Episode 158: How Nutrition can Help Kids with ADHD with Momina Salim

I am excited to share with you the latest episode of my podcast, where we explore the topic of nutrition and ADHD in children. As a parenting expert, I always emphasize the importance of a holistic approach to raising our children; this episode is no exception.

I had the pleasure of interviewing Momina Salim, a certified Pediatric Functional Medicine Health Coach with extensive experience supporting frustrated parents of children diagnosed or suspected of ADHD. Momina helps parents address the underlying root causes of their child's hyperactivity, inattention, and behavior issues through diet, lifestyle changes, and other holistic interventions.

In this episode, Momina shares her expertise on how nutrition can impact cognitive function and mood regulation in children with ADHD. We discuss these key takeaways:

  • The role of diet and nutrition in helping improve symptoms of ADHD

  • The top allergens that need to be considered when helping children with ADHD

  • The gut-brain connection

  • Other lifestyle factors to be considered when helping children with ADHD

If you enjoyed listening to Momina's insights on nutrition and ADHD in children, you can stay connected with her and learn more about her coaching services. Follow her on Instagram  @mominaSalimcoaching  for daily inspiration and helpful tips on supporting your child's health and wellbeing. You can also visit her website  www.mominaSalimcoaching.com  to learn more about her approach to Pediatric Functional Medicine Health Coaching.


TRANSCRIPT

Parenting is often lived in the extremes. It's either great joy or chaotic, overwhelmed. In one moment, you're nailing it and the next you're losing your cool. I want to help you find your way to the messy middle, to a place of balance. You see balance is a verb, not a state of being. It is a thing you do. Not a thing you are. It is an action, a process, a series of micro corrections that you make each and every day to keep yourself feeling centered. We are never truly balanced. We are engaged in the process of balancing.

Hello, I'm Dr. Laura Froyen and this is The Balanced Parent Podcast where overwhelmed, stressed out and disconnected parents go to find tools, mindset shifts, and practices to help them stop yelling at the people they love and start connecting on a deeper level. All delivered with heaping doses of grace and compassion. Join me in conversations that will help you get clear on your goals and values and start showing up in your parenting, your relationships, your life with openhearted authenticity and balance. Let's go!

Laura: Hello, everybody. Welcome back to the Balanced Parent Podcast. This is Doctor Laura Froyen. And today we're gonna be talking about how we can help our kiddos with a ADHD through nutrition. And we're gonna have a very balanced conversation about this with a wonderful pediatric functional medicine health coach moa Salim. I'm so excited to have you here with me and I, I'm looking forward to jumping into this into this conversation. So why don't you introduce yourself? Tell us a little bit more about you and who you are and what you do. 

Momina: Great. I'm so happy to be here. Thank you for having me on, like you said, I, I work mostly with Children. So I'm a pediatric function medicine, health coach and the whole idea of, you know, being a function, medicine health coach is really looking at the whole body as a connected unit, you know, that whole balanced approach where your brain and your gut and the rest of your body is all one. And so we always have, you know, one part is always affecting the other. So we need to look at the whole holistic view of our body and care for it in, in, in, in its entirety. 

So if that's really what I do, I work mostly with children with a ADHD, but I'm not one who focuses too much on diagnoses and labels. I like to be more inclusive of, you know, Children who have um symptoms that are similar to ADHD. So symptoms of hyperactivity impulsivity, whether it's mood and behavior dysregulation or whether it's just in attention and focus issues, right? So we want to be inclusive of all of those kiddos, irrespective of, of their, their diagnosis and give all of them a chance to thrive. And so I work mostly through diet and their lifestyle and working at, you know, root causes of what could be causing a lot of those behaviors. So really just kind of diving into looking at all of these things and, and helping the parents work with their children and you know, just allowing them to get better piece by piece.

Laura: Okay. So tell me then how is nutrition and a ADHD, how are they related? Can you tell me kind of give us like a, a high level picture of how nutrition influence a ADHD or some of the symptoms that come along with a ADHD?

Momina: That's a great question. And you know what I like to always think of food as information for our body, right? So when we're putting food in our body, it's this information that's going into our body that then our body is using for various processes, right? So what we're putting into our body is the out output will be dependent on what we put in, right? So a lot of times and and research is supporting that, you know, there's, there are various foods that we're eating that can help nourish our body and make, you know, our us feel better. And this whole concept of food as medicine comes from there of using foods to help kind of connect all of these various barriers that we might have or deficiencies in some ways.

