PODCAST- Dr. Madiha Saeed – Holsitic Mom, MD

About Our Guest- Dr. Madiha Saeed – Holsitic Mom, MD

Madiha Saeed, MD, also known as HolisticMom, MD on social media, is a practicing board certified family physician in the USA, health influencer, international speaker and a best-selling author. Her best-selling book The Holistic Rx: Your Guide to Healing Chronic Inflammation and Disease, a best-selling children’s book series, Adam’s Healing Adventures, two international books and currently working on The Holistic Rx for Kids: Parenting Healthy Children to Save Our Future, empowering the world towards healthier living.  

Dr Saeed is the director of education for Documenting Hope and KnoWEwell. She sits on multiple medical advisory boards including, Mamapotamous and Wellness Mama, who was named one of the 100 most influential people in health and wellness. Dr Saeed and her children speak internationally in the most prestigious holistic conferences, summits, radio and newspaper. She is a regular on the international Emmy winning medical talk show the Dr. Nandi Show.  

Dr Saeed\’s children host \”The Holistic Kids\’ Show\” podcast, interviewing the biggest names in the functional, holistic and integrative medicine world, helping kids empower and educate other kids. They speak internationally, igniting the world with their energy and passion to ignite a healing revolution to save our future.  

Full Podcast Transcription

Dr. Madiha Saeed 00:13
We know that overall chronic diseases under rise as conventional medicine doctors, we know that inflammation is the underlying root cause of those chronic health conditions. And so if we can lower the overall inflammation, you can heal not one of these symptoms but then all of them simultaneously and that\’s what\’s super powerful. And for me, I talked about lowering chronic inflammation, through the foundations of good health, which are your digestive health and detoxification, and the four S\’s: stress, sleep social and spiritual health. We have these solutions in our hands and it\’s the power of a healthy lifestyle and everything that we discussed today…

Diva Nagula 02:10

Hello, this is Dr. Diva Nagula. Welcome to From Doctor to Patient, where our goal is to bring you topics of discussion that will educate you on the various healing modalities to help balance the mind, body and spirit. Hi everyone, and welcome to another episode of From Doctor To Patient. Today I am pleased to have Dr. Madiha Saeed to join me. She is also known as the Holistic Mom MD on social media. She\’s a practicing board certified family physician in the USA, health influencer, international speaker and best selling author. Her best selling book, The Holistic RX Your Guide to Healing Chronic Inflammation and Disease, a best selling children\’s book series, Adam\’s Healing Adventures, two international books and currently working on the Holistic RX for Kids, Parenting Healthy Children to Save Our Future, empowering the world towards healthier living. Dr. Saeed is a Director of Education for Documenting Hope. She sits on multiple medical advisory boards including Mama Thomas, and Wellness Mama, who is named one of the 100 Most Influential People in health and wellness, Dr. Saeed and her children speak internationally in the most prestigious holistic conferences, summits radio and newspaper. She\’s a regular on the International Emmy-winning medical talk show the Dr. Nandi show. Dr. Saeed\’s children host the Holistic Kids Show podcast, interviewing the biggest names in the functional, holistic integrative medicine world, helping kids empower and educate other kids. They speak internationally, igniting the world with their energy and passion to ignite a healing revolution to save our future. Dr. Saeed, it\’s such a pleasure to have you on the show. Thank you.

Dr. Madiha Saeed 04:01
Thank you so much for having me. This is such a huge honor.

Diva Nagula 04:04

You know, we, we were talking offline, and we were both talking about our profession in our previous past lives. And I was talking about how, in my past life, I used to be a interventional pain management physician, and you were a practicing family physician. And so I\’m always curious as to with all my guests is how they transitioned into what they\’re doing now.

