The Partovi Effect

The Harm You Never Knew You Were Feeding Your Kids!

• Dr. Ryan and Mrs. Madi Partovi • Season 1 • Episode 15

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Did you know that a child's ability to learn can be fundamentally transformed by what’s on their plate? Imagine the power of food to fuel not just their bodies but their minds!

Episode Overview:
In this enlightening episode of The Partovi Effect, Mrs. Madi and Dr. Ryan Partovi dive into the profound connection between food and human potential. They explore the role of diet in children's behavior, the hidden toxins in everyday foods, and the empowering choices we can make to nourish ourselves and our families. With personal anecdotes and actionable insights, this episode will inspire you to rethink the way you view nutrition.

Key Takeaways:

  • How unstable blood sugar levels impact children's moods and learning capacity.
  • The overlooked effects of pesticides and neurotoxins in everyday diets.
  • Whey protein is essential for brain development and sustained energy.
  • Personal stories of dietary changes leading to healthier, happier family dynamics.
  • Tips for making empowered, wholesome food choices for your loved ones.


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The Harm You Never Knew You Were Feeding Your Kids! The Partovi Effect

[00:00:00] 

[00:00:00] Introduction to the Partovi Effect

[00:00:00] Mrs. Madi Partovi: Welcome to this episode of the Partovi Effect. My name is Mrs. Madi Partovi. 

[00:00:06] Dr. Ryan Partovi, JD, NMD, MIFHI: And I'm Dr. Ryan Partovi. 

[00:00:09] Mrs. Madi Partovi: We are going to take you on a ride today. And introduce you to the Partovi world of food. Why we eat what we eat.

[00:00:20] Mrs. Madi Partovi: I'm also very present to the impact that it has on our boys. every day. 

[00:00:28] The Impact of Diet on Children's Behavior

[00:00:28] Mrs. Madi Partovi: Like when people talk about the terrible twos and the three major period of time, I think that gives kids a bad rap. I think it has a lot to do with the way that they're being fed unconsciously. 

[00:00:46] Dr. Ryan Partovi, JD, NMD, MIFHI: Yeah. Two main things actually.

[00:00:48] Dr. Ryan Partovi, JD, NMD, MIFHI: One they're constantly giving like given a chain of carbs. So it's like their body, their blood sugar is constantly going like this. And so every time it's down here, it's like, if you don't give them [00:01:00] another snack, right, then you're going to deal with some sort of horrible breakdown because what you're feeding them is basically pure carbs, which gets turned into pure sugar in our bodies.

[00:01:10] Dr. Ryan Partovi, JD, NMD, MIFHI: There's that. Plus you deal with The pesticide element and a lot of those are neurotoxic, so it's like, okay, so I'm having to metabolize neurotoxic pesticides and all you're giving me to do it with is a bunch of carbs. And by the way, your brain actually diminishes its glucose metabolism. So it's energy production.

[00:01:31] Dr. Ryan Partovi, JD, NMD, MIFHI: If there's insufficient amino acid pool for it to draw from to make new proteins. So in other words, if you're not getting enough protein with your carbs. 

[00:01:39] Nutritional Deficiencies and Their Consequences

[00:01:39] Dr. Ryan Partovi, JD, NMD, MIFHI: If you're feeding your kid, Cheerios and, Goldfish, and that's your idea of good snack for your kid. Then they end up amino acid deficient, protein deficient.

[00:01:51] Dr. Ryan Partovi, JD, NMD, MIFHI: And then as a result, the brain capacity, the brain activity, frankly, actually goes down to like bare [00:02:00] survival mode, and. doesn't have the opportunity to actually grow and develop and learn new things. This is why one of the biggest things that we're talking about with regard to how we can actually make this world a better place in terms of school outcomes and education and, children who are impoverished is actually making sure that they're fed.

[00:02:23] Dr. Ryan Partovi, JD, NMD, MIFHI: Because if kids aren't fed, they can't learn. And Mother Hilt was talking about that at church a couple of weeks ago when we were talking about our food, our eating ministry that's, I mean, that's a huge part of do you remember she shared, were you in the room when she shared the story about the little boy who wasn't getting breakfast?