And then there's some foods that we're eating, that we're being exposed to more of than we need to. And that is causing negative impact on our body or, or in our children's body. And we're seeing that connected very, very closely to the way how our children behave and how they feel and just small things of, you know, how they sleep, for example, how their mood varies from, you know, different times of the day. So we, we basically see this very, very strong connection of nutrition with the way that our children's bodies are functioning. And it's not, and I like to look at it from this place of abundance where food, we're not really looking at food, more from like taking away but more what can we add in to kind of nourish our children's bodies, right? Giving them that information and those and that what it needs, the building blocks that the body needs to grow and to nourish and to kind of make that bridge between, you know, their needs and what we're providing it.

Laura: Okay. And so what are some of those, those things that we could be thinking about adding in if we're noticing some hyperactivity or some focus issues with our kiddos or gosh, even for ourselves?

Momina: Yeah. Yeah, I think it's a great question and the very first thing that I always like to, you know, tell parents is let's start taking this approach of feeding our children whole nutrient dense foods, right? We have kind of gone into this, you know, of eating a lot of processed foods, which is in some ways it's convenient and you know, there's a place in a time and I don't like to kind of bash the processed food all in itself. There is a time and a place there are times when parents have no time, no energy and in meets the purpose and that's okay. 

Laura: And there's true food access issues too.

Momina: Exactly. Right. And, and we want to be respectful for all of that. But what I, what with this approach of eating whole neutros food is that we're trying to make that change over time to include eating foods that include things like more fruits and more vegetables. You know, I'm trying to get protein, good quality proteins into our kids' bodies, you know, good quality fat. So when we're making those decisions of what to buy and what to bring into our homes, we're being more conscious of what those things are. So that, you know, when it's, it's lunchtime or dinnertime or snack time, our homes already have those foods that we were more conscious about bringing in. 

So, you know, when we start with this more like, you know, whole foods baseline, then we have more to pick from. And so that's like the very first place where I like to start, but then I like to build up on that. And like I said, more good quality proteins, right? That is something that what tends to happen is that protein tends to slip and not be one of the more essential pieces of our children's plates. And as a result of that, we're gravitating more towards, you know, sugary treats and things to kind of fill up and that might be causing behaviors like hyperactivity. And you know, this is something that a lot of research has been done and it shows that, you know, increased consumption of sugar is causing and can cause increased hyperactivity or even mood and behavior issues. So we're seeing these connections. So when we eat more protein we feel and our children feel more satiated. And as a result, you know, they're not really running and chasing for those snacks from, from the pantry, you know, right after dinner or right after lunch. 

Laura: Okay. And so I, I love the idea of having kind of a, a well balanced plate, you know, having the fruits and veggies and some protein on your plate. And of course, we have to think about some kids have limited palates, you know, have things that they, you know, that they prefer over others, which is important too to be thinking about. You can certainly correct me if I'm wrong. But I've been doing some research on ADHD and sugar seeking. There's some ideas that in that folks with ADHD will seek sugar more in an attempt to regulate themselves. And I'm kind of curious about that connection and, and how we can, if we're noticing that happening either with ourselves or with our kids, how we can support them in getting that need met whatever kind of underlying need is happening there in a way that is good for them, but also not vilifying of sugar. Because I think that that's something that's really important for my audience is we want to have a very balanced approach to um not you know that all food is good food and all food has this good purpose for us. 

Momina: Yeah. Yeah. And so you know, one of the things that when we look at this connection, so first, just to understand this connection of sugar and you know why you have this need to just that you crave it and you want it and you want it right now. It really comes from the composition of the brain, right? We have these neurotransmitters called dopamine. And those are some that are pretty low in people with a ADHD, including children with a ADHD. And so when your dopamine is low, your brain will always take priority of making sure that it increases that dopamine level. So it will say, hey, levels are low, do something about it. So it wants an external stimuli to come in and to help increase that. Now, in some people, it could be because they just need to go and get some sugar and they use food as a way to kind of get that dopamine level high in other kids who we like to say, who are very, very, very hyperactive, their body is giving them the cue to go start jumping from the couches and just, you know, doing all kinds of things. So it's their external stimuli telling them to increase their, their, their dopamine levels. 

