Episode 36 of The Living Life Well Show: Generational Health
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[00:00:00] -Welcome to the Living Life Well Show, the intersection of God's Word, today's science, and healthy living with common sense application, all based on the truth of the Word of God. I'm your host, Dr. Jon Skelton. Now let's get straight to the truth.
All right. Welcome back to the living life. Well show I'm happy to come to you guys today and speak about something that I've been seeing more and more in my practice and this idea of generational health, this idea of how to get my kids to be healthy and what is going to be best for them more and more.
I'm seeing. Even young kids coming into the practice with different health issues, as well as you know, [00:01:00] young adolescents to high school aged kids and a lot of college age kids or young adults as well. So more and more I'm seeing this emphasis that we are really putting on as individual families and individual groups as to how I can best help myself throughout life, how I can best help my kids as they go along in this life.
And so I wanted to dedicate this podcast to that concept and what things can we do at each stage in life to. Really help facilitate that healthy living those best choices that can be made. How can we introduce things that will be sustainable? Be long-term benefits. To them because let's face it.
We live in a world that is very addicted. And very difficult to get a [00:02:00] way from the mainstream, from the norm, if you will. I wanted to talk about that, but first I wanted to say if. If you're enjoying this podcast, if you've enjoyed any of those, any of these episodes that you've listened to.
I'd really appreciate it. If you give us a thumbs up. Or shared the episode or even give us some feedback either. You can email us at admin at live life. Well clinic.com or if you wanted to hit us up on our social media. That would be great as well. We'd appreciate any feedback you can give. So back to the topic at hand, so generational health.
So how do we start that? Well, first of all, it has to start with you, right? So it has to start with you modeling the behaviors that you want to see in your kids. And this can happen, thankfully. At any stage in life at any stage in life, you can take a [00:03:00] responsibility for your own health, your own actions, and then over time, those are going to translate into health and modeling for your kids now different stages.
It's easier to get the kids to comply then at other stages. So the earlier on in their life, you're able to intervene. I mean, obviously the more successful you're going to be. However, that does not mean that you are not going to be successful. If you already have adult kids, college aged kids, late high school age kids. So you can implement these changes.
At any time in life and there'll be successful. So let's talk about even preconception. Okay. So you guys are talking a, bout a, wanting to start a family, or you've already started a family, but are talking about a subsequent pregnancy. [00:04:00] What can you do to really help facilitate to start that child off on the right foot?
Well, things that you can do just typically in the home is number one. Eliminate all processed foods. Okay. Eliminate the things that come in boxes and cans and those things as much as possible. If you can do that. You will be a leg up on most everybody else when you're talking about physical health.
Okay. So if you can eliminate that, you will really facilitate your own health and the health of your future children. That would be number one, number two. Would be for you to evaluate. Whether or not there are any ongoing infections in the gut. Primarily, this is where we see issues and what I see a lot of times, especially with women. It is not necessarily with the first pregnancy, unless it's at more of an advanced stage. But with [00:05:00] subsequent pregnancies, especially pregnancies that occur. Right in a row. You see a tendency of adrenal stress that then can translate into hormonal issues.
I see this quite often. In clients that have preexisting gut issues or have chronic inflammatory conditions or infections like mano. And those things. So having yourself screened and, or treated. And then following, you know, that general rule of eliminating the processed foods as much as possible. It is going to be beneficial. To you and your ability to have a good flora that you pass on to your child.
And hopefully when we're talking about infants and those things you're able to breastfeed as well. We want to have a good, healthy vaginal and gut flora because as the child [00:06:00] is passing through, they inherit their flora from their mother. And so it's very important for women to have a very good healthy. Gut flora and so pre pregnancy when you're in the stages of planning being able to work on that, make sure you're getting plenty of fermented foods those are going to be things that will help to generate a good gut flora eliminate possible infections.
But then of course, if you want to take it a step further, do that testing, do that GI map check for H pylori check for mano. See if you have reactivated mano, or if you've ever had mano, because. Most people I encounter. Don't know that they've ever had Moto. And if you don't know that you've ever had mano you don't even really think of it. As a possibility for what could be coming. Down the pike once your body is under that stress of going through the pregnancy, the delivery, and now the sleepless nights that [00:07:00] you're having. That re aggravate those chronic infections and those things like long COVID. So taking care of your health number one is going to help you take care. Of that young baby. Now secondarily, now they have come out of the womb.
