Why Most People Use Supplements That Don't Actually Work
Most nutritional supplements don't actually work, and some are even worse than that! I've been a part of the holistic wellness community for decades, studying the effects of health products, treatment options, and nutritional plans that can help or hinder the body's own healing process, and I've seen a lot of horrible products come onto store shelves that have done harm.
Yet many parents search tirelessly for some kind of strategy that will finally help their teens and young people who are struggling with behaviors, mental health conditions, chronic upsets, and emotional, hormonal and/or intellectual challenges, without all of the troubling side effects. And they often try supplements believing they're natural, though most actually aren't. (For one important example, check out my blog post on Melatonin).
While there has been some valuable research done showing that some herbs and nutritional supplements can provide powerful benefits, it's crucial to use a clean, pure product in the correct way for the person's specific needs for optimal success.
The way most nutritional products are produced, they aren't very effective, and many aren't even very safe, and especially for sensitive kids and teens. But, as a regular consumer, how would a parent even know this, because companies are allowed to lie on the label and in their advertising? It's become the American way to confuse people, and cause them to desperately try/buy everything.
Here are just a few of the multitude of ways that supplement products can be unhelpful or unsafe. Many 'cheap' brands, including some store brands, have been found to have little or none of the herb that's listed on the label! Can you imagine?
Instead of the 'Chamomile' displayed prominently across the front of the bottle, for example, those capsules may contain a variety of common allergens from corn, soy, gluten, dust, animal hair, mold, dried compost, and more! Please don't buy the cheapest stuff when your child's health is at stake!
Next, many people think that if the supplement product is being sold at their favorite local health food store, natural supermarket, co-op, or online marketer, then it must be natural. Nope. I'm sorry to burst your bubble, but most of the 'raw materials' (you know, the milk thistle or the vitamin E) for those companies' pills and potions were manufactured by BIG pharma, giant chemical companies (think Dow), and other NOT-NATURAL multinational corporations.
And so you may think I'm telling you that you'll have to spend a lot of money to get any benefits. Even spending big bucks doesn't protect you from the unscrupulous profiteers. Some of the most expensive products on the market use some of the least effective ingredients.
This is why I so often say that the DETAILS MATTER!
It's not the amount of money you spend; rather, to be able to help struggling teens and young people feel better, we MUST understand what's really going on, what's missing for them, what's in excess, and then put together a safe, sane, easy-to-manage wellness plan that begins to produce progress from the start.
I once had a mom of a very angry, aggressive teen tell me that they had been with her son's naturopathic doc for over 8 years, trying this and that, hoping something was going to finally help him. It hadn't. When they began to follow the customized plan we created for him together, it was only a couple months before he could interrupt his own meltdown, and calm himself. He was so proud of himself. "I love feeling better inside," he told his parents at dinner one night, and added, "I don't want to hurt the teacher or anybody anymore."
Over the years, I have guided hundreds of families to great new levels of freedom, wellness, self-confidence and independence, and while many of those families had precious few resources, together, we always found the ideal combination to set that child or young adult free to reach lives of their dreams, and meeting extraordinary goals!
Teens and young people deserve to feel good. You, the committed parent, deserve to know how to help them with their unique situation and set of needs, so that you'll soon see them joyful, and gaining the optimal skills and tools for a fulfilling and satisfying future!
So, dear parents, when it comes to understanding what might be helpful for YOUR teen or young person's struggles, I will say with authority that there are NO single MAGIC BULLETS!
There are no one-size-fits-all programs!
And there are NO products that are ideal for everyone!
That said, there are many natural wellness strategies for helping young people (and their parents) when stress and BIG emotions hit all-time highs. While we hear about some of these strategies a lot, like taking a few deep breaths when stress occurs, it doesn't mean that it's going to be easy to implement that, or any others, when our kids can't or won't listen, or try anything new.
That's one of the biggest fears I hear from concerned parents looking for answers. What if they just won't do it?
And I say, guiding parents of resistant teens and young people is one of my GREAT SUPERPOWERS!