And that's one of the reasons when we're working with parents of children with a ADHD we're like, listen, you know, if your child has hyperactivity in a class setting, make sure you talk to a teacher and you say after every 20 minutes of work you give them five minutes of run-around time. And what does that do? It helps increase that dopamine level. Right. 

Laura: That’s fascinating. 

Momina: So we're basically looking down, we, we, we're breaking it down to see what is causing it in the first place, right? It's not the food, it's not the sugar necessarily. But what is it that's happening at the bottom? And we're seeing that it's these low dopamine levels that are causing those behaviors. Now for someone who runs off and try to get, you know, meet that, that dopamine demand through food, what can they do? Right. So again, we bring them back down to that idea of a more balanced plate, right? So they at least to start off with, you're satiating their body, firstly, with, with a balanced nutritious, like high fat, high protein meal. But then in addition to that, you create an environment around them.

So it's like a lifestyle, right? So you allow your child to go outside and play for a while, right? You do a lot of parents use trampolines to get their kids to go and play on the trampoline, bounce on it for 10, 15 minutes and that helps them with, with their, with their dopamine levels. So there are various other things and various tools that you can use to, to raise those dopamine levels. And then over time you kind of helping you work with the child to move them away from just, you know, using food as, as, as, as a way for their brain to say, hey, we need to increase dopamine go and start eating sugar, for example. 

Laura: Yeah. Okay. So this is really fascinating to me too And I think that I'm I'm guessing that screens often are very similar work, very similarly playing games like, you know, especially like rewarding games with levels or even social media with the scroll function definitely is related to our dopamine levels. So this is one of the things that I'm I'm thinking about just now is framing it from a place of like helping your child or yourself. If you're basing these things, I'm not formally diagnosed, but I'm pretty sure I have ADHD and I'd go for sugar or screens to increase my dopamine. And so even just thinking for myself, thinking about like any time I have that pull or that drive to do some of those things shifting. Even how I talk in my brain to, I really want a piece of candy to my brain is asking for dopamine, you know, even just that language and reframing that and helping them see that your body is asking for something specific and it's used to getting it this way and there's also, there's additional ways to get it too. 

Momina: Yeah. 

Laura: And nothing wrong with having it that way either. You know. 

Momina: Exactly right. And being more mindful of, of why you're doing that and also teaching your child to be mindful of those moments when, when they feel like their body is, is asking for an external stimuli and so to provide that in different ways, right? We see more and more parents using fidget spinners and like that, right? And, and they help a lot with inattention, but they also help with, with various like, you know, for children, it's it's a sensory thing and so it helps their body kind of re-regulate itself. And so it's about creating that awareness earlier on in your child or in an adult of, of that moment when that dopamine level is starting to shift and when your body is starting to require that. And so that's really just like one of the ways and you spoke a little bit about, you know, a little bit earlier about kids who have very selective palates or who eat very, very particular amounts of food. And I wanted to talk about that because that it's extreme. We see a lot of that with children with a ADHD who you know, who might also have sensory issues and and and sensory, you know, troubles with, with different kinds of foods, right?

And so that can also go in and we can attach that to their, their neurotransmitter, you know, just the way how they work. But in addition to that, why it's important to also increase their palate and increase the variety and it takes more time and it takes being very, very slow and very, very respectful, right? Because I mean, imagine as, as an adult, if I'm saying to you like, you know, if you only like to eat certain amounts of food and I say, hey, listen from today, you're just gonna eat everything I give you like you're gonna resist that. And so we need to be respectful with children as well. 

But along with that, giving them some boundaries and giving them some space. But again, looking under all of these layers, why is there selective eating a lot of times there is micronutrient deficiencies. So things like zinc deficiencies that can cause selective eating, right? So our palates or our tongue, our taste can be, it can vary, right? Food can taste very, very bitter for some people. It can taste very, you know, or you might not taste anything at all when you put food in your mouth and it, I mean, just think about it. If we're going to be eating something like that, you will be revolted and you wouldn't want to try again, right? You you're going to spit it out and say this is yuck. It makes sense when you start to think about these things. And then another thing that is so closely tied to that and it is also tied to sugar is that you, your child could have a yeast overgrowth. So it starts with your gut, right. We might have, we have loads of these bacteria and yeasts in our, in our gut, but we can have an overgrowth. And so once we have an overgrowth of yeast, it kind of moves us into craving more sugar. But also what we need to realize is that these bacteria are really important in, you know, making our neurotransmitters. So they, it, it's like the cycle that, you know, once it's out of whack, then we need to go back and take all of these steps back to like start thinking about, okay, what's wrong? And how do we piece by piece and layer by layer, put it together? 