Dr. Madiha Saeed 04:33
Well, like most adults, and children down the road, have chronic health conditions, I was there. I had all the same bad habits where you know, eating cans of soda and you know, like cereals every day. So all day long, putting stuff into my mouth without thinking about twice. And not until residency is done in residency. I was a new mom, a new wife, a new resident all at the same time. Me and my husband My so my baby daddy is also a family physician, right? Um, so we\’re both working 80 hour workweeks, and now we have to take care of a new baby. And it was just that, and now there\’s free food at the cafeteria. Yay, there\’s a lack of sleep due to residency and with a newborn, and then the stress is overwhelming, kind of balance all these different worlds. And then that now you add on top of that, you know, like the negativity and the environmental toxins and constantly exposing ourselves with hand sanitizers, and you know, chemicals. So, one symptom became many that are then all of us and they came to a head in residency, where I was diagnosed with lupus and hashimotos, and digestive issues. But you know, I had all these other chronic health conditions. And it was I sort of continued on that hamster wheel just like everybody else. You know, thinking, Oh, I just managed this with mags. Or I was on indigestion medication, a couple indigestion medications, you know, I was just one thing after another, but not until I walked into the daycare provider, suffocating my child to death. And that\’s when a light bulb sort of went off because I prayed, I\’m like, universe, you saved my child. So thank you so much. And I promise I will take care of these children the best that I know how. But But I had to think I\’m like, how can I take care of these kids the best that I know how, if I myself and falling apart. And so that\’s when I\’m like, Okay, I know, I know, we know, the lupus can kill you. So I want to make sure that I can stop this in its tracks. So it doesn\’t just continue to get worse. At this time, I was already dealing with severe joint pain and rashes, or better, like severe rashes, and all the other things that came with it, but the joint pain was horrendous. And so I was like, I needed to know, I need to figure out what I can do to stop this. And the only, you know, I went to all these as a resident I went to like the biggest names in in my residency and, you know, trying to figure out what I can do to stop this in its tracks because I\’m like, I don\’t want this to continue to get worse to kill my organs. And unfortunately, I wasn\’t given an answer. And so besides for just medications, and I did wasn\’t there to take medications that can cause death, because that\’s what I\’m trying to prevent. And so, I then right after residency, I joined this medical practice where under one roof there would be an OB GYN, internist, an exercise physiologist, just counseling, chiropractor, massage therapy, all brought together for the complete healing of the whole person. And that\’s when it opened my eyes to this entire world that we were not taught in medicine. You know, in medicine, we\’re taught, you know, one symptom and one treatment. That\’s it. And it\’s for us specifically, I mean, my husband has to see 110 patients a week for our paycheck not to go half. So we were never taught to look at the person as a whole and then when I entered into this new world, and I\’m like what is going to look at this person as a whole human being this is craziness. I\’m that\’s when I fell in love with that. And my first patient was 31 year old with a nine autoimmune diseases, my senior Gravis psoriasis, like his plantar sjogrens hashimotos, all these chronic health conditions. And in one month 50% resolution and now the diver instructor and since then I\’m like, Oh my gosh, why didn\’t big teaches this, this is just lifestyle based things. And she was a family, she worked at the Family Dollar Store. And she worked at the gas station. So she felt like she had a lot of money that she\’s throwing out and tests and supplements. It\’s real life natural, you know, lifestyle approaches that really made the difference for her. And that\’s one that I started, started implementing with my own self, with my patients, specifically with my family. And that\’s where Holistic Mom, MD came to fruition.

Diva Nagula 08:07
Wow. That\’s fantastic. And how long has it been around for?

Dr. Madiha Saeed 08:12 So about eight years now?

Diva Nagula 08:14
Wow. Okay. And you have an international presence?

Dr. Madiha Saeed 08:17
Yes, I do have an international presence. Actually, my patients – I mean, it\’s just you know, any other purpose in life or just like things just start, you know, coming into your path. But my patients, one of my favorite patients, he sort of adopted me as me and my children as their own, his second in charge of the United Nations. So it\’s really, really a lot of fun. Because then you get these really intellectual people. He\’s 70 years old, him and his wife – they don\’t have any children but they had all these chronic health conditions – chronic pain, you know, severe fibromyalgia, right. And then arthritis. So lots of different ways that they were both feeling miserable. But on top of that, you know, indigestion, digestive issues, rashes, diabetes, now they\’re losing their kidneys. And so now, after just me meeting with them for one year, now he\’s now off all his medication. He improved all his symptoms in one week. And now that he\’s to the point where, because they\’re so in love with this approach, he actually changed the diet of the African Union, based on his experiences. So it is really powerful to have just one person just keep on trying to get your message out there, and really impact on a global level. And that\’s what I\’m able to. So I have two books coming out internationally. And then one at the end of the month, and then one next year, and then these other ones too, lots of fun.

Diva Nagula 09:33

Curious, in terms of how you find treating patients on an international level, because the toxins, the foods are so different, right? I mean, most of the people that I have on as guests here are proficient with treating patients in the United States of America. And we all know that this country has, you know, one of the most highest number of toxins, whether it\’s food, pesticides, chemicals we placed on our body. And I would imagine you would probably see the same thing and agree with me. Are you seeing over the last few years, more of the same type of diseases that are popping up in other nations? Because of the westernization occurring?

