Episode 279 — Address The ENERGY CRISIS
Guest: Dr. Debby Hamilton • Date: October 30, 2025
Episode Overview
Mitochondrial dysfunction is one of the most overlooked yet critical root causes impacting kids on the autism spectrum. Pediatrician and functional medicine expert Dr. Debby Hamilton explains how this energy crisis shows up — and what parents can do to restore balance.
About Dr. Debby Hamilton
Dr. Debby Hamilton is a pediatrician and functional medicine expert specializing in children with autism, ADHD, PANS/PANDAS, mood and behavioral issues, and other complex chronic conditions. She is the author of Preventing Autism and ADHD: Controlling Risk Factors Before, During & After Pregnancy and serves as the Director of Product Education and Clinical Research at NutraMedix. Dr. Hamilton has over two decades of experience helping families uncover and address root causes so kids can thrive.
You’ll Discover
Why Mitochondrial Dysfunction Is So Common in Autism (3:16)
Subtle Signs of Low Cellular Energy Parents Can Look For (5:45)
How the OAT Test and MitoSwab Provide Useful Clues (14:34)
Why Tylenol and Other Common Meds Damage Mitochondria (25:25)
How Nutrition and Fats Support Brain Growth and Function (28:55)
Why Protein and Fat at Every Meal Is Non-Negotiable (33:49)
Why Recovery Is a Step-by-Step Journey, Not a Quick Fix (36:31)
Referenced in This Episode
Full Transcript
Len Arcuri (00:01.528)
Hello and welcome to Autism Parenting Secrets. This week, I'm joined by Dr. Debbie Hamilton. She's a pediatrician and functional medicine expert who specializes in supporting children with autism, ADHD, pans-pandas, and other complex chronic conditions. She's the author of Preventing Autism and ADHD, Controlling Risk Factors Before, During, and After Pregnancy, and currently serves as the Director of Product Education and Clinical Research.
at NutriMedx. On this podcast, we focus on uncovering the root causes that parents can address to help their child thrive. And in this episode, we dive into one of the most overlooked yet critical areas, mitochondrial dysfunction. When the body's energy production is compromised, kids can't run on all cylinders. Helping restore that energy at the cellular level can be a game changer.
The secret this week is address the energy crisis. Welcome Dr. Hamilton.
Debby Hamilton (01:06.136)
Thank you very much. Very honored to be here today and it is a really good topic and one I enjoy speaking about and trying to explain so.
Len Arcuri (01:14.83)
Great. Well, I'm super excited for this conversation because frankly, even now after almost two decades in this area of focusing on root causes, particularly for my son, mitochondrial dysfunction is easy to understand kind of at a high level, but I think a deeper understanding of how this may manifest and all of the things that a parent might be seeing that they're wanting to help their child with.
I think you going deeper into this, I know would benefit me and I'm sure many of our listeners. So I'll hand it off to you. I know you've given presentations on this topic. If you had to bottom line it for parents, how do you describe it with the parents that you are guiding?
Debby Hamilton (01:59.433)
So sometimes I literally start with people go back to the biology that the mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell. So from basically everything you eat are fats, proteins, and carbohydrates. And so your body takes those three different types of food, break them down, break them down to cellular level, and has to bring them into the mitochondria. And the mitochondria are the little energy factories inside every single cell in our body.
And so all our food is broken down literally to very, very small particles that have to get into the mitochondria to make energy. And then the energy kind of influences how our body, and it's made into kind of an electrical energy per se. But when we think about energy, you're, and there are thousands and millions of mitochondria in our body. So.
What we think about in some of these chronic diseases, and this goes to adults, is that the mitochondria not working. So the mitochondria and the mitochondria have their own DNA, and they're very susceptible to damage from the outside world, if that makes sense. So what happens, and it's up to, there's a pediatric neurologist that's very well known called Dr. Richard Frye, and he did a research summary of
how many people will talk about autism. An autism spectrum to me really includes the kids with sensory issues and ADHD. I mean, it really is a spectrum of kind of neurodevelopmental issues, right? Even like a spectrum, even going to autism. But for those kids, it's, they think in terms of at least one problem with a mitochondria, maybe up to 80 % of children with autism. So that is a significant number.
So in terms of the energy, if you think about it, and one of the most important thing is the brain uses a lot of our energy. So, and we have a lot of mitochondria in our brain. So if our brain is literally not getting the energy it needs, it's hard to pay attention. It's hard to concentrate. It can influence a great influence on mood. Does that make sense? So.
