Abdullah, Zain, Emaad and Qasim Ansari, 17,14,12,10, are the hosts of The Holistic Kids’ Show Podcast, national speakers, and co-authors of the traditionally published book, The Teen Health Revolution: Lifestyle Secrets to Optimize Your Mind, Body, and Soul (releasing November 13, 2025). They are the coauthors of Adam’s Healing Adventures children’s health book series. The Holistic Kids are the co-hosts of The Holistic Kids’ Show Podcast episode, where they have interviewed over 200 world-renowned guests and best-selling authors. The Holistic Kids have lectured at the leading integrative and functional medicine conferences, including being the first youth speakers at the 2024 International Institute of Functional Medicine, A4M 2025, and The Mindshare Summit 2025. They have also spoken at the Nourished Festival, served as keynote speakers at the YMCA Interfaith Mayor’s Breakfast, and presented at major conferences like MAS-ICNA, reaching audiences of over 60,000. In May 2025, Abdullah was featured in the docuseries Young and Thriving as a “young voice for mental health who is bringing a unique perspective of today’s youth into the conversation. Abdullah and Zain have made appearances on the Emmy Award-winning Dr. Nandi Show. The Holistic Kids have been featured in top podcasts and print and online media outlets like Wellness Mama podcast, Rational Wellness Podcast, and The Holistic Primary Care Magazine.
Dr Ritamarie
For the first time in history our kids are projected to live shorter lives than their parents, and that's pretty sad. Chronic illnesses and anxiety and depression and metabolic dysfunction and nutritional imbalances are rising faster in teens than in any other time in our history.
So today I have something super special and very different from our usual podcast episodes and our YouTube videos. This is something that really touched my heart when I met these guys in person a few months ago. And it's hopeful, it's good for our future, right?
So you're about to meet the Ansari brothers. I Abdullah, Zain, Emaad and Qasim. They're not your usual teenagers, and they are the hosts of a holistic kids show podcast. They started a podcast themselves. They're also national speakers, authors.
They have written a book called Adam's Healing Adventures and their new book is coming out soon. I'm super excited about it called the Teen Health Revolution.
.They have interviewed over 200 health experts. They've spoken at medical conferences. I saw them at a a holistic health professionals conference, just a couple of months ago, and they like rocked the floor, and they've reached audiences of tens of thousands. They are leaders.
They are young leaders in showing teenagers, which is a hard group to work with, let me just tell you, what's possible when they understand how their bodies work, take ownership of their bodies and their choices, and learn to transform their health with simple, powerful habits. And this is just so refreshing to hear teenagers do this, because it's typically like, we're just going to go to McDonald's. and we're just going to go do whatever. And it's so exciting. It's just not a conversation about teen health. It's a conversation about transforming teens and the teenagers who are just changing the landscape here.
So I'm super excited to welcome you guys to our show. And I really, I really appreciate you being here. I know you're busy, especially with the book launch coming up. I want to really have you share with people.
First of all, what got you started in this, right? This isn't the usual activities that kids your age do. What got you started in this? What got you passionate about helping teens to improve their health?
Holistic Kids (02:56)
I mean, that's an amazing question, because really, this has been a huge journey to really first see all the issues lots of teens were dealing with, especially, because we all see this in our schools. We're walking down the hallways, and all these kids have chronic health issues.
They're dealing with depression, mental health issues, acne all over their faces and their skins. And a lot of them, they're really like, my best friend threatened to kill me. When you see this all around you, it's very, very scary to see.
This is going to be the next generation. Our next generation is, we're not really living the best lives that we should, and really our brains are not working the way that they should, so that's really what motivated me specifically, but all of us to really empowering teens and creating this book.
Dr Ritamarie (04:02)
I love it, I love it. And it's not an easy stand to take, right? Because mostly the others don't want to hear about it until you start to make sense to them.
