The Longevity Formula

Why Modern Medicine Is Failing Our Kids: A Pediatrician’s Wake-Up Call

• Dr. Brandon Crawford • Season 1 • Episode 28

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Dr. Brandon Crawford and Dr. Joel Warsh discuss the increasing number of chronic illnesses among children in the current healthcare system. They emphasize the need for a more integrative approach to pediatric care, focusing on prevention rather than just treatment. Dr. Warsh shares insights from his book, 'Parenting at Your Child's Pace,' emphasizing the importance of empowering parents to take control of their children's health.

The conversation covers combining traditional medicine with holistic practices and the impact of modern lifestyles on children's health, providing practical tips for creating a healthier family environment. Overall, the episode calls for a rethinking of pediatric care, integrating holistic and preventive approaches to raise healthier children.

What You’ll Learn

  • The shortcomings of the current medical system in addressing chronic diseases in children.
  • The importance of prevention and understanding the root causes of pediatric health issues.
  • Empowering parents to take an active role in their children's health through informed decisions and holistic practices.
  • Practical advice on diet, lifestyle, and advocacy in medical settings to improve children's health outcomes.

Resources

https://parentingatyourchildspace.com/

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For more information, resources, and podcast episodes, visit https://tinyurl.com/3ppwdfpm

Voice Over: Welcome to the Longevity Formula with Dr. Brandon Crawford. Let's explore the new era of wellness. 

Dr. Brandon Crawford: Hey everyone, welcome back to the podcast. Today is exciting. I'm actually thoroughly excited to have this guest on. I'm both humbled and just really excited to engage in this conversation. We're going to be talking about The pediatric health crisis in our nation and our world today, guys.

So today to help us unpack this pressing issue, I've got Dr. Joel Warsh, a. k. a. Dr. Joel Gator. He's a board certified. Pediatrician, he's making waves with his integrative approach to pediatric care. He's written a book, which is called Parenting at Your Child's Pace, The Integrative Pediatrician's Guide to the First Three Years.

Dr. Gator, thank you so much for joining us today. Thanks for having me on. I'm excited to chat. Yeah, man. I'll tell you what, I've been looking at your book. I love it, first of all. Like, I wish that this book would have existed. Thank you. Whenever I had my kiddos I have a 13 year old, I have a 10 year old.

And we always lived in that world of like, look, I love holistic medicine. Like I love being, you know, trying to do everything natural and clean to the best of our ability. But I've also always had an appreciation for proper medical care. Right. And so I think for people like me and my wife, like this book is perfect, right?

Because We need to acknowledge that we do need to live in this safe, clean space, right? Which some would, some would define as like alternative health or whatever. But then we do need to lean on the guidance of proper medical care. So I, I love this book. I'm still reading it, right? I will say I haven't finished yet.

I'm still reading it, but I think I just want to first say thank you for writing it because I think it was a void in the space that you filled. So I want everyone to know about it and I want all my listeners to go get it first of all. So thank you so much for writing that book. Thank you. Okay. So you got to tell me.

All right. So your last name is Dr. Warsh. W A R S H. Why do people call you Dr. Gator? 

Dr. Joel Warsh: So it comes from my wife's last name. Actually, her last name's Intelligator. And people started calling me Dr. Gator. They thought it was funny and it, and it stuck. It's not a Florida thing. Everyone always thinks it's a Florida thing.

Nothing against Florida. I grew up in Toronto in Canada, so it's not, not a Florida thing. It's a wife thing. 

Dr. Brandon Crawford: That's awesome. Well, it definitely sticks and it definitely gets people's attention. I love it. It's fantastic. So, all right. So you're a pediatrician. Can you give us a little synopsis about how you got to this place in the integrative health space?

Sure. 

Dr. Joel Warsh: Yeah. So for me, I did all the regular medical training. I went to a great. Western program in Los Angeles, but got very frustrated with the regular system over the last few years and you know Very very short visits medications for everything It seemed like I was always giving on antibiotics and that was like the only that was the only tool in the toolkit and that's what it seemed like we were doing and and everybody was just so focused on Treatment and nobody was talking about prevention.

Nobody was talking about why things were happening, we're just seeing patients kind of coming through this revolving door. And, and I also met my wife, my now wife at that time around when I was in training and she's also very holistic minded as well and so that opened up my eyes a little bit more.

So all those things together really pushed me to start learning about integrative medicine and functional medicine. And once you start to learn about that, you're like, Oh, You know, of course, like, of course we should be thinking this way. There's, you know, why are we not thinking about why this is happening?

And, and so that really led me to start integrating those practices together and, and doing that with my patients. As that, as I had been doing that, I had, I noticed that people were really interested in it and that's what led me to start my social media and start talking about this and, and my Instagram, Dr.

Joel Gator has grown pretty quickly, which has been great. And that is what really led me to want to even write a book because I realized that of course, online, you can only talk about things for. You know, very short snippets and I want to dive into things a little bit deeper. And so that's what, what, what led me here.

Dr. Brandon Crawford: Yeah, absolutely. Well, I'm curious, you know, cause you mentioned the regular system, right? Have you gotten a lot of pushback from that system by going in this direction? 

Dr. Joel Warsh: I mean, yes and no. I, you know, certainly it's, it's outside of what is. It's normal. I do try to strike a balance and not be too out there or too woo woo and try to stick, not never say anything very poorly of my colleagues or anything like that because of course doctors are good people, you know, pediatricians are good people, but I think that there's a system in place that is just not working for us these days and we can see that based on the statistics and the chronic disease rates and the autoimmune epidemics and just everything that's going on.

And so every now and again, yes, sure, I get some pushback and certainly there's always I mean, I guess it doesn't matter what you do if you're posting online. There's gonna be controversy and everyone's gonna be fighting no matter what, but I, I, I try to thread the needle and not be too overly controversial.

But, but yeah, I think it's, it's moved in the direction where it seems like maybe I'm going on a little bit different path than, than the norm, but I do hope that I can be a bridge. I mean, I've always tried to be that and not, and not to alienate anybody, but discuss some middle ground so that we can figure out what's best for everyone or the patient.

So yeah, I think it's somewhere in the middle and that's what's kept me from really running into trouble so far. 

