At NACD, we emphasize the importance of brain health through nutrition. Research continues to show that high-sugar breakfasts lead to blood sugar spikes, crashes, and difficulties in learning and behavior. While this affects everyone, children with ADHD, autism, and other neurodevelopmental challenges often experience these effects more severely.

Many parents unknowingly fall into the trap of feeding their kids what they assume is a healthy breakfast. But much of what is marketed as a “balanced meal” is anything but.

Why the Standard American Breakfast Fails Kids

Most traditional breakfast foods are built around sugar and refined carbohydrates. Cereal, toast, bagels, waffles, pancakes, and flavored yogurts may seem like normal morning staples, but they spike blood sugar quickly.

When blood sugar rises too fast, kids may seem energetic at first, but soon after, their levels crash. This can lead to:

• Fatigue and sluggishness
• Difficulty focusing in school
• Emotional outbursts and irritability
• Strong cravings for more sugar

For children with special needs, these crashes can be especially problematic. Unstable blood sugar can contribute to hyperactivity, increased anxiety, aggression, and difficulties with emotional regulation.

Beyond the immediate impact, long-term exposure to high blood sugar contributes to inflammation, cognitive decline, and metabolic issues like insulin resistance. A morning blood sugar spike can also make children more prone to cravings throughout the day, setting them up for poor eating habits.

Read more: The Science of a Smart Breakfast

The Best Type of Breakfast for Brain Function and Stability

A well-balanced breakfast should be built around protein, healthy fats, and fiber. This combination helps stabilize blood sugar, sustain energy levels, and improve focus and behavior.

Rethinking Breakfast: It’s Just Another Meal

What we consider “breakfast food” is largely shaped by marketing and cultural history, not nutrition. There is no scientific reason why breakfast needs to include cereal, toast, or pancakes. In fact, many cultures around the world start their day with meals that resemble lunch or dinner—often including meats, vegetables, and healthy fats.

A child could just as easily eat chicken and roasted vegetables in the morning as they would in the evening. What matters most is the nutrient content, not the label of “breakfast food.”

Smart Breakfast Choices

Instead of relying on processed foods, focus on whole, nutrient-dense options.

Great choices include:

• Eggs, which provide high-quality protein and choline to support brain development
• Meat such as chicken, turkey, or beef, offering amino acids essential for neurotransmitter production
• Avocados, rich in healthy fats that support brain health
• Nuts and seeds, a great source of protein, fiber, and minerals
• Leafy greens and other vegetables packed with essential vitamins

For those who want a little sweetness, organic dates are a great alternative. Unlike refined sugars, dates contain fiber, vitamins, and minerals that slow down sugar absorption. They provide a natural sweetness without causing extreme spikes in blood sugar.

Fruit can also be part of a healthy breakfast when eaten alongside protein and fat to help balance blood sugar. A few berries with nuts, or apple slices paired with almond butter, can add flavor and nutrients without the negative effects of a sugar-heavy meal.

The Cereal Myth: How We Got It So Wrong

Many parents grew up believing that breakfast should include grains. That belief wasn’t shaped by science but by decades of cereal industry marketing. Companies spent millions convincing families that cereals, granola bars, and other processed grains were the best way to start the day.

The reality is that most of these products are ultra-processed, stripped of nutrients, and packed with sugar. Even those claiming to be “whole grain” often cause the same rapid spikes and crashes as refined sugar.

Making the Switch to a Healthier Breakfast

Changing a child’s breakfast routine doesn’t have to be difficult. Gradual adjustments help make the transition smoother.

• Start small by replacing one processed item at a time. Swap out cereal for eggs or replace toast with avocado and nuts.
• Focus on protein first. Ensuring kids get high-quality protein at breakfast helps stabilize blood sugar and keep them full longer.
• Reduce sugar gradually. If your child is used to sweet flavors, introduce healthier alternatives like organic dates or berries alongside protein and fats.
• Get kids involved. Let them help with planning and preparing breakfast. Giving them choices—within healthy options—makes them more likely to enjoy their meal and feel empowered.

Some simple meal ideas kids can help prepare:

• Scrambled eggs with spinach and chicken sausage
• Turkey and avocado roll-ups
• Roasted vegetables with shredded chicken
• Hard-boiled eggs with cucumber slices and hummus
• Sautéed greens with beef and olive oil

The Bigger Picture: A Healthier Future for Kids

At NACD, we work with families to develop customized programs that optimize brain function, learning, and development. The right nutrition is a key piece of that puzzle. By shifting away from sugar-heavy, processed breakfasts and embracing whole, nutrient-dense foods, parents can help their children improve focus, energy, and emotional stability—especially those with special needs.

A small change at breakfast can have a huge impact on a child’s ability to learn, regulate emotions, and thrive.

 Learn more about NACD’s approach and how we help families build healthier, stronger futures.

Reprinted by permission of The NACD Foundation, Volume 39 No. 1 , 2025 ©NACD

The post The Truth About Breakfast: Why a Protein-Packed Morning Meal is Essential for Kids—Especially Special Needs Children appeared first on NACD International | The National Association for Child Development.

In my last article I mentioned that working memory is another factor to consider when looking at anxiety in our children. Bob Doman, founder and director of NACD, has been at the forefront of understanding working memory and its impact on global function since the early ‘80s. It is a big deal. It is not just big, but huge, gargantuan, as it is the foundation that permits us to think. It not only permits us to think, but it also plays a role in our ability to regulate our emotions. Let’s spend some time on working memory, defining its role in our ability to handle stress.

Let’s first review how the brain works in a simple way. Information comes into the brain through our senses. If our sensory channels are functioning normally, the information gets perceived correctly, then it gets processed through our short-term memory. Our working memory is what allows us to think about this information along with taking information that we already know out of long-term memory. For example, if I am sitting in a class and I am listening to a lecture, I am taking in what that teacher says, hearing the information, processing what they are saying, and using my working memory to think about what I already know about that topic, how what they say impacts what I already know, what client comes to mind when I think of what the teacher is saying, etc. I am visualizing, conceptualizing, and developing an opinion or my own thoughts about that particular topic and how it may or may not benefit my work.

According to Bob Doman, “Working memory is the foundation for global neurological maturity and function. It essentially encompasses most of what we think of as ‘thinking.’”

