Children

Find Out How To Reduce The Risk of Eczema by Almost 50%

Key Message: Probiotics can reduce eczema

Action Point: Talk to your naturopath about the most suitable supplement for you
A study published last month has showed astounding results for mums and bubs alike. The incidence of childhood eczema is high with almost one in five bubbas being affected. This can be debilitating and heart breaking but there is now proof that certain strains of probiotics can help.
In this study, 415 pregnant women were divided into two groups. From 36 weeks of pregnancy until 12 weeks post birth, one group took a probiotic milk supplement while the others were given a placebo.
The researchers evaluated the children at six years of age and assessed them for eczema, asthma, allergic rhinoconjunctivitis, and atopic sensitisation. There was a statistically significant 52% decrease in the risk of eczema in the probiotic group.
I have written previously how probiotics can improve a childs immunity , and how they affect our health, and this study just adds to the evidence that probiotics can profoundly support and optimise so many aspects of our health.

 

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By |October 14th, 2015|Children, Gut health, Immune Health|0 Comments
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Gut bacteria indicated in toddler tantrums

Key Message: Gut microbiome composition is associated with temperament during early childhood.

Action point: Ensure your child’s microbiome is supported with appropriate probiotics. I use probiotic therapy in all my little patients with great success.

Had a gut-full of your two-year-old’s tantrums? Believe it or not, their digestive health might be contributing to the problem.

Microbes in the GI tract may play a surprising role in toddler temperament, according to a new study from the Ohio State University1.

Researchers have become increasingly interested in how the population of bacteria in the gut (known as gut microbiome) affects health. Studies have already linked gut bacteria to conditions including obesity, allergies and bowel disease. Now researchers are interested in finding out if gut bacteria is also linked to mood and behaviour.

The complex ecosystem of microbes living in the gastrointestinal tract is known to change considerably in the first two years of life, especially as solid foods are introduced into a child’s diet. And according to a new study, this unstable “gut microbiome” and a toddler’s temperament are linked.
The importance of the gut in early life
Determining the dynamics of the behaviour–gut associations in early life is important for a number of reasons. Firstly, many physical and mental health conditions such as obesity and anxiety have early life precursors. Also, research suggests that the gut microbiome may be more malleable in early versus later life.

By approximately two years of age, our gut microbiota is established and relatively stable. Although the gut microbiome changes in response to illness, diet and antibiotics, the overall profile tends to revert to normal after the disruption has passed.
The study
For the study, the researchers examined the different genetic types and varying amounts of bacteria found in stool samples from 41 boys and […]

By |August 8th, 2015|Children, Gut health, Health & Wellbeing, Research|0 Comments
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Vitamin C Rich Winter Pesto

Last week both Sophia and I went down hard with a shocking cold. I was so congested that I was literally a ball of mucous! Sophia bounced back in three days while I soldiered on for six. To go back to my roots of Food as Medicine I made this delicious pesto, brimming with Vitamin C.
Did you know that Vitamin C helps to increase our white blood cell activity?
Our vegetable garden was overflowing with parlsey, which gram for gram, is one of the richest sources of Vitamin C. Add this pesto to the top of a slow cooked beef casserole, mix a teaspoon into your cup of bone broth or simply have with eggs for a tasty breakfast.
Ingredients
2 bunches parsley
3 cloves garlic
50gr pine nuts
1/2cup EVOO
Juice and zest of 1 large lemon
Instructions
Dry roast pine nuts and put aside. Add parsley, garlic, lemon juice and zest, then pine nuts to a high-powered blender. Pour EVOO over the top. Blend until well mixed and a paste like consistency. Store in an airtight glass jar then cover in a fine layer of EVOO to avoid mould developing.

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By |June 26th, 2015|Children, Detox, Health & Wellbeing, Immune Health, Naturopathy, Nutrition, Recipes|0 Comments
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Do You Have A Food Allergy or Intolerance?

Food allergies are increasing at an alarming rate. Did you know that Australia has one of the highest reported incidences of food allergies in the world? Today, 1 in 10 babies born in Australia will develop an allergy to food.
Food intolerance is even more prevalent, with surveys indicating that 25% of Australians experience symptoms of a food intolerance. In clinic I successfully treat so many clients for food intolerances and they always feel so much better afterwards.
Both allergies and intolerances are extremely common, but what is the difference between food allergy and food intolerance? They sound as though should be very similar in meaning though they are in fact very different.
Food Allergies
It involves the immune systems reaction to a food which forms IgE antibodies. The immune system responds to the protein in a food that it mistakenly registers as a threat to the body. This reaction often presents itself with immediate symptoms such as itchiness, rashes, and swelling. Other symptoms can include

low blood pressure, dizziness, faintness or collapse
swelling of the lips and throat, nausea and feeling bloated
diarrhoea, and vomiting
dry, itchy throat and tongue, coughing, wheezing and shortness of breath and a runny or blocked nose
itchy skin, hives and sore, red and itchy eyes