Dr. Brandon Crawford: Right. Right. And I agree with you. You know, it's at the end of the day, it's about the patient. It should be about. patient care, what is best for this child, for this family. And unfortunately, you know, I see that these dogmatic stances come in, and they come in on both sides, right?

They come in on the alternative health side, they come in on the holistic field, they come in on the traditional medicine side, where I see Sometimes it's just a dogmatic stance and it's like, look guys, like we can't just say this is it because like we actually have to be thinking through what is best for this patient.

And I think that you're, well, I know you're right. Like doctors just want to help. Like I, I've never met a doctor that literally was like, Oh, I just want to make a bunch of money. Screw the patients. Like this is not, you know, I've, I personally have not met. A doctor practicing like that. So I truly believe that doctors do want to help.

But you're right. We have this society. We have this system in place that has to bring in executives and lawyers and marketing, you know, and all these things. And it turns it into Something else. But anyway, just to shift focus a little bit you made a post it kind of caught my attention. I wanted to walk through a few things.

It was very engaging. The post was here are 15 things I learned as an integrative pediatrician that I wish every parent And several of these things really just kind of resonated with me. So if you don't mind let's just kind of walk through it. Cause each of these points almost feel like, like a wake up call, right?

To society, but then also to parents, but then even some to practitioners. I don't know. Yeah, absolutely. So the first one, You are responsible for your children's health. I love that. And obviously this is speaking to parents. Do you want to expand on that a little 

Dr. Joel Warsh: bit? Yeah, one of the big things that I have really been trying to do is to empower parents, and families, and just individuals to take health back into their own hands.

As somebody who is inside the system, And, and even now focus on integrative medicine and even in a practice of, of you know, more concierge where I have more time, there's still not enough time to really do everything that needs to be done for, for the patient. And I'm not there with Family is when they're buying food.

I'm not at home every day with it with you and certainly and that's it with me I mean, you know, you go to doctor. It's like you're there for three minutes or two minutes. They're not there to Make sure that you are healthy. They're there in general these days to help Decipher if something is very serious and give you a treatment if you need it, and that's great I mean, that's a very useful thing and we definitely need that But the medical system really isn't set up any longer to focus on prevention and to focus on health.

It's really about treatment and cures and disease. And I think that's just important to recognize. And I hope that does change over the long run, and that's one of the things we're pushing for. But We cannot expect anything to change in the, in the near future. Everything's really slow with medicine.

And so what we really need to do is to recognize that we're in charge. We're responsible. There's so much that we can do and so much power that we have over our family's health and the decisions that we make. And so I really try with, with almost everything that I, I discuss to talk about the things that we can actually do to make a difference, the things that are realistic in our, our lives to take back that power and to recognize that.

A lot of our kids health has to do with us. We're told in the media often that Oh, it's genetics. Oh, it's just happening. Oh, it's happening more. This is just the way that it is. And that's not true. Almost everything, almost every condition we have a lot of control over. And, and a lot of the reasons as to why these things are increasing are because of what we're doing in our life.

So of course there are some genetic diseases and there are some genetic components to these conditions, but for the most part, it's what we're doing that matters. And so if we make changes, then we can, we can really see a difference. 

Dr. Brandon Crawford: Yeah, that's a powerful statement. Absolutely. I 100 percent agree with that.

It actually makes me want to kind of jump to the, you know, the last statement that you made in the, in the post where you say, you know, your child best trust your parenting gut. It's awesome because I literally say this to patients all the time. I'll say, trust your mama heart, 

Dr. Joel Warsh: right? 

Dr. Brandon Crawford: And if a mom or a dad, it's typically a mom, but if, if a parent is ever telling me, like, I think this is what's going on or I really feel like this is the thing, I'm going to take that into consideration every single time.

But I think that's a great connection with that first point. And unfortunately, I feel like sometimes parents don't speak up and they don't trust their heart, right? I don't know if you have any, any expansion on that, but I think those are two great connecting points. 

Dr. Joel Warsh: Yeah. To me, there is no better piece of information as a physician than, than a parent.

And just like you said, like usually a mom, not always, you know, so there's some really wonderful dads out there and partners. But I think, you know, of anything, the mom's intuition and gut is, is one of the best. Instincts and we need to learn to trust that again I mean that is one of the basis of the books of the book that I wrote it It's literally we have to synthesize all the information out there because there's so much information And then we have to get back to trusting our own gut and figuring out what makes the most sense for our kids and in Our family because at the end of the day we know our kids Best and some influencer online doesn't know us some guideline from the american academy pediatrics or the cdc doesn't know Our kids and and and these are all important pieces of data that we should we should be aware of right?

Like we should be aware of the guideline because that's probably going to be pretty good information that we can use Towards making our decision but You know your family best and we have to make the decisions that make the most sense for us and we have to get back to trusting our gut a little bit more and and I just don't see that happening.

I feel like parents are more stressed than ever and they're trusting themselves less than ever. And, and that is a very difficult place to parent from because you're kind of frozen and making decisions. And we realistically won't know what the right decision is until after we tried to do things. You have to trust your gut and learn to work on that instinct to figure out what's going to be best for your, your children, and then continually monitor and make changes as you, as you learn new information.

So yeah, I think it's real important. 

Dr. Brandon Crawford: Absolutely. I know that I am consistently wrong and my wife is consistently right when it comes to these matters. But then you're a Trenton, New York guy. 

Dr. Joel Warsh: You're listening, you're listening, you know, you're, you're learning from your own family, like what, what the best place to listen to it is.

That's your wife. You know, I learned the same thing. 

Dr. Brandon Crawford: Yeah, absolutely. Something recently, you know, we, we took a trip to Barcelona and when we came back, my son, he had eczema that flared up like crazy and it was, it was really under control. It wasn't really doing, you know, we had done all the things we were supposed to do.

And so I'm running testing on him and my wife is at the computer and she goes, throw in heavy metals. And I'm like, he didn't, he didn't have any metals. Why? What are you talking about? Like that's not going to be on there. And she's like, just do it. I'm like, okay, so did it get, it was nickel. Like he had come in contact with nickel.