[00:02:42] Dr. Ryan Partovi, JD, NMD, MIFHI: I 

[00:02:42] Mrs. Madi Partovi: think Jean Luc is awake. 

[00:02:44] Dr. Ryan Partovi, JD, NMD, MIFHI: Okay, so we can pause.

[00:02:51] Mrs. Madi Partovi: We're coming back from a pause as our son Jean Luc woke up and he had symptoms and he said, Mama, I want to read. He wanted [00:03:00] to read. So we gave him magic yogurt. Which is plain sheep yogurt with a capsule of quercetin vitamin C, and then there's anacetylcysteine. And then you were very sweet and thoughtful.

[00:03:14] Mrs. Madi Partovi: You read a few pages of Tiki Tembo No Sa Rembo. What is his name? Tiki 

[00:03:19] Dr. Ryan Partovi, JD, NMD, MIFHI: Tiki Tembo No Sa Rembo Charibari Ruchi Pipiri Pembo. It's a Partovi family classic. All

[00:03:32] Mrs. Madi Partovi: right, before you tell the story of the boy, 

[00:03:37] Mrs. Madi Partovi: I'd like to, I was going to share something funny. 

[00:03:42] Personal Stories and Experiences with Food

[00:03:42] Mrs. Madi Partovi: So in that whole world of extreme indulgence, with the candy and my brother and I used to do buffets. Like we could put down food and you know that because you know when you first met me 

[00:03:59] Dr. Ryan Partovi, JD, NMD, MIFHI: well when we [00:04:00] when I first met you I thought I was the buffet master because one of the one of the most affordable ways when you're young and we'll say financially challenged To be able to get your fill eating foods that are blood type friendly would be to find a buffet where they have a lot of vegetables and salads and you can also get some protein.

[00:04:23] Dr. Ryan Partovi, JD, NMD, MIFHI: And so I was, my in my occurring, I was a master. Of not only finding those buffets, which I still am, I mean, they're few and far between that we would go to nowadays, but the the bigger thing was also putting away a fair amount of food and I thought I was the champion of the world when it came to that until I met your brother, and I was like, I 

[00:04:50] Mrs. Madi Partovi: think, I think all the rules that were made by buffets were because of us, the Huangs, okay?

[00:04:56] Mrs. Madi Partovi: Because, oh my gosh, I remember we were at an [00:05:00] Asian buffet. And this is so, this is just so uncouth and, socially unacceptable. And they were like, you've been here for hour!

[00:05:18] Dr. Ryan Partovi, JD, NMD, MIFHI: Oh, I love this. Okay, 

[00:05:19] The Importance of Wholesome Food

[00:05:19] Mrs. Madi Partovi: so I'm gonna, so the other side of that story is I when I became, did the yoga teacher training, to become a yoga teacher, it was 200 hours over 16 days at the White Lotus Foundation. And the food they provided there was so wholesome and so it was freshly cooked every night and there were snacks.

[00:05:45] Mrs. Madi Partovi: And so, oh my gosh, this is like my ultimate buffet, right? So I was just like gobble. And then I started I was a little perplexed because, okay I I was cutting weight even though I was eating all this food, this kind of food, [00:06:00] and doing yoga twice a day. 

[00:06:03] Dr. Ryan Partovi, JD, NMD, MIFHI: Yeah. 

[00:06:04] Mrs. Madi Partovi: Okay there's something to this.

[00:06:06] Mrs. Madi Partovi: There must not be any hormones or antibiotics or, chemicals in this wholesome food I'm eating. 

[00:06:14] Dr. Ryan Partovi, JD, NMD, MIFHI: Makes a difference. 

[00:06:14] Mrs. Madi Partovi: It makes a difference. Yeah. So, yes. And I 

[00:06:17] Mentorship and Naturopathic Medicine

[00:06:17] Dr. Ryan Partovi, JD, NMD, MIFHI: My other main mentor in the realm of naturopathic medicine was Dr. Walter Krinion, who unfortunately is no longer with us, but he wrote the book, I want to say it's Clean, Green, and Lean, which is exactly about that, how toxins impact our health, especially our metabolic health, and I believe the forward of that book is written by Dr.