If you are ready for a POWERFULLY SUCCESSFUL PLAN to meet ALL of your teen or young person's emotional, hormonal, and/or intellectual needs, let's talk about it, and see how we can get your family reaching all your lofty dreams and goals and knowing what success feels like!
Customized Solutions Help the Pickiest of Eaters to Thrive
Picky eating can be a real problem for parents who are trying to help their emotionally struggling child, teen or young adult get the nourishment that their brains and bodies need.
Over the decades, I've worked with lots of kids and adults on the autism spectrum (and a few other very picky eaters) several of whom have been in Feeding Therapy for years, with little progress. I'm not here to dis the wonderful people who do this work; rather, I wish for struggling kids to have real, fast-acting, long-lasting solutions, so that they feel better more quickly, feeling less stressed.
I worked with a boy who was an extremely picky eater several years ago who only ate Lucky Charms cereal, (and not the green ones, lol). He would only eat them with 2% milk, not 1% or whole milk, and only in his favorite bowl, a bright blue cereal bowl with a straw built in to slurp up the sugary milk afterwards. He ate five bowls of this cereal each day, breakfast, lunch, dinner, after school snack, and one before bed.
When his mom and I first spoke, and she heard me say that we would begin by making a customized wellness plan for her son, including helping him to love eating vegetables and other healthy foods, a tear came to her eye. "He won't do it," she said. "I've tried. He went to feeding therapy three times a week for several years, and never even put his lips to a new food, never mind eat one."
I assured her that we wouldn't do any of the strategies that they had used in his therapies, and I proposed to her that, if she and her husband would follow the customized plan that she and I would put together for their son, he would CHOOSE to eat veggies, rejecting the sugary cereal, all within the first 30 days!
She said that she didn't believe it would be possible for her son to manage, yet she knew they needed to find a way to get their boy eating better, because his behaviors were getting completely out of control, and they had recently had an incident at school where the police were called, and she didn't ever want to get 'that' call again.
We began to work together right away. Her husband was surprisingly on board. He said, "I was a picky eater as a kid, too, and my parents thought I'd grow out of it. I really didn't, so maybe this will help me with my health, too."
Even I was surprised when I got a call from this delightful mom on only the fifth day of implementing their wellness plan. "You'll never believe what just happened," she said excitedly. "He ate the carrots and celery sticks, just as you said he would, and he pushed the bowl of cereal away. We didn't have to fight with him! We're in shock! We're all dancing around the kitchen, singing silly songs, and so grateful for this miracle!"
We continued working together with his sleep, behaviors and learning challenges that he faced, and within one year, he was no longer needing his special ed classes, and was loving math, science and learning new things, in general.
I have found that there's no 'one-size-fits-all' approach to the picky eating problem that so many parents go through with their kids, and I can always find a way to help them, if the parents are ready to take the steps needed to be successful. And I can promise you, there is never any 'fighting', 'forcing' or 'coercing' with my highly effective wellness approach!
Learn more and find out how we can guide and support you to get the successful habits you wish your young person had, incorporated into your family, so you can begin to witness progress begin right away, too!
Check out the details of our powerful programs here on this site, and let's talk! Schedule a call (with the button at the top of this page.)
Blessings to you,
Cerina
Details Matter - Melatonin
Feb 3
Over the years, I’ve helped thousands of people to use safe, natural, effective strategies to sleep better and more deeply, so they wake up feeling refreshed and ready for a great day, yet I’ve never recommended melatonin.
The reason is simple; I researched it first, and I learned a few things that were BIG RED FLAGS!
1. Melatonin is NOT natural, and
2. It doesn’t work great, at least not compared to the other tools in my toolkit!
It’s true! The melatonin we produce in our brain is truly natural, but in pills or liquid sleep aids, it’s A SYNTHETIC HORMONE!
To make matters worse, melatonin has never been tested on children or teens.
Nonetheless, a recent national study out of University of Colorado Boulder showed that 6% of preschoolers and 19% of elementary and middle schoolers are using melatonin regularly for sleep.
Yet most parents, and many doctors, seem to have no idea how to use melatonin to get optimal benefits, and may actually be making things harder for the kids to manage themselves.