A food allergy can also be so severe that it triggers anaphylaxis, which if left untreated, can be fatal. There are more than 170 different foods that are known to have triggered an allergic reaction. Generally the most common are:

Crustaceans
Milk
Eggs
Fish
Peanuts
Sesame seeds
Tree nuts and,
Soybeans

There is currently no cure for food allergies, and the only way to prevent a reaction is by avoiding those foods.
Food Intolerance
Unlike a food allergy, a food intolerance is generally not life threatening. It involves the inability to digest a […]

By |May 18th, 2015|Children, Health & Wellbeing, Naturopathy, Nutrition, Research|0 Comments
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How to Easily Give Your Child a Supplement

I posted the blog article below nearly 18 months ago and wanted to update you. Over the last year Sophia has been through an extensive gut protocol as she had Strep gut, a parasite and consequently gut dysbiosis. This was causing her terrible constipation and no matter what she ate, her bowels weren’t getting better. After extensive stool testing with Bioscreen Medical we were able to identify her bacterial colony counts. And it was astounding – no Lactobacilli despite taking this probiotic every day!
I have long held the belief that gut health is at the seat of both chronic disease and optimal wellbeing. Despite all my efforts to keep Sophia well, we weren’t getting good results until I looked further into her gut health. With the intensive protocol complete, Sophia no longer suffers constipation and she is no longer getting tired patches.
Throughout all of this, jelly vitamins have been a staple. I now use a tablespoon of Great Lakes gelatin for every 250ml liquid, its the only one that is clean and free from nasty chemicals. I also use chemical free Hoppers food colourings to make them colour coded. Toddlers are so visual and Sophia loves this part! This week I am using some herbs in Sophia’s jelly vitamins to help clear a residual cough. Every day she has three which can contain anything from vitamin D to zinc to probiotics. All I know is that without them, I wouldn’t be able to get half of the supplements in!
Key Message – Using jelly vitamins as a vehicle for herbs and supplements is super easy!
Action Point – purchase some Great Lakes Gelatin, a silicon mini muffin tray and some  Hoppers food colouring and get started!       […]

By |April 13th, 2015|Children, Gut health, Health & Wellbeing, Naturopathy, Nutrition, Recipes|0 Comments
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Emma’s Book Booster: For the health conscious parent

Child Health Guide
I have used this guide for a number of years now and find it irreplaceable. It is a manual on holistic pediatrics and Dr Neustaedter provides so much information that you can implement. Preventative medicine is always the best, especially when it comes to our children. Learn how to strengthen their immune system naturally, as well as treat both acute and chronic childhood illnesses.
Ideal for parents-to-be and parents.

Healthy Child, Healthy World
This tip-filled book helps you negotiate the world of toxins in your home and environment. To help green your environment, there are sections on body care, children’s toys, outdoor spaces, water, air, cleaning products and more. With plenty of easy to implement tips, I loved this book.
Ideal for pregnant women and parents of small children.

No Drama Discipline
Written by one of my favourite authors on neuroscience, this book is written to help parents negotiate the topic of discipline. Highlighting the link between a child’s neurological development and the way a parent reacts to misbehaviour, this book provides brilliant practical strategies for win – win disciplining. Anything that can help me navigate the early childhood years is perfect!
Ideal for parents, nannies, godparents and grandparents.

The Holistic Baby Guide
Written by one of my favorite acupuncturist and Chinese medicine doctors, Dr Neustaedter goes through all the most common childhood ills and describes natural medicine, nutritional information and much more to strengthen immunity. As a naturopath, I love this book as it’s a fantastic guide for parents to use at home.
Ideal for parents-to-be and parents.

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By |January 21st, 2015|Children, Fertility, Health & Wellbeing, Hormones, Hypnobirthing, Infant Sleep|0 Comments
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Are You Failing Your Bones?

When it comes to bone health, I recently did some research to see if Sophia and I were eating enough calcium. We don’t eat any cow’s milk dairy as we are both highly intolerant.
Wear and tear on our bones happens as we age and the ability to maintain strong bones is dependent on a few things. Specialized cells called osteoclasts breakdown areas of weakened bones while osteoblasts remodel the bone with new material. Believe it or not, this process occurs every 3-4 months!
As we age, the osteoclasts start to work harder than the osteoblasts and bone strength starts to decline. Due to less digestive enzymes being released as we age, we also absorb less calcium from the diet. A double edge sword, which can result in osteopenia, or thinning of the bones.
So how much calcium should you be eating every single day? 1000mg for women or 1300mg calcium for pregnant and menopausal women. Have a go at this nifty calcium calculator to see just how much calcium you are having.
Partners in Crime
Vitamin D is crucial to be able to absorb dietary calcium in the gut. And vitamin D also helps your body to get calcium into the bones, instead of it floating around in the blood and ending up as calcium deposits on arteries and joints.
Vitamin K2 is incredibly important to help keep bones strong. In Japan, K2 is used to treat osteoporosis and there is good research to show that it can reduce fracture rates and increase bone mineral density in postmenopausal women.
How much do I need to eat every day?