Before we go too far in, I just want to have you guys tell us how old each of you are. So say your name and how old you are, just so our audience has a sense of this, the scope of what you're doing.
Holistic Kids (04:26)
So Abdullah, I'm 18. I'm Emaad, and I'm 12. I'm Zain, and I'm 14. And I'm Qasim, and I'm 10.
Dr Ritamarie (04:36)
So 10 to 18, right? So you're in a spectrum that covers the pre-teens, the early teens, and the late teens, right? So how did this feel? Like, how did you first start doing this? And how did it land with your friends?
Holistic Kids (04:51)
Well, like I said, just like seeing all these issues going on, we really were so empowered to make this, because we knew that it was possible. Really, we knew it was possible because of us. We used to live an imbalanced lives.
I had sinus issues like every single day, like a waterfall that impacted my sleep and my life. But when I started using food as medicine, it healed me.
And if you look at the studies now, it says one in two kids have at least one persistent health issue. That's crazy. The CDC says that one in three teens have pre diabetes. If you look around us, the world has been, they're getting sicker and sicker and sicker. That's why we started.
Dr Ritamarie (05:40)
Yes, and we don't want to see it keep going in that direction, right? So you said, “Okay, I want to do something different.” How instrumental were your parents in helping you to make those changes and initiating those changes?
Holistic Kids (05:52)
They were huge. We couldn't have done any of this without our mom, honestly, because she was our role model. She didn't do anything, before she implemented it herself. And so we saw her eating better, and we saw how it was helping her. And she then taught us, and we started to do it, as well. She's always been a little more stricter than us. And then after she does it, she's like, “Guys, let me teach you guys now.”
And so as kids all around the world, as much as we don't want to admit it, parents are our role models. What our parents do? We do. And so she was so instrumental in our development, especially to become leaders for this next generation. And I think every single parent needs to start taking charge, because if you don't start educating yourself and start being a better role model for your kids then your kids are not going to be able to then take charge the way you want them to, because if they see you doing the opposite, well then, they're not going to want to do it.
Dr Ritamarie (06:55
Right? Right? If mom's eating M&Ms, why wouldn't the kids eat M&Ms, right?.
Holistic Kids (06:58)
Exactly. We see you doing it.. We want the parents to be the role models, to be an example of showing us. When we talk to regular teens, it takes a while just to get them to really listen. Right. So that's why we need role models.
And also talk to us about why you are making the decisions you are making? If the child doesn't know what the adult is doing, then why would the child do it?
Dr Ritamarie (07:34)
You said something very important. You said, “Why?” Like, why are you making these choices? Like, why did mom give up? I don't know what your mom was eating before she made these changes. But, just say, for example, mom is having Kool-Aid and chocolate chip cookies every day, right? And then she suddenly decides she's going to eat kale salad and green juice, right? And you're like, what? Why is she doing it? If she just does it and says, “Do this, kids, it's important for your health.” Would you be most willing to do it or did you need to know that why?
Then you have a reason for doing it as opposed to, well, because mom said so.
Holistic Kids (08:16)
I know when I started this I was about Qasim’s age. I was seven years old. I was like younger than Qasim, and I just remember that at the time I was like why can't we have yellow number four? My favorite snack was flaming hot Cheetos, and so I was like why can't we have it? It tastes so good.
And so she was like, no, the red number 40 actually in this is actually a leading cause of cancer. I mean, it's actually linked to cancer. It has carcinogens in them. And she's like, you don't want to put stuff in your body that's going to lead to cancer. And so she started to explain to us, and she also was like, you know, when you eat that, you don't really feel good after, right? And I was like, yeah, that's kind of true. So she's like, you know, this is not even real food. It was made in a lab. You know, there's a bunch of chemicals in it. And she would start calling it fake food, because it's not real food.
So that's just how it helped us, and I think that any parent can do that. Any parent can teach their child, especially at a young age, it's so important.
