The following excerpt is from Healthy Brains, Healthy Children by Dr. Coralee Thompson and Dr. Philip Maffetone
Chapter 1 Our Philosophy
Instinctually, every mother wants the most for her child. Many animals, certainly most mammals, endeavor to provide nurturing environments for their offspring to succeed. But humans have strayed away from many important common instincts. The marketing of unhealthful products contributes to the epidemic of brain dysfunction and even brain injury. These include convenience formulas and foods that replace breastfeeding and home cooking, nonsense toys and electronic-based entertainment that prevent natural curiosity and creativity, and lifestyles that keep children from getting outdoors, just to name a few. The fact remains that no company, latest fad or gimmick, or technique-peddler can do more than Mother Nature. Unnatural or processed foods, toxic chemicals or drugs, and sedentary behaviors can cause a variety of problems. Some of this harm even starts in the womb, and when the child enters the world, he or she is already at a disadvantage.
This doesn’t have to be the case.
Our main goal is to assist mothers, along with fathers, siblings and other family members, friends and caregivers, to help each child have the opportunity for optimal brain development. A healthy brain means a healthy child, and thus the child is better able to become a highly functional, healthy and happy adult. The way to achieve this is through education and by providing practical, useful, scientific and effective information that will help children at every stage of life and in all stages of brain development.
Specifically, we address and promote the very basic, natural, common-sense needs of children: healthful food, clean water, delivery of oxygen and other brain nourishment, and stimulation of all the senses. Nature does the rest. Why do such seemingly simple recommendations have such a powerful impact on a child’s brain? The answer is simple: From the moment of conception we are programmed to grow into healthy individuals with intense passions, healthy minds and athletic bodies. But without brain nourishment, we don’t fulfill that genetic blueprint. Instead, millions of children are what we call in this book brain-injured. It’s not that they have hit their head and gone into a coma, suffer from epilepsy, have Down syndrome, or autism. But rather along a single spectrum of brain function, there is a wide range of symptoms. It results in poor grades, increased drug use and abuse, obesity and children who grow up to become highly dysfunctional adults.
Prior to and while authoring this book, our professional backgrounds and clinical experiences have exposed us to much of what is available in contemporary medicine, alternative health care, and to approaches ranging from those as old as Chinese medicine to the newest biofeedback breakthroughs. Our combined work of lecturing, consulting with children and parents, and writing provides an array of options and opportunities for children with a wide range of problems, and for their parents to learn how to be the ultimate caregivers, as nature intended.
The general framework we use begins with the simple philosophy of Hippocrates: First, do no harm. It ends with the success of children becoming healthier with better-functioning brains that will help them grow into successful, healthy and happy adults. Along the way, we maintain an important philosophy of putting the child first.
Holistic Approach: An Equilateral Triangle of Balance
Although the word holistic has been overused, abused and misunderstood for decades, perhaps since its trendiness exploded in the 1960s, it remains an appropriate word to use when referring to what we do. The true holistic approach is one in which all aspects of the person are considered. This includes food and water, lifestyle and environment, and the mental/emotional state.
Consider this holistic approach as an equilateral triangle. Each side represents a key aspect of health: structural, chemical or mental/emotional. Of course, this simple conceptual representation does not convey the complex interrelationships that exist throughout the body. For example, the chemicals within the brain produce myriad emotions; the structure of the muscles house intricate chemical reactions that allow brain stimulation and bodily movement, and the structural aspect of the small intestines can determine the nutritional status. But it’s a useful tool, so let’s look at each side of the triangle.
One side of the triangle portrays the person’s structural health. This includes the skeleton, muscles, ligaments and tendons. The functions of all these structural parts significantly affect brain function — as much as brain function controls their actions. Practitioners involved in the structural aspect of health include chiropractors, osteopaths, dentists, surgeons, physical therapists and massage therapists. Caring only for the child’s structural aspect is usually less than adequate even if the problem appears to be purely structural. This is because body chemistry in the brain, muscles and other areas obviously plays a vital role.
The chemical side of the triangle incorporates all the child’s biochemical features. Foods, nutrients, drugs and other chemicals such as over-the-counter cough syrups have highly specific and often powerful reactions within the brain and body. Likewise, the lack of chemical stimulation can have serious consequences. Consider the wide-ranging immune, intestinal and developmental problems in a child that is not breastfed, and the potential side effects of processed baby formula on blood sugar and how it can quickly adversely affect brain function. Many professionals specialize in manipulating the body’s biochemical systems using medication, nutrition, supplements and other approaches. Nutritionists, naturopaths, homeopaths and dietitians are the more conservative therapists in this field, while most medical doctors recommend medications. Caring only for the chemical aspects of a child may not be most desirable even when the problem appears to be only chemical. Chemistry can affect their structure, as is easily seen in the relationship between hormonal and nutritional status of bone growth, for example.