“The NACD model of cognitive function recognizes various components of thinking and learning. Of all of these functions, working memory, including executive function, encompasses the areas that impact simple and complex behavior regulation and problem solving the most. The development of various parts of executive function appears to be a good indicator of future academic success, as well as future life success. Mathematics, reading, and critical thinking are all affected by how well various components of executive function develop and work. Not only do these neurological functions impact academics, but NACD and researchers also find that they impact social skills, job skills, and the skills needed for a child or adult to navigate daily life independently. Time management, time awareness, goal setting and planning, organizational skills, social awareness, financial planning, running a household, writing a research paper, writing a paragraph, and forming thoughts into conversation are all functions that depend on this higher cognitive level referred to as working memory and executive function.” (Doman, 2016)

So what does all this have to do with anxiety? When we think of our kids, anxiety can creep up when they have too much information coming in through their senses, but not enough short-term and working memory to manipulate the information. Have you ever seen a World History textbook? If you have a smart kid who wants to do well in school, but doesn’t have well developed short-term and working memory abilities, they are very likely to get anxious just looking at the book. The pieces that allow them to manage their time with material, organize their studying, and plan how to work through the material are not where they need to be in order for that child to be successful. Now if we have that same kid with five or six classes, with similar amounts of material, imagine how much more anxiety can develop.

Many of the anxious children on our caseload, who may be pre-adolescent age and are struggling with school to the point of shutting down, have poor working memory and conceptual thought. They simply don’t have the ability, YET, to be able to perhaps even process the information coming into their brain, let alone manipulate it and problem solve, think and reason through all that is being presented to them. Let’s also take into consideration what is happening with their bodies during this time frame. They become so overloaded they shut down. With our kids that have good short-term memory but poor working memory, rather than solve a problem that they are facing, sometimes these children may ruminate on the problem itself. Rumination is simply rehashing a problem in their head over and over without having the working memory that permits them to organize their thoughts and reach a conclusion, therefore creating increased anxiety. The more developed a person’s working memory is, the more likely they are able to solve and reason through their problems.

The more a child can reason, the less likely they are to get stressed and shut down. If we look at a neurotypical 3-4-year-old, they are just learning how to reason and problem solve. If they encounter something that is stressful to them, they don’t have the working memory to process the situation and are likely to dart or hide behind their mom versus using conceptual thought to reason as to how best to approach something. The same can be true for a child who is 12 years old but has the working memory of a 3-4-year-old. The same behavior happens, only it looks more problematic because it is an immature behavioral response for a child at that age.

We also have very bright individuals on our caseload who are also anxious because of their incessant need to be the best, to be perfect, to be the straight A student. When does academic pressure, measuring kids, too much testing, and narrow competition get recognized as potentially one of the greatest causes to mental health issues in our kids? Stay tuned to next month’s article.

Reprinted by permission of The NACD Foundation, Volume 32 No. 9, 2019 ©NACD

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To be proactive is to anticipate, prepare, and intervene based on a long-term vision and perspective. When anticipating the future, you react accordingly before it actually happens.

To be reactive is to respond to a situation, rather than creating or controlling it.

How does this relate to what we do with our children? What we do in the short term affects the long term; and that myopic/short-sighted intervention can have a negative impact on outcomes.

One contributing cause is lack of a vision, lack of hope, and a willingness to accept a short-term possible solution. Another underlying issue is that most teachers and therapists are not involved for the long term and are not aware of the long-term results or consequences of their interventions. The third contributing factor is a lack of awareness and knowledge of the whole child. When looking only at pieces, one cannot perceive, acknowledge, utilize, or evaluate the impact on the gestalt of the individual.

Armed with decades of experience working with tens of thousands of “Whole Children”, it is relatively easy for us at NACD to look at your children and to be proactive. Being proactive requires looking at a child’s strengths and talents. In addition we must look at weaknesses and issues, determine what pieces we need to put together or issues we need to resolve, in what order, and in what priority to produce a good ultimate outcome. One of the benefits of working with “Whole Children,” working with the full spectrum of children, and working with individuals (often for decades) is that we have the benefit of experience and perspective.

Working with “Whole Children”

I have spoken at length about the importance of working with “Whole Children.” Working with “Whole Children” simply means we are working with all aspects of the child from their health, sleep, sensory function, social function, behavior, speech, language, fine and gross motor function, cognition, and academic development to their attitude, self image, etc. I don’t know if it is possible to be truly proactive without working with the whole child. Most children have disconnected individuals addressing various aspects of their lives, coming and going; and the more issues a child has, generally the more people there are working reactively, not proactively, with them. Working “reactively” means they are reacting to what is perceived as an immediate issue or need, without an historic or long range, long-term vision.

In discussing all of the people who can be involved with your child, you are tempted to associate them all somehow, to call them a team or an army, suggesting that they are somehow a cohesive unit working together. The reality is that they are individuals working with pieces, more often than not in virtual isolation. Such individuals are often working reactively, not proactively. They are working with their one piece generally in virtual isolation and establishing their piece as their priority and generally from a perspective that they are only going to be involved for a relatively short period of time. Working with children for only a few months, or even years, does not permit one to gain a long-term perspective and to understand the implications of what is in reality short-term, reactive intervention.

Proactive Intervention

To help clarify what it means to be proactive, it is best to look at the antonyms or words that are essentially the opposite of proactive. Those words include such things as myopic or short-sighted or improvident. Another way to look at this is to say we are being reactive as opposed to proactive.

Reactive Intervention

If we are being reactive, we are reacting to problems; if we are being proactive we are looking forward, into the future, so as to prepare for the future. As parents with limited experience, it’s often difficult to be proactive. It’s difficult to be proactive if you have not had the experience and knowledge to know the degree to which what is happening today, or not happening today, is going to influence tomorrow, next week, next year, and the future. Sadly, many therapists and educators do not work with individuals over long periods, as in decades, to understand what issues can be created by working perhaps hard, but not working from a long-term, proactive perspective.

Some common examples of being reactive rather than proactive would include things like teaching young children with Down syndrome to sign. (link to Signing contra-indicated for DS) The perception is that Johnny isn’t talking and is frustrated, so let’s give him a means of communication that he can use soon–signing. Looking at the short-term results, which may be the child being able to communicate a few basic needs and being perhaps less frustrated, reinforces the use of signing. But if looked at long-term and proactively, we discover that we have had a negative impact on the child’s ultimate ability to communicate verbally, and even more significantly, have had a negative impact on the development of the child’s auditory processing, with resulting adverse affects on the child’s cognition and global maturity. Reactive intervention is not the best intervention.