Dr. Madiha Saeed 10:08
Oh, absolutely. You know, specifically the Middle East and North African countries are if we continue at the current trajectory, they say 95% of them, those countries will be diabetic. So I mean, India and Pakistan are like diabetes capitals of the world.

Diva Nagula 10:21
And India is the capital right now.

Dr. Madiha Saeed 10:24
I\’m originally from Pakistan. So therefore, they\’re also the diabetes capital of the world. Everybody has it. I mean, we went there last year, during this time, we were there. And you could not find anything natural. Everybody was eating processed food, I had to actually go out of my way to look for things and even the natural things. There\’s no organic, we have no idea what they\’ve been sprayed with. So it\’s actually becoming more and more westernized, more industrialized. And you\’re seeing the same kind of chronic illnesses.

Diva Nagula 10:50
Because you can\’t find organic, I mean, what are the solutions that you\’re implementing for these folks?

Dr. Madiha Saeed 10:53
You start with the basics, right? Because we know that overall chronic diseases ever rise. as conventional medicine doctors, we know that inflammation is the underlying root cause of those chronic health conditions. And so we can lower the overall inflammation, you can heal not one of these symptoms, but all of them simultaneously. And that\’s what\’s super powerful. And for me, I talk about lowering chronic inflammation. They\’re your foundations of good health, which are your digestive health and detoxification, and the four ss dresslink, social and spiritual health. Another caveat I\’m gonna throw out there is that every single one of my patients over the last 14 years of practicing medicine, I start them off with the power of gratitude. So immediately, they when they wake up in the morning, say 10 things that they\’re thankful for being they see myself, I know that I know, bug assignees, and they see people in the most negative people on the planet. And so there\’s a lot of negativity. And that\’s because I mean, I live in a traditional family structure. But compared to the Western world, where the other side of the world is really even more negative. Overall, we\’re as a society, we\’re negative, because positivity doesn\’t sell things, right. So you have to I mean, I have an iPhone five. So they make you miserable about all the things that you\’re getting, you know, getting, you know, you\’re missing out on, you need to get the next iPhone 200 because you\’re missing out on all these things. We as a culture overall, some are more than others. We\’re very negative on this negativity. And so if we can lower the overall negativity, just by being more positive, you can turn genes on and off. You can lower inflammatory markers, you can lower your stress, cortisol, you can improve her blood sugar balance, just by being grateful. And that\’s probably the biggest place that I start with everybody, internationally and locally, is that start with the power of gratitude. And then I take it from there on out.

Diva Nagula 12:36

And that\’s interesting, because it\’s something that you do, not only to patients that are in this country, but it seems to be effective when you take into consideration the entire world, and you\’re applying these concepts and tenants. And that\’s interesting. So your first approach is more or less a spiritual approach.

Dr. Madiha Saeed 12:52
I start with gratitude, because I recognize that you can be on the best gut healing diet, you can be, you know, even stress managing, you can be exercising, but if you\’re having negative outlook, things aren\’t going to be improving as fast as you would like them to.

Diva Nagula 13:05

Yeah. And that\’s interesting. I mean, a good little story to share. My brother\’s father in law passed away from pancreatic cancer. And as you know, pancreatic cancer, once diagnosed, the length of life is very short, you know, typically three to six months if that. So, my brother, his father in law was such a positive individual. You know, he was always joyous, always laughing, most optimistic person that I think I know, he was able to survive almost two years. And I feel it\’s because of his positivity, and his optimism, and his his jovial nature that allowed him to live that long.