The mental/emotional wellness side of the triangle incorporates the behavioral aspects of children. The mental state may be referred to as cognition since it includes sensation, perception, learning, concept formation and decision-making. The emotional state is the affective aspect associated with pain, moods (such as anxiety or depression), and loss of enthusiasm or motivation. The mental/emotional state is as easily influenced by chemistry and structure as it is through psychology. Professionals who address a child’s mental and emotional state include psychologists, psychiatrists, counselors and others. Certainly all professionals are trained to be aware of the mental and emotional aspects of patients. Unfortunately, the most common remedies in children with mental/emotional imbalance are drugs, most of which are not tested or specifically approved for use in children.
About the Authors
Our approach is derived from both an art and a science perspective. The art is in the experience, expertise and outcome, while the science includes basic physiology and its many models of neurology, biochemistry and other fields that are really all one: human biology. A child, however, may not always fit perfectly into a particular model. A practitioner who exemplifies this approach is like Michelangelo, whose knowledge about human anatomy is paralleled by his ability to portray the body in his paintings; the practitioner’s artwork is a demonstration of his or her intellect. It is hoped that all clinicians can teach parents to practice both the art and science for the good of themselves and their children through awareness of the uniqueness and beauty of the human body. It is in that sense that we are doctors in the original meaning: teacher.
Our approach offers parents many useful tools to individualize the proper care their children need to develop into healthy, happy adults. In a real sense, our job is to work ourselves out of a job, with the parents taking over the task. Part of this idea is to shift responsibility back to individuals, first to the parents then ultimately, with time, to the child who becomes the adult.
How We Got Into This Field
Coralee Thompson
Personal experience is the most potent teacher. These lessons are the things I will never forget and which have shaped my life as mother and doctor. I recall the first time (only one week before the delivery of my own baby), my hands held an infant emerging from the safety of her mother's womb. The new mother, Vietnamese, couldn't speak a word of English. She touched my gravid belly and our eyes met to communicate all that needed saying. The following week, my life changed again when Elliott was born. Although I was trained in conventional medicine and had studied volumes of obstetric and pediatric academia, I really don't remember anyone telling me what becoming a mother would mean. I was starting at the bottom of the learning curve and there were many important things that are not taught in traditional medicine. I have remained on the upward slope of learning in part because I've never lost that sense of feeling my patients' experiences like they were my own.
As it turns out, my working with brain-injured children began when Elliott's development just didn't feel right. Crawling came late and when it did, his left leg dragged behind. I was reassured that walking late at 14 months was not out of the so-called "normal" range. But when the repetitive behaviors, lack of eye contact, tuning out, constant humming, and parrot speech showed up, my annoying gut feeling turned into fear. Still the professionals were not impressed. "Give him time," I was told. After we watched the video, "How to Teach Your Baby to Read," by Glenn Doman, we went to his course for parents. I got a crash course in brain development that was simple and made sense, and my concerns were validated. Elliott had brain problems and the time to fix it was now (and today, Elliott is in college). From when he was four years old until age eight, my full-time job was at home, giving him the environment that would improve his brain function (good food, physical activity, sensory stimulation).
Through my work at The Institutes for the Achievement of Human Potential, The Family Hope Center, and private consultations, I have since met thousands of devoted parents and their wonderful children. I've learned what works and what doesn't, and remain in awe of the incredible power of the human brain. When I started working with Dr. Maffetone, we both realized that we are simply unable to personally reach and teach all parents. So we decided to write this book. The culmination of our work can be found on these pages. Our fundamental goal is to empower parents with the tools needed to create healthy brains for healthy children.
Phil Maffetone
When I first got into private practice, my three children were very young (aged 6 months to 5 years). I studied pediatrics, nutrition, brain development and all the important topics associated with helping children, but actually my three children prepared me more for what was to come. Having a referral, “word of mouth” practice, most people we knew also had children, so my practice grew to include a significant number of pregnant mothers and young women planning for motherhood, as well as young patients, including newborns. I continued seeing many children of all ages with a wide spectrum of problems, building a reputation of helping kids when traditional medicine could not. My focus was emphasizing good nutrition, physical activity and a health-promoting environment for optimal health, and my philosophical approach was very similar then as it is defined here. Through the years I continually improved and upgraded my clinical efficacy. When I began working with Dr. Thompson, we incorporated our most successful assessment and treatment tools into our work with brain-injured children, and with our writing and lecturing. This book is the result of those years of study, research and experience.
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