One of the more glaring areas where we often see disastrous effects of reactive intervention is in the area of mobility and walking. We sometimes have children come to us who never developed the neurodevelopmental or the structural foundation that can ultimately produce a child who is a functional walker. Being proactive, we know that we have to follow a typical sequence of development, which among other things, requires the neurological, tactile, proprioceptive, and structure pieces of the child going through the necessary developmental stages before working on standing and walking. Children in walkers who had been “helped” to stand before they had the strength and structure to do it themselves, or do it properly, and then “assisted” to walk using various apparatuses to hold them up so they could move their legs, usually end up not being able to walk independently. Often they have created structural issues that even numerous surgical interventions cannot properly address. Children you see walking with walkers or braces and crutches almost always end up in wheelchairs. Yes, the goal is walking; but can we achieve it by circumventing the foundational pieces?

An example of a reactive approach in education is encouraging children to write before they neuro-developmentally are ready. Sixty or seventy years ago, it was not uncommon to make left-handed children in kindergarten and first grade, at five or six years of age, write with their right hands. This practice was stopped because interfering with the natural development of handedness resulted in a plethora of neurological and even emotional problems. Today this isn’t happening; but today we have preschool education, which is even creating more problems by making children write before they developmentally have even firmly established a dominant hand. A child may be leaning toward the right hand, for example, at three or four, and if encouraged to write with the right hand, establish a skill set for writing with the right hand. Ultimately such a child may turn out to be left-handed. Because the skill set for this specific function was established, the child will tend to continue to write with the right hand and is generally encouraged to continue to write with the right hand, resulting in all of the issues that were created 60 years ago, including poor handwriting.

The Reality of Education

The reality of education in general is that the very structure and organization of school as we generally know it almost defines reactive intervention. Education is generally perceived from the short-term perspective of needing to get specific curriculum material into a child’s brain, whether or not the material is targeted to the specific child’s present knowledge base, to their level of processing and understanding, let alone their interests. The net result of reactive education is very often poor outcomes, children often learning to dislike or “hate” school, which becomes synonymous with hating learning; and often because of the abnormal environment of narrow competition, leaving the system with a damaged self-image and lacking a perspective of who they are and what they can be. Proactively it’s not difficult to understand that at the foundation of education we should have the goal of teaching the child to love learning and to make them feel that they are smart and can learn. Is anyone shocked to hear that children do well learning things they love and struggle with what they hate? If the goal of education is to produce adults who are actually educated, who become not just lifelong readers, but life long learners with the confidence to pursue their hopes and dreams, then the system needs to be re-evaluated and made proactive not reactive.

Educational & Therapeutic Perceptions

There are numerous examples in educational and therapeutic intervention that demonstrate the negative aspects of reactive intervention. The problem is ubiquitous, and it doesn’t seem to be changing anytime soon. Proactive intervention implores us to look at the child from a long-term perspective and with a vision and a plan to produce better outcomes. If existing outcomes are perceived as actual reflections of an individual’s potential, there is no motivation for change.

Perception of potential is a reflection of one’s experience. I recall a colleague correcting me many decades ago when I referred to someone as having twenty years of experience. He told me that the reality was that they had a year of experience twenty times, not twenty years of experience. I have been extremely disappointed to see how incredibly slow change in traditional education and therapeutic intervention has been. But doing the same reactive things year after year and producing the same limited results has not stoked change, but has reinforced the perspective of limited potential, and has encouraged many educators and therapists to keep doing the same things, producing the same inevitable outcomes.

Proactive intervention is stimulated by a need to do things better and to improve outcomes, all of which is perpetuated by a vision of what can be and what should be.

Reprinted by permission of The NACD Foundation, Volume 32 No. 5, 2019 ©NACD

The post Developmental/Therapeutic Intervention: Proactive or Reactive? appeared first on NACD International | The National Association for Child Development.

I know a boy. He is a very smart, fun, engaging boy. From the outside you would think this kid has lots of friends, is very social, the class clown, etc. But at home just calling a friend to go do something is a very big feat. The act of calling a friend, or even texting them, to go do something creates stress. He is so afraid of being turned down that he would just rather avoid the task, even if that means not going to a movie or going to do something fun with a friend. I noticed this about three years ago when I knew in my heart he wanted to go sledding with someone, not just his baby sister. However, he literally cried hysterically about having to call his friend. I persisted (debating in my head whether or not this was right—knowing that “Mother of the Year” was not an award I was going to win). He finally called his friend, who said yes, and they went sledding together and had a blast. He had a smile from ear to ear. Did the act of calling the friend create a lot of anxiety? Yes! But as his mother, pushing him out of his comfort zone was needed in order for him to understand that he had friends who actually wanted to be with him. Can you relate? Is it easier to just let our kids avoid things that in their eyes are hard to do, whether it be doing a chore, doing a reading assignment, or even learning how to brush their own teeth? Yes. Is it easier to let our kids avoid doing school work or avoid going to dance class or avoid going to Scouts because it is out of their comfort zone, or even worse– having to deal with an absolute tantrum or fight so we let them win? Absolutely. But when does letting avoidance patterns work become too harmful for them? Are we teaching them anything here? If avoidance behavior is a hallmark for anxiety, how can we as parents assist our children in addressing stressful situations so that they can persevere through life’s challenges?

According to Dr. Alice Boyes, Ph.D. (2013), avoidance coping (behavior) is the most important factor in anxiety and causes it to snowball. She believes that people avoid situations that may cause some of the feelings you get when you are stressed; however, if you keep avoiding those situations, this can lead to more debilitating anxiety levels. It is important to understand that all people experience stress. It is not uncommon for the human brain to engage in the process of fight or flight when it is introduced to something stressful. “While avoidance behaviors might give kids some immediate symptom relief, they don’t help them learn to cope with their triggers. In fact, the fears actually have a tendency to snowball when kids engage in avoidance behaviors” (Hurley, 2016).

