap if your kids are eating. I always mention talkies because there's rolled, you know, talks with red dye 40, right? Um, their favorite, you know, among, you know, my son and his friends. I, I show myself, Let's look at the label here together.
Like any, anything that's really hard to pronounce, probably a chemical that doesn't belong in your body, right? If you have to Google what that ingredient is, right? You wanna think twice about it. Anything that says dye red, dye 40, Blue Lake, you know, six, whatever it is. I mean, those died. Those died also directly cause harm to your gut microbiome, answering your brain and.
And so let's take talkies, let's find a swap so that your child can still have that bag, you know, with their friends. But it's maybe the Trader Joe's roll tortilla chips that don't have the, the artificial red dye and don't have all the other ingredients that food manufacturers will put into these ultra processed foods to make them saltier, sweeter, fattier, you know, more addictive to our pal. So making those swaps. So that would be the first thing.
And then when we think about the vagus nerve, remember that two-way street, the thoughts we think in psychological stress actually can change our gut microbiome too, can change our vaginal microbiome.
[00:30:50] Stephanie: Whoa, I didn't know that. I know it can change our gut, and I know like the thoughts and activating your parasympathetic will help with the healing, but how does it affect all of that
[00:30:59] Dr. Elisa Song: Well, because of that intimate connection, right? Be and, and our gut microbiome, of course, changes the way, can change the way we think and perceive stress.
So giving your vagus nerve muscle, right? Remember, in our daily lives, in the modern world, our sympathetic nervous system has way too much exercise, right? I mean, constantly on our vagus nerve doesn't get enough practice. So we need to make sure our vagus nerve gets practice ever single day so that our digestive tract can be healthy, but also our brain and our minds can be healthy.
And with that, I mean I some easy things to do. One thing that's really important for kids to learn how to do is to stop before they act. Right? That just, that, that process of self regulation, self control is one of the act biggest predictors of later success, right? As adults. But we may wanna blurt out, you know, a whole list of things to someone who's just, you know, pissed us off, right?
But we've learned, okay, most of the time, stop, think, regroup, and then act. Right? But even that, you know that, that taking that moment to be, That's, that's mindfulness, right? That's paying attention to what our brain is thinking, taking that mindful moment before we do something. So practicing those moments, right, are, are so helpful for your child.
Cause that's instant practicing, you know, giving your vagus nerve some muscles. I'm like, how do you
[00:32:30] Stephanie: teach that to a seven year old boy who has zero impulse control? ? I'm like thinking about that. We were always like, stop before you'd like do something. Cuz they're very you. Go, go, go active. Yep. How do you slow that down?
[00:32:45] Dr. Elisa Song: So we wanna take kind of daily real life opportunity. Let's say you're walking to school and you see a dandelion, right? Can pick it up. I mean, kids love to, you know, below those dandelions, right? So pick it up. Before you do that, just say, You know what, let's take a minute here and just. Notice, let's use all of our senses, right?
We're not saying, Oh, let's take a mindful moment, honey, Right? Because that's not gonna work, right? But we are instilling these mindful moments on purpose, right? So, you know what? Let's hold the dandelion in your hand and let's use all of our senses, okay?
But first, close your eyes, right? We close our eyes because the visual input is the strongest, and I just want. Can you tell me like, what does that feel like in looking right and have 'em describe, is there little pricklies on the stem? Is it a little cold or a little moist because it just came to the damn ground? Let's see. What does it feel like? Let's use our, touch them. Right? Maybe rub that on your skin and, and see what that feels like.
Do you, you know, You can put it to your nose. Do you smell anything? What does that dandelion smell like? Because everything has a smell, right? What do you hear right now as you're holding this, right? Do you hear the wind? You know, in the leaves, in the trees, right? Now, let's notice we're not gonna taste the dandelion, but let's just notice while we're sitting here, H what are you taste in your mouth, right?
Do you taste like the breakfast you just had or maybe the, mint toothpaste, and now we can open our eyes and just look. Now, let's see. Once you actually see. Not just the white ball of fluff, but do you see the little tiny stem, like all of these individual puffs that make up that dandelion? Do you see the different colors of green as you're going down the stem?
Right? So we're just asking kids to take that moment, to use all of their senses to notice. What's going on around them. Right? And that right there just so
[00:34:36] Stephanie: much easier than being like, Listen to this meditation story, .
[00:34:39] Dr. Elisa Song: Absolutely. Right. And they can take, you know, you can say, look, if you're, if you , you know, sit still in class, just remember focus on that one thing on your desk.