Laura: Okay. So I'm, I'm just feeling, I'm, I'm kind of uh you know, sometimes I feel like when I'm interviewing someone, I'm thinking about the listener, right? And so I'm thinking about the average listener who's maybe seeing some things in their kids, how would they get started and figuring out if they, their child maybe has a zinc deficiency or has some gut imbalances? Like what is the starting point? Where can they go? Because, you know, not everyone can afford a private health coach, not everyone has access to doctors who will run tests. Like where is the starting point? 

Momina: So I think that the first best place is starting with food, right? So if you're going to start off with trying to create that, that variety at home and, and if you're starting to see resistance come in the way, right? If you've got a child with a selective palate, then when you're armed with information like this, right? If you want to go and check the various micronutrient deficiencies, you might, your child might have, you can just go to your pediatrician and ask them to run these tests. And the, you know, running like vitamin mineral tests are pretty normal and pretty, you know, easy to access through your pediatrician and they should be able to do that. And that would really help show you whether, you know, they are high or low or you know, how, how you need to address them. 

There are some, you know, at home zinc tests that you can run as well, which you know, it's, it's very easy. It's like a drink that you put in your mouth or your child takes in their mouth. And like depending on if their zinc levels are high or low, they'll either taste or not taste the, the, the liquid. So it's kind of very, very simple and very quick. And so it's not very, it might be hard for those children who have sensory issues and who don't like to put things in their mouth. But for people that are ok. And so, and especially adults. That's a very easy way to, you know, to do your, your zinc at home test without even having to go to the pediatrician.

Laura: Hold on. Can I ask a question about that? So, like if someone's looking for that task, where would they go to find it?

Momina: You could get it. I've, I've seen it on Amazon. I could share a link with you after. And then easily just, no, it's fine. I mean, I think that the more knowledge and information that we can put out there, I've seen it on Amazon. So it should be pretty easy for everyone to, you know, get their hands on that. And so we were just talking about something.

Laura: I'm sorry, I interrupted you.

Momina: It's fine. So we were talking about gut health and you were talking about how some parents identify, you know, gut problems. And that is something that, you know, when I start working with families. The very first thing I ask them is, you know, how often does your child poop? And they sort of look at me like why is she asking me about my child's poop? Like I'm here to say that, you know, my child is hyperactive in here. She's asking about poop. But w you know how often, how regularly, how are child poops, what our child's poop looks like, what the color is. It's such a great indicator of what's going on in their bodies, right? So first of all, keep an eye on that. Does your child go and your child must go every day? Right? There's so many pediatricians out there that will say it's ok for children not to go to miss a few days. But think of it this way like pooping is our body's major detoxification and like, you know, just removal of waste.

So when that waste is just sitting in your body for a few days, all of that goes back into your, into your body, some of it is, is absorbed back in and it goes back into your circulation. So then your liver is working over time. So if your child has constipation, if your child has diarrhea, if your child is not going every day, if you feel like your child is not having fully formed stools and like there's the Bristol stool chart that I'm sure, you know, many people who are listening in are either aware of or it's an easy Google search to do. And you'll just see this chart that tells you what a normal stool looks like and what, you know, it should be a red flag for you. And so just kind of starting off from that point and then after that, just looking at, you know, does my child have a stomach ache very often? 

You know, there is a great thing like when it's full moon, do you see that your child has a lot of itching in their bum, right? Or you start seeing irritability and that can mean parasites, right? Because at full moon parasites come out to play. And so, you know, there are all of these things that, that we're looking at that kind of will tell us is my child, you know, are they eating a lot of sugar hyperactivity can also indicate to yeast overgrowth. And so that again, stems back from the gut. So we're looking at a lot of these things and saying, okay, is it there like, first of all, it's like identification and saying, you know, is that problem there to start off with? And so we're looking at their gut, we're looking at their body, our child's body is the best place to give us cues on what's happening, right? It is our feedback loop, right? So we're constantly looking at their body and respecting their body for what it's telling us as parents. And so, yeah, so that's just really what we're looking at. 