It is also very important to understand that each child and brain is unique and what stresses one kid out may not the next. NACD has experienced that how we react to our children and how we provide them with the right instruction in the correct manner, along with building the neurodevelopmental pieces, allows our children to handle stress much more easily. In an upcoming article, I will discuss the significance working memory plays in handling stress and anxiety. But for now, I would suggest to parents that you try to sit back and look at your children and evaluate their behavior patterns. Do they avoid? Do they freak out when they need to do something that is within their ability to do? How do you react? If it is something that may be difficult in their eyes, we encourage parents to break down the task into smaller parts or have them do a particular task for a set amount of time that allows them to be successful, then gradually increase the duration. When you are wanting to teach something to your child, it is important that you have a calm, confident, and positive demeanor. When teaching your anxious child to ride their bike, for example, letting them know that they can do it and that you are with them and that you know that this is something that they can do is significant. How you talk to them, your demeanor, matters. Setting a timer then stopping and doing it again with frequency (not once a week but several times a day) can help decrease their anxiety and build up their confidence to do the skill. With some children, video modeling of a certain scenario can be effective. For example, if going to the dentist causes your child a lot of anxiety, making a video of going to the dentist so that the child can get a positive image in their minds of that experience can help decrease that fear. This is a common example of exposure therapy that has been used to address anxiety for many years. Avoidance behavior patterns can start at a very early age. If they aren’t addressed early, the behavior patterns can become stronger and generalize into all areas of a child’s life—to a point where they shut down completely. That is why it is important to be mindful of them and help your child face their fears in a successful way.

Is your child confident? In our experience, one reason kids can struggle with avoidance behavior, which can lead to anxiety, is that they are too afraid to fail—and parents don’t let them. Failure is a part of growing up. It is a part of learning. When I was younger, I remember ruining a bunch of whites in a load of laundry because I had a red sock in the mix. I didn’t pay attention when sorting and that was the consequence. I failed with that particular load of laundry. Did the sky cave in? No. Did my mom ground me for a month? No. Did I learn a valuable lesson in how do to the laundry? Yes. My mom didn’t take over that job. She just said to pay better attention, and I had to go without those white shirts that I ruined. In order to help our children become confident, developing independence with daily living skills, including self-help and chores, is very important. A very common scenario—a kid attempts to pour their juice, it spills, and the parent cleans it up and doesn’t let them do it again because it makes a mess. Another kid isn’t allowed to load the dishwasher for fear that he may break something. Parents, caregivers, teachers of young ones, do not be a roadblock for your child’s independence. Independence brings so much to their global mental health and function. Develop it, build it, help them realize that failure happens and that it is ok. These things, no matter what age or developmental issues your child may have, are huge for addressing or preventing avoidance behavior and anxiety later on.

Bob Doman (2013), founder and director of NACD, wrote a blog post several years ago about Herculean tasks:

“One of the great opportunities our children can have and lessons they can learn is to be presented with and accomplish Herculean tasks. Herculean tasks help your children learn what they can do if they really try. They teach them to look at a task that they think is impossible and to learn that they can really do it. As parents you should be on the alert for tasks that appear to be Herculean. The ideal Herculean tasks are those that look huge and to the child seem impossible, but which are doable, although they may take a whole lot of time and effort. The child who is used to 5-minute chores might perceive shoveling a driveway covered in a foot of snow, a yard covered in leaves to rake, an entire vegetable garden to weed, a stack of logs to move, or washing all the windows in the house all as Herculean/impossible tasks. But they are not impossible; they are possible if they try. Completion of Herculean tasks provides children with an opportunity to redefine themselves, to change their perception of what is possible, and to learn that if they try, they can in fact do it. The child who learns they can do Herculean tasks will continue raising the bar on their perception of what they can do and will learn to attack new tasks with the intention of succeeding–not just trying, not just making an effort, not just going through the motions, but having the intention of accomplishing the task. The child who learns they can do Herculean tasks won’t shut down when presented with the task of writing a twenty-page report, reading a 500-page book, learning all of the bones in the body, or pushing to take another tenth of a second off their 100-yard dash.”

In conclusion, NACD understands that being a parent takes hard work. Being a parent of a child who is anxious requires patience and positive persistence and understanding! It is important to understand what avoidance behavior is and how to address it with your own unique child. We also understand that there are many contributors to a child’s avoidance behavior and to varying degrees. NACD believes in looking at “whole” kids. The more individualized we can be with understanding a child’s behavior patterns, the more confident parents can feel in how to help their child. Helping our children become more independent can also increase their self-esteem, helping them to become more confident individuals. In my next article, I will discuss another significant piece to understanding anxiety—working memory. Stay tuned!

References

• Boyes, A., Ph.D. (2013, March 5). Why Avoidance Coping is the Most Important Factor in Anxiety. Retrieved April 5, 2019, from https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/in-practice/201303/why-avoidance-coping-is-the-most-important-factor-in-anxiety
• Doman, R. J. (2013, February 01). Waiting for Hercules. Retrieved April 8, 2019, from http://blog.nacd.org/2013/01/waiting-for-hercules/
• Hurley, K., LCSW. (2016, February 3). How to Help Your Anxious Kid Avoid Avoidance Behaviors. Retrieved April 5, 2019, from http://practicalkatie.com/2016/02/03/how-to-help-your-anxious-kid-avoid-avoidance-behaviors/

The post Anxiety in our Children: The Role of Avoidance Behavior appeared first on NACD International | The National Association for Child Development.

Back in the ‘80s I traveled around the country, lecturing to parents and professionals. On many of these occasions I spoke to them about the importance of understanding and utilizing neuroplasticity, which with rare exception none of them had ever heard of. I also spoke about how the model of providing therapeutic intervention on a weekly or biweekly basis was contrary to what was needed to really utilize neuroplasticity. I also emphasized the importance of working with the whole child, understanding the whole child, and coordinating efforts based on the whole child.

 When I refer to the whole child I mean exactly that, not just “important” or “broken” pieces, not just what is obviously relevant to gross motor (physical therapy), fine motor (occupational therapy), speech (speech therapy), behavior (psychology), reading or math (education), or those pieces that are the specialty of everyone else from the neurologist to the ENT to the dentist.

Working with the whole child requires working closely with the parents, the people who know their whole child best, and gathering the information about the entire child. This includes their developmental and medical history, health, diet, sleep, self-help skills, sense of responsibility, chores, daycare, academic function and interests, schools, baby sitters or caregivers. Also important are the specifics regarding therapies and therapeutic approaches; interests, from playing with cause and effect toys to video games; activities, from church groups to horseback riding; sports, behavior at home and away, and their daily schedule. And then there are the specifics relative to how they see, hear, feel, and how they perceive what they should taste and smell; gross and fine motor function; how they swallow, drink, chew, articulate, and communicate, as well as all aspects of cognition which provides a global overview of where they are and should be functioning. Every piece is significant to the whole; and combined, the sum is greater than the collection of pieces. This defines what is referred to as the “gestalt.” If children are not viewed as whole and unique, they tend to be viewed as disassociated pieces and labels, not as unique individuals. This is only one of many significant pieces that underscore the importance of understanding the whole child.