Debby Hamilton (04:20.624)
And one of the ways that I look at even depression and behavioral stuff is mitochondria. Because if your mitochondria are not working that well, think about people with even chronic disease, like the chronic fatigue or the chronic Lyme, the chronic infections. So if they have something like the infection in your body that are damaging the mitochondria, that's going to cause some of that brain fog and that fatigue and mood issues and a lot of chronic disease. Does that make sense?
Len Arcuri (04:50.338)
Yeah, totally make, it totally makes sense with those conditions you mentioned, but if a parent's listening and they're like, okay, well, how does this impact something like speech? Is it relevant for speech as well? And I believe it is, but can you expand on that in terms of what the parents most wanting for the child mitochondrial dysfunction affects everything, correct?
Debby Hamilton (05:03.637)
It is.
Debby Hamilton (05:07.628)
with a child.
Correct, everything. So mitochondrial function, if you think about literally your brain is like the electrical signals, the energy in your brain is not working. So it's really hard to process. And I think sometimes even speech can be kind of a motor planning or a motor issue. So your muscles also use a lot of energy. So think about all the low muscle tone. So if you have mitochondrial issues, that low muscle tone, that poor endurance.
So sometimes an endurance is not just, hey, I can run for an hour. It's like endurance in terms of thinking, endurance in terms of speaking, endurance in terms of processing, right? They can pay attention only for so long. And then it's like, they run out of energy. So that's kind of an endurance thing. The whole low muscle tone. If you think about kids who are writing, how many kids have problems writing? And is it actually kind of a
Like, I mean, is it a motor planning or is it really literally their hands are tired? And then I'm not gonna be to tell you, I'm writing, I'm writing and then, oh, I can't think anymore. You know, I've got all this stuff in the background. I'm trying to filter out. My hands are tired. You know what I mean? Or kind of like core muscle tames. There are even things like, you know, muscle tone in the face. You know, it's hard to speak if you've got weak muscles. It's hard to chew.
Right? If you've got really weak muscles in the brain. One of the like very early signs in babies is a problem with babies actually latching onto nurse. Right? So it's really, and like the poor laugh, sometimes I'll go back in history and that's something that the children have. But the handwriting is another clue. Even kids who can do like a burst of energy. Oh, they've got a lot of energy. I'm like, yeah, they can run and burst and they've got that strength, but it's more of an endurance. Does that make sense?
Len Arcuri (07:06.22)
Yeah, that.
Debby Hamilton (07:06.232)
But it's really, we're talking about brain, like function needs energy.
Len Arcuri (07:11.692)
Now that makes perfect sense to me. And I guess just because it popped into my head, would you consider if a parent comes to you and says, hey, my child did have issues latching early on. if they say that, you know, my child's been diagnosed with like hypotonia, right? Like low muscle tone. Do you see those two things as an example being a clear sign that mitochondrial dysfunction is at play?
Debby Hamilton (07:24.034)
Mm-hmm. Yep.
Debby Hamilton (07:37.101)
I would say that those are big clues. thing with a lot of our, especially, you know, things that go in on the body, it's not like there's this one clue, there's this one kind of physical symptoms that diagnosis. One of the other kind of, so these for me like, kind of key things I got to think about. One of the other things is, you know, there's smooth muscle, like in the GI tract, right? So if you've got mitochondria's function,
you can have motility issues. So you can have constipation. You can have problems swallowing. You can get like poor gastric motility, which eventually can lead to SIBO, but even that reflux. But it's those low muscle tone kids with a mitochondria who have that chronic constipation, but it's a motility issue. Does that make sense? So that's kind of another clue. I see that with a lot of kids also. kids, and the thing about mitochondria issues is
There's mitochondrial disorders, and this is what we learned about in pediatrics, right? These are the genetic conditions where they usually have multiple, like what they call systems issues. So they can have heart issues and kidney issues and growth issues. And usually they're very developmental, like physically delayed. They're not walking, they're walking later. And some of those kids are, you know, we diagnosed, they've got a lot, a lot of medical issues.
like just different kind of medical issues. But we're talking really now as a mitochondrial dysfunction. And so it's not necessarily things that they're born with. So what happens in terms of damage, so the mitochondria have this membrane that's fat, right? Which is one of reasons we need fat, but think call oxidative stress, which is kind of like rusting, right? It's kind of damage of the tissues is how I think about it or inflammation. So anything chronic.
from toxins to dyes in our food or prescription medicines are classic. Those can damage the mitochondria. So you can develop mitochondrial dysfunction. Does that make sense? So I really thinking about, we're talking about like a dysfunction, but a dysfunction is also as opposed to kind of a genetic mitochondria disorder can be identified, diagnosed and
Len Arcuri (09:46.21)
Yes.