Dr. Madiha Saeed 16:23

Absolutely. And the studies have shown that studies have shown that you, when you put cancer patients in a more optimistic environment, they have better survival than if you put them in a pessimistic environment. So the studies are all there to show that, and that\’s again, that\’s something that I started out with every single one of my patients, and then I go from there to, you know, making sure that they keep people around them that are going to lift them up, not dragged them down. And I think nowadays, we\’re cutthroat or at each other\’s throats all day long, we\’re not really trying to lift each other up. And that\’s why if we can surround ourselves with those kind of positive people, we know that love does heal. And so it increases your oxytocin that decreases stress management systems, and helps you basically overall health and happiness. And so keeping those people around you, they\’re going to lift you up, not drag you down. And then also, then you work on your sleep, optimizing sleep. I mean, right now, most people are sleep deprived. And when you are sleep deprived, it actually raises your early morning cortisol a lot higher. And that can then also affect it leads to inflammation, it leads to, you know, your body doesn\’t function properly. Because sleep is when your body\’s making hormones, it\’s getting rid of the toxins, it\’s fixing what needs to be fixed is lowering inflammation. So if you\’re not giving your body time to do that, it just leads to negative outcomes and anger, especially in this time, it leads to increase via illnesses. And then, then we have a Stress Stress leads to 80% of the complaints that come to primary care physicians are due to stress. I remember me begging because I know when I was all of these, I mean, I had shingles in residency, seven year olds have shingles like what is going on here I was in my 20s, with shingles. And the people are always just stress. And I\’m like, I know that stress. What can I do to improve the stress? And so nobody really could give me an answer for that, oh, you know, there\’s lots of YouTube videos, I\’m like, come on we What can I do to lower this stress? And I wasn\’t able to get the answer. So that\’s when I started researching it myself. So in order to manage that stress is really important in your overall health and healing. And to kind of keep those damaging hormones at bay. meditation, yoga, deep breathing, just deep breathing. I wish somebody just taught me deep breathing like that would have saved myself. So deep breathing, guided imagery, the list goes on and on and on. And then I then I go into the digestive health and detoxification most. I mean, we\’re eating more processed foods and ever before, they said, we\’re eating a hot like 100 times more sugar than we\’ve ever done before. And so it\’s getting really, really bad. And so focusing on those foods that are going to help heal the gut bacteria that are going to balance insulin levels that are the most nutrient dense foods for you can help your gut microbiome flourish and keep your blood sugar balanced. Tons of vegetables, clean protein, healthy fats, even if you\’re vegetarian or not. I want you to still focus with tons of vegetables, clean protein and healthy fats. And then, and then you go into, you know, you\’re like intermittent fasting to help you lower the insulin resistance, you know, and then there are detoxification, and then that\’s just trying to keep the toxins as low as possible, as natural as possible. Specifically, if you\’re in a country where the I mean you can buy different you vinegar and water can do most of your cleaning for you baking soda, you know, there\’s simple things that you can use as cleaning that can be found worldwide, that can really lower those toxins in the environment. And just starting off with these basics, and then helping people detoxify sweating every day, you know, pooping perspiring peeing, making sure that eating tons of vegetables to help them detoxify the build the glutathione. And then just switching out toxic for clean, and all of that can really help to improve chronic illness no matter where you are.

Diva Nagula 21:51

It\’s very interesting, because I mean, what you\’re doing, you\’re implementing all these strategies through generations. So at age, any age group, you\’re implementing these strategies for all genders. And then you\’re implementing strategies, you know, trans culturally, absolutely, absolutely fascinating that it works for for everyone.

Dr. Madiha Saeed 22:12
Oh, absolutely. Because just putting my own life situation in perspective, right? Because I live with a family of eight. So I feed a family of eight on a daily basis, my husband was born raised in Pakistan, is the oldest son, so guess I\’m in Lhasa living with me. I\’m doing all the cooking up before COVID. every other weekend, but all the family members would come to my house. And I would cook for a family of 20. And even now it goes to 12 to 13 every other week. But either way, I\’ve used a beating and taking care of a family of 20. And that To try and keep them we live more of like a paleo type lifestyle in my house, especially when that I was able to reverse my lupus and my ama. And so I was able to you know, improve or put it in remission, just by living this type of lifestyle. And now I\’m not feeding anybody else, the way that I if I\’m if I\’m not eating that way, you\’re not eating that way. You know, I\’m not bringing into the house because my four boys are 12, nine, seven, and five. And so I want to make sure that whenever I have in the house, that kids can be eating it and adults and that to your right. They\’re not just they\’re in their 70s, so seven year old, a five year old. And then people who were born and raised here I was born and raised in Naperville, Illinois, to people who are born and raised on the other side of the country, you know, and it\’s working. And that\’s what\’s so powerful is that we\’re all on the same page. It takes some time to get there. But my father in law, he\’s a 70 year old male with you know, diabetes for the last 30 years. When he came to me he was on 30 units of insulin. And now he\’s no, he\’s occasionally taking Metformin. You know, and so, just again, different cultures, different, you know, simple lifestyle changes – can really make an impact no matter your age or demographics.

Diva Nagula 24:17
Right. And do you feel that some of these issues that patients are facing with these type of chronic disease, if it\’s more hereditary base, more environmental based, or kind of both?

