127 | Nutrition FAQs with Dr. Barrett!

Well, welcome back to another episode of the Real Health Podcast. We're finishing up this month talking about nutrition, and today's a really cool episode. This is a- think of it like a "ask the Real Health Co. any question about nutrition" episode. So these are the most commonly asked questions, and we're gonna give you quick responses. This should be really practical for you.

So question, answer, we're gonna run through over a dozen of them and and help you probably answer some questions that you're already processing. Gosh, what a great showing we had for our nutrition master class. Keep in mind, the last Tuesday of every month, we host a master class on a specific topic or system or health idea. So this past month was on Nutrition 101, just making nutrition simple, but basically helping people understand how many nutrients they need daily and how to scale that up or down if we want to lose weight, gain muscle, whatever their health goals are. So keep an ear and an eye out for the next master class that's coming down the pipe.

Alright. Without further ado, let's get going. Question one. "How much protein do growing kids really need? How many grams of protein does a child need?"

So I'm gonna give you what what's ideal, and then I'll give you if you need help processing this answer. It's really about 1.2 grams per kilogram. So, 1.2 grams per kilogram of body weight. So if you weigh 100 kilograms, you're going to consume 1.2 x that, so it's 120 grams of protein per day. Keep in mind, 100 kilograms is 220 pounds, right?

So, your child probably weighs closer to 50 kilograms. 50 kilograms would equate to roughly 110 pounds of body weight. If they're 110 pounds, the minimum requirement that they would need is 60 grams of protein per day, 60 grams of protein. You say, "Oh, that's easy. My kids get 60 grams of protein."

I would challenge you to look at what 20 grams of protein actually looks like and ask the question, is my child consuming three times that per day? Three 20 gram protein meals per day and most often they're not. Prioritize protein with every meal. We talk about that all the time.

Question two. In this like in this world where there's extremes, this is an extreme. "Are plant proteins like beans and tofu, is that enough? Is that enough for me and is it enough for my kids? Or do my kids need to eat meat?" So there, you can get enough protein from plants.

The problem is you're missing out on very specific amino acids that only exist in animal protein. And even more importantly, you're missing out on key micronutrients like B12, like iron, and even calcium. Can you get enough protein? You can, but are you supporting their micronutrient levels properly? Probably not.

Next question. "Should I be avoiding carbohydrates for my child's health?" Right? "Should I be avoiding carbs for my child's health?" So, in this world where it's like, hey, carbs are sometimes villainized, remember carbs are fuel.

So protein's building block. Fat is fuel. Carbs are fuel. So when we look at carbohydrates, we have to see them as fuel. The question I would ask is "what carbs are you giving your children?"

Right? If you're giving them low glycemic, high fiber, vegetable and fruit based carbohydrates, you should be feeding them every meal. We should give them carbohydrates every meal. If you're giving them healthy starches like potatoes and even rice, fantastic. We're great.

But yeah, if you're feeding them a bunch of sugar, then it's probably not ideal. Do not stay away from carbohydrates for your kids. Is fat bad for kids? Right? Like this whole, I know it's outdated.

I get it, but it still exists in our culture today. The myth of fat is bad. So is fat bad for my kids? Should they eat lower fat? Right?

And the answer to this is really simple. That kids need healthy fats. It's essential to neurological development. The brain is the most metabolically active organ in the entire body. It utilizes more calories per weight per weight than any other part of the of the body.

It is a just a machine when it comes to burning fat and carbohydrates. So what is it burning? It needs fat. Most of your brain is made of fat. So it needs olive oil, coconut oil, eggs, which have great amounts of choline in it, butter, nuts, seeds, a two grass fed or organic dairy. All of those are fantastic as your kids should be eating tons of fat.

Kids go to school. They have practice after school. They don't get home till 7:30, 8:00. "Does eating dinner cause issues in my children's health?"

