New Normal Project: Dr Jackie Busse - Healthy children make healthy adults (NNP #61)

Dr Jackie Busse - Healthy children make healthy adults (NNP #61)

Dec 3, 2019

Are you aware adult health is influenced by what we eat as adults AND as children?

Whilst it might seem difficult to believe the food we eat early in life can influence the diseases we develop and how long we live, most of us do understand that childhood nutrition is at least a little bit important. And that foods like cow’s milk, soft drinks and sugar-laden processed foods might not be the best things we can feed our children.

So if you are a parent, a grandparent, a budding parent, or even a child, you’d do very well to listen to American pediatrician, Dr Jackie Busse on this episode of the New Normal Project podcast.

Jackie is a board certified pediatrician with expertise in plant-based nutrition for kids and families. She grew up in Madison, Wisconsin, received her undergraduate and medical degrees from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, before training in pediatrics at Rush University in Chicago. Shortly after moving to California in 2011, she was introduced to "The China Study" and it changed her life and practice. She has been living and teaching a whole-food, plant-based lifestyle ever since.

As a founding member of the pediatric working group of the Plantrician Project Jackie was the lead author and editor of the Pediatric Quick Start Guide, published in 2018, and spoke at the International Plant Based Nutrition Healthcare Conference in 2019. As an expert lecturer for the T. Colin Campbell Center for Nutritional Studies, she recently rebuilt the pediatric and family lecture modules for the Plant-Based Nutrition Certificate program offered through eCornell.

In addition to her full-time general pediatrics practice in Santa Cruz, CA, Jackie teaches an ongoing whole-food, plant-based nutrition series for adults as well as the nutrition component of a lifestyle medicine series for kids. She is a member of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine and a fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics. Most importantly, Jackie is a mother to two thriving plant-eaters, now 3 and 5 years old. She is passionate about sharing her knowledge, insights and personal experience with the plant-based lifestyle.

Jackie has read widely on plant-based nutrition and is a world-renowned pediatric expert on the topic. In this conversation she speaks about:

Growing up with a dairy farming grand-father
Jackie’s own transition to a plant-based diet after her husband read “The China Study”
Her progression to advising a plant-based diet in her pediatric medical practice
A couple of excellent patient examples
The importance of understanding that healthy kids make healthy adults
How primary disease prevention can begin in childhood and even in pregnancy
How 80% of adult chronic diseases come about from lifestyle factors
That almost all 10 year old children eating a standard American diet have fatty streaks in their heart’s arteries
The knowledge that our chances of cancer as an adult are affected by our childhood lifestyle
Some wise thoughts about how we should think about genetics
Childhood development of taste preferences
Bringing up her own children as plant-based
The differences between plant-based and animal-based diets on childhood health and disease
The dangers of cow’s milk and other dairy-containing products
How long women should consider breast-feeding for
Which plant-based milk best approximates breast milk
The difference between juices and smoothies
Some practical recommendations for dealing with parties, sleep-overs and peer pressure
Advice for those wanting a gluten-free plant-based lifestyle
What breakfast, lunch and dinner looks like for an average day of her family
Which supplements you might consider for your children

Jackie knows what she is talking about. Her children have been plant-based their whole lives and her whole family is vibrant and thriving. On this podcast there is so much information about how best we can feed our children that it is truly a must listen.

Please enjoy my exchange with Dr Jackie Busse.

Live well, feel well, do well.

Andrew Davies

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About the New Normal Project podcast: The podcast is aimed to help you to become more healthy, fulfilled and conscious through a plant-based, body-moving and mind-focused way of living. I hope to inspire and empower you with scientific evidence, helpful information and real-life stories, based on eating mostly plant foods, being physically active, particularly in nature, sleeping well, being mindful and refining both the connections in your life and your purpose.

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Links related to Jackie Busse

Dr Jackie Busse

Dr Jackie Busse’s website

Dr Jackie Busse on Instagram @plantbasedpediatrician

Dr Jackie Busse on LinkedIn

Dr Jackie Busse on Facebook

Links to people and resources (in order of mentioning)

The China Study

Book “The China Study” (by T. Colin Campbell and Thomas Campbell)

The Plantrician Project

Book "The Pediatric Plant-Based Nutrition Quick Start Guide"