Debby Hamilton (10:01.09)
treated. Does that make sense? So you can prove as opposed to like mitochondrial function, the interesting thing even with mitochondrial disease, you support it in the same way. It's just that as I said, you're supporting it where in terms of mitochondrial function, you really can make a significant difference. It's not an overnight fix because it depends on how severe and also depends on, know, is it, you know, chronic infection? Is it chronic Lyme disease? Is it, you know, different toxins from the environment?
because those literally damage the membrane and the membrane is where the final energy is made. So that's actually literally interfering with the ability to make energy.
Len Arcuri (10:41.422)
Yeah. All those stressors get in the way. And this is all relevant for any child, right? In terms of playing better defense against those types of things. But just to kind of bottom line what you were saying with disorder versus dysfunction, I'm guessing that the, first of all, that there's things you could do regardless, whether it's a disorder or dysfunction. If it's a dysfunction, perhaps even more of a potential upside. But overall,
Debby Hamilton (10:48.247)
you
Yes.
Len Arcuri (11:09.39)
you know, with these kids who are experiencing these challenges, focusing here again is something that's not as obvious because it's easier to focus on a particular root cause of let's say one of those environmental stressors, right? Whether it be mold or metals or toxins of all kind. So the idea of focusing on at the mitochondrial level, I think is again, just something where I don't think
many parents, including myself, have really focused on as the root cause to really explore what your options are. I'm sure you'll shed light on there's so many ways that we can help bolster the mitochondria and improve at the cellular level how our kids are functioning.
Debby Hamilton (12:01.238)
Right. And as I said, there are a lot of things to, to kind of to help, you know, there's definitely a lot of different supplements. and, it's kind of has to be a targeted approach. So in terms of diagnosing, there's something that something called what they call the oat test, which is an organic acid test. And I think of that is it's a urine test. it's one of my most useful tests because it takes so many different things, but it has a lot of mitochondria markers.
and that, as I said, kind of, it's really more kind of a metabolic test. It's kind of showing kind of different, kind of enzymes, the different reactions, chemical reactions in the body. And it's kind of like, if they're not working, something gets stuck and you can measure kind of what's stuck at that kind of, and I don't know if that helps, but there's a lot of different types. but it can also tell you where in the mitochondria that dysfunction is. I guess sometimes it's like, Hey,
We can't get the fat into the cell to use, right? That's one kind of area. Or there's something called the Krebs cycle, which is kind of this, is this kind of blocked or is that very final, like where they call electron transport chain is a final where the energy is actually made the membrane a problem. There's a membrane, you know, kind of damaged kind of thing. And that can also tell you how to target it. If that makes sense. Yeah. So then that's another test.
There is something called a mito swab, is a genetic cheek swab that kind of looks at, and that one actually measures the electron transport chain and measures there's four different kind of steps in that. And it can look at that. And that can be very helpful. There are other kind of some newer tests coming out that look at percentages of energy and they get pretty technical, but they really look at kind of percentage of energy here and there and that's the stuff.
Len Arcuri (13:35.822)
Mm-hmm.
Debby Hamilton (14:00.025)
So we're getting much better about being able to kind of diagnose. But a lot of the supplements are really safe and some of them are even part of, know, there's some formulas that are kind of multivitamin but have a lot of mitochondrial support that are targeted for kids for neurodevelopmental issues too. Because it's so common that we really need to kind of support that in many ways.
Len Arcuri (14:26.412)
Yeah, no, that makes a lot of sense. And I think with the number of parents that you see who are trying to find answers for their child would, and I think it's really important to have some data to be able to know where to aim, right? In terms of your, so when you are advising parents and we're just talking, you're not giving medical advice, but do you usually do an OAT test?
Debby Hamilton (14:41.836)
Yes, absolutely.
Len Arcuri (14:51.914)
along with a mitral swab? Like do you think both of them or is it either or? Like when you're working with parents are both of those useful to do or how do you usually start off?
Debby Hamilton (15:02.512)
Yeah, I usually start with an organic acid test, the O test, and partly because it looks at gut markers, it looks at nutritional markers, you know, it looks at kind of, quote unquote, detox, know, glutathione levels and mitochondria. I usually start there and then blood tests, just in terms of general, kind of some of my first line. So the mitoswab, it also depends. If I have a child, as I said, coming in and
You know, there are two three that didn't walk to really late or they're still not walking or they're the hypotonia, kind of the developmental physical delays are really pretty significant. Um, as opposed to the child who kind of regressed or who, you know, was walking and motor development was more normal, the latch, the constipation. So I have some kids, if they have much more of those kinds of classic signs we talked about, then I'm more likely to the mitoswap right away.
