#21

  • Methylation testing (homocysteine and MTHFR would be the basic tests). If MTHFR is under-functioning, then supplement with appropriate dose of B-Vitamins, folate & TMG, which usually come in a combo (also, Phosphatidylcholine & creatine are great supporting agents, but not necessary to have on a daily basis). Methylation is fundamental for a large % of body’s biochemical processes, including energy metabolism and Phase 1&2 detox, neurotransmitter synthesis, etc etc

  • Multivitamin: A low dose, clean multivitamin (such as HIYA or equivalent) or dessicated organ/liver supplement: as a basic nutrition insurance policy. This would include quite a few micronutrients

  • Brain supporting nutrients: Fish / fish oil for brain development. Low dose Lithium 1mg is a great addition as well.

  • As much as possible/feasible, cook at home with traditional cooking methods such as soaking/sprouting/fermenting/pressure-cooking/rinsing/etc, to minimize anti-nutrients such as lectins/oxalates/phytates/etc (if consuming a heavy plant-based diet). Incorporate some dairy, eggs, ruminant meat and sea food (if your culture allows that, and your body is compatible with it)

  • Diet: Needless to say, whole food and minimally processed food, atleast 80% of the time

  • LP(a) testing: Yes, I believe this would be good to do at young age, but a lot of doctors (including functional/integrative medicine doctors downplay the importance/relevance of it)

  • Circadian alignment / consistency (as per their chronotype) as much as possible and sleep hyegine. I dim the light down throughout the house after 7:00pm. I have setup blue light blocking lamps in kids bed rooms. Low dose magnesium at night. I switch off modem before going to bed (to minimize unnecessary radiation). First thing in the morning = sun exposure (even if its cloudy) + barefoot on the grass + hydration + some movement.

  • Exposure to dirt / nature / outdoors (for immune resilience and to cultivate microbiome alpha-diversity)

  • Some form of mindfulness / meditation / humming / singing (to gravitate towards parasympathetic state, esp in the evening)

  • Needless to say, incorporating some sort of regular sports / excercise

  • Nurturing contribution / belongingness / self-esteem. Allowing freedom for kids to experiment and make mistakes (which is something that is still a work-in-progress for me, as a parent of 2)

  • The rest of the protocols would be as per personalized testing (e.g. allergy testing, micro-nutrient defeciency testing, etc on a need basis)

Those are just a few that comes to my mind

2 Likes
#22

Thanks for the list! To be totally honest, some of them seem a little extreme. I wouldn’t dose my 4 year old with lithium, even though he can be a total asshole sometimes! That might even be unethical to give them prescription medications.

However, I agree with you about sleep, and we really emphasise getting them to bed at a set time, keeping a dark and cool room, having some “winding down time” before bed. Same for sport and exercise, exposure to nature, dirt and outdoors.

Lp(a) testing we have done, simply because mine is disastrous and it’s obviously genetic. There isn’t much we can do right now apart from just being extra vigilant about not letting them eat too many hotdogs and other junk.

The more I think about it, the more I am considering that mental health seems to be the most important. Physical we can almost take for granted, since they grow up in our house seeing my wife and I eating healthily, exercising, we have a home gym, the kids “lift weights” (like kettlebells etc) with me for fun, and we do a lot of play throwing and kicking balls around, running on the field etc. But mental health seems a real challenge in 2025. Keeping them away from social media seems like a no-brainer at the moment, given how miserable it makes people.

2 Likes
#23

No - he’s talking about micro-dosing with the supplement version (not the mood disorder pharmaceutical). See this thread: A primer on Lithium, Lithium + Rapamycin, etc. potentially more stable and safer pharmacokinetics

and here: Lithium Supplementation

4 Likes
#24

Speaking again of mental health and in preaching to the choir….

Not that we don’t already know META is damaging to our youth, I’ll share yet another thing I learned upon the release of the book Careless People. If I had kids and if they had SM, I would have ripped their phones out of their hands this week.

They are much more evil than I already knew they were… and the bar was pretty low.

From a confidential document leaked to the Australian press, FB offered advertisers the opportunity to target young girls with beauty and weight loss ads at their most vulnerable moments.

“Facebook could determine when users as young as 14 feel “defeated”, “overwhelmed”, “stressed”, “anxious”, “nervous”, “stupid”, “silly”, “useless” or a “failure”.

Apparently, deleting a selfie would trigger these ads with the thought that you only delete photos when you don’t think you look good.

This was old news but I had no idea they were that purposefully cruel.

3 Likes
#25

Wow, that is just horrible. I read “the anxious generation” by Johnathon Haidt, and it says that girls seem to be much more negatively affected by social media. I guess this sort of thing helps explain why. (That said, guys are also targeted for muscle building, pickup artist, blah blah stuff)

1 Like
#26

Good point. This tracks because Scott Galloway (my personal hero!) talks a lot about what SM has done to young men.