We detox it out. His eczema is on the mend. And I'm like, I wasn't even going to run that, but, you know, so just time and time again, she, she's that person that I got to listen to. So good stuff. It's good to have one of those around, you know, Right. The, so the next one be tough and strong. I see this all the time, man.

I mean, you know, we see a lot of pediatric brain injuries adult brain injuries too. But, but this is something that really consistently like these families in these situations, like if they weren't tough and strong, like it's not, it could be a whole different scenario, but what are you talking about here?

You know, you're talking about not shaming or blaming and understanding your role as a parent, but I mean, How do you be tough and strong as a parent, but then not, you know, piss off the doctor or overstep? Like, do you have any guidance on that? 

Dr. Joel Warsh: Yeah, with, with being tough and strong. I mean, there's a couple of ways you could go with this.

There's a lot of, a lot of different angles for, for tough and strong, but I think from one angle, it's, it's setting boundaries and being consistent as a parent from, you know, more specific to your question. When it comes to going to your health provider, it is very important to understand that you need to be an advocate.

for yourself and your children. Again, with the very, very short visits that most people have these days, the main thing that the doctor is trying to do is to make sure you don't have something super serious and then send you on your way. And it's important to ask questions. It's really important to know that if you are an advocate for your children, the visit might go in a very different direction.

Direction and it's absolutely okay to ask questions and oftentimes doctors very much like that But they don't even realize that you want to have more information or they that you are interested in You know x y or z and so having those discussions can be really helpful. It also helps you to see if you're with the right practitioner because Sometimes you know if you ask questions, you're going to find a practitioner That's going to be willing to speak to you and have conversations But if they're not then maybe that's not the right practitioner for you and being tough and strong might mean switching to another You Another doctor, but especially when it comes to medications and we're so over prescribed these days our kids especially are over prescribed medications and It is very important to ask questions and not just trust the guidance.

And it doesn't mean that guidance is wrong. It's just, we need to realize that we live in a society that we live in a medical world that has a litigious side to it. And so doctors want to cover their butt. They want to give you a medication. They want to get you out of the office and you can ask questions.

You can, you can say something like. Okay, you're prescribing this antibiotic for my child. Well, what is it for? Do you think they really need it? And they may very well say, Well, you know, I, I, I think it's a pneumonia. I'm very concerned. You need to take it. This is serious. We diagnosed a urine infection. It could get worse and go to your kidneys.

You need to take it. Or they might say, Well, you know, I'm not really sure. It might be a virus. And then you can say, Well, is it okay to hold off for a day or two? Do we need to do it today? And you'd be surprised how many times a doctor would say, Well, You actually probably don't need to take it right now.

You can have the prescription, keep an eye on it, see if it gets worse. You know, very commonly with ear infections, if you push back, or like ear pain and you push back, you go to the urgent care. Nobody's ever gone to urgent care that I'm aware of, and had some ear pain and not left with a prescription for antibiotics, even though 99 percent of the time you don't need it.

Because it's, it's viral or it's just going to get better on its own within a day or two. And, and when you ask that question, you will see so many times doctors will say, Well, you know, I think it would be okay if you, you watch it for a day or two. And if it gets worse, you know, make sure you call us, return, or start the prescription.

And that is an easy way to avoid a big chunk of medication that our, our children are, are given. And there's nothing woo woo about that. There's nothing combative about that. You're just, you know, Asking another question or two being tough not just assuming that what they're saying is is You know the gospel or the thing that needs to be done You're just asking questions and having a dialogue and and getting more information And if you're willing to do that Then you're going to be a great advocate for your child because maybe you need it and that's great and you understand that But maybe you don't And medications have side effects.

We know this and we should not be taking medicine just because all of the research shows that at this point, even just one prescription in the first six months based on research shows that you will increase your risk of eczema and allergies and autoimmune conditions, not by a lot, but it does show that it does increase those risks.

And so you shouldn't be terrified if your kid ever had an antibiotic, but it just means Don't take it just because. Make sure that you really need it and use it when you really need it. 

Dr. Brandon Crawford: Exactly. And you know, this, this actually happened to us with my second born. He, he developed some type of stomach infection.

He was vomiting. He was young. I mean, he was probably eight months old or so. And I was somewhere, I don't remember where I was. I was probably teaching somewhere or traveling for whatever. And my wife called me and I'm like, well, has he lost weight? She's like, yeah, he's, he's lost weight. I said, okay, go ahead and take him in.

So we took him in, they actually admitted him just because he had lost, you know, too much weight. And they started IV fluids and then they just immediately started IV antibiotics and, and, you know, I'm from afar, so I'm not gonna, you know, I'm not gonna try and doctor my kid from afar. Right. And I'm like, okay, they know what they're doing.

They have it. My wife's there. Yeah. And then he started having like intense diarrhea and you know, I'm sitting there going, okay, Hey Sarah, will you just ask why did they start the IV antibiotics right away? And literally the attending physician said, yeah, you know, if it were my kid, I probably wouldn't have done that.

Literally said that. And she's like, okay, well should we stop? And he's like, yeah, we should probably stop. That's probably where the diarrhea is coming from. I was going to dehydrate him even more. And I'm like, what in the world? But I mean, exactly what you're talking about here, man, it's just, it's crazy.

He ended up being okay, but you know, it was, it was interesting. 

Dr. Joel Warsh: Some things that we do in medicine these days are just, it's just, it's a weird system because you're, you're held to this standard that doesn't make any sense. You're, you're held to a standard of not getting, you don't want to get sued.

So you do things that, you know, you probably shouldn't do. And there's so many patients, and you have to see people so quickly, and you don't always have good follow up. I mean, I'm lucky in my practice that people can text me, and you know, we have good follow ups, so I'm a little bit less concerned if I could say, you know, go home and reach out to me if it gets worse, because I know if it gets worse, I could do something about it.

But that's just not the case for a lot of parents and, and a lot of practices and, and so defensive medicine is, is practice and they just, they do that. Like they just, well, why did you give antibiotics? I don't know. Just in case, you know, just in case. And it's like, okay, that, that might be true if your child's having what you would think is meningitis or they're like severely ill or unconscious or something.

Okay, I get it. There are, there are cases where you might treat them just in case. But most of the time you don't. Don't need to do that and certainly when it's a mild thing where you're going to urgent care and you're not in the hospital I mean your case is like we were in the hospital. We're very sick.