Dr. Madiha Saeed 24:31
So we say in functional medicine, that genes may load the gun but it\’s the environment that pulls the trigger. So it is a little bit of both, right? But most of these diseases specifically, I mean, we have 25,000 genes, and only 1% codes for genes. The rest of it\’s known as junk DNA that can basically go in one way or the other direction, depending on our environment. And that is where you know are environmental everyday decisions that we make can either turn our genes on or off. And that\’s what I educate my children and my patients and my families. I mean, don\’t look too much in the long term, I want you to focus on the decisions that you make today. And what changes can you make today, meal by meals day by day, to help to optimize those genes flipping in the right direction. And so just by focusing on tons of vegetables, clean protein, healthy fat, you know, sticking at least 8020 rule, you know, doing most 80% grade 20% a little bit off if needed. But really just making those decisions on a daily basis that are easy, fast, cost effective, keep those genes turned on in the right way.

Diva Nagula 25:50

And this is known as epigenetics, correct? Absolutely. epigenetics. Love epigenetics. Yay, thank you. So it\’s so amazing that just, you know, positivity can code for different gene function than negativity, and what you eat can affect whether genes are turned on and off. And it\’s these simple things that can make a dramatic difference in overall health and well being.

Dr. Madiha Saeed 26:17
Absolutely. And not even just that. And I mean, there\’s been more and more science and studies that show that, you know, our decision making is mostly regulated by our prefrontal cortex. And then you have your amygdala that\’s also responsible. Your amygdala is responsible for the use of the prefrontal cortex is responsible for it\’s like the adult in the room. And it\’s rational decision making weighs up pros and cons, while the amygdala is your fight and flight, irrational decision making. And so the decisions that we make, actually, you know, even just the foods, the lack of like the stresses of being out in nature, can actually solidify these connections between the prefrontal cortex and the amygdala. And when that happens when you make rational decisions. But when you have lack of nature, lack of mindful meditation, lack of good food, you know, lack of sleep, increased stress, all of that actually starts to these connections start to get further and further apart where now your amygdala is just firing. When your amygdala firing, we\’re making irrational decisions. Most of us know that we\’re supposed to live healthier lives we\’re not supposed to eat. We\’re so we know that. But it\’s very difficult because when it comes to like actually making that decision, and putting that foot in our mouth, most of us are unable to do that, because it\’s like we sort of given and that\’s because we\’re thinking what our make the lesson. So if we can even just start with the simple things like gratitude. Now you\’re starting these, these simple things are starting to build those connections back from the amygdala and the prefrontal cortex. Now you\’re making more rational decision. So when you think it\’s like that, and not only affecting our genes, but our entire thought processes, adults and children. Now that puts it a totally different spin on the importance of these simple lifestyle clips.

Diva Nagula 28:11

And it\’s interesting, it seems like your approach that you take, it\’s more about getting people\’s nervous system under control and getting them out of fight or flight and more of into and rest and digest or parasympathetic system. And it also appears that you are able to do this across all span of ages. But a lot of people don\’t understand that the same thing that are occurring in adults, like in a stressful environment, like you described that you were in when you were in residency with a newborn and working 80 hours a week, and so was your husband, the same time, you know, these kids are also feeding off of her own stress and fight or flight, and they\’re experiencing stress? And ultimately, they\’re going to be experiencing these chronic health conditions if, if not sooner than later. So what other factors are you able to track that are consistently displayed throughout all ages of your patient population?

Dr. Madiha Saeed 29:04
Absolutely. A patient that I see, you know, after the first initial visit, I give them a lab slip, that can be down at anywhere, you know, they\’re usually there 99% of the time, their insurance covers it. So again, really cost effective. But those laboratory values can really help to figure out where that individual is and their own healing journey and what kind of deficiencies they may be suffering. So it\’s like even just like CBC and CMP, and fasting insulin hemoglobin, a ymc, you know, fasting cholesterol panel, you know, so they assume vitamin D magnesium hscrp homocysteine, a vitamin B 12, and a anti thyroglobulin antibodies, anti TPO antibodies, no matter the ages, I really have everybody check this laboratory values because we want to see what\’s going on on an individual level. I mean, I\’m also Director of Education for doc Whoa, which is a national organization dedicated to heal chronic disease in children. So I see a lot of kids, and I\’m a family physician. So I see everybody at all ages, right. But even the kids that we\’re seeing, even though it\’s not, you know, according to guidelines, I\’m checking these levels, but noticing that because of our diets and our lifestyles, these kids are now pre diabetics, where you have kids who are five, six years old, with hemoglobin a one sees a six, like, That\’s ridiculous. We\’re fasting blood sugar levels of 110 or, and fasting insulin levels. And but instead of looking at these levels, we mean, I see a lot of people with mood disorders, with teenagers with mood disorders. And in most of my patient population, they\’re either pre diabetic, insulin resistant, they have severe vitamin D deficiencies or B 12 deficiencies. Along with there could be other underlining root causes, like I had one person who tried to commit suicide multiple times, and agitation, irritability, and all these different medications. And what happened was that her TPO, and thyroid antibodies were 4500, even though her TSH was normal, where you want, depending on the level, you want it less than nine. And so these are looking for the root causes. No matter if you\’re an adult or a child, it\’s really important to help the overall health and well being your patient and really help them overcome whatever they\’re going.