Research done on melatonin shows that nobody should consume more than 3 mg (or 3 ml of liquid) melatonin in a 24 hour period. I’ve heard of doctors, even pediatricians, recommending 10 mgs, and sometimes more, to young children, which then caused some significant side effects for those children.
Too much melatonin can make kids and adults groggy the next morning, experiencing headaches, irritability, digestive complaints, drowsiness, dizziness, lack of focus, and most recently, there are concerns that melatonin could interrupt or affect puberty.
So here's the REAL DEAL:
When it comes to melatonin, more is NOT better, not more helpful, nor effective, according to all of the best research done on melatonin.
With melatonin, LESS is BETTER! So that means, and the research shows:
3 mgs is helpful for rare sleep concerns, like sleeping away from the comforts of one's own home. Not recommended regularly.
2 mgs is shown to be helpful for occasional sleeplessness, and not ideal for daily usage.
And for wildly hyper, tightly wired, rambunctious people who struggle to slow down, 1 mg or less is shown to help the most. So think: 1/2 mg, 1/3 mg or even 1/4 mg for the people who struggle with sleep most often.
New guidelines set in 2023 recommend melatonin only be used with children short term. That's likely going to leave parents scrambling, searching for new, hopefully safer options.
Now, legally, I cannot tell you to go against your doctor's advice, but if they've recommended more than 3 mgs FOR ANY REASON, press them on it and ask if they've read the studies.
Do you see why the DETAILS MATTER?
When I do an article like this, most people tell me that they've never heard this information before. EXACTLY!!!
When you know the details, you can make wiser, more effective choices... and see real, lasting results.
In the next post on sleep, we'll explore the pros and cons with using magnesium.
If you're a parent who is ready for the guidance and support necessary for deep restful sleep, more safety awareness, effective communication, self-regulation, focus, attention, better grades, sensory and social management, and so much more...
We can help!
Schedule a call with us now! Click the button at the top of the page, choose a time and let’s talk about your family’s needs.
Blessings to you,
Cerina
It's a FALSE REALITY that autism (ASD)
is the same as neurodiversity!
People often use these terms interchangeably, yet they are truly NOT the SAME! Let me tell you what I mean…
It's kind of like Kleenex and tissues; Kleenex are tissues, but not all tissues are Kleenex.
So, people who are diagnosed with autism have a type of mental health condition as described by the American Psychiatric Association in their diagnostic handbook, the DSM-5. People with autism are considered to be, and usually identify as, neurodiverse.
But..., all people who are neurodiverse do not have autism. They may have another mental health condition, or no emotional or intellectual diagnosis or imbalances at all, yet still feel neurodiverse on the inside and/or express themselves and respond to people and life with a neurodiverse perspective.
So, let's consider the dictionary definition of both terms to see where they're the same, similar and different.
Merriam-Webster defines autism as:
"A neurodevelopmental disorder that typically appears by two [years old], that is variable in expression but is usually diagnosed by persistent impairments in social interaction and communication and by stereotyped patterns of behavior, activities, or interests, and that may be accompanied by cognitive or language impairments."
And it defines neurodiversity as:
"The concept that differences in brain functioning within the human population are normal, that brain functioning that is not neurotypical should not be stigmatized, and that people with neurodivergent brain functioning should not be excluded from groups, organizations, etc."
One of my favorite examples of this difference in human form that we probably can all recognize would be comparing Bill Gates and Elon Musk. Now, I don't know either of these men, and I do pay attention...
So both men are brilliant, both men have revolutionized the world, both men are very rich, yet that's about all that I observe that they have in common.
Bill Gates seems to be thoughtful, deliberate, intentional, kind, generous and considerate. He was married to Melinda French Gates for 27 years, has 3 grown children that he seems very close to, and he seems happy with his fulfilling life, although I hear him say often that divorcing Melinda was a great regret (showing empathy, emotional depth and character).
Elon Musk, while the richest man on Earth, seems impulsive, ungrounded and inwardly, I'd bet he's probably quite miserable. He has 11 children with several partners, and some of his kids don't speak with him or want to be in his life. Many employees have found him difficult to work with.