Dr Ritamarie (09:20)
I agree with you, because my kids grew up that way. They never had food like you had early on, because I was already indoctrinated to this way of life. And so they just always ate their vegetables and fruits and whole foods. So it was easier for me than what I saw other parents going through, like trying to teach the kids after 7 to 10 years of eating that delicious food, but that was causing all kinds of health issues.
And I remember my son, he was little when we were talking about something. I said to him, “Well, what would you do if you found out that your favorite food,” which was injera, which is a bread that's made in Ethiopia, that is made of teff flour, “What if you found out that that was bad for you, or it caused cancer?” He goes, “Well, I would stop eating it.” And then he just warmed my heart, because it was his favorite food, but he was willing to give it up.
And that's the message that I see you guys being such leaders for with your peers, right? It's not their mom telling them that this is bad, it's not their dad, it's their peers. So how do they react to you? Like, when you told your friends, no, I'm not eating those yellow Cheetos anymore, here, let's have some cucumbers instead or whatever it might've been, how do they react to you?
Holistic Kids (10:41)
Well, some of them found me crazy, because when do you see a teenager being like, oh yeah, I'm going to have some cucumbers, I'm going to have some carrots.
And they're like, okay, why don't you just have this? And it's kind of a little hard for them to understand why. But really, I think when they can understand that, you know, I'm just doing this, because I care about my body, then they'll also want to start doing it more. I think they start bringing oranges, and they'd be like, oh, I have oranges now.
I know, especially like the very beginning, most teens, they don't know, because they don't understand. And that's why I remember a lot of teens, especially my friends, when I first told them about them, they started trying to debate me and stuff. They were like, oh no, no, no, this is why this is right. And eventually, once I started, they actually realized that what they were debating, they had no clue what they were even debating about. And that what I was saying made 100 % sense.
And so I see, now they bring, I bring like the chips, and they like, they'd love to have the, you know, Siete brand, it's natural chips. They're really good. They're simple ingredients. But they take pictures, and they send them to me. We got this organic milk in my house. And then they show me that. Like they're making steps. And honestly, that's the goal we have is for teens to just start thinking about it.
Dr Ritamarie (12:13)
They're making steps. I love that they’re thinking about it. Because usually you're eating mindlessly, right? You're just whatever. Everybody is eating whatever was served to you without a thought for how it's affecting you, how it's affecting your concentration, that's food.
How is it affecting your physical health? Like you were saying about your sinuses are dripping every day, right? And making that connection between how you feel and what you eat. But also you mentioned in your book, or in some of the stuff I've seen about you, that mindfulness practices are important. So tell us about that and how you came to understand that, but then how does that land with your peers?
Holistic Kids (12:47)
Mindfulness is super important, and it's super left out these days, because especially with technology, or just fast food, we're constantly moving from place to place, stuffing whatever's in our mouth, just constantly on the go. We're not really taking any time to notice around us, to notice what's happening inside us.
Because with a lot of kids, they're not going to want to maybe heal themselves, because they don't know when they're really feeling bad, and when they're really feeling good. They're like,”Yeah, this is just the normal.” And I'm like, no, blowing your nose all the time is not normal. Right? We need to really take some time to think about what's going around us, to think about the inside, taking deep breaths.
So your mindfulness is super important. Mindfulness means to be fully present in the world.
The kids today are not fully present in the world. They're just scrolling on TikTok.
So when you're mindfully unblocking true potential, being mindful of this means you can see what's going on and to avoid these chemicals and toxins. Like, routines, scrolling, eating whatever, staying up late, sitting on the couch, playing video games for hours and hours. Like, in my class, you're competing for how much people play the most.
Like just being mindful means that you know what's going on around you and that you can be present with it.
Dr Ritamarie (14:26)
Do you have specific stress techniques that you guys employ? Maybe each one of you has something little bit different. I'd love to hear that.
