MaxLiving Perspective
Incorporating 5 Essentials™
Growing up today offers many unique experiences for children, from being able to socialize online to playing life-like video games and completing homework faster with computers. It’s important to consider the kids’ health perspective in this digital era, understanding the potential impacts of these experiences on their overall well-being. Yet, kids today also face many health challenges: frequent stress, low physical activity, poor-quality food, and exposure to more toxins than kids from past generations.(1) As a result, children get sick often and suffer from more chronic diseases, including asthma, anxiety, and obesity.(2) Keep your child happy, healthy, and balanced with these strategies.
Core Chiropractic
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Take your kid(s) to the chiropractor regularly. Kids get injured often, and the trauma of birth alone can damage the integrity of the spinal column, which disrupt other regions of the body.(3,4) A chiropractor supports the musculoskeletal structure of the body.(5,6)
Nutrition
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Reduce sugar and eliminate high fructose corn syrup.7 Read the Nutrition Facts on foods and avoid corn syrup, malt sugar, juice concentrates, and sugars ending in, “ose.”(8) Eating too much sugar leads to weight gain, obesity, metabolic issues, and nutritional deficiencies.(9,10,11)
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Eat organic foods to avoid GMOs, like pesticides and fertilizers, in and on your food.(12) Look for the “Non-GMO” label. Long-term exposure to GMOs is linked to metabolic issues and cancer, especially in children.(13,14,15)
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Include more healthy fats, especially omega-3 fatty acids from cold-water, wild-caught fish, raw nuts, flaxseed, and chia seeds.(16) Essential fatty acids are critical for growth and development, and brain development and function.(16)
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Avoid packaged, processed, and fast food. These foods, like chips, frozen meals, French fries, and desserts, have little or no nutritional value and high in salt, bad fats, and sugar, which can cause obesity and other chronic diseases.(17,18)
Mindset
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Ensure your child gets enough sleep. Toddlers and preschoolers (ages 1 – 5) need about 9 hours of sleep; grade schoolers and teens (ages 6 – 17) should get 8 hours of sleep.(19) Children require more sleep to support their physical and physical development.(19)
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Turn off electronic devices 30 minutes before bedtime, especially at night. Blue light can interfere with the production of melatonin and impact sleep levels.(20)
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Foster a positive mindset by teaching tactics to respond to stress, like helping others and goal-setting, and offering positive affirmations.(21) Seeing stress as positive develops kids’ emotional connections and improves learning and their physical health.(21)
Oxygen & Exercise
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Get your child to be more physically active, for at least 20 minutes a day by having them participate in a team sport, offering equipment, like a jump rope or bike, and scheduling family fitness time. Regular physical activity supports kids’ physical health and a healthy weight, improves cognitive functioning, and foster’s self-discipline.(22,23)
Please make sure your child has had a sports physical examination by a healthcare practitioner before beginning any sports activities or intense forms of physical activity.
Minimize Toxins
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Use BPA-free baby products, including baby bottles, pacifiers, teething rings, and cans. BPA can alter hormones, which impact growth and development, and has been linked to obesity in children and adolescents.(24)
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Do not use sunscreen. Sun protection products contain ingredients that the FDA has not recognized as safe and have not been thoroughly researched.(25) Dress kids in light clothing and hats, and have them play in shaded areas to protect them from long-term exposure to the sun’s UV rays.(26) Chemicals like PABA and trolamine salicylate have reproductive, developmental, or carcinogenic effects.(25)
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Do not use DEET-based insect repellent. Use insect repellents with natural ingredients, like citronella oil, lavender oil, or oil of lemon eucalyptus.(27,28) DEET is a chemical in many drugstore bug sprays that can have neurotoxic effects on humans, especially children.(28)
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Only use chemical-free hair and skin products on your child. Avoid these ingredients: parabens, phthalates, formaldehyde, sodium benzoate, which are in lotions, creams, hand wash, and bath products.(29,30,31) Children, who are still developing, are more vulnerable to toxins, and long-term exposure damages organs, hormones, metabolism, and causes disease.(29,30,31)
Nutrient Support*
Talk to your healthcare practitioner about including these and/or any other nutraceuticals in your dietary practices.