[00:06:41] Dr. Ryan Partovi, JD, NMD, MIFHI: D'Adamo, because They were very good friends back in med school. In fact, they would tag team on patients. And it was basically like The way I've heard the story, which, I think it's it's been long enough that I can share the story in terms of, [00:07:00] especially since Walter is no longer with us basically would the resident would come in or the attending would come in and say, okay, well, this is what I want you to do.

[00:07:09] Dr. Ryan Partovi, JD, NMD, MIFHI: And then they would leave. Walter and Peter would be like, okay, so this is what you're actually going to do so they would go against their attending. I'm not advocating for that just so we're clear, but that's the generation of naturopathic physicians that they were, and they were also, it also speaks to sort of who they were as physicians and as people, just very confident and very knowledgeable.

[00:07:39] Dr. Ryan Partovi, JD, NMD, MIFHI: As Walter said to me one time on, on rotation, he said or Toby you're kind of a know it all, aren't you? And I was like, yeah, he's like, he gave me a big smile. He's like, that's why you're here.

[00:07:57] Dr. Ryan Partovi, JD, NMD, MIFHI: And I, I mean, I love Walter cranium and I [00:08:00] miss him. So. But yeah, that's, that whole toxicity piece really informs, my practice, not just in terms of, it's not just, to me, good health comes from getting the bad stuff out of the body. Including avoiding putting bad stuff in the body, and that's, I got all that from Walter, and it's also putting the best stuff in the body, the things that the body needs, I got all that from Peter, and to me, if you have those two, if you're pulling the bad stuff out, putting the good stuff in, The body will do the rest, so 

[00:08:38] Mrs. Madi Partovi: I'll tell you about our two little boys and how heartened I am to witness the power of this way of eating and approaching food has impacted their lives.

[00:08:54] Dr. Ryan Partovi, JD, NMD, MIFHI: Well, before we do that, I want to finish what I was saying. About that little boy. Yes. Because I [00:09:00] still didn't do that because we went on a break. 

[00:09:02] The Story of the Little Boy

[00:09:02] Dr. Ryan Partovi, JD, NMD, MIFHI: So the story of this little boy is literally he's not getting food at home. So he would come in the school every morning and the teachers would put an assignment in front of him.

[00:09:13] Dr. Ryan Partovi, JD, NMD, MIFHI: And he literally would work on that assignment all the way till lunch and wouldn't be able to finish one assignment. And so then they were able to get him breakfast. And then it was like this kid just blossomed and he turned out to be this highly gifted child that was able to do really well in school.

[00:09:35] Dr. Ryan Partovi, JD, NMD, MIFHI: But just, without that basic nourishment, the brain literally get goes into survival mode. There's no learning, there's no performance, there's no, there's nothing possible outside of survival when your brain is not getting sufficient Protein and carbohydrate and fat, of course, as well to make cholesterol.

[00:09:57] Dr. Ryan Partovi, JD, NMD, MIFHI: So, I mean, 30, 30 to 33 [00:10:00] percent of our brain is cholesterol. That's a whole nother conversation, right? Yes. 

[00:10:06] Mrs. Madi Partovi: The debate, 

[00:10:06] Dr. Ryan Partovi, JD, NMD, MIFHI: the cholesterol debate. Yeah. Yeah. No, that's one. I mean, we could certainly talk about it. I would love to get two experts, kind of on either side of that debate and have them and hash out a conversation with them because I'd love to get clear on a consensus around what's so regarding cholesterol.

[00:10:28] Dr. Ryan Partovi, JD, NMD, MIFHI: I think it's something that that we should put that on our Our to do list. 

[00:10:32] Mrs. Madi Partovi: Yes. So if you know anybody are speaking to our community, if you know anybody that would like to come on to our podcast to have that discussion and to create the consensus in a peaceful way, please send them our way.

[00:10:48] Dr. Ryan Partovi, JD, NMD, MIFHI: Well, and what that looks like is. Somebody who has a view on it and they have an expertise around it, but they're also they're open to changing their mind with, if [00:11:00] they're presented with sufficient evidence. And that's what we, that's how we are. And so our goal is to find people like that.

[00:11:07] Dr. Ryan Partovi, JD, NMD, MIFHI: Sometimes it's not always possible, but at the end of the day, we're chaff and saying, okay, well, that guy really wasn't very credible because, he wasn't. willing to actually concede that he might be wrong on something, and I'm sort of, I think my patients all know that I am not one of those doctors who will never say, I don't know, or I was wrong.