Like, too late. "Does eating dinner too late cause issues in my child's health or even your health" In general, I'm gonna give you this disclaimer. The most important metric should be total calorie consumption. It's not about nutrient timing if you don't check the first box.

You gotta make sure you're getting enough calories. And if we're getting enough calories, well, then we can have a conversation about nutrient timing. But we shouldn't have a conversation about nutrient timing until we get enough calories. So I don't care if they eat at 8:30 or 9:00 at night. You better believe my son or my daughter gets home from soccer practice at 8:30.

They're gonna fuel after that practice. They're gonna eat 25, 30 grams of protein, another 40, 50 grams carbohydrates before they go to bed. Why? Because that's what allows them to sleep and rest and heal and recover for the next day. So, yeah. I'm gonna feed them at 9:00 at night if I have to and so should you.

"Should my family go dairy free or is dairy fine? Right? So should we go dairy free?" So here's conversation I have with my patients.

One, you should eliminate all inflammatory dairy. What's inflammatory dairy? That would be anything that's not grass fed and A2 certified. So those are the two things. If it's grass fed and A2 certified, I actually don't mind dairy at all.

If you consume a kefir or a yogurt or a milk that's A2 grass fed, it's fine. The second question I wanna ask is, if you're doing that, but your child has chronic sinusitis, allergies, eczema, then we then you should eliminate dairy because more than likely that child has some type of food reaction to dairy, then we should look at eliminating dairy. Now, a lot of people ask, "what is is A2? I've heard grass fed before. What's A2 dairy?"

So, A2 dairy is a genetic protein that comes from a certain variety of cows. So, when we look at cows in America, there's A1 casein dairy, which is in essence, a type of casein, which is a protein found in dairy called A1. And then there's another variety called A2. A2 is the ancient dairy protein. It's been around since we've been on earth.

A1 is new because of hyper processing and genetic mutations, cows in America now exhibiting a different type of protein structure that our bodies are not used to nor can we digest. And that's virtually most dairy in America today. So, if your dairy container of kefir, yogurt, or milk doesn't say A2 cows, then you know it's A1. Then you know it's A1. Okay? Which is again, it's an inflammatory protein that's very hard to digest. So we're looking for grass fed A2 dairy. And if your child or yourself has any chronic sinusitis allergies or congestion, then we'd we wanna stay away from dairy.

"Can my kids snack in a healthy way?" So my son was was he's 14. He's heading to ninth grade. We're heading to- we're heading to the driving range yesterday. Okay? Says, "hey, dad. I've been home during the summer.

I just noticed that when I snack, I don't eat my I don't eat meals as much. Like, I just don't feel as hungry." And for him to identify on his own in ninth grade with that concept, gosh, it's like, I wish everyone understood that. When we snack, we lose our appetite. And so actually, what happens is we get these empty calories, yet we are in a caloric deficit because we just don't eat the bigger meal.

If you can eat a big breakfast and then an hour or two hours later have a snack and then eat a big lunch, an hour or two hours have a snack and then eat a big dinner, kudos to you. But most people can't even eat three big meals a day. So I will not allow our kids to snack until they eat three meals a day. And if they eat three meals a day, then yes, they can have a snack.

"What does a snack look like? What's a healthy snack, Dr. Barrett?" Well, here's what a healthy snack would be. It would be like almond butter with carrots or celery or whatever. It would be maybe some fruit or like an apple and almond butter or maybe some carrots and celery, cucumber with hummus.

Something that's a little bit more like fibrous, you know, vegetable focused or fruit with a little bit of like healthy fats to slow the digestive process down. So, you know, maybe it's a piece of toast with almond butter on it, the little bit of honey, you know, something like that. That's great. That's fine. No issues there whatsoever.

But be careful of those junk bars that they're getting 20 grams of sugar, 10 grams of protein, a bunch of just processed vegetable oils, and it ruins their appetite. So, focus on meals, and then if they're checking those boxes, they can move on to snacks. "Hey, so are seed oils really causing inflammation? Like, is seed oils really that big of a deal?" So, oils can be that big of a deal.