Here is a snapshot of how much you need to be eating daily to meet your calcium requirements.

Up the duff for me – 100g canned […]

By |October 23rd, 2014|Children, Health & Wellbeing, Naturopathy, Nutrition, Preconception & Pregnancy, Research|0 Comments
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Healthy Mum Series: Belinda Kirkpatrick’s Top 3 Tricks

Belinda Kirkpatrick is an expert Nutritionist and Naturopath. She runs two busy clinics in Balmain and Paddington; is on the expert panel of Women’s Fitness magazine; lectures in nutrition and naturopathy; a mother of two beautiful girls and feels like a full-time cook and constant time-juggler!

Belinda specialises in the health of women and children and is also experienced in all areas of general practice. She provides caring, thorough and professional assessments and integrative healthcare.
What are your top 3 tricks to getting more fruit and vegetables into
your children’s diet?
1. My girls and I LOVE a smoothie with breakfast or as an after school snack. One of their favourite blends is when I blend frozen mango, banana and raspberries with coconut milk and chia seeds. They really have no idea that I also add 1/4 of an avocado, a stick of celery and 1/2 a cucumber. Sometimes I also sneak a little fresh beetroot in there but start small or your smoothie can end up tasting too woody! This way I know that they have already had 3 different fruits and 3 different veggies before they even start the day!

2. When the girls were small I used to make batches of my special “immune power pots’ – simply saute loads of garlic, leek, onions, parsley and shittake mushrooms. Add tomato paste or passata and blend together. This can then be used as pasta sauce, tomato dipping sauce, baked on fish or in casseroles. These veggies are full of immune-boosting foods that protect their immune systems during the winter months.

3. Desensitise your kids to raw vegetables by offering them as snacks most days when they are young. Make platters with carrot sticks, cucumber, celery and capsicum along with […]

By |September 12th, 2014|Children, Health & Wellbeing, Nutrition, Recipes|0 Comments
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Healthy Mum Series: Alexx Stuart’s Top 3 Tricks

Alexx Stuart is a best selling Real Food author and educator, getting people excited about delicious real food, low tox living and sustainability for our health and the planet. She says “Never feel guilty about what you didn’t know yesterday, focus on feeling excited about that change you’ll make today”. With a special passion for inclusive, allergy friendly cooking and preventative healthy living, her recipes nourish the mind and body with oodles of deliciousness and fun. Alexx is determined to make the journey of ‘losing the toxic weirdo products’ one of discovery, not deprivation.

 
What are your top 3 tricks to getting more fruit and vegetables into
your children’s diet?

Love veggies yourself. Be the example who visibly chomps on raw carrot sticks and beet / guac dip and say how super yummy it is. Show as much if not MORE enthusiasm for veggies as ‘treats’. We tend to as a culture get our kids ballistically excited about ‘that special cupcake’ and then sternly say ‘eat your veg’. The messaging is all wrong and no wonder the result is that kids might turn their noses up at the food they’re supposed to eat and chase the thrill ride foods instead…
Take your kids to a market and let them choose the veggies, then cook the veggies with them – taste some raw, talk about texture, then cooked, then letting them stir in the butter… We seem to mainly let our kids in the kitchen to cook with us when it’s cake making time. If they’re part of the every day cooking, they’ll be much more inclined to have a go at stuff they’ve made the effort to cook. No age is too young. My son used to stir (assisted by […]

By |September 9th, 2014|Children, Health & Wellbeing, Nutrition, Recipes|0 Comments
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Healthy Mum Series: Stacey Deutscher’s Top 3 Tricks

Stacey is a corporate girl, turned happy, healthy mother!  She has a real desire to show others how quick and easy making nutritional choices for the whole family can be.

On her website, A Healthy Mum, Stacey shares quick, healthy recipes for the whole family and snippets of knowledge to help families on their journey to peace, happiness and health.

 

 
What are your top 3 tricks to getting more fruit and vegetables into
your children’s diet?

Use a grater – my grater is my secret weapon in the kitchen. I’m constantly grating veg and adding it to the babes meal. I grate zucchini in his eggs, carrots and beetroot in meat sauce and avocado in his smoothie.
Include them – My guy is under 2, so helping in the kitchen is limited, therefore get him to help at the farmers market instead. It takes double the amount of time for him to put the beans in a bag, but he loves it and gets used to the food. If he’s in the kitchen, I’ll get him to help me use the blender or the juicer, again getting him excited about food.
I eat it – I think setting an example and eating at the same time is imperative. If it’s good enough for me it’s good enough for the babe

(more…)

By |September 5th, 2014|Children, Health & Wellbeing, Nutrition|0 Comments
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How to Heal Your Adrenals Naturally

How to Heal Your Adrenals Naturally

Adrenal fatigue is one of the most under diagnosed illnesses in western society. Download a copy of my free ebook to learn about the symptoms and how to heal your Adrenals naturally.

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