The more issues a child has, typically the more pieces the child is broken up into, and the more people are involved in addressing those pieces individually, mostly in isolation.

Back very early in my career in the mid ‘70s, I was the Educational Director for the Center for Neurological Rehabilitation outside of Philadelphia. In many respects I was doing what our staff and I are still doing today, except with a much smaller toolbox, which is designing comprehensive targeted home-based programs for a wide range of children. Back then part of our team included neurologists and neurosurgeons, headed by the brilliant pediatric neurosurgeon Eugene Spitz M.D., who amongst other things was the developer of the shunt for hydrocephalic children. The structure back then was that the evaluators would each meet with our respective families and their child and conduct the evaluation so that we could create a profile/picture of the child. The profile was the foundation for creating their individualized program. The majority of the children would then go through a battery of tests that had been ordered by Dr. Spitz and his team, which were all carried out onsite and included everything from comprehensive blood work to CAT scans, EEGs, and cerebral blood flow studies. Following the testing Dr. Spitz would then meet with me and discuss the results of my evaluation and the testing that had been done. He would then call in the family so that he could make his recommendations, following which I would create their neurodevelopmental/educational program. This process was incredibly educational for me and for Dr. Spitz as well.

Being in a position not only to re-evaluate the children every 3-4 months as we did, but also to compare what I was seeing functionally to what Dr. Spitz saw with his testing, was invaluable. The tests and the EEGs were no longer these isolated pieces of data; they were part of a complete picture. One example of many of what turned out to be learning experiences for both Dr. Spitz and me was the observation I made that when kids were having dental issues, their EEGs were worse, often substantially worse, and that those kids who were prone to seizures often had more seizures. After observing this a few times, I very tentatively mentioned to Dr. Spitz that I was seeing this correlation. He listened to me, and he acknowledged that not only did it make sense, but he realized if it had not been for my knowledge of the broader issues, he would not have thought to ask the family about such issues. This piece of information affected how he adjusted medications and opened the door to our making other associations between health related issues-triggers and what he saw on EEGs and how the children were or were not medicated.

There are many examples of how a view of the whole child can have an impact on medical treatment. One of the more glaring issues that I have written about before is the effect of chronic middle ear fluid and its impact on the development of auditory processing and language. Another piece of this is that some speech therapists will make the recommendation to teach a child to sign, rather than working at getting the child to speak, not understanding the effect and ramifications of the child’s middle ear fluid, and not understanding that the child’s auditory and visual processing (short-term and working memory) determines their global level of function, not their chronological age

Well-meaning teachers generally perceive children with developmental issues as their chronological age, rather than where they are really functioning as reflected in processing ability and global neurological maturity. A six-year-old who is neurodevelopmentally three should not be expected to do the same work as their neuro-typical peers. If the educational input is not targeted to the developmental and educational level of the child, it is going to be ineffective at best. Inclusion is great, I fought for it for many decades; but if the instruction is not targeted to the individual, it really is only pretend education.

The group of people with their fingers in the pie that exists for most special needs children is presented as a team; but that is very rarely, if ever, true. A team implies a group working together in a coordinated fashion. Most therapists work in relative isolation from every other therapist who is working with the child. Each therapist establishes their own priorities, even though when viewed from the perspective of the whole child many of their “priorities” would not reach the level of even being significant. Some would define this as fine; however when viewing the total child, it is important that priorities be the whole child’s hierarchical priorities so that time, focus, and energy can be directed when and where it is needed most. There are only so many hours in the day, and we can only ask so much of a child in a day if we are going to maintain any respectable level of intensity. For a child with a developmental problem, we are always fighting time. They can ill afford to be directing minutes, if not hours, working ineffectively in the wrong direction.

Historically the educational, therapeutic, and medical treatment of children with developmental issues has become more and more compartmentalized. The net result is that vital information is often not shared between players, and the various people involved remain ignorant of significant correlative information. Furthermore, it is impossible to target, prioritize, and coordinate efforts and to raise and meet higher expectations without the direct involvement of parents and coordinated efforts focused around the whole, intact, total, and complete child.

Effectively and efficiently helping any child reach their potential requires targeted coordinated intervention that is not only mindful of the whole child, but that is led by an understanding of the gestalt. The child is more than just the sum of their pieces.

Reprinted by permission of The NACD Foundation, Volume 32 No. 3, 2019 ©NACD

The post The Whole, Intact, Total, and Complete Child appeared first on NACD International | The National Association for Child Development.

We have all heard it a thousand times: eating better, sleeping better, getting physical exercise helps our overall health. While this is something that our NACD families in general are very conscious about with their children with developmental issues, it is not uncommon to hear that those rules don’t really apply to everyone in the family. Let’s face it, it is easier to be more lenient on our neurotypical kids or ourselves, but does that help everyone in the long run? It is important to really get serious across the board about our overall physical health in the family, as that impacts our mental health significantly.

Sleep is such an important part of one’s life. According to the National Sleep Foundation, children ages 6-13 years old need 9-11 hours of sleep each night to be at their best. Teenagers ages 14-17 need 8-10 hours of sleep to be at their best, and adults should have between 7-9 hours of sleep per night. This is good, quality sleep! Not being in bed on your smartphone scrolling, but actually ASLEEP! Unfortunately for most teens, their biological clocks shift during that stage, where they tend to have more energy at night, increasing the desire to stay up later and sleep in longer. If your children are like mine, they start school at 7:20. They are up and out of the house before 7am. This can leave them already sleep deprived as they aren’t always ready to fall asleep by 10pm the night before. A study from the British Medical Journal in 2015 researched the effects of screen time and lack of sleep in a substantial sample of adolescents, over 9000. They found that the more screen time the subjects engaged in each day, the longer it took for them to fall asleep. If they had four or more hours of screen time per day, they were 360% more likely to have less than five hours of sleep a night and 49% more likely to take over an hour to fall asleep (Hysing, M. et al, 2015). When our brains are tired, mental health issues such as depression and anxiety increase. We are not able to think as clearly and have more difficulty handling stress than when in a rested state. NACD recommends consistent nighttime bed routines starting when children are little, such as no screens in the bedrooms, and devices are to stay with parents. We suggest having at least an hour to an hour and a half of no screens prior going to bed. We also encourage very dark rooms (blackout shades or curtains) and white noise to help facilitate a good night’s rest.