Diva Nagula 31:32
Out of curiosity, I asked this question earlier, but I understand that you implement gratitude strategies for your patients. But does it also work for children?

Dr. Madiha Saeed 31:41
Oh, yes. Yes. And my house what we do immediately when we wake up in the morning with a grant song, thank you for ice, thank you, for our ears, thank you for another beautiful day to change the world it\’s like and that really helps like in my husband has no temper tantrums, there\’s no irritability, there is no complaining. I\’m trying to brainwash their brains to thinking instead of negative to thinking positive all the time. So when we are comes a time, we know that they\’re just, I mean, I\’m not listening to those unnecessary complaints. Psychologically, it helps me as a mom, I\’m able to get so much done. So yes, it works tremendously on children. And I discussed that I have a children\’s book. So I go through that in a lot of detail with and I\’ve given them, you know, these are the kinds of things that you want to do right to have this a holistic prescription for kids. And then giving them like a checklist, get up every morning and say 10 things that you\’re thankful for in the rainbow, drinking your water, you know, natural products, playing outdoors, sleeping, and love and positivity. So, me and my children are the ones that we\’ve been working on that. And I\’m working on the second one right now, but the healing power of rainbow foods. But yes, because I think simple things that your children can implement,

Diva Nagula 33:07

And it\’s interesting. I mean, I liked for you to explain the premise of the title of your upcoming book, you know, Rainbow Foods. So what\’s so special about discussing the rainbow foods?

Dr. Madiha Saeed 33:20
Absolutely. So this first one was about just like the overall holistic prescription. And then now each one of the next ones is going to dive into a certain topic. So I have the Adams healing adventure, the healing power rainbow foods, because the foods that we eat, you know, whenever when you eat where you want to, again, make sure that optimize your gut microbiome, lowers or keeps your insulin levels low, and your glucose low and is the most nutrient dense foods for you. And the rainbow foods are packed with phytonutrients that increase the biodiversity of your gut bacteria. And on top of that, they\’re delicious. But they don\’t raise your blood sugar level as processed foods. So I hit cinema on every level. And if we can encourage kids, instead of focusing on the artificially colored and just bland whites, food and go to more our naturally colored like here are all the red vegetables and the fruits, and then the oranges and the yellows and how each one of them has a specific function in the body. And educating the kids and the families on that. Now you go from things that are artificially colored that have no benefit of the body that color because kids love color. And you really don\’t go to things that are full of color, but with so many beneficial effects for the body. And when you cook them that sort of when you focus on all of these things I can eat versus you can\’t eat, crowds out all the stuff that\’s rabid, so I have patients really focus on the positivity and then improving increasing the foods in our gut and in our bodies that are all colorful rainbow foods. And so that\’s the next one. And then hopefully, I have a contract with the publisher. So they just want more and more different. So this is just the first in series that I have the second one series that\’s coming out in November of next year. And then it goes on and so forth. Yes, let\’s get our kids involved, to save our future!

Diva Nagula 35:25

What do you do to combat all of the, the marketing strategies of Big Pharma? I mean, big food manufacturers and big agriculture – it\’s so difficult to avoid. I mean, it\’s on television, it\’s the advertisement is all over media. You go to the grocery store, the unhealthy foods are strategically placed in the center. The good foods are out in the periphery. It\’s like, how do you combat all that?