So, you know, maybe that makes sense I don't know It doesn't sound like it did but maybe but if you're just going to urgent care or your primary care because your kid has a little bit of ear pain That's not an emergency. So you have some time to see where it goes and and you don't necessarily need to do an antibiotic Unless there's a good reason to do it and there are a few but just not that many 

Dr. Brandon Crawford: Right.

Absolutely Well, I feel like this next topic is something we could probably speak on for about six hours So we'll see what what happens but it's our modern lifestyle is a disaster for pediatric health half of all kids have some sort of chronic illness. So, where do you want to go first with this, my friend?

Well, 

Dr. Joel Warsh: I guess the first place to go is just to acknowledge that it's happening. You know, I think that we're downplaying it. I don't know why this isn't bigger news. I mean, it should be one of the biggest news stories that there is. I mean, our health is worse than ever for adults and certainly for kids.

And it seems like more and more of these days, we're just stepping back and saying, Oh, it's just genetics. We're just better at diagnosing things. But that's not true. This is happening. I mean, it's true that we are getting better at diagnosing things to some part portion of it Certainly is that we're better at diagnosing it where we're more aware of things.

Yeah, that's true but you don't go from like one or five percent chronic disease to 40 or 50 percent chronic disease over a couple of decades and Not say that it's not happening. You don't go from autism of one in 25, 000 to one in two thousand to one in 500 to one in 36 over a few decades and say that it's not happening more.

You don't say that. Well, we didn't even have type two diabetes in kids basically 50 years ago, and now the average age of onset is 13. We don't go from, you know, very minimal amounts of D diabetes to. One third of kids with prediabetes or diabetes half of all kids have are overweight or obese like we didn't we didn't just get here Without something happening like there are a lot of there are a lot of things going on Absolutely, but but we need to be talking about it acknowledging it and once we acknowledge that it's happening then maybe we can start to find some solutions, but it doesn't really feel like The medical system is focused in any way on discussing this or, or preventing it or, or, or doing anything to make real change and the vast majority of it's not that complicated.

It's just our crappy food and the amount of toxins that we're exposed to and the lack of exercise. And, and if we were focused on that, like we were focused on, on, on interventions, we could change it quite quickly. But we're being marketed to and, and we're eating food that isn't real food. You know, ultra processed food is.

What's mainly consumed by children, like 79 percent of food is ultra processed food and, and there's no possible way for us to be healthier and expect our kids to be healthy when they're not getting the nutrients that they need and they're being exposed to so many toxins. And this, this has to be a discussion that really comes to the forefront over the next year.

You know, decade, if we want to have a different future for our kids, because right now we're going in a very bad direction. 

Dr. Brandon Crawford: Absolutely. We are. You know, it makes me think, I mean, of course, yes, 100 percent nutrition toxins, all those things. But you just made my brain kind of go into a direction about movement and exercise.

You know, I, I, I don't know if I'm going to quote it right, but basically, you know, There was a study and it was looking at health span and longevity but basically going from no exercise per week to just three extra set or three hours of exercise per week, I believe the study showed reduced all cause mortality by 50 percent just that much, right?

So I was actually just talking with the parent yesterday. And they were just like, why won't my kid sit down and be still in school? And I'm like, cause he's a four year old boy and he's not designed to sit down and be still, I mean, that's a, an unrealistic expectation that we're placing on our kids. And that's creating societal problems.

It's driving anxiety. It's driving all kinds of, I was just thinking driving in this morning about, You know, you know, it's back to school time. So my kids are back to school. I'm in there with them. I'm seeing, I see so many anxious kids, you know, I mean, I didn't, I mean, now granted, I didn't know how to spot it when I was a kid.

I get it, but I don't think there were that many anxious kids when, when I was in school. I mean, what the heck, man? So, so absolutely, you know, focusing on nutrition, Eliminating as many toxins and whatnot. Do you have any other advice for parents in this regard? Because I mean, it's, it's a problem. So someone that has an autism, let's start with autism.

Well, that was cool. I'll give a thumbs up and I got fireworks behind me. Look at 

Dr. Joel Warsh: that. 

Dr. Brandon Crawford: There we go. Does it work for me? No, it didn't work for me. So, so let's start with, with autism, right? So what would you tell the parent with an autistic child? Like where do they start? Like just to try and get on this better lifestyle path.

Dr. Joel Warsh: To that parent who has a child with autism or he's even concerned about autism, or even before, you know, when you're about to have a child, I think the key thing to mention and to understand is that we have some power here. I heard that. The dominant narrative and the dominant story is, well this is basically just genetics and there's not much we can do and this is normal and this is just how it is.

And the reality for most kids is that we can do a lot. to at least help with the symptoms and manage the symptoms and maybe even remove the diagnosis over time. I mean, I've seen it there. There are studies, there was a recent one with twins that they had a very high level autism and over three years really reduced the symptoms.

And after that point, really, At least based on that study and those checklists, reduce their symptoms to below where you would even call it autism. So, it is possible to be done. I've seen it in my office. I've worked with lots of practitioners that have seen it as well. Not always, right? I mean, I think there are many things that are what we call autism, but we have to take our power back.

We have to not feel bad or blamed or shamed that we did something, but we also have to acknowledge that our world and our lifestyle is a big factor here. And if we start to make changes and become aware, then there are so many things that we can do from changing up what we're eating, to moving a little bit more, to getting better sleep, to reducing the stress.

All of these things add up. And, and, you know, every kid's going to be different, so there are going to be different things that we need to do. But, but it is really important. And back to your point about exercise Yeah, I think that, that it is so important that we get back to just moving again. I mean, we look at the blue zones around the world and, and most of those individuals aren't doing anything magical.

They're just moving in their daily life. It's not going to the gym. I mean, it's fine if you want to go to the gym, but that at the end of the day is probably not the thing that's going to help you live the longest or be the healthiest. It's just having a lifestyle that involves movement. And you look at the.

The grandmas and you know, the videos when you watch the, watch the, the, you know, wherever they're in Costa Rica or something. And it's like, they have bigger muscles than, than most people that go to the gym because they're just in the kitchen rolling and, you know, 95 years old and they're making food still.