Laura: Okay. And so I kind of just thinking too about, you know, so we've been talking about important things to add or is there anything that if you do have a kiddo who has some ADHD like symptoms or has a diagnosis that you would be looking at avoiding other than sugar? 

Momina: Yeah. So one of the things that we do look at are food allergens. So, you know, some parents if they can afford it and if, and you know, if that's something that they're willing to do, they can do a food, intolerance test or a food sensitivity test. Really? Right. And to kind of see what their body might be sensitive to what kinds of foods. And so this is different than an allergy, which is an iggige where, you know, a lot of kids who have like peanut or tree nut or, you know, , celiac disease, this is a little bit different than that. These are just that your body constantly when it's exposed to these foods is getting inflamed over time. And because of that inflammation, then we're starting to see all of these various behaviors come up. So for kids with a ADHD, it starts to affect the gut, the, the neurotransmitters in the brain.

For other kids, it can be asthma or it can be eczema, right. So it varies, but it's starting off from this point of inflammation. And so we look at, you know, things like common allergens for those parents who don't want to run the test, they can just do it a simple elimination at home of eliminating basic things like gluten, dairy, you know, corn, soy and then in some cases, eggs. So it's, these are like the few foods that I when I'm working. The, the second step after, you know, incorporating a lot of foods is then looking at taking away these foods for short periods of time and testing the body. 

So you know, you spend two weeks of no exposure and then after that one by one, you expose the body to one of these foods and then you wait and you see if the body reacts, right, if you see an improvement in your child's behavior, one of these foods is the cause. And so that's when you're reintroducing and you're re-testing, you can really find that which ones of those foods are, are, you know, a, a big trigger for your child. And so that also this approach of like reintroduction also prevents demonizing food and alienating whole food groups and allowing kids to, you know, for certain periods of time, just avoid the foods that are causing those, you know, that inflammation or those behaviors rather than alienating a whole subset of foods. 

Laura: Yeah, I get some of the, one of the things that makes me feel worried and concerned sometimes for families who are exploring nutritional changes is that for a kiddo who's already got a selective palate, removing food groups can be really, really hard and scary and anxiety provoking to think about. Okay, so if I'm going to take out gluten, what am I gonna feed my kid? You know, if the most of what they eat uh are, you know, their preferred foods are crackers and breads, you know, too. And so I think I I'm kind of just wanting to add in a like if it like just a like, note of hope for families who really, for, for them that, you know, doing, like, an elimination diet and stuff where it's just really not possible. Like I can, we just have a note of hope for them that there's plenty that they can do where they don't have to stress. I was out a whole lot. You know what I mean? 

Momina: Yeah. And you know what, that's one of the first questions I get asked from parents all the time is, you know, my child is already eating like it's just eating four things. If I take those four things away, what will they eat? Right? And so I have two answers for that. Always one definitely that, you know, you can, you can wait for the elimination diet once you're done adding some foods in and you feel like your child is more accepting, accepting of some foods. But one of the things that we see a lot is that once we take away some of these allergen foods, right? These foods that your child's body is sensitive to, it opens up their palate for a lot more foods. It's because these foods tend to sometimes act like inhibitors in the brain. And so if you're having caseine, which is, you know, the protein in, in, in milk, it it tends to basically act almost like an opioid in the brain where it says give me more, give me more, give me more and it only wants that. 

And so for certain, for certain children, for certain people, when we take that casing away, the first few days are the hardest. But then, and I've seen this with parent after parent saying my child it just changed, right. It opened up their palate. It allowed, just taking away that one food that their brain was addicted to allow them to open up their palate to so many more foods. So it's, you know, it, it's hard. Yes. It's hard to, to think about, you know, taking away food completely. How will my child survive? How will my household survive that? But knowing and doing it with some level of guidance really, really helps, you know, you to push through the first few days and, and you do it in a gentle way. Like I always tell parents that you pick one, if you're going to start this elimination or you're going to start, you start with one food first. 

You always start with one meal a day, right? So for one week, you only pick one meal. You don't say I'm going to go dive all in and you know what, tomorrow, my whole family is not going to eat gluten, no dairy, no sugar. It doesn't work and it doesn't, you can't have success that way because you haven't set yourself up for success. If you say, okay, this week, I'm going to pick one meal and I'm going to say we're going to turn that meal gluten free, right? And the, the chances of success and keeping it continuous for longer periods of time grows because you're slowly adding those when you feel like you've got the grip of a gluten-free, for example, breakfast, you're like, okay, I'm confident, I think I can move into lunch and then you move into lunch. Right. So it's, it's a marathon, it's not a sprint.

