With rates of chronic illness in children around the globe reaching epidemic proportions, it is time to look at the environmental factors triggering the “new childhood epidemics” such as asthma, obesity ADHD, allergies and autism. While many of these conditions have been understood as genetic and lifelong, using a different and “whole-body” lens to understand the root causes of an individual’s condition can lead to profoundly improved outcomes for children and their families. What is the “Total Load” theory and how can it be used to optimize the health, growth and development of our children? Included in this talk: Why are so many children being diagnosed with chronic conditions today? How does using a “whole-body,” systems-based, physiologically-oriented lens give us insight into how to best help an affected child? What can be learned from children who have completely lost their diagnoses? Included in this talk: Preliminary results from the Documenting Hope CHIRP Study, a ground-breaking research study in collaboration with Martha Herbert, PhD, MD (pediatric neurologist formerly of Harvard Medical School and Mass General Hospital). This study uses the first of-its-kind IRB-approved online secure survey to collect critical data about children and their development, medical, social and environmental health history. (The survey covers what children in the US are eating, their exposures at home, their exposures at school, industrial sites nearby, their medical history, prenatal and preconception health of parents, family medical history, ACEs, and so much more.)