And they're, you know, their husband is out in the farm and they're like huge muscles and they're 97 or whatever. You're like, how are you doing that? And it's not because they're, they're exercising, you know, air quotes, they're, they're just moving and being active and walking up hills and just, just living their lifestyle.

And we have to get back to that. We've. We've moved so far away from our lifestyle of movement. Just like you said in school, it's like we put a four year old. And we expect them to sit around and then you wonder why they're having issues. Plus you add in the crappy food that makes them, you know, so energetic and hijacks their brain.

How do we expect them to, to focus and be functional? So there are things that we need to do from a society level, but that's, that's harder, at least from a family perspective, from a, from, from what we can do. Like we need to build that back into our lives very consciously because it's very slowly been taken out of our lives and especially with screens and screen time now that even more so we're, we're, we're not moving.

I mean, we have cars, you know, great, but it means we're not walking. So there, there, there's a need for us to build this back into our lives. And if you're driving your kids to school, maybe you can stop a couple of blocks away and walk. You know, when you're going places, maybe you take stairs instead of taking elevator, like whatever you can do in the day to increase just.

What you wouldn't call exercise. Yes, you want to get them involved in sports or whatever. Great, but that is just like once a week or twice a week. Like we need to be consistently moving always at that lower grade level. And I think that is really what helps build resilience. And also back to your point about, you know, stress and anxiety.

Basically, every study shows that the thing that works the best is exercise, right? I mean, yeah, it doesn't mean that you shouldn't, you shouldn't take an antidepressant if you're very depressed or suicidal or something. Of course, there are times where this is necessary, but But, in every study I've ever seen, and certainly all the recent ones, exercise works better than the medications for most of these conditions, and yet we never hear anybody talk about that.

Dr. Brandon Crawford: Right. 100%. Yeah. I love that you brought that up. Absolutely. And it made me think cause I've, you know, I, I did a sabbatical in Costa Rica several years ago. I just got back from Italy and I'm just sitting here thinking like when, when we were living in Costa Rica we didn't see obese kids and they were walking to school after school.

They were outside playing. They were all playing soccer. They were climbing trees. So I'm like, no one had a screen in front of their face. Same thing, you know, we were in Italy and it was we were around the Amalfi coast and if you've been to the Amalfi coast, I mean, this is like all hills. I mean, I was winded just walking down the street to go, you know, to a restaurant or something.

But then you had all these locals that were just zipping up and down, you know, and I'm like, Oh my gosh, like I run, I work out and this is hard for me. And it was clear that the lifestyle, right. And, and you mentioned the blue zone. That's what really got me, you know, Sardinia is, is a blue zone. And so we were wanting to go to Sardinia, but we just did the Amalfi Coast, but you know, it was very clear that the lifestyle and how they move just on a daily basis, just to live, just to go to the store, just to go to school, just to do their things.

It makes a dramatic impact on not just lifespan, but health span, right? How healthy and well they actually are. And, and as, 

Dr. Joel Warsh: and we're not, I mean, 50 percent of kids are overweight or obese. That's insane. Kids are not supposed to be overweight or obese. There are no other animals. Out there in the world where they're overweight or obese like you, you don't see like overweight zebras or something, right?

It's like they're, you eat what you eat and, and you know, you don't see overweight lions. It's like they eat what they eat and you know what you, what you need. And the only reason that we're overweight and obese is because our food is so crappy. And our, our, you know, we have all these food scientists that make.

That, that figure out how we subvert our normal systems to make us want their food more and, and more hungry and, and so that's what our kids are, are eating and, and we don't have the rules to protect us here in, in America, like even other places in the world do, you don't see the obesity rates. Like we have here in so many other countries that you look at Japan you know, they're under 5 percent obesity you talk about Costa Rica, you know, I don't know what the numbers are, but it's, it's very low there as well.

And when we have a 50 percent obesity overweight, we have a metabolic crisis and that is almost fully because of our food. And if we just change that one thing, then we would go back and it wasn't like that just a few years ago. It really was not, not when we were growing up. Food was different and it's so bad now.

And the vast majority of kids are getting the vast majority of their calories from, from not real food. And many kids don't even ever eat a vegetable or a fruit in any given day. It's a very high percentage. It's more than half. So that is something that we absolutely could change if we made it a priority.

But from a personal perspective, you have to do that for your family. And if everybody starts to do that, then hopefully things will change and more. We'll see a shift, but it's going to start with you. And it comes back to empowering the parents, you know, pairing you to make the changes for your own family and not worry about being the crunchy parent or the weird parent, worry about, worry about your kid's health for the future.

And, and, and you can have the one healthy child on your block because you actually care about this stuff. 

Dr. Brandon Crawford: Right. Yeah, I agree with you, man. I don't care if they call me crunchy or whatever. I've been called a lot of things. I've probably been called things today, just this morning, who knows? And that's OK with me, because you're right.

I mean, I've got I've got healthy kids. I've got a healthy family. And not that we do everything perfect, but you're right. And it's funny, you keep on. Going back to foods, right? And I have a saying and I think I learned it back in school I don't remember but I say, you know, stop consuming edible non food like products And that leads me into the question, you know, you talk about reading labels How can you advise parents on, you know, what do you look out for on labels?

What should they really, like, absolutely avoid? Like, what do you, what do you want them to look for? 

Dr. Joel Warsh: First thing I want them to do is to look. That's the key, right? Start to look at every label from now on. That is the number one piece of advice that I always give. You should never buy anything from now on if you don't read the label.

Hopefully it doesn't even have a label, but if it does, read it and start to become a mindful consumer. You don't need a PhD in chemistry, organic chemistry, to know that a really long word is probably not good for you if you don't know what it is. Then you can go learn about it. That's great. But just try to buy things with actual words that, you know, look at the sugar content and the added sugar, make sure if there is any sugar in there, it's from a real thing, right?

Like honey or coconut or maple syrup or whatever. If they're adding a bunch of processed sugar, it's not going to be good for you. We get so much. sugar. We don't need the sugar that we're getting in the mass amounts that we're getting. Sugar in it by itself is not bad. It's just we get so much sugar that, that, and, and from the sources that are, you know, highly processed refined sugars, like that's what's bad.