I hear many times “my kid has a balanced diet; they eat some of everything every day.” But how much of those foods happen to be processed? Have extra or hidden sugars? Artificial ingredients? More and more research on the foods we eat are targeting how they impact our mental health. “In recent years, a direct relation between the occurrence of anxiety disorders, sleep disturbances, and mood disorders has been observed as a consequence of poor or inadequate diet. Eating habits in Western societies have greatly changed in recent decades, with an increase in the consumption of foods low in vitamin and mineral content, high in caloric value, and rapidly prepared and easily consumed.” (Fernandez-Rodriguez, M., et al., 2017) There is a direct interrelationship between physiological health and neurological function. NACD has known this since its inception in the ‘70s. Time and time again our clients have shown that those who eat better function better. In general, diets rich in plant based foods, healthy fats (in the form of plants, nuts, seeds, and fatty fish like salmon), and lean meats are far superior in promoting mental function. In contrast, diets high in sugar, dairy, breads, and processed foods have been shown to be related to depression, chronic inflammation, and anxiety. This isn’t just for adults! According to Natalie Kling, a Certified Clinical Nutritionist from NACD’s Professional Advisory Committee, “the human body is always moving towards homeostasis, or perfect balance. When a body is out of balance, we see or experience symptoms (physical AND mental). We can soothe symptoms by giving the body the interior environment it needs to return to balance. Rest, hydration, oxygen, nutrients, detoxification, and a healthy and loving environment provide the ingredients the body needs to repair, regenerate, and reorganize. In contrast, when we introduce processed foods, sugar, not enough sleep, chemicals, environmental toxins, or stress, we push the body out of balance and create obstacles to the body’s ability to thrive.”

Personally, I have noticed a great difference in my son’s “teenager attitude” when he doesn’t eat these foods. When his diet is clean, whole food based, there is a positive difference. Often times I see parents eating healthy, but their kids are eating foods loaded with sugar and the “bad stuff” because “they’re kids.” NACD suggests to parents to develop a palate for healthy food with their children in infancy. NACD recommends to our families to work with one of our nutritionists if you need help in getting started. Natalie Kling, who also happens to be an NACD mom, has suggested that parents can start by just focusing on getting more vegetables into your kids. Smoothies (without added sugars and dairy), homemade sauces, etc., are ways to start that process. If you are a new parent with young children, keep their diets high in plant-based foods so that they develop a taste for it. If you are a parent with a picky eater, they don’t have to be. By giving the brain and body the correct fuel it needs, this can help to improve your child’s physical AND mental health as well.

Many children and adults struggle with anxiety due to lack of physical exercise. If we sit back and look at our lives today, we lead more sedentary lifestyles. We watch our TVs, screens, sit and scroll through our phones, many of us work all day at a desk, and many of our children are in school for 6+ hours (sitting for a huge chunk of that), many without daily physical exercise. According to the US Department of Health and Human Services (2018), children ages 3-5 years of age should engage in at least 3 hours of physical activity with varying degrees of intensity. Children ages 6-17 should engage in moderate to vigorous physical activity (aerobic, muscle, and bone strengthening) for 60 minutes DAILY. Adults should have a similar amount. Do you get that? Do your children? Exercise stimulates endorphins in your brain that allow for improved executive function, attention, and mood. Essentially, it allows you to handle stress better and not let it handle you. NACD recommends families make an effort to include physical exercise as part of your day. Schedule it in. In fact, on some of our programs we will write screen time = chore time = exercise time. For my children, the screens, homework, and chores don’t happen after school until physical exercise does. It might be going to the gym or doing an online video. Sometimes it is going for a run or even a fast walk. Snow or sun, we make it a priority.

In conclusion, it is important that as parents we really understand how significant lack of sleep, poor diets, and lack of physical exercise impacts our children’s physical and mental health. They work together, impacting one another. NACD looks at the whole child and sees this as a huge piece to impacting the global mental function of a child.

Reprinted by permission of The NACD Foundation, Volume 32 No. 1, 2019 ©NACD

References

Fernández-Rodríguez, M., Rodríguez-Legorburu, I., & López-Ibor Alcocer, M. I. (2017). Nutritional supplements in anxiety disorder. Actas Espanolas De Psiquiatria, 45(Supplement), 1.

Hysing, M., Pallesen, S., Stormark, K. M., Jakobsen, R., Lundervold, A. J., & Sivertsen, B. (2015). Sleep and use of electronic devices in adolescence: Results from a large population-based study. BMJ Open, 5(1), e006748-e006748. doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2014-006748

How Much Sleep Do We Really Need? (2019). Retrieved February 5, 2019, from https://www.sleepfoundation.org/excessive-sleepiness/support/how-much-sleep-do-we-really-need

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, 2nd edition. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; 2018.

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Growing up in small town Idaho, anxiety was rarely expressed as an issue with children and adolescents. Anxiety was something that adults had. Even in college 20-24 years ago, stress was an issue when papers were due, or it was finals week. The talk of anxiety and panic attacks was never common, and medication was not needed to help my fellow college companions cope. Having said that, it is hard to know if childhood friends or college roommates had these issues all along but didn’t know what it was? How many of them turned to substance abuse to cope? How many of them are now dealing with debilitative mental health issues that could have been resolved when they were younger?

While anxiety may not have been a significant issue then, it is now. With suicide rates climbing at lightning speed in our youth, we cannot ignore the growth of children and adolescents being diagnosed with anxiety and other mental health disorders. NACD is all about helping children reach their full potential so that they can be happy, contributing, productive adults to our society. As such, we must evaluate the various factors that could be impacting our children’s stress levels both at home and at school. Research in the area of anxiety in children and adolescents has grown and includes possible contributors to this epidemic.

Over the next several articles, I will discuss the following as anxiety contributors and offer suggestions from a neurodevelopmental perspective:

1. overall physiological health of children today from sleep deprivation to diet and exercise
2. avoidance behaviors in children that lead to increased anxiety later
3. children who never learn how to do basic living skills and the significance of developing working memory
4. smartphones and too much screen time
5. children not being present or “mindful”
6. lack of social connection and community
7. high stakes testing, school pressure, and narrow competition.

With this series of articles, my hope is to educate parents and hopefully provide you with some general guidelines to think about as you raise your little humans in this generation.

Reprinted by permission of The NACD Foundation, Volume 32 No. 2, 2019 ©NACD

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by Bob Doman

Developmentally, behaviorally and educationally children tend to get stuck. The younger the child, the lower the child’s processing or the slower the child’s development, the easier it is for them to get stuck.