Laura: I mean that, yeah. Yeah, that seems like such a more compassionate approach than this kind of rigid almost emergency. Like a way that I feel like people, you know, like the whole 30 other like elimination diets that are out there, they seem like they could be really intense and anxiety provoking for parents and kids and really trigger some scarcity in, in everybody involved too. So I really like that more kind of gradual and self compassionate like self kindness approach to it. It's, that seems like a much better, like mentally healthy way to approach it.

Momina: Yeah add one thing to that is that we're at least for, you know, the audience that I work with. We're, we're working with children, right? And so we have to set them up for healthier behaviors and a healthy relationship with food for life. Like we're doing these, we're helping their, their diet for now. We're helping their condition in the short term right now. But we can't lose sight of the rest of their life and their relationship with food. And so as aggressive as we are right now. It has an impact on how they're going to be when they grow up. Right. And, and how they are as adults and their relationships.

So it's really being intentional and respectful of that and doing it really slow because, I mean, you're not going to win a lottery by just saying, you know, I did everything in a month and, well, you know what? Yes, for some parents who, who can do that and whose kids have more of a varied diet, maybe they can do it and that's okay. But for others, you know, it's okay to take it slow. And so it's also being respectful of the community that we have and the community that we develop, you know, with, with kids and parents who have various struggles and so being passionate towards them as well. 

Laura: I think that that's a very important perspective to have. And I, I also like, I, I think, I think it's just I want to highlight what you said about this relationship with food. I think that that is a big concern for a lot of the parents who listen to this podcast. Many of us don't have that healthy relationship with food. Many of us have spent years trying to heal our relationship with food and we want our kids to grow into having a healthy nourishing relationship with food and that can be really hard to, for, especially for those of us who like myself are in recovery for eating disorder. It’s really hard to move into that vulnerable space of okay I’m gonna start thinking about making diet changes for my kids and I don’t want to hand them an eating disorder. And I don’t know how to do thist necesarilly, like you know it’s scary to move into that space. 

Momina: And you know what, like on the other side of all of this is also looking at the parent and the health of the parent. So making these changes can trigger so much anxiety and so much stress and bring back so much trauma for parents, right? And so one of the most important things for recovery of children and to help them thrive is to have parents who are also thriving, right? So if a child, if a parent is, is reliving their trauma because of the changes that they need to make with their child, that there is a way that that trauma is going to be passed down in, into the household in some form of the other. 

So we want to be compassionate but everybody, yes, we want to make these changes together as a family, as much as we can as, as much as they, they, you know, it's possible because it reduces the anxiety of the child who, who we're trying to help, right? There's, there's a feeling of alienation and again, that feeling of this diet is for me, and then the word diet, like, you know, I cannot eat this while the sibling is eating. You know, exactly what they're trying to avoid, like on the same table. But we want to look at all of this from like a place of thinking of everybody. And so being gentle, being slow and then being intentional really, really helps. 

Laura: Yeah. Well, I really appreciate this conversation and I appreciate the balance that you're bringing to it. So much. So if people want to learn more from you, I know you've got a podcast. Why don't you let us in on where we can find you? 

Momina: Yeah. So the podcast everywhere where you listen to podcasts and it's called Helping Children Thrive. And it's really by giving parents a lot, a lot more in depth, you know, function medicine tools and, and understanding about their kid health. So, yeah, check me out over there. 

Laura: Okay. I'll have all your links to your podcasts and your socials in the show notes. Thank you again for being here with us. I really appreciate it.

Momina: Thank you so much for having me.

Okay, so thanks for listening today. Remember to subscribe to the podcast and if it was helpful, leave me a review that really helps others find the podcast and join us in this really important work of creating a parenthood that we don't have to escape from and creating a childhood for our kids that they don't have to recover from. 

And if you're listening, grab a screenshot and tag me on Instagram so that I can give you a shout-out, and definitely go follow me on Instagram. I'm @laurafroyenphd. That's where you can get behind the scenes. Look at what balanced, conscious parenting looks like in action with my family, and plus I share a lot of other, really great resources there too. 

All right. That's it for me today. I hope that you keep taking really good care of your kids and your family and each other and most importantly of yourself. And just to remember, balance is a verb and you're already doing it. You've got this!