You're starting to introduce solid foods. So what are the things that we want to do? Well? We want to introduce whole foods as much as possible. Some of the baby foods can be very processed . So we want to make sure that when we're looking at those baby foods, if we're buying off the shelf, We're looking and making sure there are no added sweeteners, no natural flavors. No added sugars of any kind, because that will help to destroy that gut flora that you've worked so hard to get right. For your child.
So making sure that we [00:08:00] are eating those whole foods, making sure that we aren't doing the little crisps and little processed. Cookies and those things that, that we can typically buy off store shelves for our kids to, to kind of help Sue them a little bit. And then you really don't want to introduce juice.
juice typically is going to be tons of artificial sweeteners. And, or added sugars. At colors. Those things. So we want to avoid adding those as much as possible. And then even when they're infants and young preschool. Age kids. Eliminating screen time. As much as possible that screen time. Messes with the development of their brain. Which over time can cause a stress and
so minimizing that time is going to be important because. Overall, when we see added stress. [00:09:00] We also see changes in that gut flora. So eliminating the, those things are going to be important. Now we are into the school age kids we're really talking kind of more. Elementary age. And here, what you want to do is you really want to make sure that you are in control of their meals.
Not the school not not, you know, the drive through line. You want to make sure that you are really facilitating. That for them. So for those things, the two big things that you want to look at is no added sugars and secondarily the next most important thing is going to be no. Store-bought breads.
Okay. The store-bought breads are going to be equivalent to sugars. You've got to be really careful. Now there are some things that you can get, you could try is Ezekial bread and those things, you can do some [00:10:00] different tortillas like the Siete brand of tortillas that are going to be more in the in the freezer section. Those will be a little bit better. But otherwise if you're doing grains you know, make sure that it has been made with a fresh milled flour. That hasn't been stored.
If it does have to be stored, make sure that you are using a truly whole grain flour that has not been enriched so to speak. You were going to find these more at your health food stores, not typically straight off the rack in your general grocery store. But also there are usually some local places that you can buy bread from that have been fully you know, fresh milled. Bread, whole grain mills that haven't been processed.
And so if you can seek that out, that would be good as well, because the issue is the lunches that are served in schools and now breakfast, many kids. At least in, in our area of the country, definitely public school. They have access to [00:11:00] not only breakfast but also lunch at school.
So now school has taken charge of two of the three mills. At least per day that your kids are typically going to have. So you need to take back that charge. And make sure that you are minimizing that exposure. To excess sugars and those things. Sugar's that you do want to allow them to have a good taste.
Fours is full fruits for fruits. Are going to be great. So berries you know, strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, those things, having them have apples, having them have oranges. Grapes are going to be okay too, to a degree as well. And so wanting those full fruits and not just the juices. The problem with even a fresh squeezed, if you're doing a lot of it is you're missing out on that fiber component, which again is going to be so important for their guts [00:12:00] and their gut health and gut health is really the gateway to overall physical health.
So that's why we're focusing so much on that. Now, so that's kind of how to best handle it. For those elementary age. And I'll be quite honest with you. It is easier when they're in elementary and younger grades, because you can really control that. Now, once you're in high school age a little bit different, little bit harder to navigate, just because so much of the time. They are wanting to hang out with friends, go do things with friends. It's been my experience with a now about to be graduating college and now an upper high school. Kid that, you know, you have a lot less control over their meals now. You still, depending upon the situation may have. You know, one to two meals a day that are at school.
And so again, leaning [00:13:00] into that. It is going to be important. But at this age, really, what I think is most important is having two things. One. Teaching them about health. And two is going to be eliminating those possibilities for process things in the home. Now at this age, what I find is if you haven't done that up to this point one of the big things that, that you can do.
And I should've said this earlier. Is really water. Water is going to be huge, even if they don't do anything else, even if they are going to eat out with friends and those things, having them consume water as opposed to a diet beverage, a Powerade, a. Sweet tea. If you will. Any kind of Coke that is going to be big.