Maybe it's that eraser on your desk. You do the same thing. Like what does it feel like in your. What does it smell like? What are you noticing that you're hearing in the classroom? What do you taste in your mouth at that moment? Now look at that eraser and notice what it looks like really looks like. Do you notice that little edge that's a little fray because that's the edge you're constantly using with the little bits of rubber, you know, on the edge.
What the, the writing on the eraser, Turn it over. What do you see on the bottom right? So, you know, if they, if you practice. That mindful moment. You've been at before you sit down to dinner. Let's just take that mindful moment, right? Then they can do that. You can say, You know what? You know how we do that before we go to bed or before, you know, on our way to school.
Do you ever feel like your brain's getting too full? You can sit and focus on one thing
[00:35:42] Stephanie: that made me calm, by the way, , just thinking about that. I love that tip, so I wanna bring it inward to your own life. You know, What is a daily practice that you do daily to help you with, you know, your overall like health, wellness, motherhood?
Like how do you get through the day? Do you have a daily practice?
[00:36:03] Dr. Elisa Song: I do, I do. And you know, I will say it is almost every day, right? Because life gets in the way sometimes. However, I will tell, you know, just remind mamas that when life feels too busy too stressed, to take time out to do your daily self care practice, that's actually when you need it the most.
Right? So the time that you take out to do your daily practice actually makes more time in the day where you are efficient doing the thing that you need to get done right, As opposed to running around frazzled with 10 things on your to-do list and you know, 50 different places you have to be. Right?
And so how I start virtually every morning, and when I don't start my morning like this, it makes a total, it sets a totally different tone for the day. Is just a five minute breathing meditation. Five minutes. If you don't have time for five minutes, it means that you don't want to have time for five minutes. Right? And so I actually use, , there's an app called Insight Timer.
I use that too. It's like a little meditation bullet. The. Free app, and I love that there are meditation instructors from around the world. And you can also search for the kind of meditation. You know, as I'm writing my book, I've searched for book, you know, writers block meditations or creative flow meditations.
You can also choose the amount of time, so this five minute breathing meditation. Is, um, is by a, a, um, a meditation teacher. Her name is Megan Winkler. And I have kids when kids are of the age that they have a phone and parents have a phone. I have them download the insight timer on their phone in the office while they're sitting in front of me and bookmark the five minute breathing meditation.
Ah, right. So now it's there and they can go home and, and try it on their, But it's just five minutes that that takes you through guided breathing, relaxation, meditation. It's amazing. And like I said, you know, as if I start my day with that first thing in the morning, I wake up before anyone else is awake in the house.
So I have What time do you wake up ? Uh, you know, I usually you're on five or five 30. Okay. What time do you go to bed? Really try to go to bed by 10 latest. I even at nine 30, right? Doesn't always happen. But mamas, if you are up, if you use that end of the night, and I used to do this, kids are asleep. I'm gonna sit here with my glass of wine zone out in front of the TV or read a book before you know it.
It's, it's, it's 12 one o'clock. And in my mind, in the past, I need to, This is my time. Right? Then the next morning you're exhausted, you wake up. Kids don't sleep in just because you want them to. Right. And then once they're in school, you wake up and it's like, Yelling starts in the wake up, Get ready, get your clothes on.
I'm making breakfast, packing lunch, and, and now all of a sudden, everyone's yelling and crying, , Right? Sounds like I morning. Mm-hmm. as opposed to now that I've prioritized getting to bed on time so that I get at least seven and a half to eight hours of sleep and have my quiet time in the morning where your brain is fresh, you know, your mind is fresh, your body is fresh.
So much more productive in the morning. Right? So that's when I, in the morning will do my meditation. Have my cup of coffee with a little cinnamon in it, and then I get started.
And here's another tip for you guys. Do not start the day on your email or Instagram feed. Do not, Okay. This one, and I, you know, I, I do that sometimes, right?
But once I, you know, I, I can't remember who said this, but I read this, this amazing, gosh, Greg McAllen. Anyhow, the, I was on productivity, right? And, , and what he said really struck, struck home. And I tell this to kids too now, and parents, if you start the day by reading email or going through your social media feed, you are allowing someone else to have control of your day, first thing in the morning and set the tone for your day, right?
So take control back, set the tone for your own. Do the things that are the most, that require the most creativity and the most you, and then go through your feed or your emails or whatever.
[00:40:32] Stephanie: I almost feel like it's like feeding your mind with processed foods, like first thing in the morning, like that's kind of like this, a similar thing.
You're feeding it with stuff that isn't. You know, you are nourishing, so I love that. And for your kids, are there any kind of things you do daily for your kids to help with either mindfulness, their immunity, or like, you know, what does Dr Song's house look like? You know, what do you, what do you do with your own kids?
