In the natural world Spring is the season where God’s “behind the scenes” handiwork that was taking place over the past 4-6 months, starts revealing itself in all of its color and glory! Old things have passed away, and all things are made new!
If only we could say the same about our health, and the health of our children. Most adults, and children went from the over-indulgent holidays 6 months ago with Thanksgiving and Christmas, back into the second half of the school year toxic laden, not even realizing it.
It’s children’s health that I would like to bring into focus this month. In reality, I could write a whole book on this.
Convoluted Thinking
I would like to share a conversation I had recently with a young mom that most of you probably can relate to. I was doing a little hike at the State Park close to my home. There was a young mother with three young ones in tow – one in each hand, and the youngest on her back in a pack. If I were to guess I would say they ranged from one, three and five years old. I commented that it was great they were enjoying the outdoors, and she commented that they were learning a lot. She proudly proceeded to tell me that they are not exposed to any electronics – video games, phones, etc. She said they have no idea what those things even are. “Great,” I replied back, and then threw my additional two cents in that I assumed she would be in agreement with, “avoiding electronics, and SUGARS! Just keep them away from sugar and they will be so healthy!” Her demeanor, and resistance to my comment was so palpable that I think even the birds stopped chirping. Then “E.F. Hutton” spoke “well, I wouldn’t go that far, they can have some sugar – they see me exercising and know that is important for health.” Okay then, end of that conversation. But it prompted me to write this month’s article. Even if she wouldn’t listen, perhaps you will.
But first, the disclaimer: I am not a mom and never had children. But I was one. I had children as patients in my practice. I know plenty of moms and their children, and therefore hear about their challenges and successes all the time.
Current state of chronic childhood diseases
Twenty years ago, as a chiropractor, I recall being in the principal’s office at a middle school talking with her about wholistic health and possibly doing a presentation for one of their upcoming PTA meetings. She had to pause our meeting because the school nurse was out sick and she had to distribute the meds to the students that day. There was a large utility cart covered with little plastic cups and an assortment of pills in them that were for the students. My jaw was hanging down to my chest and I sat in a rare moment of speechlessness. Not having children of my own I was unaware of the behind the scenes, day to day mechanics of what school life for children and administration had become. The last I knew school nurses distributed bandaids and took your temperature if you feigned not feeling well. If everything was on the up and up (another words, you weren’t just trying to get out of that math test you didn’t study for) they would call mom and that was the end of their sick care responsibilities – at least where the school was concerned. That visit with that principal was 20 years ago. My heart ached then, and it really aches now when I hear about so many children having chronic degenerative diseases that were primarily reserved for senior citizens just a few decades ago.
Children’s HOSPITALS – Why?
Today grade school children are being diagnosed with a plethora of chronic degenerative diseases,and put on an early regiment of medications to manage those said diseases. Things like Diabetes, Cholesterol, ADD/ADHD, Autism, a variety of auto-immune conditions and cancer. But you know what I feel is the greatest heart ache, is that there is even a need for “children’s hospitals.” Have you ever asked “why?” What was once started off as a small hospital for the absolute rarest of diseases for children, has become the norm – a separate hospital for all the children that are chronically ill these days. Whatever happened to mumps, measles, chicken pox – you know, some very uncomfortable childhood diseases for sure, but you got it, you got over it, you’ll never get it again.
According to the Children’s Hospital Association website (why is there even a need for this?), there are over 220 Children’s Hospitals in the U.S. Please don’t misunderstand what I’m trying to say – of course children deserve the best care possible, but again, I ask, why is there even a need? Their website states that they also address “health” care and “prevention.” A hospital is not where a child, or anyone for that matter, should be to receive health or prevention, is it? See the semantics here? See the manipulation? See the money-making machines? Okay, I’ll come back from my rabbit trail rant, if you promise to just think about this irony. For now, back to children’s wholistic health.
The Effects of Sugar on Children’s Health
You may or may not realize that chronic degenerative diseases like type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity, auto-immune conditions and cancers are on the rise for school age children? (make this the meta tag) Why is that? For the same reason it is for adults – poor lifestyle choices for one. But there are also studies (that conventional medicine does not want you to know about) showing direct correlation to the rise in autism and the exorbitant amount of vaccines babies and children receive before they ever even start school.
Then there are the longer-standing health challenges that children have been diagnosed with like the attention deficit disorders. Children are fed a bowl of sugar every day – a lot of the time directly by the schools themselves, funded by our government and tax dollars – sugar laden cereal, topped with antibiotic, growth hormone laden, inflammatory cow’s milk. Then they bounce off the walls from all that sugar and synthetic drugged up milk, before their little adrenal system crashes and burns and can’t think or learn. This is reported by the school system to the parents that their child most likely has an attention deficit disorder, parents take the child to the doctor with this report and they are put on Ritalin, a Class II controlled substance. Cocaine and Fentanyl are also in this Class II controlled substance list. (To learn more about Ritalin read this from Drugs.com website – it is shocking that we are still giving this to our children). The high majority of these health challenges and many others can be prevented and even reversed, when approached wholistically. How much healthier could they be if they were given real fruits and yes, even vegetables for breakfast? But instead, we are unknowingly starting our children off onto the path of addiction.