Dr. Madiha Saeed 35:55
All by education. In my house. I don\’t just tell the kids what they need to do. I explain it to them. And we have a conversation about it. And when you open this up as a conversation, I mean, you know, I\’m a talker. But I love to first inquire about what\’s going on, like, what do you think about these foods with a child when Okay, let\’s do some research about this. So the kids now are making their own decisions about the foods after looking at the research. And I started this when they were five years old, or even three, four years old, is that every time we would come up with an ingredient or we talked about something, or something that they had a question about something that was you know, this like, Oh, mama, they\’re giving out pizza, we\’re giving up Papa John\’s to all these people. Why can\’t we have that? And I was like, Okay, let\’s look let\’s look up a Papa John\’s has an EN or whatever, whatever. Choose lol Caesar has lots of different varieties, or McDonald\’s. Let\’s look to see what\’s in it. And they saw that these like, for example, that McDonald\’s milkshake has 50 chemicals and they\’re like, oh, okay, it\’s more sense. And then what I would do is I was like, Okay, so let\’s now let\’s research these specific ingredients. So you guys know. And then so education was powerful, but you\’re seeing the red number 40 and yellow. Number five is causing all of these health conditions and chronic like cancers and hyperactivity, and the kids are seeing this. Kids don\’t really want to put things in their bodies. And so when you educate them and empower them with that decisions are like mama that\’s not food. So then a show that we\’re real food looks like how many ingredients are here Oh, just like one or just a couple versus this that doesn\’t make any sense. Now they know that this is just a food like substance or a chemical. This is real food. So when you have my five year old or my you know when and even when he was three years old went out and everybody at the birthday party was eating meat was being passed around cake and cookies. They don\’t even think in their mind that this is even food because they know the ingredients they know what goes in it this coloring that said it\’s all chemicals. So this is not in their mind is no longer food, it\’s chemicals. So therefore there is no me need like they don\’t have they don\’t desire that chemical anymore, because I\’m able to now replace that and that\’s another big piece of educate them and then replace it for a healthier option. And so that\’s what I do in my house. I mean I do could do three cakes at a time if I needed to. So I do all my flower. You know I\’ve done some vegan and non vegan one one of my child doesn\’t do eggs as well. So I do more cassava flour and almond flour, eggs, honey, avocado oil. That\’s it. And that\’s it. So I do birthday cakes. I do three layer birthday cakes or six layer birthday cakes. Right now the game requested me for my mom, I want to poke him on birthday but I want I would like you to make the 22nd he wants to Pokemon birthday. Just all of us, the eight of us. But he wants mama I wanna hokey ball cake. So now I\’ve gotten all natural food coloring. You know, you get all natural, like, I\’ll make my frosting. I\’ll do it from scratch it paleo with coconut sugar and all that. Did you find those replacements and still fill that void? So that\’s what I\’m able to do. And they want pizza will do pizza, you know, whatever, whatever they want for their birthday. That\’s super special that day. But normally again, we say paleo, but then on the special day so then they don\’t there\’s not that like push and shove and I\’m not constantly always saying no. And so that\’s another big thing isn\’t in my house. I have stocked it up for success. They can eat whatever they want. They have there\’s this drawer for vegetables, there\’s a drawer for fruit they know I have to go vegetables, clean protein, healthy fats. My five year old like mom, I had my vegetable, I had my clean protein, now I\’m going to go grab my healthy fat, and he has like a handful of walnuts. So you can I have that, educate them, provide them with the replacements, and then always stuck them up for success. That really helps them, you know, to really, there\’s less of that struggle

Diva Nagula 40:27

Right. Now, also, since you deal with a lot of kids, and he also deal with a lot of pregnant women. Yes, expecting mothers, are you seeing with your strategies that you\’re implementing a regression in the autism spectrum, and ADHD as well,

Dr. Madiha Saeed 40:46
I\’ve been so blessed that my patients, I mean, I don\’t have any autistic. And then I have a lot of pregnant women, they don\’t have that many pregnant and there\’s, there\’s nobody that\’s autistic in my pool. And that\’s what\’s powerful. But um, personally, I have seen my own patients reverse autism, like where they\’re no longer autistic. And I\’ve had people on my, on my children\’s podcast that have reversed their autism, documenting hope that I\’m working with as non for profit. But we\’re actually taking a group of 14 children and reverse reverse engineering or, you know, reversing their chronic health conditions, and then documenting it through an IRB study, which has been approved, and then also, through media. And that\’s the same kind of approach that I\’m seeing, you\’re taking with my children, and my families that I see on a regular basis. And these kids are a completely different type of kids now, I mean, they\’re thoughtful, there\’s very little chronic illnesses, as long as you teach the parent and the child on how they can improve that. I mean, my own cousin has to I mean, she\’s a Harvard psychiatrist. But she has two autistic kids. Wow. And so you\’re like, what is going on here, you have the smartest people. And when they\’re not implementing these kinds of things, you know, they live on cans of coke. And then now, there\’s like the disconnect within unable to do that with her because she\’s working all the time, and she\’s unable to manage the kids diet versus my population, you know, that doesn\’t have this, these chronic health conditions. And if they do start to develop them, we can start to look for those root causes. And reverse it, you know, and when a mom and even a child recognizes what things are off balance, then you know, the you can actually like, for example, just when it\’s something that I teach my children, my pregnant moms and my children, but as soon as you start seeing something go off balance, start to put it back into balance and see where what was causing you to go out of balance to begin with. And so when they recognize that in their children, because now we don\’t catch autism until like, you know, when it\’s like four or 5 million, even at that time, but if you can send out the My child is constipated. Okay, that\’s off balance, what is off balance, my child has more ear infections look at that\’s off balance. So you can start seeing these subtle, subtle signs of way before you actually are diagnosed with the chronic health condition. And so that\’s what I\’ve taught. And that because I\’ve been teaching the parents and even the pregnant, Pregnant Patients, when I teach them these ways, they won\’t even just check their own bodies out. You know, why the pregnant moms dealing with more indigestion? Are they taking more Tylenol? Why are they doing that? You know, what\’s going on? So once you teach the pregnant moms that their bodies are out of balance, what can I do to put your body back into balance? And then they have this baby been able to do it with that, too? makes a big difference?