To understand why these children tend to get stuck, we need to understand how they think. Virtually all young children or low processing children are visualizers. This simply means that if you have low auditory processing and only have the means to think in a few words, that you rely on your ability to think in pictures to function. As they have said, a picture is worth a thousand words and for these children, more often than not, there are not enough words to change a picture.

Many things for young children are place and person specific. For example, my little 20-month-old granddaughter has different rituals and behavior patterns for most of the adults in her life and different rituals and patterns for these individuals in different environments. If I go over to my son’s house and pick up little Ari, she immediately reaches in my shirt pocket for my phone so that I will play some apps with her. She doesn’t do that with anyone else. However, when she comes to my house and I pick her up she is asking for my dogs or pointing to the pantry where the special Ari crackers are. These specific people and situational patterns exist for all of the adults in her life. Most of these patterns got started with a single event, an event that created a mental picture of that certain person in that certain place. As soon as she sees that person in that place, it triggers the visual memory and pattern of what is expected. A child’s ability to modify the picture and to not get upset about a change is generally related to their auditory processing and their ability to think their way out of a pattern and get unstuck.

For many behavior patterns, particularly for low auditory processing children, you can only change the behavior pattern by changing the picture. Issues around eating illustrate many different aspects of this.

Lets start by looking at children with a limited list of foods that they will eat. To some degree, what they want and what they refuse to eat is related to familiar tastes, textures, odors and cravings, but to a large extent it depends on the picture and pattern. If a child is given the same food or foods in the same form (pureed, mashed, small chunks, etc.) in a particular place such as their highchair in the kitchen, that creates a little mental video. The more times the event is replicated the stronger becomes the video. The stronger the video the stronger the behavior pattern and the more difficult it becomes for the child to accept something that doesn’t fit the picture. These pictures can quickly generalize, which means the pattern becomes strong enough that it continues in other places and if permitted to generalize to a second place its easier for it to generalize to a third and so on and so forth. However, often the way to change the video is to change the set. Many parents discover that their picky eaters will eat something at Grandma’s house that they won’t eat at home, or a restaurant, or a picnic, or a friend’s house—someplace with a different picture. A different person, even at home, can create a new picture.

The greater the variety of foods, food consistencies and places where a child eats and whom the child eats with, the easier it is to avoid negative patterns. If for example, Mom is the only one who feeds the child and Mom sings while feeding and the feeding is always in the same spot and the food is the same and the food looks the same and smells the same, you are well on the way to creating a very strong specific picture/video and pattern that is going to be very difficult to break.

The next piece of this puzzle involves children eating with parents or family and children being fed alone. If a child is fed alone, what is the picture that is being created? What the child does and doesn’t eat or do is the picture. It’s a really short movie without a lot of characters or sets. In my experience little children who have their highchair at the table and who eat with the family learn quickly to accept a much broader range of foods, consistencies of food and learn to finger feed and then eat with utensils much faster than children who are fed alone. What models, what pictures do children who are fed alone have other than the one they create? A child eating with the family sees what everyone else is eating and how they are eating and smells what they are eating and hopefully shares what they are eating. This creates a very different educational picture and generally a very different outcome.

For these young or low processing children to change a pattern when they become stuck requires changing the picture.

Many of our families doing NACD TDI programs are working on improving their child’s processing ability with the understanding that with increased processing power comes higher receptive and expressive language, level of cognition, maturity, problem solving, etc. Essentially the child becomes more educable and easier to work with and live with. It’s a bit ironic that for these young or low processing children the thing that is going to help move then forward is one of the more difficult things to change, because we need to change the picture or motivate the child to move beyond their comfort level and change their own picture or behavior pattern. For example, if your child can do an auditory object sequence of 3 (they listen to you say the names of three objects and they then repeat the sequence) and has been at that level for a long time, you very possibly are having a hard time breaking that pattern and getting to a four. How do you get them unstuck?

Breaking a pattern and getting them unstuck requires creating a new picture. Perhaps a new place or new people will work. If that doesn’t work, you need a different strategy. Understanding that if their picture is them doing a 3, the odds are pretty good that as soon as you say a fourth number you have broken the picture and they have shut down. Hear a 4 and shut down—broken pattern, broken picture. One of the things we encourage parents to do in general to partially avoid this issue, is to give the child a variety of different levels of sequences to avoid creating too strong a pattern or picture. Rather than saying a lot of 3’s and trying to throw in a 4, you give them a 2, then a 3 then a 4, a 3 a 4 a 2, etc. We are hopefully having the child be successful (an important part of the script) and we are avoiding establishing a strong pattern of 3’s (trying to keep it off the script). Once a pattern has been established, or if we need to ease into a higher level, we can make the transition easier by doing what we call bridging. Bridging is done by cheating a bit. Rather than giving the child a real 4, which is four words said in the same tone at one second intervals, we cheat by either repeating the third word (cat, monkey, horse, horse) or we chunk (cat, monkey—horse, dog) by chunking the first two words by saying them together then a space and another chunk of two words. After we are successful at bridging 4’s, we add some legitimate 4’s. We are slowly changing the pattern and the picture in small increments.

Another way to get unstuck is to add some intensity. You might want to exchange the word intensity with reward to understand this unstuck procedure. Rewards can add sufficient intensity to move a child forward. A child gets stuck because it works for them. Having things stay in a familiar pattern keeps the child in their comfort zone and every time an event fits their picture, they get a little endorphin rush and take another step toward becoming addicted to the pattern and the outcome. So, if maintaining the picture is in the child’s best interests and has them stuck, we often need to provide something stronger that is in the child’s better interests. The stronger the pattern to be broken, the bigger the carrot needs to be to get them unstuck.

Having watched thousands of people do activities like processing, sadly its often difficult to tell from the reaction the child gets as to whether the child got a sequence correct or not. Often the result of getting one right is the honor to do another and another. It is surprising how often there is no feedback whatsoever. The quality and specificity of the feedback is really important and if you are trying to get unstuck, look for really big rewards to change the picture. “Give me just one 4 and we’ll get a pizza!” When they get the 4 and the family immediately goes and gets a pizza, guess what that creates? A new and better picture. You can screw this up by not changing the new picture really fast. If you did this a few days in a row and Johnny got a pizza for every 4, guess what? You have created an amazing pizza video—could be a tough one to delete. So, you use the big gun to break the old picture and then you lower the power and use sustainable rewards. But, if you get stuck again when you are going for the fives, change the picture and bring out the pizza.