But I would always do an O test. I'm not going to just do the mitoswab, if that makes sense. Or sometimes if we're treating a child and then we're kind of like, okay, well, we're treating, you know, mitochondria, but I feel like if things are turning around, do we need more information? And so that's kind of when I do it. But it's an easy test because it's a cheek swab, which is always easier.
Len Arcuri (16:00.952)
Got it.
Debby Hamilton (16:30.264)
especially when very young when you're around, definitely obviously blood is more difficult.
Len Arcuri (16:35.31)
Yeah, no, easier than a cheek swab for sure. And high level, forgive me if you already mentioned this, but just in general for the hundreds, don't know, thousands of kids that you've treated over the years, what would you say percentage wise of kids who are on the spectrum or with developmental delays, how many of them do you see evidence, like what percent do you see evidence that mitochondrial dysfunction is
Debby Hamilton (16:39.222)
Yeah.
Len Arcuri (17:05.317)
is apparent for them is an issue to focus on. it the majority? Is it like 50 %? Do you have any gauge as to how many kids with these challenges have this issue?
Debby Hamilton (17:17.208)
Well, I always look for it, if that makes sense. Like in all my developmental kids, it plays a big role in mood disorders. you know, my kids have anxiety, depression, behavior issues, which are usually more, you know, mood disorders. Kids act out, you know, when they're not emotionally doing well too. So as I said, I always look for it and always check for it. Like the more kind of neuromuscular, low muscle tone, the more likely I'm to see really, really high levels.
of dysfunction, but I often see at least dysfunction in one area. And one of the, as I said, the oxidative stress causes the mitochondria and there's an antioxidant called glutathione, which is our major master antioxidant in the body, which is often low in kids with autism and kind of chronic issues. And then if you don't have the antioxidants like glutathione, oxidative stress damages the mitochondria membrane.
So I'm usually also kind of targeting antioxidants and targeting oxidative stress and kind of doing some mitochondrial support in, would say, the majority of kids. In terms of mitochondrial markers, I see markers not in everyone, but at least a few, even if it's like two or three here and there, if that makes sense, in a lot of the kids. So I definitely think it's something you should look at with all these kids.
Len Arcuri (18:39.747)
Right.
Debby Hamilton (18:45.176)
you know, at least kind of screen for and, and identify it. And I've had some kids like make good school gains too, intellectual gains. I mean, as I said, if your muscles in your jaw aren't working, you know, it's really hard to, it's not going to help your speech, right? Or the coordination or even your brain, like the, like the motor planning and process, processing is one of the first things I see. Like the processing speed gets better, right? And processing means
Len Arcuri (19:01.262)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Len Arcuri (19:12.898)
Yep. Yeah.
Debby Hamilton (19:15.126)
how quickly you can do things or think about things or plan things.
Len Arcuri (19:22.754)
Yeah, that's very helpful. And I keep always going back to root cause, root cause, root cause, which again is easy to talk about. And conventional medicine doesn't really focus on the root cause, which is why functional medicine doctors, that's what they do. That's what you do. at least from my perspective, it's really about a parent having a really good guess on which root cause is to focus on.
And here we're talking about mitochondrial issues. And the reason I asked about the percentage is that even if a parent doesn't have data, the likelihood that their child has an opportunity to improve here is very high. But whether you focus on the mitochondrial dysfunction or other related type issues, and that's where it gets a little overwhelming, right? Because you mentioned oxidative stress. You have oxidative stress, chronic inflammation, gut dysbiosis that goes on and on about all these potential issues.
Debby Hamilton (19:51.031)
Right.
Debby Hamilton (20:13.228)
Right. Yeah.
Hmm
Len Arcuri (20:20.93)
But for a parent working with a practitioner like you, they could be aware of all those possible root causes, look at some lab data, and again, have a much better educated guess on which root causes to channel their time, energy, and focus on. And that's where mitochondrial dysfunction is one that is a little bit not as specific and maybe not as popular in terms of hearing what other people are doing. A lot of parents are looking for that quick fix.
Debby Hamilton (20:38.306)
Right.
Len Arcuri (20:50.734)
And as you said, addressing mitochondrial issues isn't a quick fix, but there are so many you can do that that paves the way. Um, you know, and in my mind, it's such a foundational area to focus on, which is why parents having a better idea of what this looks like, I think would be very valuable.
Debby Hamilton (20:54.935)
No.