Holistic Kids (14:34)
I think for me especially, the all time best, the greatest of all time, it might be breathing, mindful breathing. Because it's simple, it's easy, you can do it anywhere. And it's basically like a reset for your body. It's so amazing, because it's something that, it's like your body was meant todo. It's like a natural stress reliever. Just breathing.
Dr Ritamarie (15:00)
Breathing, right? And mindfully breathing, right? Deep breathing, right?
Holistic Kids (15:06)
Yes, like freely drawing or doodling or just painting or watercolor. You know, all this art, it really brings me in a very calm mood, so I can reset my brain so then the stress doesn't take over me.
Dr Ritamarie (15:24)
I love that. It's lovely.
Holistic Kids (15:26)
Honestly for me, I think it would be more like playing sports and playing more activity games like soccer, basketball, football, running, just all these different types of movement.
Dr Ritamarie (15:37)
So movement, right? So art, we have movement, we have breathing. What about you, Qasim?
Holistic Kids (15:43)
I like moving, too. And going outside, especially moving outside, it feels really good in your body later on.
Dr Ritamarie (15:55)
That's wonderful. That's so wonderful. And what about, let's switch the topic, ultra processed foods. What do you know about those, and why should teenagers give them up?
Holistic Kids (16:07)
So, ultra processed foods. Right now we have a chronic disease epidemic. And ultra processed foods are actually now linked, studies have come out, that they're linked to over 32 different health related issues and 32 different chronic diseases.
Ultra processed foods right now is directly linked to this increase in chronic disease, the increase in anxiety, depression, behavior problems, ADHD, mental health issues, and it's something that shouldn't be taken lightly, because if we keep going down this path, then we're going to keep getting sicker and sicker and sicker and what's going to happen to the next future engineers, the future doctors, the future lawyers, the future businessmen, if we're all sick? Because we can't achieve success, and we can't be the very best that we can be, if we're constantly sick, and we don't have good health.
And that's why we teens shouldn't wait until adulthood to start worrying about health. We need to start changing now, because once it's adulthood, it's too late. We need to start changing now, changing today So like honestly, because no teen or kid or person in the right mind would want to be sick and would like to be sick
The people who made ultra processed foods and their brands, they use different things to make us more addictive. I think that. The fact that it's called ultra processed foods just gives you a lot right there. I mean, it's not really food anymore. It's ultra processed. They're not just maybe cooking it. They're literally sticking all those chemicals, all those artificial dyes. It's a lab experiment. Yeah. Now it just became a lab experiment.
Dr Ritamarie (17:59)
And who's the target, right? Who suffers?
Holistic Kids (18:01)
Yeah, these food-like substances can cause occasion spikes.
And that just gets us with so many more side effects that people need to know. And these preservatives, additives, they all make us more addicted. And plus, it gets even worse because these ultra-processed foods have now been specifically designed to make us overeat these foods. And so because of that, we then spend more money, and they make more money manipulating us and taking advantage of us, because they know that we're easily addicted to these foods, and we're just going to keep eating them and eating them and eating them.
I mean, you might have heard of the saying, you can't have just one. And it's the truth, you can't have just one. And it's specifically designed like that. And also, like, overeating, what I was talking about, studies have really shown when you're consuming ultra-processed foods, you consume 500 more calories when eating those types of foods. So it literally makes you eat more and more and more.
Dr Ritamarie (19:06)
It's great that you realize that, and it's great that you're teaching other teenagers and kids your age that that's important, because it is addictive. And once you get started, and once you get addicted, unless you have a real good reason and a lot of discipline and support, it's hard to get off of it.
Holistic Kids (19:26)
And plus, it's destroying our body. It's addictive, and it's leading to oxidative stress. It's hurting our cells and our gut bugs. And people think, but it's just like a bag of chips. That bag of chips never hurt anybody. When in reality, it's destroying our immune system, and it's leading to more sickness and disease.
