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The Better Behavior Show with Dr. Nicole Beurkens

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Episode 8: Addressing the Root Cause of Your Child’s Chronic Illness

Jan 24, 2019

My guest this week is Dr. Sheila Kilbane, a board-certified pediatrician also trained in integrative medicine by Andrew Weil, MD. She uses the best of traditional and integrative medicine to help families find the root cause of their child’s illness by walking through her seven-step process to significantly improve or resolve, illnesses such as: colic, reflux, eczema, recurrent ear and sinus infections, asthma, allergies, ADHD, and stomach and GI issues like constipation, abdominal pain, celiac disease, Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, and sensory integration disorder. Sheila conducts an online course to help parents resolve chronic illness in their children by using her step-by-step approach and is the author “Healthy Kids Happy Moms - A Step-by-Step Guide to Improving Many Common Childhood Illnesses”.

In this episode, Sheila and I discuss the difference between the conventional and integrative approach to medicine in pediatrics and how parents can take simple steps toward improving their child’s chronic illness. Sheila shares her seven-step approach to addressing illness and provides valuable resources on where and how parents can begin to incorporate simple changes that bare significant results. Learn more about Sheila here.  

 

Surge of Chronic Illness in Children

  • A few decades ago, approximately 1 in 7 children had a chronic health issue, today 1 in 2 children
  • The food supply has drastically evolved
    • Chemicals, herbicides, pesticides are all more commonly used in comparison to the past
    • Roundup
      • Roundup was originally patented as an antibiotic
      • It is commonly used as a chemical sprayed on crops to help with a quick turnover in crop production
      • It becomes absorbed by the part of the plants that we consume
  • Consuming non-organic wheat, corn, and soy exposes children to an excess of chemicals and pesticides that can alter the good bacteria in their gut
  • The personal care products we use on our bodies and cleaning products we use daily in our homes also play a role

 

The Difference Between Conventional Medicine vs. Functional Medicine in Pediatrics

  • Example: Looking at a case of eczema
    • Conventional Medicine
      • Trained to find a steroid treatment to apply to the skin in order to resolve the issue
    • Functional/Integrative Medicine
      • Trained to take steps that look at all factors to find the root cause of the reaction
      • Address the 5 triggers of inflammation: food, environmental allergies, environmental toxins, stress, and infections.
      • By addressing inflammation in the body, you will also be addressing inflammation in the brain
        • Decreasing the source of inflammation allows the body to return to working naturally

 

7 Steps to Confronting Chronic Illness

  • Assessment - find a practitioner assessing the child’s medical history from an integrative standpoint
  • Understanding that inflammation is illness
  • Addressing the 5 triggers of Inflammation:
    • Food, Environmental allergies, Environmental toxins, Stress, Infections
  • Gut Health
  • Food - Start with tackling breakfast (see below)
  • Supplements
  • Roadmap

 

Change Up the Food Routine - Tackle Breakfast First

  • Remove cereal and milk - this immediately eliminates a lot of sugar
  • Try eggs, organic bacon or sausage, a burger, a piece of salmon, leftover chicken
  • Try a healthy fat or protein and something colorful
    • A green smoothie is a great way to integrate color
  • Integrating more organic whole foods automatically shifts away from sugar intake

 

The Environmental Working Group: The Clean 15 & The Dirty Dozen

  • The Environmental Working Group has guidelines to help you shop for produce and reduce your chemical and pesticide intake
  • You can decrease your pesticide exposure by up to 92% by following their guidelines
  • Children with higher percentages of pesticide exposure have higher rates of ADHD
  • The EWG also has resources to point parents in the right direction for reducing toxicity levels in their personal care products

 

Where to learn more about Sheila Kilbane

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