[00:11:35] Dr. Ryan Partovi, JD, NMD, MIFHI: I'm definitely the first one to say, if I think, I mean, I'm a bit of a perfectionist, so this is rare, but if I make a mistake, I'm the first one to acknowledge it. And apologize. And then yeah, I mean, I just, and if I don't know the answer, ultimately, I'll just say, well, I don't know, or this is my best guess, but I really don't know, because I mean, I just, to me, that hubristic.

[00:11:58] Dr. Ryan Partovi, JD, NMD, MIFHI: Old fashioned [00:12:00] and I'm very old fashioned in a lot of ways, as Madi will tell you, but that sort of, oh, I'm, I know everything, kind of that some doctors do is just, it's so inauthentic to me. I just don't, I don't get, I don't get it. It was one of the things I didn't like, frankly about allopathic school.

[00:12:19] Dr. Ryan Partovi, JD, NMD, MIFHI: In my clinic entry exam that was one of the last things I did there. They told me that I needed to, cause I was really straight with the patient. I was like, this is my first time doing this. So thank you for, being patient with me and, I apologize if something is not quite the way you would have expected it.

[00:12:35] Dr. Ryan Partovi, JD, NMD, MIFHI: To me, that was just being honest and open and forthright with this patient. And yet after the exam, one of the pieces of feedback I got was, you should never say that to a patient. You should never tell them, that it's your first time doing something. You should pretend like you've done it a hundred times.

[00:12:51] Dr. Ryan Partovi, JD, NMD, MIFHI: And that's the mindset that they have in this sort of, we're an industry, we have standards of [00:13:00] professionalism to maintain. And this is like, we have to put on the front as if there's like, every single person who walks in there, even the guy who just started yesterday, his first day of med school is a font of knowledge and wisdom of medical science.

[00:13:17] Dr. Ryan Partovi, JD, NMD, MIFHI: It's like, no, he's not. And it's just, to me, that's just It's just dishonest, frankly, in my view. And I don't, I just, I hated that. That was to me, probably the most defining moment that actually had me be like this is not for me. Yeah. There were other things too, but we can talk about that another time.

[00:13:39] Dr. Ryan Partovi, JD, NMD, MIFHI: I want to hear about the boys 

[00:13:42] Encouraging Healthy Choices in Children

[00:13:42] Mrs. Madi Partovi: To see this, our approach to food, like working in their lives as they continue to grow. I took Ryan our 7-year-old to, I picked him up from school. He spotted a nursery that we, had never seen, [00:14:00] and he requested to go there, as I said. Okay. Let's go to the nursery.

[00:14:04] Dr. Ryan Partovi, JD, NMD, MIFHI: This is like a plant nursery. 

[00:14:05] Mrs. Madi Partovi: Yes. . 

[00:14:07] Dr. Ryan Partovi, JD, NMD, MIFHI: Just to be clear, not a baby nursery, baby plant, nursery. 

[00:14:10] Mrs. Madi Partovi: Yes. And he enters the nursery and the first area is a little grocery store. And so he just, he walks in and he's observing everything and he gets a bag, like one of the little bags for fruit and vegetables, and he gets himself a young coconut.

[00:14:36] Mrs. Madi Partovi: And I said, okay, let's add a couple to your, a couple more to your bag. And then strolls around the nursery and he sees seeds, right? And he just, he's staring at it and he says, I can't choose. Like broccoli or turnips or I said, okay, why don't you choose three? So he chose kale, he chose broccoli and he [00:15:00] chose turnips, turnip seeds.

[00:15:04] Mrs. Madi Partovi: And then he knows that he's. Next 

[00:15:05] Dr. Ryan Partovi, JD, NMD, MIFHI: time you go to a place with seeds, by the way get a few packets of clover seeds. Okay. Like red clover. I've been meaning to buy some red clover seeds. I have the. Okay. Bye. We can cut this out if you want to, but it's all been on my shopping list for weeks, and I just never go to a place that sells seeds.