Dr Ritamarie (19:45)
Wow. So what changes have each of you noticed in your own energy, focus, mood, ability to get your homework done, happiness, physical? What have you noticed? I know you said your nose stopped dripping like a faucet in the middle of the night. What else? What have the rest of you experienced?
Holistic Kids (20:04)
I used to have eczema patches all over my body, but when I used food as medicine, it really healed me and now I barely have it. It's just dry skin.
Dr Ritamarie (20:23)
That's great. And is there any specific thing you did with food as medicine that helped your eczema, or it was just overall?
Holistic Kids (20:31)
I tried new stuff like no dairy and like barely any carbohydrates, and that really helped me. Also with eating real food as being medicine, food can either help us or hurt us, so choose wisely and each of these different colors, they help in so many ways, like red food lowers inflammation. Orange, orange helps the eye health, yellow digestive health, green with detoxification, and blue with brain health. These contain sulforaphane and glucosinolates and glutathione
Dr Ritamarie (20:15)
Those are big words for a teenager to know. That's really cool. You know the science behind it too.
Holistic Kids (21:21)
Going back to how maybe food is medicine healed me. I used to have mood disorders and even just I maybe have a lot of sugar, either it's after a celebration, even though the sugar might be organic and clean, you can still see my mood levels change. Maybe I get more frustrated, or I can't focus. Maybe I can't sleep. So all this, I mean, it's really obvious if you're mindful and really can understand how, when you feel good and when you feel bad.
And the message that we always give is that there is always hope. I know people who have had severe chronic diseases, people who the doctor said that it's you can't do anything, just live off this pill.
Our mom had lupus and Hashimoto's, and there's so many other people like that and now she's completely free of it.
There's always hope, and it all starts with simple easy stuff. We say food is medicine, sleep, nature, detoxification, stress management, gratitude, mindfulness, purpose, all of these together can help you put your body back into balance. And help any parent, any teen, any kid, and that's the message we're trying to spread. Because it's so simple and it's so easy. And yet, so many people don't know about this. And it could change so many lives.
Dr Ritamarie (22:51)
It's not just change, but it's saving lives. What you're doing is saving lives.
So what are some of your favorite nourishing meals that are kid-friendly, right? Many kids don't like kale salad. I don't know.
Holistic Kids (23:05)
As I was going to say, everyone hears of a salad being super nutritious, but a lot of kids don't really like salad. So maybe like sneaking in those vegetables, like microgreens, they're really small, they don't really taste like anything, but they're super powerful, especially with that sulforaphane that Emaad was talking about.
Like just sneaking them into pasta, sneaking them into really anything. You won't notice them, but your body is getting so many nutrients. Qasim was talking about sneaking them into us.
Our mom, she made smoothies and put in all this nutrition, these foods which have nutritional values with like sulforaphane, glucoraphanin, and glutathione. She put that all into there, and honestly you can't taste it. Like it tastes the same, and she put them in a smoothie. We used to call it the Hulk smoothie, remember? It was green and it made you strong. But now she makes them very fruity, they're very tasty. Because now she puts bananas and different vegetables.
She puts bananas and frozen fruits, but it's not just a normal smoothie, because secretly inside there's amla powder, dandelion greens, broccoli sprouts. There's so much kale in there. There's even organs in there like liver powder. We just recently learned about it. We realized this.
Dr Ritamarie (24:40)
You just heard about that one. You didn't taste that. Wow.
Holistic Kids (24:47)
All of this stuff we don't taste. To us, we're just drinking another smoothie, and all of it. We're getting all of the nutrients that we need, and our bodies being refreshed each sip we take.
Dr Ritamarie (24:58)
That's wonderful. That's wonderful. I know I used to make kale brownies with walnuts and some dates or whatever. And my kids' friends would eat them and never know the difference. They'd go, these brownies are so good. Meanwhile, their parents would ask for the recipe, and I'd say, the secret ingredient is kale. She'd go, “What? You got my kid to eat kale?” That's amazing. So there's lots of ways you can make it all taste really good.