[00:41:00] Dr. Elisa Song: So I will, I'm going to fully admit right, nobody is perfect. Certainly not the picture of perfection because a lot of people think, Oh, as an integrated pediatrician, you know, she must have everything dialed down and her house is like this zen place to be and there are plenty of moments of crying and and screaming.
So yes, you know, this is real life. But you know what, I really try to do a couple things now that, you know, I'm, we're back to school using those moments in the. And this is for, for parents who have kids who are, you know, are of cell phone age. The car is a no cell phone zone. I will tell you the most powerful conversations you can have with your kids are when you're driving back and forth of school or to sports practice or to wherever where your kids are relaxed.
You're not, first of all, you're not staring at them face to face grilling them. Right? And you're just kind of having this one off, right? And, and, Amazing. Right. That's a great, um, great habit to get into. And, you know, these, these little mindful moments that you just take, right? If, if your child comes home and you know, something happened that they're really upset about, you know, just taking that moment to have them notice how their brain is feeling, how their body's feeling, and, you know, think about, you know, how, how maybe the next time could go differently.
so really taking that every opportunity. Right. You know, I love, and you probably have heard of. The, The rose, the thorn and the bud. Yes. Right. What a great way to also introduce a topic to your children as they have things that happen that maybe don't go their way. Right. And we have to remember our brain's negativity bias.
It's a survival mechanism. We are much more hardwired to remember the negative thing. Right danger, touch that hot stove. Oh, I'm gonna remember that. Right? But it takes way more time to remember a positive experience, right? I mean, remember days where you've had many, many positive things happen, but that one negative thing, right?
Whether you stubbed your toe or you spill coffee on your outfit and on your way out, right? , then it's the worst day in the world, right? Doesn't matter. All the good things. That's the same thing your kids' brains are doing, right? So when we think about, you know, a, a rose, a thorn, and a bud, we think, okay, let's, what would a rose say?
What was something really good that happened? Because we need to focus and remember them. That's
[00:43:20] Stephanie: why I ask what's your mom win of the week? Cuz I love starting it off on like thinking about the positivity.
Oh, well thank you so much for all this. I wanna wrap it up by asking my final question, which is, what do you think is your mom's superpower that you gained once you became a mom that makes you better at either, you know, business life, your practice, whatever that is. Like, what is some superpower you gained once you became a mom?
[00:43:45] Dr. Elisa Song: That's such a great question. I, I will say, you know, as moms, we will do anything for our children. Right. You know, our, our. Become our lives and you know, we wanna have a healthy respect for that. But also self-love, you know, is going to teach your kids self-love.
So, you know, we wanna also maintain our sense of self. And, and as I've kind of, you know, I started my private practice before the kids were born, but I started my online healthy kids happy kids practice after they were born. And I think the, the superpower that, that being a mom has given. Is this mission to, to create a heart centered of legacy for my children, right?
A legacy of joy and, you know, giving back to the world and, you know, really, um, hopefully, you know, educating parents and practitioners about a better, you know, more integrated way to help kids thrive. And, you know, and I always think about that. Everything I do now, you know, in my business and in my practice is with this mission of leaving a legacy.
Of hope and joy for my kids. So that's what's really kind of propelled everything that I do now.
[00:44:54] Stephanie: Oh, I love that. And where can we find you online?
[00:44:58] Dr. Elisa Song: So online you can find me on my, , Healthy Kids Happy Kids educational site, so www to healthy Kids happy kids.com. And also find me on Instagram. I, you know, that's where Stephanie and I, you know, follow each other.
So Instagram is Healthy Kids underscore Happy Kids. Also on Facebook as well. Soon to grow TikTok, but you know, whatever that means. Right? Again, you know, we have to let things grow organically. Our kids, our kids are, I don't wanna rush our kids to grow up. I don't wanna rush, you know, anything that I do. So, um, but that's probably the best way to find me.
It's gonna be either on my newsletter where I send information or on my Instagram page.
[00:45:34] Stephanie: Well, thank you so much for joining today. I really appreciate it, and I loved our conversation.
[00:45:40] Dr. Elisa Song: Well thanks Stephanie. It was great to be here. Thanks.
[00:45:43] Stephanie: Thank you so much for listening to this episode of Mommy's on a Call.
Your support means the absolute world to me. You can find the show notes for this episode and other goodies over at mommy's on a call.com. And if you enjoyed this episode or have gotten value from the podcast, I would be so grateful if you could head on over to Apple Podcast and leave a rating and review so that we can reach and empower more moms all over the world together.
Thank you so much again, Mommy pod and I will see you here next time.