Why Worry?
I encourage you to take a step back for a moment and look around your children’s or grandchildren’s environments for a moment – their school, their social activities, and especially their home. Step back far enough to see the great big picture – not just your child but others as well. Not just your neighborhood or environment, but your city, your state and our country. It can be overwhelming when we truly look at the state of the health in our country and especially our children. So where do you start?
Children’s Health Should be Addressed the Same as Adults – Wholistically
Children are just little adults. Their bodies have the same types of cells, organs and systems as an adult, and they function the same – we are all homo sapiens. To keep it simple, foundationally what you are supposed to be doing for your health, your children should be doing the same, just perhaps on a smaller scale. The only difference is a child’s body is still in the growth stage versus the regenerative state. Our biology is the same, our physiology is the same. So for starters, just like adults, their health should be approached wholistically. Keep their bodies and their lives in balance, just like you should. Don’t chase after symptoms and lab values, but get to the root cause of the problem and restore the body back to good health. Just as an adult should.
Remember the Wholistic Approach
The wholistic approach entails making an assessment of your child’s mental, emotional, physical and spiritual health – not just their physical.
- Are there too many activities scheduled on their calendars?
- How many extracurricular activities are they in at any given time?
- Are they getting enough sleep? If not why?
- How are they progressing emotionally?
- Are there unexplained or unacceptable outbursts?
- How is the family environment? Are they living with 2 sets of parents, 4 sets of grandparents?
- absentee parent?
- How much water are they drinking?
- How much exercise are they getting?
- Are they having their spinal health maintained on a regular basis? Yes, children need regular chiropractic care just as adults do.
- And the elephant in the room, how is their diet?
If they are already plagued with health challenges, don’t just address the symptoms with a medical band-aid like Ritalin, and ignore the root, something as simple, and yet harmful as sugar. Wholistic means getting to the root cause of the problem and restore the body back to good health using natural approaches.
To book Dr. Jackie for speaking engagements go to:
https://jackiemckool.com/schedule-jackie/
Where to Start – Do Just This ONE Thing
Eliminate sugars! – It starts with a change in thinking about sweets. Sugars trigger the addictive pathways in the brain the same way cocaine and Ritalin do. If parents would commit to their children’s health (as well as their own!) by starting with just this one thing:
NO SUGARS so many health challenges could fall by the wayside.
Okay, I can feel you closing out this newsletter right here! But wait, if you knew this could truly correct a lot of the imbalances in your child’s life and their health, would it not be worth it? Here are some potential ramifications of too much sugar (how much is too much? Any one thing with 6 grams or more is a LOT of sugar):
- Irritability
- Fatigue
- Inability to sleep well
- Hyper-activity
- Sluggishness leading to inactivity leading to weight gain
- Inability to lose weight
- Diabetes
- Learning and mental focus
- Auto-immune conditions
- Digestive problems
- Cancers
- And much, much more!
Let’s go back to the story of the mom in the park. Here she is doing so many right things for her children – getting them out into the fresh air, sunshine and nature. Teaching them the good values of life and avoiding all the toxic electronic “noise” and even teaching them the importance of exercise. But by refusing to eliminate sugar from her children’s health, and in fact feeling like she is doing something good for them, and rewarding them with something so toxic and addictive forming like sugar, all of her admirable efforts can go right down the drain. Sound extreme? I invite you once again – take a look around at our population – not just children, but adults as well. What are we eating? What do we look like? How sick are we? How many children’s hospitals are there, and why? Is sugar consumption a common denominator in all of these wholistic health challenges? Perhaps, not so extreme at all when you actually take the time and dig deep enough for the root cause of all this imbalance in our health and in our lives.
And remember, sugar doesn’t come in the form of just sweet things – it’s in almost everything processed and packaged – condiments, packaged potato salads, potato chips – there is even sugar in the salt that goes on the French fries from fast food restaurants. Start reading the list of ingredients before you buy or consume something, or feed it to your children. How many grams of sugar are in there?
In Summary
Take this new season of freshness, life and vitality and turn over a new leaf for yours and your children’s health – take the first step, commit to eliminating all processed sugars, and artificial sweeteners (artificial sweeteners are even more harmful than real sugar if you can imagine that!), including all foods made with these things and do this for just the next 30 days – or until the school year ends. If you don’t see any difference, then check other food like substances that they are consuming. If you do see a difference, eliminate the next category of inflammatory products: packaged and processed foods. By the next school year, you will see a brand new child ready to tackle the world! And this is just one thing that we addressed today regarding our children’s health – there is so much more that I will share with you in the future.
For now, I pray you and your children and grandchildren have a happy and healthy end to the school year!
Did you miss some of these earlier blogs? These could give you some great insight — especially as you pursue your health journey:
“Food Addicts, Are You One of Them?”
“What is True Wholistic Health?”
“Wholistic Health, It’s Not Too Expensive”
“Gluten Free or Sugar Free?”
Click “Here” to get your free copy of “LEARN ABOUT THE 7 WELLNESS MYTHS KEEPING US FROM ACHIEVING TRUE HEALTH”
Still needing a graduation gift for that high school or college graduate? How about starting them on the path of wholistic health with a copy of “Are You Being Deceived About Truth Wellness?”