And eventually you get to the point, like now, you don't have to sneak it in. You just know it's good for you. You make that choice, right? Because you know how it makes you feel.
Wow. wow. You guys are amazing. So you have this thing called The Revolution Framework. You want to tell me about that? What all that stands for?
Holistic Kids (25:44)
So basically we compiled our title of the book. Teen health that's our focus, but then we have Revolution and that each letter is basically an acronym That talks about a different aspect of teen health, so we can break it down into easier topics that will be more digestible for teens.
So like for example R. Revolutionize the gut. E. Eat real food. V. Vankish toxins. O. Optimize stress management. L. Love nature. U. Unite with others. T. Tech limits. I. Invest in sleep. O. Open to gratitude and mindfulness and N. Navigate your decisions with mindfulness.
We wanted a simple acronym that teens can use to educate themselves and implement these key principles into their future, because all of these, they're all pretty easy to implement into your life. Anyone can do them. And we wanted teens to be empowered. That's why in this book, The Teen Health Evolution, we have simple expert-backed lifestyle tips that they can use to improve their mind, body, and soul.
Dr Ritamarie (27:05)
Wow. And so that's all in the book, and it's in written language that teenagers will get. It's not written in like, you know, high level language like a college textbook.
Holistic Kids (27:13)
No, it's all simple and practical. Honestly, we even see any adult that doesn't want to read all of those really scientific, factual, too… Big books, bro, books that are this big. You think that there's a bunch of random words you've never heard of before.
So anyone that wants a simple, practical book on living a better lifestyle, we also recommend they can see the Teen Health Revolution.
Dr Ritamarie (2:42)
The simple version of it, right? Rather than having to read huge, tons of information. I think it's awesome. The holidays are coming up. People study Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, whatever other holidays are coming up. What a great gift. What a great gift.
Holistic Kids (27:58)
We also split the book into three sections. Number one is why teens are suffering. We go over why. What is going on in the real world? Number two is talking about the acronym revolution. And in the third one we talk about the revolutionized physical and mental self. We go over 20 chronic conditions, like what teens are dealing with today. Like acne, digestive issues, and mood disorders.
How to use the integrative approach to add your conventional care. And we add, so it's relatable, what we do in each chapter. Like over here, they're called revolution recaps. So just easy key points that any teen, if they don't want to read the entire thing, they can get that and it can be really important too.
If you pre-order our book on our website, The Teen Health Revolution. Then we have recipes, shopping lists, amazing pictures, drawn by Zain.
And so much more if you buy on there to get a free PDF and bonuses. And also in our book, we have tons of quotes. I got the recaps. And then so much more. And it's all expert backed.
We interviewed over 200 Harvard professors, New York Times researchers, world-renowned experts. And we have so much information. And we said, we want to put it in a simple book or a guide that any teen can hold in their hand and that they can use to improve their life and their future.
Dr Ritamarie (29:36)
I love it. I love it. And when will it be available for pre-order?
Holistic Kids (29:40)
You can get it anytime, and you're can get it right now you. TheTeenHealthRevolution.com. It's on Barnes and Noble's. Your local Barnes and Noble's is going to have it when it comes out. December 11th. Mark your calendars on December 11th, 2025. And plus it's on Apple. It's on Amazon, Barnes and Noble. Really anywhere you can find books.
Dr Ritamarie (30:08)
Anywhere you can find books basically, right?
So I'm going to ask you one more question. Is that okay? Okay, the T in your revolution was tech avoidance or tech limitations. Tell us more about that. Because that to me seems like one of the harder ones for teens. Like you said, TikTok, they're on TikTok and Instagram and all that. So tell us more about that.
How can you make that palatable? You can throw good stuff in the food, but how do you make tech limitations palatable?