Debby Hamilton (21:10.36)
Right. So I think kind of in functional medicine, integrated medicine, and I've been doing this for integrated medicine for like 20 years, treating children. You always have to do the gut, right? We know that the gut is like 80 % immune system, right? And if your gut isn't good and the immune system is not good, you have inflammation. If you have inflammation, you box with a stress. You do. And if you have inflation, you're to damage your mitochondria at some point.
So you always have to, you know, deal with the diet and deal with the gut. So that's kind of like, you know, if somebody comes in, it's like, okay, well, and diet to me is what you eat and what you shouldn't eat, right? What do we need in a diet and what are we having there that we shouldn't and then addressing the gut. Does that make sense? So while we're kind of starting there, then it's like, okay, then I think of metabolism.
Len Arcuri (22:01.964)
Absolutely.
Debby Hamilton (22:06.39)
and then identifying things like the mitochondrial function or thyroid or looking at the kind of the antioxidants or looking for infections. So I think of it kind of, you know, and then there's some basic nutritional things like supplements that are always good to start with. Even kids who don't have digestive system issues, like can still have an imbalance in the gut. It just can come back more. You can see it more systemically. So kind of starting there, then the mitochondria and all that.
And I think of kind of some of the detox, which is important, but if you try to detox somebody who's, you know, not stable or doesn't have, you know, good, you know, sources of zinc or magnesium, sometimes detoxes will deplete the minerals or, they're not strong enough. So you have to kind of start foundations. And mitochondria to me is kind of another foundation metabolic level. Cause a lot of those nutritional things that you can do to treat it, are really kind of support the body.
There's a lot of B vitamins that are really critical, especially B2 riboflavin that are really critical for mitochondrial dysfunction. we know, you know, B vitamins are kind of what they call cofactors. I a lot of the reactions in the body need B vitamins and minerals to work. So we do have to get those in there. And then other things, there's something called CoQ10, which is an antioxidant.
And antioxidant like vitamin C are things that do oxidative stress. And again, oxidative stress are little of these chemicals that attack tissues and cause damage. So they damage the mitochondria, they damage other tissues. So that's where the glutathione and the vitamin C and all that come in. And that's critical for mitochondria and for a lot of healing in the body. And one of the other things about mitochondria, as I said, it's a fatty membrane. So, you know,
In adults, fats are bad. In kids, fats are like you're growing a brain. 60 % of your brain is fat. You know what mean? It's a great kind of non-sugar spiking source of energy. the membranes are fat. So we have to heal the membrane of the mitochondria and the nervous system and the myelin and all that. So phospholipids like phospho-dolicolene, sometimes called PC, are really critical. And they're critical in even like
Debby Hamilton (24:31.298)
helping the methylation, helping the detox cycle. Colon itself is a really underrated nutrient that's incredible for brain development. So phosphatocolline can do a lot of really impressive mood issues, that makes sense. Even cholesterol is part of our man brain. A lot of kids in the spectrum have really low cholesterol. It's like you're building a brain, you gotta get those fats in there. So you have to do that.
Len Arcuri (24:46.092)
Yes.
Len Arcuri (24:57.827)
Yes.
Debby Hamilton (24:59.308)
Yeah, there's things like carnitine. Carnitine is, it's actually meat. So amino acid, right? Amino acids make up proteins. Carnitine, you can't get fat into the cell in order to use it for energy unless without carnitine. I see a lot of like low carnitine that can be even genetic low carnitine. So carnitine also, if you have a motility constipation, carnitine is one of the best things that can be used to help retreat that.
Right? It's motility. Fibers not going to help, but actually can make it much worse. So carnitine, CoQ10, as I said, is an antioxidant. A lot of our medicines really lower CoQ10. People known adult like the statins do. A lot of our psychiatric medicines do. Tylenol, Advil. And so that can play a role too.
So those are some kind of the big B vitamins, CoQ10, carnitine, NADH is kind of, and people know about that. So that's kind of where, and that comes from a type of B vitamin, niacin, niacinamide. So there really are, there's another antioxidant called PQQ, and there's a lot of good different mitochondrial formulas where there's, you know, combinations of these. And then there are some kind of autism-specific multis.
have a lot of the mitochondria factors in them. So as I said, this is recognized and there are ways to really to supplement this too. If that's yeah.
Len Arcuri (26:36.642)
Yeah, that all makes sense. And again, think a lot of those supplements you mentioned are names that listeners are familiar with. As always, any kind of supplements, always make sure you're looking at the labels, make sure that what's in there is clean and that you have a quality product there. And particularly CoQ10, I know you mentioned it, and even with something like that, the form of CoQ10 is kind of pretty critical, whether it's upekuinal or whatever.