Diva Nagula 43:59

Yeah, that\’s fascinating. I think that\’s such an important thing to communicate is that, you know, autism and ADHD, these types of conditions that we are seeing more and more prevalent these days, I mean it is really indeed in inflammatory condition.

Dr. Madiha Saeed 44:15
Absolutely. It\’s just getting worse. They say if we continue with the current trajectory, one in every four children will have autism by 2033.

Diva Nagula 44:23
And they\’re saying one out of two boys.

Dr. Madiha Saeed 44:25
That\’s, that\’s ridiculous. I was like I mean, we have to find a solution. And unfortunately, in this world, we\’re just looking for a pharmaceutical solution, but we have the solutions in our hands. And it\’s the power of a healthy lifestyle and everything that we discussed today, because genes may load the gun but it\’s environment that pulls the trigger. So the things that you do on an everyday basis can actually put your genes on and off, and it can

Diva Nagula 44:54
And so let\’s let\’s conclude by actually having you summarize the prescription.

Dr. Madiha Saeed 45:01
Absolutely. So we know that the overall the importance of overall health, we need to lower the overall inflammation. So if you want optimal health, we need to lower inflammation. So the inflammation is the silent fire that is in your body that can lead to all these chronic health conditions. So if we can focus on solidifying your foundations of good health, your digestive health and detoxification and for so stress, sleep, social and spiritual health, we can put your body back into balance and heal not one of these symptoms, but then all of them simultaneously once you figure out what your individual puzzle pieces, so you can lower the overall inflammation. And again, all these other symptoms will subside just because you\’ve dealt with the root cause. And everybody\’s root causes different. So that\’s why I always started off with gratitude. And then you know, social health and then sleep making sure you\’re optimizing, sleep, and then stress management, and then go to digestive health and detoxification, but then recognizing where you\’re more deficient in, like, Did somebody deal with more trauma, and now you have more of an underlining negativity and stress that you\’re always dealing with. So again, everybody has their own individual puzzle pieces, trying to figure out what those puzzle pieces are for you and how to put that picture back into balance. So then you can put your body back into balance. And then you can teach your children to do the same. And then you can teach your elders to do the same. And then now you have a strong family.

Diva Nagula 46:38
Wonderful. So if you don\’t mind sharing with us how people can purchase your books and where else they can find more information about you.

Dr. Madiha Saeed 46:46
Absolutely. Thank you so much. So I have holisticmommd.com and I have like a healing bundle on there. Because the question that I always get asked is what am I going to cook? So recipes, what aremy shopping lists, what does my healing day look like, what does my healing week look like? So I have that on my website as a healing bundle. Then on Amazon right now there\’s a holistic RX – your guide to healing chronic inflammation and disease. And that\’s the best of holistic functional integrative medicine that covers over 80 conditions for all ages, where it goes through like for example, supplements, homeopathics, acupressure points, and aromatherapy for 80-some conditions for all ages. So that\’s when I really went through there and now it\’s in paperback, so it\’s on sale. And then Adam\’s Healing Adventures can also be found on Amazon. Something for the whole family.

Diva Nagula 47:43

Dr. Saeed I really appreciate your time with us today. And thank you for all the work that you do and definitely an inspiration to to me until everyone else that\’s listening to this podcast. Thank you so much for having me. Yeah, we got this you guys. Thank you