Holistic Kids (30:45)
So first of all, we put it in the chapter, put limits on yourself. Right now, teens are spending hours upon hours just scrolling and scrolling away, not knowing what they're doing with their life, just mindlessly, visually, consuming every single short that they get.
A lot of teens now, they just don't know what they're doing, they don't go on the phone with a purpose. They just go there to self-medicate themselves by going on social media, they start comparing themselves to other people, the highlight reels of other people. And it's so unhealthy, because what this is doing to our brains and bodies and even souls is almost beyond repair if we don't start doing something now.
If you look at the now, like today, the right now, like 91% of teens own a smartphone by age of 14. I remember being in my dad's car seeing a kid walking with the phone, and he looked like five years old. He's was really small. I'm like, what is he doing? What is going on in this new generation?
Put limits on yourself. The screen time limits are going to be really helpful to really stop it. Limit yourself, and it's going to remind you that you know what? This, you should be spending this time with your child. And, when you go to sleep, because teens scroll all night, so when you go to sleep, put your phone in another room.
And actually we interviewed the author and the researcher of the anxious generation. And he actually recommended, which we still talk about to this day, to protect ourselves from the online world by, he had three important roles. No smartphones before high school, and especially no social media before 16. And for kids let kids play and let them go outside without technology.
Dr Ritamarie (32:53)
Outdoors, right? When they're sitting on the phone, they're missing, look at the birds, and the fresh air, and the fun, and the movement, and all that. And I know movement's a biggie for you guys too, right?
So what can you give as advice? What advice can you give teens? And also a lot of the people listening to this are people that are practitioners, they're health coaches and doctors and nurses. So what are some of the things that they can share with their parents of teens to help them to really adopt all this.
Holistic Kids (33:25)
First of all, we say this a lot, step by step. Even if you do just one push-up a day, that's better than none. If you keep doing it, if you go outside for five minutes, even two minutes in the morning every single day, or at least four days a week, or as much as you can do, you can continually then make that bigger. And spend more time outside. The problem is that we first need to start, and that's what we need to do.
We need to just start doing it, start anywhere, because if we don't make any change right now, then we're never going to improve ourselves, and our lives are just going to keep spiraling down and down and down. And that's why we need to start waking up and start realizing that we need to change ourselves now, today. Otherwise, our future is going to suffer.
Dr Ritamarie (34:15)
I love it. I love it. So let's end with your top three tips for the teens and then the top three tips for the parents for getting this started. Who wants to start?
Holistic Kids (34:27)
So for teens, I'll just start us off with when you wake up every morning, say at least three things you are grateful for, or if you can't do three things, one thing. Say at least one thing, make it more of things you're grateful for.
Because when you can wake up in the morning and instantly switch your brain to a more optimistic, positive way, then really you're going to look at your entire day differently. And really if teens can do this, they might be more positive, more optimistic and more happy going throughout the day.
One thing that adults could do is listen to teens, not listen to reply. So like, that's why teens never come to adults to talk about their life.
Dr Ritamarie (35:28)
Because they're afraid of being judged and not listened to and not heard. Wow. Anything else?
Holistic Kids (35:36)
Also, I think, especially for teens and adults, learn to read ingredients.
Dr Ritamarie (35:46)
Yes. You teach that in your book? You teach it in your book? Yes, beautiful.
Holistic Kids (35:47)
Reading ingredients. Yes, we highlight it a lot. And reading ingredients.
Educate yourself, because if you don't know, or learn to read ingredients to figure out what you're putting in your body, then you're going to continuously live mindlessly, and we need to start. We need to start thinking about what we're putting into our body.
We need to start looking at does this food have a bunch of chemicals in it? Do I know how to pronounce it? Do I even know what this does to us? Do I know what this chemical is or what I'm putting into my body does to me?
I was going to say is we don't learn that in school, to read ingredients labels All we do in school is, we learn to read like nutrition facts, which is just your facts, half of the value. We need to start looking at the foods that we need to be eating. We need to learn educate ourselves.