And, and really just try to focus back on real foods. I mean, we're so confused by the guidelines and what to eat and what not to eat and what's good and what's bad. And the answer is very simple. Just get back to eating real food, buy things that are the actual thing, try to minimize whatever chemicals or pesticides are sprayed on them to the best of your ability, you know, buy organic when you can try to go to farmers markets when you can get to know your farmers if you can, so you know where you're buying things from and then just cook more.

I mean, as much as we can do it, cook more, make that a priority. We've moved away from that being a priority and the more you can get away from the fancy label on the box, the fancy like. You know, cartoon characters on the box, the fancy box and things that are wrapped in plastic. And the more you can buy things that are actual foods and cook them, then the healthier we're going to be.

And I think that's just a good. direction to move in, and I know that sometimes it can be more expensive, and, and that is what it is. I mean, that's a societal issue, too, that we need to, to figure out in terms of making healthier food more available. But, but do whatever you can within your budget to try to buy more real food.

And try to cook it yourself. And if you're doing that once a week, try to do it twice a week. If you're doing a twice a week, try to do it three times a week. If you're never doing it, try to do it once a week. But just by starting to read the labels, you're going to move in a more positive direction.

And it doesn't mean you have to go from chips to broccoli, but you can read two bags of chips that can be the exact same price. And you can look at the ingredients and pick the one with lower sugar and more words that you actually know what they are. And that moves the needle in the positive direction.

And if you do that with every single purchase, then it adds up because one bag of chips is not the problem. It's eating it over and over again, mixed with every other thing that we're doing. And so if you start to be more mindful, then all these little changes make a big difference. 

Dr. Brandon Crawford: Yes. 100%. That's a, I love how you just kind of worked through that all the way from.

Looking at the label to cooking at home, and you know, I think I want everyone to understand like your kids are Sponges like they are listening and watching everything that we are doing and this became very apparent to myself and my wife Maybe a few years ago. We saw our kids without us provoking reading labels and Commenting on wow, that's a lot of sugar Mm hmm I didn't say anything about it, like they picked it up, right?

And so they started knowing, you know, okay, I can't consume this much sugar. This is not good. And just reading labels themselves. I didn't have to teach them. They were just watching and learning. And then you're right. You know, this whole concept of cooking. This is so imperative because there's so many things that go into it.

This is beyond food. This is about. Like building relationships with one of our kids will always cook, you know, I'll grill outside. That's, you know, my thing and then my wife will, she went to culinary school for a short stint. She'll cook inside and you know, one of the kids, if not both will always want to join and that is the best time for conversation.

That is the best time for this bonding experience that you don't get otherwise. And in not only that, but then going into the physiology, you're getting the smells, the, the site, like your, your body is preparing itself for that meal, which is a whole nother discussion, right? Rather than just going through a fast food line, you don't start producing those gastric enzymes and all those things.

And you're as effective. You know, as if you're cooking a meal so really, really good discussion there. And I hope that people, you know, start to, okay, let's at least start with one meal a week that we cook. Okay. Then let's go to two. Let's go to three. Right. Very, very, very important on so many levels.

Absolutely. So, okay. So I, I, I want to, yeah, there's so many things I want to turn to. Okay. So, Real quick, give me this you say there's no quick fixes to chronic disease. I definitely want to touch on this I want to hear your take on it because this is you know, I call it the Amazon problem, right?

Love Amazon nothing wrong, you know, I used it, you know, whatever but You know, you click a button and what you want is at your doorstep, sometimes within hours. And it's created this mentality, not just through Amazon, but we have this idea that I want this now, I need this now. So health doesn't work that way.

Can you walk us through some of that? 

Dr. Joel Warsh: Yeah. Health definitely does, does not work that way. I mean, a medication can. Fix a symptom or make you feel better or even cure a disease. I mean, yes that there are Times where medicine comes in very handy like we talked about before with the pneumonia Yeah, you give an antibiotic it can cure that but when you're talking about a chronic condition, they're really It's almost never a quick fix because it's something that's developed over a long time.

And if you want to improve things and you have to heal it over a long time and generally something that is going to be a quick fix is going to have other downstream side effects are going to you know, if it's something that that is so serious that it changes up your symptoms so much in a day, then it's obviously doing other things to the rest of your body and then it creates other issues.

And so if you truly want to heal from, from most things, almost all of them. Then it's not something that's going to happen overnight. It's something that involves usually changing up your lifestyle to live a healthier lifestyle so that you can build in better habits and that your body can get back into balance and you can use.

natural remedies or alternative remedies or holistic remedies alongside with medications to Get your body back to a better place, but that takes time And we want quicker faster Better these days and and the reality is that that most things with health are not faster They're they're long term and we have to make those changes and they're not the easy things to do and and you know that that that's really what I believe and I think that that's what's really You Most integrative doctors would, would see is, is if you have to stick with it, it's not, it's not a medication but you're trying to do something that's going to last you for the rest of your life and that often takes time.

Dr. Brandon Crawford: Right. And, and I just want to reiterate the balance, right? There should be this healthy balance between, Your traditional medical approach versus your holistic care like I love and in that look if you step into my office like you see this Where you know, we have Cairo's PT ot my medical director is a neurosurgeon We collaborate with any type of physician you name it And it's beautiful when it all works together Right because I don't I don't have all the medical training that you know A lot of these doctors have but they don't have You The rehab experience and training that I have.

Right. And so when it comes to long term, you know, right. Rehab for the brain that, that, that's, that's my wheelhouse. I got it. But you bring a medical question to me. I need to be able to defer that to a medical expert and I need them to not squash what we're doing or talk bad about where, you know, that that's the environment.

And that, That's the segue into alternative medicine is not woo woo. Some alternative providers are right. And so I love your statement because man, you nailed it there. You know, there's great benefit to alternative medicine, but then you're right. Some alternative providers, just like some traditional medical providers, they're a little off their rockers.

So, first of all, like, so you mentioned your, you know, your wife kind of opened your eyes to this, but, but what really, you know, Made you okay with some of these alternative medicine practices. 

Dr. Joel Warsh: It works. There's this, it just works. And you see people go through the regular system and not get better and then go outside the regular system and get better.

