Change Your Brain Every Day - What Do You Feed a Million Dollar Brain - Parenting Series Part 2

Episode Date: December 20, 2016

  We often hear parent's say that their kids only eat their favorite hotdog or burger and would not even dare glance at vegetables and you're probably wondering how on earth can you raise brain healthy kids who feed on this kind of diet.  If you one of the parent's with this challenge, then this episode is for you. Be sure to listen to the whole episode as we discuss how you can resolve the daily table battle and win the game. 

Hi, I'm Donnie Osmond, and welcome to The Brain Warrior's Way, hosted by my friends Daniel and Tana Amon. Now, in this podcast, you're going to learn that the war for your health is one between your ears. That's right. If you're ready to be sharper and have better memory, mood, energy, and focus, well then stay with us. Here are Daniel and Tana Amen.

Hi, I'm Dr. Daniel Amen. And I'm Tana Amen. Today we're going to talk about raising brain healthy children. When kids have significant problems, when you really do effective parenting and they still have three-hour tantrums or they can't do well in school, they may have ADD. They may had a brain injury. It's at that point bringing them to a place like ours can just be critical and life-saving. We really want you to think about what you feed them, about the example that you give them. Love their brains. Protect their brains. Now, when we're talking about these kids, nutrition becomes really important, and we really work a lot with the kids we see. Well, I think putting them on a milk-free, wheat-free diet has been miraculous for some kids. Well, and I have all that information in the book, Healing ADD Through Food. We've got our whole elimination diet. It's really interesting. I will often, I speak to a lot of parenting groups

and they will, the number one thing, I mean, almost every mom in the room raises her hand, but my kid won't eat those foods. Like, they'll only eat, you know, chicken nuggets. And I have to tell you, I'm astounded. I mean, you actually have a healthy form of chicken nuggets. Well, this is, right. But this is where the red hair comes out. Right.

This is where the authoritarian part of me and the red hair comes out. And I'm like, you're kidding me, right? Like, who's the parent in the house? Like, your kid will only eat chicken nuggets. Is that true? If your kid were starving and there was nothing left on the planet, chicken nuggets are all they're going to eat. And somewhere along the line, I feel like as mothers, we've been programmed to think

that if we do not get our children to eat four times a day, we're going to do whatever we have to come hell or high water to make that kid eat four times a day. Even if we're feeding them soda, nuggets, burgers, hot dogs, it doesn't matter. We're going to be bribing them ice cream. As long as we get them to eat four times a day, somehow, okay, now we've done our job. And you know, that's ridiculous because when you give your kids bad fuel, you get a, you don't get a positive outcome. Like my husband often says, would you feed a million dollar race horse junk food? Well, only if you were an idiot, right? So when I hear parents say this, I hear these moms say this, well, I have to give them that because it's all they'll eat. I usually just

step back and go, okay, really? Because the last time I checked, and this was very liberating for me to learn, last time I checked, it takes 30 days for a kid to starve to death. And I know that sounds harsh, but it's the reality. Okay. So in my house, I have- So it's not the end of the world. No. If a child goes to bed without dinner. Absolutely not. They're going to get hungry. Okay. So, but that said, I do my part as a parent. I believe in doing my part as a parent. I know what my daughter's- So only buy healthy food for home. My house is stocked with healthy food, but I also know what her favorite foods are.

Okay, so I have healthy alternatives for chicken nuggets. I have healthy alternatives for coconut shrimp. I have healthy alternatives for all of her favorite foods. Now, if she chooses not to eat that, c'est la vie. Well, and I think one of Tana's best gifts is taking really healthy food and making it taste amazing. So one of my favorite stories, one of my grandson, Elias, very picky eater,

and his mother, Brianne, was just freaked out. She couldn't get him to eat, so she was constantly stressed out about that, which of course made him more picky. And Tana was making one of her recipes called avocado gelato. And so Eli was over the house and I took just a little bit of it and put it on his lips and he got a big smile and then he had a big helping and he went home with avocado gelato. And my daughter texted me a picture of

him with chocolate all over. And oh, by the way, this is made out of avocados, cacao, almond milk. I mean, it's like, it doesn't get much better. So. So there are alternatives. The second thing is bonding. And bonding really is two things. It's time, actual physical time and listening. And listening is often not natural. And so what they teach therapists to do is something called active listening. So you say something and I just don't jump in. I listen to what you're actually saying and then repeat that back. And it's so critical for you not, you know, if you are one of those people that said, oh, my children will never talk to me, you might not be listening well enough.

And I've had so many parents give me their teenagers to treat and they go, oh, they said they weren't going to talk to you. And I go, I know it's really hard. And usually I can't get the kids to shut up because I'm really good at listening. So active listening is just so important. Basically, when they say something, rather than respond, rather than give them all of your wisdom, listen to what they're saying and repeat it back. And also listen for the feeling behind what they're saying. Repeat that

back as well. Then third, rules. I think rules are really important. Societies have rules. Businesses have rules. Businesses have rules. You should have rules at home. And we've posted them for a long time. Tell the truth. We treat each other with respect. Do it, mom and dad says, the first time. Put things away, you take out.

I mean, simple things, not more than eight. I had one OCD patient, obsessive compulsive disorder patient, that actually posted 108 rules on the refrigerator. And then notice what you like more than what you don't like. I think that's just so critical. And you have to have fun rewards and celebrations. So it can't just all be about parenting. It's got to be, you know, look, when things are going really well, let's go celebrate. Let's do something fun. We're going to do a lot more shows on parenting.

Raising brain-healthy children is just critical. It's the next generation. It starts by you living a brain-healthy life. So write us a comment on what are the things you do that you just feel really effective with your kids? What are the things you could do better? Send us a video. If you're really struggling with your child, call the call center.

See if bringing the child in for an evaluation wouldn't be in their best interest and ultimately in yours and your marriage's best interest, because we know how hard that tough kids can be on relationships. where Daniel and Tana have a gift for you just for subscribing to the show. And when you post your review on iTunes, you'll be entered into a drawing where you can win a VIP visit to one of the Amen Clinics. I'm Donnie Osmond, and I invite you to step up your brain game by joining us in the next episode.