I had a patient the other day, she was in the office with her husband. Rachel said, "hey, hey Dr. B, so should I- Nathan said, should I avoid, should we avoid seed oils as family?" I'm like, Yes, but it's very hard to. Seed oils are practically everything.

What I'd rather you do is be mindful of seed oils and look to see how much you're consuming. Choose olive oils, butter, coconut oil, avocado oil as your primary focus. And then when you are in a situation where you can avoid it, that's fine. Okay. You can have a little bit of seed oil and you know, a small amount of linoleic acid isn't going to drive your inflammation levels through the roof.

Chronic consumption of a linoleic acid, which is in seed oils, will. The other thing about seed oils, is they're full of glyphosate, they're full of chemicals, pesticides. So that's really where a lot of inflammation comes from as well.

Carnivore diet. Now this is not so much kid based, but "carnivore diet, should I do it? Should I do a carnivore diet?" I get this question a lot. Yes, sure, why not? Give it a go. "How long?"

So that's the question I like to, "hey, how long do you want to go for?" "I don't know. How long should I go for Dr. Barrett?" I say, "well, thirty days at minimum, max ninety days."

Why? Because it really takes about four weeks to see any change in your body. It also takes about thirty days to get a lot of the food, allergenic food proteins out of the body so that when you reintroduce you know what you're allergic to. But I wouldn't go beyond ninety days because at ninety days you would have to get so in tune with your nutrition that you're making up for the typical nutritional loss, followed by most people on a carnivore diet. Know, because you're not eating a bunch of liver and heart and bone broth every single day.

You're probably eating bacon, steak, and chicken, and just neglecting the micronutrient value of organ meats and fish and sardines and so on and so forth. So I really don't like to do any very aggressive diet more than ninety days, but also don't want you to it less than thirty. So, yes, thirty to ninety days. And that's true for just about everything.

This isn't a question, but this is more like a disclaimer. Be careful who you're following and who you're taking advice from. Just remember the intent of social media advertising. If you're on social media, okay, and you're seeing this like, "hey, take this supplement, it'll change your life." It won't. "Eat this food, it'll change your life."

It won't. "Do this one thing, it'll change your life, it won't." What changes your life? What really creates a lasting change? Discipline, habits, and time.

Don't get caught up in, hey, this nutrition plan's gonna change your life. This nutritional supplement is going to change your life. They're selling you something. Just be wise and say, Hey, what makes sense? What makes sense is get to sleep on time, sleep seven to eight hours, get adjusted, Hydrate.

Move your body. I mean, eat clean whole foods. You don't even have to take any supplements. You don't have to spend any money other than doing those things. And if you do that long enough, you will see I mean transformational change in your body.

Doesn't happen overnight, and it takes time and repetition. It's so important to work with someone you trust in helping you understand how to navigate this world of marketing and and what's right and what's wrong and what's right for me and what's maybe not ideal for me so that you can always make your next best decision. We are here for you. We have a resource tab in our on our website. Go to realhealthco.com.

Realhealthco.com. Resources tab. There are so many free guides for you to help your in your nutrition health journey. Download them. You can download the free.

And of course, if this podcast has been a blessing for you, if this has been helpful information, share it, give it to people around you. We, you know, we're not profiting off of this. This is a value that we're adding to our patients on a weekly basis so that you can live the life that God has called you to, which is a healthy life of freedom in movement and freedom in your body. And hey, just to kinda help you understand one more thing, we have transitioned Manna Monday into a separate podcast, so you're gonna see that kind of come off of the Real Health Co. podcast. So if you enjoy our Monday five minute kind of motivational weekly topics, just make sure you go and subscribe to Manna Monday podcast so that you can stay up to date with information that we're producing here at the Real Health Co. Thanks for listening to another episode of the Real Health Podcast.

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