Debby Hamilton (26:48.959)
Mm-hmm.
Len Arcuri (27:04.066)
whatever specific form, is why all of these supplements may be relevant for your child. But again, the key is working with a practitioner who can really guide you with those specific recommendations.
Debby Hamilton (27:15.34)
Right, so like the mitoswap is helpful because CoQ10 is used in that last kind of step of reactions. And if you have a genetic issue with that one area, you probably need a lot more CoQ10 than you think. And CoQ10 is hard because it's a fat. So supplementing can be difficult because a lot of supplements are in kind of that gel cap, which
You could pinch and use, there are also, as I said, some formulas and different things. But that's helpful. Like if you, one of the mitochondria, there's a whole area that shows you whether you're low in carnitine. So it kind of, you can get clues or you can see, wow, the B2 is really low in this. So that's kind of helpful. Yeah, you definitely need to work with practitioner because it's also, there's doses depending on your age and your size.
Len Arcuri (27:58.21)
Mm-hmm.
Debby Hamilton (28:14.828)
Right? So you can't just go, okay, this is an adult dose and my child's two and they're, you know, 20 pounds. That's not going to be, you know, so you do need to get some advice from that.
Len Arcuri (28:15.598)
Yep, yeah, and maybe maybe we could just circle back quickly to the concept of nutrition right where food, you know diet is incredibly important It can be very overwhelming but diet super important I think the takeaway what you were saying and correct me if I'm wrong, but it's you particularly for kids where
Debby Hamilton (28:32.824)
Mm-hmm.
Debby Hamilton (28:37.4)
Mm-hmm.
Len Arcuri (28:44.234)
If this is a challenge for them, feeding them a diet that's very low in fat wouldn't be a great idea. So the key is how do you get quality fats, whether that's animal fats or in the form of food or whether it's actually in the form of supplements. The key is from a neurological perspective and from a cellular perspective, the right fats are key. you and I were kind of experienced decades where we were told fat is horrible and you got to minimize fat, that's
that can be more opposite for these kids.
Debby Hamilton (29:15.5)
Right, we've got a growing child, we've got a growing brain. So those are key. Some of that I had a family where the mom thought vegan was good. And she had two kids who came in eight and 10, who were on a vegan diet with severe behavioral and emotional things. And all we did was really go, hey, can I give you some egg yolks? Give you some eggs? And supplement the omega-3s. Omega-3s are huge, right? They're different kinds of fats. So I am a fan of anal products.
You cannot get cholesterol without an animal source. Right? So people are like, oh, I ate avocados. I'm like, I love avocados, but that's not cholesterol. You know, and the olive oil and the different kinds of fats, you know, they need some saturated fats. need cholesterol. They need the omega threes. Does that make sense? So yeah, the low fat diet is really not helpful for our brain. It leads to a lot of depression, honestly.
Gosterol levels have been associated, one of the big associations, even with suicide risk, in terms of kind of even mental health for adults. So too low is really not good. It's an inflammation cardiac matter, but that's a different story.
Len Arcuri (30:14.776)
Yes.
Len Arcuri (30:29.102)
No, it makes sense to me. And I think just the overall concept of diet, special diets or personalizing a diet for a child, it's maddening in terms of all the options and the schools of thought as to what's nourishing, what's not. But I think what you shared does in some way make a case for more of a ketogenic diet that that could be very beneficial for some kids, not all. But would you agree with that? are there any kind of
high level statements you'd say on high level do's and don'ts with respect to nutrition and diet.
Debby Hamilton (31:05.4)
nutrition. So I think like I'm definitely not an extreme one for kids because they're growing, right? There's a reason that they all need protein. So I have kids who do grain free, but not necessarily carbohydrate free. You do need that for energy. You don't necessarily need like Twinkies and things like that. But fruits and vegetables. And I said I have some kids that's really specialized.
So the fat and the protein are what I really concentrate on. But the protein, you can't, carnitine's in meat, right? And even, you, there are certain things in meat that, and you can't grow with that protein, right? These are, you're growing a brain, you're growing a body, you know, so you really have to have the protein. And there are kids, you know, with a lot of texture issues. Or if your muscles are weak, do you really want to, you know, heart, it's much harder to chew. I should have think of meats.
Right? And sometimes I think it's like, is it just really tiring to chew? But protein's really important. And I'm like, you really want protein and fat at every meal. Right? It's never, you never really want to eat carbs alone. Does that make sense? Cause then you get the blood sugar and that can create a lot of mood issues. And we're learning more and more that that's contributing to, and that's very inflammatory. And it also totally raises your cortisol and it's going to put you in fight or flight. And then you're going to crash.