Very different, right?
We all remember Dustin Hoffman's famous depiction of "Rain Man", too, don't we? Remember how he was so very literal about everything? And struggled with transitions? And social cues? And all the rest? As brilliant as he was, he couldn't cross the street safely by himself...
When our kids are 'stuck' somewhere inside, and they're not joyful and thriving, these BIG emotions can take over and follow them into adulthood. Whether they struggle with:
overwhelming anxiety, or they're
unable to focus and get a great education, or they
struggle to make or keep real friends, or
can't sleep, keep themselves safe, or
won't try new things, or they
yell, argue, vocally stim, or
hurt themselves or others, or
can't put their brilliance to use in a job, career or business,
and you KNOW IN YOUR HEART that they deserve more freedom and joy than they have now...
We can help you to unlock their great potential!
We can help you ease their struggles and return the FREEDOM and JOY to your family!
To find out how you can see great progress in 2025, let's talk. Schedule a call with the button at the top of this page, and let the miracles abound!
In your corner, warmly,
Cerina
Current Events: Parents' Stress Soars!
Parenting has always come with stressful moments, but parenting a child or teen in this post-covid age who's struggling with emotional, physical or intellectual challenges or delays can be beyond stressful - it can be exhausting, anxiety-producing, weigh heavy on the parents' hearts, and even lead to burnout.
Recent research has led the US Surgeon General to declare that loneliness is soaring to epidemic levels. Even before covid, one in two Americans reported feeling lonely and isolated, and it's only gotten worse since.
As if the emotional cost weren't enough, loneliness is associated with increasing the risk for depression, anxiety, dementia, stroke, cardiovascular disease and premature death. Ouch. That hurts my heart.
The statistics for parents are even worse than the general population. According to a national survey from Ohio State University College of Nursing, 66% of parents feel lonely and isolated, and 62% feel parental burnout.
Loneliness and isolation can be very difficult to see your way out of on your own, when you're stuck in their midsts. And it's exceedingly hard to ask for help then, too.
That said, if this describes you, I encourage you to choose someone you believe you can trust, and ask for help or a helping hand; something to shift things a bit, so you can begin a new plan of action. And it ‘they’ don’t work out, ask someone else… You matter.
I'll tell you a little story here. About 25 years ago, I worked with a mom with a preteen son who experienced severe autism, having many meltdowns, aggressions, loud verbal stims, impulsive throwing, and seizures throughout the day.
All of his psychiatrists and autism experts told her that her son would never feed or dress himself, play ball, understand basic life skills, or communicate in any way.
This mom had been frantically searching for answers for years - something that would provide her son, herself and the rest of her family with some greater level of joy and quality of life.
As we worked together, her son made great strides in using sign language to communicate, adopting new strategies for self-regulation, gaining greater social understanding, and getting a real education.
During that time, this mom confided in me that she had been deeply depressed when she found me, and wasn't sure she could go on with her exhausting, traumatizing life. She was hiding behind a brave face, and taking the necessary steps daily, but didn't 'feel' anything anymore. Not love, not joy, not even fear or worry.
This is what loneliness and isolation can sometimes look like. Burnout robs us of our passion, and our drive toward better days.
As I watched this family work hard to develop a new understanding about her son's condition and needs, and choose to eliminate some of the triggers that could set him off, I witnessed the importance of also addressing the parents' health and wellbeing, so that the young person gets the most optimal results!
It was amazing to watch their family bond newly around the son's wonderful new skills and developing interests. That young man went on to college, amazing everyone, and then to live on his own, make friends, and to have a career he loves.
All of our struggling kids deserve to live their greatest, most fulfilling lives, and to achieve goals that were not believed possible for them not too long ago!
If you want more emotional freedom and maturity for your child, teen or young adult, let's talk.
Please schedule a call with me, and in the meanwhile, start to dream of a brighter, more fulfilling future for your loved ones and yourself, too!
You deserve Wellness and Freedom, too!
Warmly,
Cerina