And you see that enough times. And you have to, if you are an inquisitive, open minded scientific person, then you're going to wonder what is going on. Why are they getting better? Why are they being told they have a condition for life and then their labs are better and they've lost that condition? Like what is going on?

And the reality is that there are so many modalities around the world that have been used for a very long time. And they're certainly not all woo, woo, woo. They work, they work really well. You can, you know, You can get outside of your lane. So that's where in that statement, it's like, you know, there are some people that, that will try to tell you things or do things that are way outside of, of reasonable or not based on any actual signs or just trying to get, make money from you so that there are people like that for sure, but that's not what most.

You know, air quotes, alternative practitioners are doing alternative practitioners are mostly people that are Working in a field that's been around for much longer than modern medicine and are doing things that have been around Forever and they're only alternative because modern medicine says so but acupuncture is a perfect example of something where And that might have been thought to be kind of woo woo 20 years ago, and then you have an opioid epidemic, and you don't want to use opioids for pain as much anymore, and so you're looking for a solution, and, and acupuncture works really well, and now in most pain clinics and hospitals, you have acupuncture clinics, and now it's modern mainstream covered by insurance, and, and that is direction that we're moving in and, and just like you said it's about working in teams, and kind of everybody knowing their lane.

And, and I hope that over the long run, doctors are going to be a little bit more humble to realize that they're not very good at chronic disease. And then working in teams to, to work on that, that's fine, I mean, we don't, We can't expect over the next two years for doctors to have one hour for each patient, like that's not going to happen.

So the answer really is to work together and say, okay, well, you know, I don't think you have cancer, so we need to work on your diet. Go work with a nutritionist, you know, or go work with the, you know, your current chiropractor, or your acupuncturist, or whatever it is that makes sense for that patient, but just to work in teams.

That is how we're actually going to get healthy, because a doctor's not going to spend two hours with you, but other practitioners can. 

Dr. Brandon Crawford: Absolutely. Do you have a favorite alternative health practice? Like, do you favor chiro, massage, acupuncture? 

Dr. Joel Warsh: I mean, chiropractic is very versatile. Like, you know, obviously, you know, but it's so, it's such a weird, Profession I think because you're so versatile and they're different in terms of like, okay One chiropractor is good at this thing.

Another chiropractor is good at that thing So I think it's kind of knowing knowing the practitioner and what their what their strengths are I mean naturopathic doctors could be I think for for for medicine and pediatrics maybe of anything a naturopathic doctor can be really really helpful, especially for somebody who is not integrative minded because You would have, you kind of combine the naturopathic doctor with the regular doctor and you get both sides really nicely.

They don't necessarily have all the training in modern medicine, but they are really good at homeopathics and supplements. And, and for most kids, I think that's a good, that's a good bridge for a lot of families. Chiropractor might be like the next step for people, I think, you know, in the, in that realm.

But naturopathic is almost like medicine, just with holistic, like supplements. So it's, it's very similar and it's not, it's not too out there for most parents. So it's a nice bridge. And then oftentimes they're connected with chiropractors or acupuncturists or whatever from there. But yeah, yeah. And then, and then, you know, chiropractors, a lot of them are not comfortable with kids.

And so for me, it's, it's, it's, it's not, not always. The most useful, but there are, there are some that are amazing, you know, and I definitely work with like some chiropractors that are great for pregnancy. There's like a couple of them and there's a couple that will work with kids. So the ones that do are fantastic but I would say that we need more chiropractors to become comfortable with kids.

Dr. Brandon Crawford: Yes. 100%. I totally agree with that. And when, you know, I have someone and I refer them and I tell them, Hey, you need to find a local Cairo. You know, it was tell them, make sure that they're trained in pediatrics very important because there's some, you know, just like any other profession, there's some that are just going to take a patient, try and do what they need to do.

Can with them, but they need to have that proper training make sure they're comfortable with kids. Very, very important. I think 

Dr. Joel Warsh: you guys need to change your name to chiropractor. Like, I think everyone thinks of it as a back person, so I feel like it's, you kind of need a new name. And then people, cause like naturopathic, you're almost a naturopathic doctor, like in many ways.

Sure. Yeah. Yeah. No, 

Dr. Brandon Crawford: I agree. And you know, it's, it's. Relatively a, a, a young professional, I believe 1895 something like that. And you know, functional neurology is even younger. I mean, we started in the 1980s, but I agree. I believe Kairos came from by hand, right? And so obviously the adjustment done by hand but I agree, you know, it's a kind of a, kind of a strange name.

It doesn't really give. Much, you know, behind what the profession does and the profession has evolved so much that, yeah, well, maybe I'll work on, I'll pitch that to the, the chiropractors that are up in the clouds, you know, which I don't even know who they are determining what all's going on. We'll see what I can do.

Okay. So, so we are kind of running out of time here, but I want to, I want to get into a discussion around a few topics that you bring up, and I think they're very important to talk about. You talk about it enough of the excuses. I'm too busy. It's too expensive. And then combining that also with being, you know, too tired and overworked.

Right. And you're talking to the parents, right? So what are some strategies, some tips, some discussion points around these? Because these are real, like these are real concepts. These are real problems, if you will, in the home. I mean, even myself, I go home, even last night, I was like, man, I am, I am beat. My wife's car has a flat.

I've got one kid that wants to play lacrosse with me right now. I've got another kid that needs me to do their homework with them right now. Yeah. I mean, I was, my head was about to explode. So, I mean, what can you offer for guidance here? 

Dr. Joel Warsh: The guidance in my mind for that sentence is really that In general, we need to start minimizing those excuses for ourselves.

Obviously we want to be reasonable with what we can spend and what we can afford. Of course, people are very busy and they're tired. And I get that. I'm busy and tired and you know, all these things as well, but we do what we prioritize and we do not prioritize health. And that has to be part of the equation.

It doesn't mean that on a day like you just mentioned yesterday, that's the day to prioritize health. Maybe you have a crazy, crazy day. You know, in a car accident and this and that. Okay, baby, that's not your day for prioritizing health. But in general, this has to come into the equation and your, your answer every single day can't be, I'm too tired.

