Strong, robust health seems to be increasingly rare in today’s children. No different than their adult parents, pediatric chronic disease and poor immune function is on the rise. In fact, the Heart and Stroke Foundation tells us that even though we are living longer, our quality of life is getting worse.
Today’s article is designed to help you buck this trend. We know that you and your family have the ability to foster great health. It just takes deliberate and concerted effort to make it happen. Just like brushing our teeth is a deliberate effort to combat the effects of modern day foods, other areas of health need to be nurtured to combat the effects of modern day living.
Some of the biggest barriers to kid’s health presently are; refined foods, lack of movement, screen time, over stimulation, poor sleep quality and stress in the family unit. All of these are making kids sick and unhealthy.
None of these can be improved with a medication. However, when these accumulate enough and make a child sick, the traditional approach to health in this country is to medicate the child trying to alleviate the symptoms. Nothing will truly get better until we get to the root cause. The root cause is almost always improvable when we make lifestyle improvements.
If your children are suffering with headaches, tummy aches, being under the weather more than normal, dark circles under their eyes, pain of any kind, poor posture, excessive gas, odd bowel movements etc. Start focusing on the 7 steps below and watch their body heal and improve when you support it well.
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Eat Only Real Food: Don’t consume processed, chemical filled, artificial foods. Make sure to hydrate well and eat good home cooked meals made of real ingredients. Food is what your kids will turn into flesh as they grow and develop. Make sure the building blocks are good.
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Have Frequent Bursts of Activity Throughout the Day: Everything from the brain to the muscles works best when there is lots of movement. Make sure that your kids move for at least 10 minutes 6-8 times per day. One longer bout of movement is great as well but not a substitute for frequent movement.
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Sleep Solid: Calm the brain before bed with something like reading and make sure they sleep 8-12 hours per night. Sleep needs will increase in times of high growth and development.
-
Reduce the Screen Time: Some studies show that after 11 minutes of screen time the brain is beginning to re-wire in unhealthy ways. This is hard as parents because screens are addictive and our kids don’t want to give them up. We need to create engaging fun alternatives. Have them bake, paint, plan an exciting adventure they can take you on etc.
-
Make Your Family/Home a Place of Peace: There is a lot of chaos in the world. There always has been and it’s especially heightened now with CV19. That doesn’t mean your internal world has to become stressed as well. Turn off the news and don’t fill your children’s innocent minds with adult concerns.
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Speak a New Identity Into Them: Many children have taken on a label that they weren’t meant to carry. Telling kids they are: worry warts, labelling them with a disease label or naming them as bad is going to be a self fulfilling prophecy. Instead speak life, healing and what you want to see in them. Tell them they are getting stronger and stronger, tell them they are healing, and tell them they are on the brink of something great. Scripture tells us that as a person believes in their heart, so they are (Proverbs 23:7)
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Experience Nature: Our body’s all work in conjunction with nature and its rhythms. When we spend time in nature, our micro biome is able to develop and strengthen in a way that is relevant to what is going on in our communities. When the environment we are in is hyper sanitized and sterile, we suffer. Nature helps our internal biome succeed and we have stronger immune systems because of it.
Dr. Matt, Dr. B and the NLC Team
Strong, robust health seems to be increasingly rare in today’s children. No different than their adult parents, pediatric chronic disease and poor immune function is on the rise. In fact, the Heart and Stroke Foundation tells us that even though we are living longer, our quality of life is getting worse.
Today’s article is designed to help you buck this trend. We know that you and your family have the ability to foster great health. It just takes deliberate and concerted effort to make it happen. Just like brushing our teeth is a deliberate effort to combat the effects of modern day foods, other areas of health need to be nurtured to combat the effects of modern day living.
Some of the biggest barriers to kid’s health presently are; refined foods, lack of movement, screen time, over stimulation, poor sleep quality and stress in the family unit. All of these are making kids sick and unhealthy.
None of these can be improved with a medication. However, when these accumulate enough and make a child sick, the traditional approach to health in this country is to medicate the child trying to alleviate the symptoms. Nothing will truly get better until we get to the root cause. The root cause is almost always improvable when we make lifestyle improvements.
If your children are suffering with headaches, tummy aches, being under the weather more than normal, dark circles under their eyes, pain of any kind, poor posture, excessive gas, odd bowel movements etc. Start focusing on the 7 steps below and watch their body heal and improve when you support it well.
-
Eat Only Real Food: Don’t consume processed, chemical filled, artificial foods. Make sure to hydrate well and eat good home cooked meals made of real ingredients. Food is what your kids will turn into flesh as they grow and develop. Make sure the building blocks are good.
-
Have Frequent Bursts of Activity Throughout the Day: Everything from the brain to the muscles works best when there is lots of movement. Make sure that your kids move for at least 10 minutes 6-8 times per day. One longer bout of movement is great as well but not a substitute for frequent movement.
-
Sleep Solid: Calm the brain before bed with something like reading and make sure they sleep 8-12 hours per night. Sleep needs will increase in times of high growth and development.
-
Reduce the Screen Time: Some studies show that after 11 minutes of screen time the brain is beginning to re-wire in unhealthy ways. This is hard as parents because screens are addictive and our kids don’t want to give them up. We need to create engaging fun alternatives. Have them bake, paint, plan an exciting adventure they can take you on etc.
-
Make Your Family/Home a Place of Peace: There is a lot of chaos in the world. There always has been and it’s especially heightened now with CV19. That doesn’t mean your internal world has to become stressed as well. Turn off the news and don’t fill your children’s innocent minds with adult concerns.
-
Speak a New Identity Into Them: Many children have taken on a label that they weren’t meant to carry. Telling kids they are: worry warts, labelling them with a disease label or naming them as bad is going to be a self fulfilling prophecy. Instead speak life, healing and what you want to see in them. Tell them they are getting stronger and stronger, tell them they are healing, and tell them they are on the brink of something great. Scripture tells us that as a person believes in their heart, so they are (Proverbs 23:7)
-
Experience Nature: Our body’s all work in conjunction with nature and its rhythms. When we spend time in nature, our micro biome is able to develop and strengthen in a way that is relevant to what is going on in our communities. When the environment we are in is hyper sanitized and sterile, we suffer. Nature helps our internal biome succeed and we have stronger immune systems because of it.
Dr. Matt, Dr. B and the NLC Team