[00:15:21] Dr. Ryan Partovi, JD, NMD, MIFHI: So now, 

[00:15:22] Mrs. Madi Partovi: you 

[00:15:22] Dr. Ryan Partovi, JD, NMD, MIFHI: know, 

[00:15:22] Mrs. Madi Partovi: yeah. And I'm just, I'm so, I'm just witnessing him. This is such a beautiful thing. He notices that he needs some protein. So he, he discovers, the beef jerky. And he makes sure that it doesn't have this mama. This is the one that doesn't have sugar in it. So we get a packet of those.

[00:15:43] Mrs. Madi Partovi: And it was such a beautiful thing. This little seven year old, making his own empowered choices around. Food. 

[00:15:56] Mrs. Madi Partovi: In the grocery store. And then we went to, [00:16:00] I took him to Central Market one day, and he, which is, 

[00:16:02] Dr. Ryan Partovi, JD, NMD, MIFHI: which is, by the way, just exactly the opposite of what people expect. They're like, oh, well, if you're really strict with your kids around what they can eat when they're little, then the moment they have self determination, they're gonna go and just go crazy eating whatever.

[00:16:18] Dr. Ryan Partovi, JD, NMD, MIFHI: I just don't, I've never seen that really to be the case. 

[00:16:22] Mrs. Madi Partovi: No, because 

[00:16:23] Personal Struggles with Diet

[00:16:23] Dr. Ryan Partovi, JD, NMD, MIFHI: in fact, I would say that it was the indulgence of my father, who I'm not going to necessarily fully roll under the bus when I say this, but I'm just going to kind of, the bus may run over your toes here, dad, um, was very much from that old school mindset, the old world mindset, which is, oh, just, it's better to be a few pounds overweight than a few pounds underweight.

[00:16:46] Dr. Ryan Partovi, JD, NMD, MIFHI: Because then you might really be able to get in trouble health wise. And so just let him eat whatever he wants. And that. My parents were always in tension on that front, and I think it took me sort of [00:17:00] processing that, and I didn't talk about this yet, so I'm going to mention it briefly here. It took me kind of processing through that, and kind of coming out the other side of it, and really seeing my mom's side of it, because she'd obviously grown up in this culture, in which we had such abundance.

[00:17:16] Dr. Ryan Partovi, JD, NMD, MIFHI: Where it's like, no, you do actually have to regulate your intake, and I think that's something that, frankly, I still struggle with. You know that I mean, my whole thing is, um, it's almost like it's really a challenge for me not to overeat. And so one of the reasons why I am why I have to be even, I think, more restrictive than maybe most people would have to be in terms of following my Swami is that I really sorry, I'll fix that.

[00:17:45] Dr. Ryan Partovi, JD, NMD, MIFHI: Yeah. So one of the reasons why I have to be so strict with my Swami is that I I know that if I do eat something that's, borderliney for me or not acceptable, that I'm probably not going to just have one bite of it. Right. [00:18:00] Chances are I'm going to have, I mean, you remember when our first few years of our marriage, there were times where I would literally go on sugar bingers in the middle of the night, late at night, and I would have all these things that were, they're gluten free, and so they're better because they don't have wheat in them, and they have, I'd have like a bag of these sugary, gluten free treats that I would put up at the top of the, The pantry and then, and then you'd wake up the next morning and you'd see them not at the top of the pantry and you knew what had happened, so 

[00:18:32] Mrs. Madi Partovi: I also noticed in your way of being and your attitude.

[00:18:35] Mrs. Madi Partovi: And 

[00:18:36] Dr. Ryan Partovi, JD, NMD, MIFHI: oh yeah, much grouchier the next day. Sugar, 

[00:18:38] Mrs. Madi Partovi: sugar, refined sugar makes me angry. 

[00:18:41] Conclusion and Farewell

[00:18:41] Mrs. Madi Partovi: So thank you for your generous listening. thank you for joining us. 

[00:18:46] Dr. Ryan Partovi, JD, NMD, MIFHI: I'm Dr. Ryan Partovi 

[00:18:48] Mrs. Madi Partovi: and I am Mrs. Madi Partovi, 

[00:18:50] Dr. Ryan Partovi, JD, NMD, MIFHI: and this has been the Partovi effect, creating the consensus. Thanks for joining us. Be well.

[00:18:59] ​