So, we have a number of tools to get us unstuck, we can get unstuck by creating new pictures by doing things in new places, with new people, in new different ways and with strong rewards. What else? How about new videos to replace old videos?

We have been having parents create therapeutic videos for many decades. Often the best way to put a picture into a child’s mind is with a picture. We have used therapeutic videos to show a child how to do everything from produce a “B” sound to how to make their bed, to modeling getting a 4 and seeing someone get rewarded for it, to putting down a toilet seat. Not too tough and the child is much better for watching and learning from new therapeutic videos than watching that YouTube video for the thousandth time.

If you don’t like the picture give your child a new one.

Reprinted by permission of The NACD Foundation, Volume 31 No. 5, 2018 ©NACD

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Researchers at the University of Montreal and its affiliated Saint-Justine Mother and Child University Hospital reported that each weekly hour of TV watched by 2.5- to 4.5-year olds had statistically significant effect correlation to athletic ability and waist size by the second and fourth grade, respectively, for those children. Parents of 1,314 children reported how many weekly hours of television their children watched at ages 2.5 and 4.5 years. Trained examiners measured distance performed on the standing long jump test for each child by the second grade, and then measured the waist circumferences of the children during the fourth grade. After controlling for other potential child and family variables, the research found a 1 centimeter decrease in the standing long jump for about every 3 hours of weekly television watched at 2.5 years of age; and they found fourth graders had about a 1-millimeter increase of the waistline for every 2 hours they had increased weekly television watching from 2.5 years of age to 4.5 years.

The researchers reported increased exposure to fast food commercials targeted for children is one way that watching television likely contributes to increased fat storage. The effects of these advertisements on children’s food choices and future dietary lifestyle have been documented in earlier research (Borzekowski & Robinson, 2001; Miller et al., 2008).

NACD understands that television is a powerful educational tool. Children can and will learn things they are exposed to on the TV. Therefore, besides limiting the amount of time children are exposed to television, NACD strongly encourages parents to turn on appropriate educational shows when their children are going to watch TV.

Sources

1. Borzekowski, D.G., & Robinson, T.N. (2001) The 30-second effect: An experiment revealing the impact of television commercials on food preferences of preschoolers. Journal of American Diet Association, 101, 42-46.
2. Fitzpatrick, C., Pagani, L., & Barneb, T. A. (2012). Early childhood television viewing predicts explosive leg strength and waist circumference by middle childhood. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 9, 87. http://www.ijbnpa.org/content/9/1/87.
3. Miller, S., et al. (2008). Association between television viewing and poor diet quality in young children. International Journal of Pediatric Obesity, 3, 168-176.

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At NACD, we work with children that have every imaginable developmental issue in addition to typical and gifted children. Our families deal with a broad range health and related developmental issues. Each year it has become more and more evident that our environment as well as what we consume is incredibly important. Toxins that we all live with are being seen as the underlying cause of many of our health and developmental issues. Eating the proper foods, getting the necessary nutrients and avoiding toxic chemicals is becoming not just important, but vital for most of us.

Our professional staff has reviewed and put together a list of products that are worth your consideration. One of the things we have learned at NACD is that there is close relationship between our physiology and our neurology, meaning what affects our health affects how our brain works. And, the less efficiently our brains work, as with those with developmental problems the more significant becomes our health and nutrition.

NACD receives a small commission if you use our Amazon referral link to buy our recommended products. The funds collected will go directly into a scholarship fund for our NACD families. NACD also receives a small commission for everything else you buy that is in your cart when you buy our recommended products. If you are going to purchase items based on our suggestions please use our referral link to help our incredible dedicated families.

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12 Great Healthy Living Gift Ideas for Holidays, Birthdays & Special Occasions

Melatonin

Melatonin is a natural hormone that your body produces that helps you maintain your walk/sleep cycle. Many things can negatively impact a child’s sleep cycle including light. It is advisable to consult your physician before starting Melatonin and for dosage recommendations.—Bob

Melatonin Time Release 3 mg.

Melatonin Liquid

Easy to administer and easy to adjust dosage.

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Merax Whole Body Vibrating Platform Exercise Fitness Machine

We have found that vibrating platforms can be helpful for building strength and tone or reducing /breaking up high tone. Helps with balance, tactility, proprioception and circulation.—Bob

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Puracy Natural All Purpose Cleaner

The Best Household Multi Surface Spray, Streak Free on Glass and Stainless Steel, Child and Pet Safe

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Ozone Cleaning

I love cleaning with ozone because it destroys bacteria, viruses and funguses without any chemicals. These machines can also be used to freshen air by actually cleaning the air, not covering it up with odors. Use it in rooms, closets and cars—especially cars! Ozone water can also remove stains from fabrics and clothes because the stain attaches to the ozone molecule and it releases from the fabric. Even old stains. —Laird

Ozone Generator machine Food Water Air Sterilizer Vegetable Fruit Fresher Ozonator

Robolife Air Purifier Ozone Disinfector Fruits Vegetables Sterilization US Plug

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Vita-Mix

Dr. Julian Neil, a highly respected health professional, once told me that there are 2 items every household seeking to improve health should have. At the top of his list was a Vitamix. Shortly thereafter I purchased my own and have been so very thankful for those words of wisdom. Here are a few models to choose from. —Lyn
[amazon_link asins=’B01688AFFC,B0758JHZM3,B008H4SLV6,B00LBFUKIA,0062407201,1537760637′ template=’ProductGrid’ store=’nacd0d-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’010db34f-d495-11e7-92f9-01ab7d460f0d’]
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Premium MCT Oil

If you are looking for a great way to increase the benefits of healthy fats, MCT oil can be a good addition. I use it in my coffee each morning and can tell that it has made a difference in energy levels and softer skin. See the link for additional benefits. —Lyn

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Infrared Sauna

Of all of the different healthy living products I have ever used, this on is the real gem! Today’s world is so full of toxicity and what better way to decrease the effect that they can have on your health than to pull them out through the skin rather than crucial organs that do not regenerate as easily. Here is a great price on one made with non-toxic components. —Lyn

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Reverse Osmosis Water Filter

Just turning on the tap makes me nervous when I think about the “allowed” contaminants. Here is Amazon’s Choice for a top selling Under-the-couter Reverse Osmosis System. —Lyn

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Countertop Water Distiller

This water distiller is housed in a stainless steel unit and dispensed into a glass container so that the water never touches plastic. Many health benefits are believed to be achieved by periods of time consuming distilled water. This is the distiller I use myself and it is backed up by a good number of positive reviews:

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