So that's why I have adult kids, but both of my kids have had learning issues. And I realized with my son and he had ADHD or almost just had ADHD and people laugh and like breakfast, here's your chicken leg, here's your green tea, that's your mild stimulants. And I'm like, I literally would hand him a chicken leg in the morning and he's a big, very athletic kid. And he was like, I call he has a carnivore.
but that was breakfast and it's not a waffle with maple syrup where he's going to crash in an hour. So, but yeah, we had some interesting in breakfast and stuff like that. And that's a whole nother nutrition talk. Cause that, really does make a difference. But I'm also, you know, adults, you can put them on just like meat and vegetables, right? And a lot of these anti-yeast diets, but there are, you know, nutrients in a lot of different foods. So.
Debby Hamilton (33:32.857)
Yes, take out the sugars, take out the dyes, take out the preservatives and try to have real food. You know, not fruit juice, but fruit, that kind of thing. But if you really take a food group out, then I think you can get issues, right? So a lot of the extreme adult diets, I don't recommend for kids, but protein and fat every meal, you know, and steak isn't bad. It's the quality of your food that kind of, you know.
Len Arcuri (33:53.614)
Hmm.
Debby Hamilton (34:01.88)
So there's some basic things and it's interesting. Sometimes it's easier to get supplements in than to change diet, especially if there's textures and muscle tone and all that other stuff. But as you work for that, a lot of people, a lot of kids, their diet will get better. So.
Len Arcuri (34:19.266)
Right, yeah, supplements can be great too, again, to fill that gap with the overall goal of just having a child eat more nourishing foods, more variety of foods, including protein and fats, as you've mentioned. yeah, what you described with what your son had for breakfast, that's basically what my son has for breakfast. And he'll look at you with that look, if there's no protein in a meal, he'll let me know it. So I know he has a sense of what his body needs.
But no, I appreciate that high level view because I think food and nutrition can be wildly confusing. And it's very individualized for every child, but there are some universal kind of concepts to keep in mind. So I think what you shared is very helpful. But yeah, no, I appreciate this conversation.
Debby Hamilton (34:49.132)
Yeah.
Debby Hamilton (34:55.692)
You
Debby Hamilton (35:05.24)
the ultimate energy, right? Your food is your energy. So if you're like not feeding, I feel like, and I do, mean, I said I've done a lot of training research nutritionists, but I literally think of food as fats, carbohydrates, you know, and protein. And I look at every meal and I'm like, fats, carbohydrates, doesn't have the mix. What is the mix? It shouldn't be the traditional, you know.
Len Arcuri (35:09.75)
Absolutely.
Debby Hamilton (35:29.752)
10 slices of grains, the old food pyramid, like, everybody should have 20 pieces of bread a day. It's like, no, that's not what you should do. But I do, think of that as every meal and snack and kind of combining that, because you need all of those to make energy. So.
Len Arcuri (35:36.855)
Right.
Len Arcuri (35:47.608)
No, that's great. And again, I appreciate you diving into this discussion. It's definitely helped me better understand the opportunity here. As you're thinking of our listeners and people who are either just newly on this journey or have been at it for a while, as you think about your decades of helping parents, is there anything that jumps out at you as just something that you wish a parent understood more earlier in the journey, maybe outside of what you've already shared so far in this discussion? Is there anything jumped out that you just wish parents would know?
Debby Hamilton (36:15.436)
Yeah.
So in terms of just treating a child with autism or just treating any kind of chronic disease, where I want to say, okay, I think that, you know, I definitely, there's trends, right? So there's always the miracle cure trend, whether it was B12 or the gluten-free diet, or, you know, now they're talking about Leucovore and the folate antibodies just came out. And I, especially today, and the kids now are sicker.
Len Arcuri (36:23.031)
Yeah, wherever you want to take it.
Debby Hamilton (36:46.936)
and there's a lot more factors, but thinking that there's one treatment and one thing that's gonna make their child turn around, you know, in a day or so is really, is not realistic. If you have a child with chronic disease and chronic issues, it's a journey. You know, it's a marathon and it's not like this, it's like this. And so, and then there's steps like peeling an onion. So you come in, you have to,
Len Arcuri (37:09.611)
Absolutely.