I don't have time for this. I, it's gonna cost too much. I just can't do it. Like we have to figure out how for each family within their means and what's reasonable for them. We can work these things in and to me if we start to do that Then you start to make more mindful decisions and and eating healthier doesn't always have to be more expensive spending some time cooking doesn't always have to be more time Like maybe you make a really big meal So that's a couple meals for the week, whatever whatever it is that you can do that's reasonable for your family But that has to get into the equation and I don't think it is in our equation Most of the time these days it's it's just our excuse like oh the world's so crazy.

I'm so busy. I'm so tired and If those are the things that we're saying to ourself all the time, then we're going to have kids that are unhealthy. That's the statistics, that's the reality, and that's okay if you're okay with it. But if you are not, then we have to figure out a plan that makes sense for you.

Maybe that's working with an alternative practitioner to help you think through some of these things. Or maybe you just think through it yourself and try to implement whatever you can wherever you can. But yeah, we, we have to, we have to make changes and absolutely have to make societal changes too. But again, it's like, these are big things that aren't going to change tomorrow, but you can say, you know what?

Like we're going to cook one more time a week. I'm going to do this. I'm going to make Friday nights is going to be cooking night. Like whatever it is, you know, I don't know your family again. And that's why it's. Unique to each family, and even the title of my book, Parenting at Your Child's Pace, it's like figuring out what makes sense for you and your family, because we need to start, and it starts somewhere, do one thing, it starts to snowball, you start to realize you feel better, then you want to do more, then you have more energy, then you can cook another meal, like, it's a snowball effect.

So, start somewhere, do anything, prioritize your health, and if we do, then we're giving ourselves and our kids the best chance to be healthy, and they deserve that. Parenting And we don't want them to be the next statistic or if they do have chronic conditions, then we want them to be able to heal. And, and, and that is how we get there.

Dr. Brandon Crawford: Absolutely. I have a, a thing with myself, with my kids and it's, I don't ever want to tell my kids no when they ask me to do something with them right now. Obviously there's. Things where one time my youngest was like, Hey dad, climb on the roof with me. I'm like, okay, that's a no. But you know, as long, as, long as it's reasonable like last night, perfect example, you know, again, I'm, I'm beat.

I got a tire that's flat. I've got, you know, long day, whatever, it's late. He said, Hey, come throw the ball with me. Right. And I'm like, not tonight, man. I'll, I'll, I'll throw it with you tomorrow. Right. And so I sit down and I'm like, why did I just say no. Right. And my answer to myself was, well, because I'm tired.

And I'm like, well, screw that. I can be tired any, anytime. And so I was like, all right, right now, let's go. We've got, I was like, you got 10 or 15 minutes, but look, 10 or 15 minutes. That's better than no. Right. And so I just got up. I'm like, I'm going to do it anyway. So just that, that. Yeah. Self checking mechanism of like, why did I just tell him?

No, like, what was my actual reason because I'm always going to be tired. I'm always going to be working. I'm always going to do whatever. So I'm like, no, no, Crawford, get your butt up, go play with your kid. So just kind of having those self check mechanisms of like, why did. I do that. Why did I allow for that?

Why did I not do that? Right. Just kind of, that's what I try to tell people, like keep yourself in check and make sure. And then your, your spouse, your partner, whoever you're doing life with, same thing with them. Because sometimes my wife will be like, why did you say no? Why did you not do that? Right.

And she's not being mean to me. Like this is a conversation we've had. Like I want her to hold me in check just like she wants me to hold her in check. But. Uncertain things like having someone beside you that can walk with you and keep you in line and help you too, because that's a goal. I want to facilitate these relationships and my kids health.

And so I need someone alongside me. That's going to help me to do that. So, so it overall, you know, what, what came to mind, like listening to your talk and I love, I love how you speak on everything, man. I think, you know, you're a phenomenal Physician, person, like you're, you're doing so many good things for the world, but it gave me this picture in my head of, you know, you're talking about being a gardener versus a mechanic, you know, you, we are more than just the sum of our parts, right?

If you want to grow a nice, healthy garden, vegetables, flowers, whatever, you have to think about the soil. You have to think about the sun, you have to think about the water, right? If something is diseased or what do you have to think about the environment and what, how am I going to make this a better place for this, this thing to thrive, right?

Versus a mechanics approach of going in and just replacing a part or doing right? I mean, we are more than the sum of our parts. I mean, does that does that jive? Well, does that make sense to you? 

Dr. Joel Warsh: Definitely. You wouldn't. A fishbowl is kind of the easiest example that I've always seen is like, you know, that the water is dirty, you don't give them a medication for the fish, you have to clean the water, right?

It's like the same, we, we, we're just so, we're so disconnected from reality and the real world now, like we're disconnected from our food, we're disconnected from nature. And so we just, we literally forget. I think, I mean, sometimes I have to remind myself, like. You know, you're built of what you eat, you are part of the world, like the sun is important, like all these things that matter, you know, and, and, and, and all the other things don't, don't really matter.

I mean, the stress is like they do to us, I guess, but like not in the grand scheme of things. And so you just have to step back. Every now and again and, and, and re center yourself on what's really important. And I, I think that just like you said, like, yeah, your, your environment matters. And if the environment that your children are growing up in is toxic, you know, for many reasons from, from mental to, to physically, you know, like a lot of chemicals and they're not eating good food, like they're not going to be healthy.

That's just how it is. And that's where we are. And that's why everybody has a chronic condition. 

Dr. Brandon Crawford: Yeah, absolutely. Well, man, I, I really enjoyed our talk today. Thank you so much for coming on. I know that my listeners, my viewers are going to be just eating this up. They're going to fall in love with you for sure.

So, you know, if you're listening here, you know, be sure and check out Dr. Joel Gator. We'll put all of his social media, his website, all the things in the show notes, please make sure and get his book parenting at JoelGator. com. This man is a phenomenal resource. He's speaking truth. He means it.

He's passionate about kids health, about global health. So Dr. Gator, again, thank you so much. And everyone, I can't wait to speak to you next time. Thanks so 

Dr. Joel Warsh: much for having me on.

Voice Over: We hope today's episode has inspired you to take that next step towards your best self. Remember, the path to longevity is paved with small, daily decisions. Your journey is unique and every step, every choice brings you closer to your ultimate vision of a healthier, happier life. For more insights, tips, and resources, visit drbrandoncrawford.com.

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