Dr Ritamarie (36:38)
And you talk about real food, right? Real food. And what if you use food, so you don't need medicine?
Holistic Kids (36:45)
It's real food. You use food as medicine. At the end of the day, our bodies were made to use food as medicine. And we can't keep relying on always living off a pill, because that problem will never go away.
We ask why. We have to address the root cause, and we need to use our body's mechanism. Food was actually, science doesn't even come out, that food actually is almost built to help heal our body. And there's even specific biological processes that happen when you have different foods that actually lead to your body functioning better.
Dr Ritamarie (37:26)
That's great. Wow, you guys are amazing. I love your mission. I love what you're doing and how to educate your peers. It's a hard population, as you know, because you're part of it, and you see your peers every day. So leave us with anything else that I didn't ask you about that you want to share in closing.
Holistic Kids (37:44)
Honestly, well this is a Podcast with a lot of information but just take things step by step, You don't have to go straight from eating super bad one day to eating super good the next. Take things step by step, because when you take things step by step, you're more likely to develop that habit, develop a routine, really change your taste buds to really fit this, because I mean we didn't just go from eating really bad to being here telling this to you.
We first learned it ourselves, maybe we stopped eating gluten, stopped eating dairy, took out one fast food place at a time, so we could slowly ease into really learning this. I think if they just look at the goal, just make this a journey, then I think it'll be a lot easier and less stressful.
And I think my final message would be to be that ripple effect in your own community. Make the change. Go forward to help community to community, neighborhood to neighborhood, to tell your friends, educate, you know, be that role model also for others so that eventually when we go from city to city, from county to county, from state to state, to even to nation to nation and then eventually the entire world, we can create that ripple effect.
We just have to start today, so that we can create a change in the future, so that we can start making a difference, and that we can finally reach our true potential, because if we don't do that, then what's going to happen to the next generation?
Dr Ritamarie (39:27)
Love it, love it. I really appreciate you being here and sharing all this. And I look forward to the book. I'm going to go pre-order it right now. I look forward to having it. I look forward to gifting it to people I love who have teenagers in their care or young children in their care. And it's just so amazing. This conversation is so important for us to be having, because it's not a joke. The health of our nation is going downhill.
And we need to bring it back up, because it's the future, like you said, the next big inventor or somebody who develops something is not going to get there if they're clouding their minds, because they're not eating healthy right now, not taking care of themselves, not doing mindfulness practices.
So I'm super excited, and I love what you're doing. I have gratitude to your mom for teaching you guys all the stuff she did and gratitude to you guys and a great honor for actually listening. Because a lot of parents talk to their kids, but I think a big part of it is the modeling, right? Your mom modeled it for you, your family modeled it for you. You saw the differences physically, and then you're like, okay, we have to teach this to our friends.
We can't keep this a secret. So I love that you're not keeping it a secret, and I love that you're sharing it with the world, because it all starts with what? Awareness, connection, real food, and daily choices, right? We get to choose every day.
Holistic Kids (40:58)
And then that's like Emaad was saying honestly, because I think Emaad, he notioned to me that honestly, I think one of our friends, I remember like they started when it first came out, they absolutely hated this idea. But eventually it takes time for everybody to start learning more and more and more. And now they actually love it almost as much as we do.
Dr Ritamarie (41:23)
That's great to hear. That is so great to hear. It's encouraging to me, you know, to see the future generations to be healthier and healthier and healthier instead of less and less healthy is the direction they're going.
So thank you boys for being here. I really appreciate it. I'm so excited about your book coming out. And for those of you listening out there, whether you're a parent, a practitioner, a teacher, or just anyone who works with kids and teenagers, this is something to take charge of.
So share this message, share this podcast episode, share the links to the book with everybody you know, because this is the future of our generation. So I thank you so much for that, and we'll be seeing you soon. Thank you so much.
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