Debby Hamilton (37:15.02)
to figure out the diet stuff, you have to figure out the gut stuff. And then you have to look step by step and you can't do everything at once. You the body can't just say, you can't give them 30 things plus Skittles, you know, or just kind of, and hit them with this and then do the hyperbarics and do this treatment and neurofeedback and everything else. It just, it's a very systemic thing because the body can only do so much and there usually are multiple layers.
and having saying like one thing that's going to fix everything. You know, we all wish that was, but you have to think about it. It's going to be a step-by-step process and kids do get better and kids really do recover, make strides, but the sicker your kid is the longer it's going to take. That's, you know, my experience and I do, I have so many hopefuls that, and it changes or I've watched different trends and different miracle things coming up.
over the years. So, and then you just add it, these things at the arsenal, but it's usually not the end all be all. That's just.
Len Arcuri (38:22.478)
Great. Well, I think that's a very powerful message and yeah, I'll bottom line it by saying it comes down to focus on the right things, not everything, but the right things for your child and kind of active patience, right? Because again, with consistent action, you can help your child move in the right direction. But again, understanding that it is more of a journey, but it doesn't have to take too long if you're focusing on the right things.
You can accelerate progress, but again, what that journey looks like, it's going to be different for every child. So that active patience and focus, I think is really key. And again, I appreciate you sharing your perspective. Can you tell listeners if they want to find out more about you, where can they go? Can you talk about NutriMedics? Because we talked about supplements and obviously you believe in what NutriMedics is doing. So feel free to share why that particular company is something that you're so aligned with.
Debby Hamilton (39:10.775)
Yeah.
you
Debby Hamilton (39:19.128)
Yeah. So, you know, I said I have worked with different companies in terms of supplements and supplements get very expensive. You do get what you pay for. And you mentioned quality. If you get something off Amazon, you don't really know what you're getting, but there are some really good brands. Nutri-Medics really specializes in a lot of herbal tinctures. So that, you know, the liquid herbs basically, and those are really easy to get into kids.
right? Because sometimes capsules and things aren't. But everything is high quality, tested for metals. You really want to make sure you get what you need. Nutrimetics has a lot of antimicrobials and antimicrobials are basically herbs that, I antibiotics are one, those are for bacteria. Antimicrobials are really good for tree lawn infections. A lot of these kids have chronic infections. The PANs are immune infections, but chronic strep.
you have chronic infections, yeast overgrowth, kind of things that you have to treat with antimicrobials in your gut. And the good thing about antimicrobials, or like, I'm sorry, with herbs, is they're also anti-inflammatory and they help modulate the immune system. So you get multiple actions in one product, and they usually treat multiple infections, not just, this is an antibiotic for this type of bacteria. So the supplements, the quality does matter.
and I know that you do some parent coaching, but I have a lot of parents who are completely burnt out and you have to, this is a journey and a marathon. You have to also take care of yourself. see marriages break down. You have to attend your marriage. I've seen a lot of, very depressed moms. come in and they're just not functioning. It's almost like they're in shock. You know, it's a lot. This is, you know, I mean, parenting regardless of, of, you know, what's going on with the child.
It's it's a, it's no small deal. It is challenging. And then if you have a child with special needs or chronic health issues, you, know, and you're in for a marathon, you got to take care of yourself also. And that means eating well, you know, that means exercising, that means downtime, all that kind of stuff. so I think that that's important too. And I think that the parents are, will do everything for their child. And like, that doesn't mean that you want to make yourself sick because that's not going to the child either. So.
Len Arcuri (41:15.054)
It's challenging.
Len Arcuri (41:44.142)
That's right. And I think every parent understands that to some degree, but I really think it's the minority of parents who actually do something about it. So I love that that advice is what we're ending on because that is incredibly important. You're a parent, you are the key. You're the key decision maker. You are the most important thing in your child's life. They want you to take care of yourself. And through a lot of what Dr. Hamilton shared during this discussion, so much of that can...
help your child, you can put it to use for yourself. And again, I really appreciate your perspective, Dr. Hamilton. Look forward to seeing you at the next conference, but I appreciate you sharing a lot of what this road looks like for parents. And in terms of just your own personal website, if parents want to like just reach out and find out more about you, I know some of your presentations, drdebbyhamilton.com.
Debby Hamilton (42:15.468)
you
Debby Hamilton (42:21.762)
Mm-hmm.
Debby Hamilton (42:34.518)
Right, on there. Yep, drdaviehamilton.com, holisticpediatric.com, they both do the same thing, so.
Len Arcuri (42:42.936)
Perfect, it'll all be in the show notes. Well, again, Dr. Hamilton, thank you so much.
Debby Hamilton (42:47.222)
Yes, and I really appreciate the just joining you today and I hope this is very helpful for people.
Len Arcuri (42:53.358)
It definitely is. Thank you so much.