Not only does it pay benefits for the overall gut health, when we think of gut health as small and large [00:14:00] intestine and stomach, but also for their oral health as well. Eliminating those sweet sugary drinks is going to be big. And so for a lot of kids are also doing a lot of milk. And so using a more of a milk that is a whole milk, or at least 2% milk as opposed to skim milk actually is going to be a little bit better because there's less sugar involved.
And maintaining a really good health starts with a eliminating those sugary drinks as much as possible because those sugary drinks really contribute to poor gut health and inflammatory conditions and poor health overall. So that is going to be really important. And the good news is that kids nowadays in this junior high to high school age, They're actually a lot more open to that. Most of them are open [00:15:00] to possibly some dietary changes to be healthy.
They see health as a thing to be desired and they see it all the time on Instagram or Snapchat or Facebook or whatever, YouTube, whatever medium it is that they are looking at. They're seeing people that are very into health. So use that to your advantage. Don't use. I use it as, Hey, we're going to do, you know, this. Protein shake, or we're going to do this diet per se, but just make some small changes for them.
If they are resistant to that by just having only water with meals at home, hopefully over time that will start translating to meals out. If it doesn't, then that's fine. Hey, at least you're doing it at home. You've eliminated those sugary drinks. At home, and that is going to pay huge benefits.
So that context, junior high and high school college [00:16:00] you know, it's, when you do go see your child. At college if they aren't living with you. Is really helping them, buying them, those healthy things. When they do go to college, encouraging them you know, to get plenty of sleep and rest. And that really is very important with the junior high and high school age group to really all along is encouraging that sleep and really controlling those meal times so that you're not eating three hours before bed, because that does, regardless of what they're eating, that will allow rest to occur and healing to occur to the gut. College students are notorious for having odd hours for staying up late. Sleeping in late all of those things and also being very busy, whether it be with just studies or extracurricular activities or work or all of that combined.
So really. Getting your college student to [00:17:00] understand the sleep that is needed and involved. And then finally the next point is as parents. Get the grandparents on board. Okay. Grandparents love to reward kids and most grandparents. There a reward system is typically based on some sort of a treat. Usually some sort of a sweet treat food, you know, the, those types of things.
So be very intentional with what your expectations are with those that do have care over your children outside of your purview. And so really having that conversation. With those. Grandparents are going to be important and. Having that conversation prior to kids coming along or is easier. Than it is after they're here, but once they're here, Asking them [00:18:00] to change their reward system, change their reward system. To a verbal praise reward or some type of experiential reward. Be it where the grandparents, when they're younger, just spending time playing games. With them going to a specific activity. With them as they potentially get older and in junior high school age group movie, something like that, but. But have it be experiential and have it be based upon who they are rewarding that integrity aspect and not what they have done.
And so we really want to look at that health from. All stages of life. And there are ways that you can intervene at any stage. Now, look, if your kids are already, you know, college age, that they've kind of already left the nest and they're on their own completely at this point, and they're not wanting to. To listen to [00:19:00] you guess what? You have influence still.
So when they do come to visit, you can, you know, not have those things around that typically, you know, are going to be bad, but they really loved you know, the those process things and those really sweet things. That are there. But then also the big aspect is you can flip the script with your grandkids.
You can practice this. You can introduce these healthy ideas and healthy lifestyle, but honestly, It all starts with you. And so if you want to have healthy kids and healthy grandkids you got to be willing to flip that switch for yourself. Hope this has been beneficial hope. You've found this helpful. And again we would love any reviews and or shares that, that you could give us.
Thanks. And God bless.
That's it for this [00:20:00] episode of the Living Life Well Show. If you like what you've heard and want to learn more, or want to know how to put this into practice for yourself, go to livelifewellclinic.com. Until next time, this is Dr. Jon Skelton saying, go out and live the truth so you can live life well. The preceding is for entertainment and educational purposes only. It is not meant to be used to prevent, diagnose, treat, or cure any condition. The information contained in this show does not substitute the need for a qualified medical professional, nor is it meant to provide medical advice or services.
If you feel information presented in this show may apply to you, we recommend you seek out the help of a qualified medical professional who can evaluate and treat your specific concerns.
