Relax and Trust: Integrative Pediatrician Helps Empower Parents

A new clinic in Los Angeles, California, is giving power back to parents.

Dr. Joel ‘Gator’ Warsh—an integrative pediatrician and parent—opened his clinic, Integrative Pediatrics and Medicine, in 2018 and is charting a new course in pediatric care. His clinic encourages open communication, offers alternative and natural treatments, values prevention, and teaches parents to trust their intuition.

In an era where parental stress is at an all time high, Warsh supports parents by addressing concerns, helping navigate information overload, and reminding parents that they know more than they realize. His approach to health and well-being, which aims to empower parents appears to be resonating. Business is booming.

Doctor As Ally

Frustrated by the current system, many parents feel disempowered and that their concerns about their children’s health are not being heard—a sentiment Warsh often hears when new parents join his practice.

Warsh says that many people are unhappy with the Western medical system.

“A lot of people are starting to wake up a little bit to the fact that they have to take health into their own hands,” he told The Epoch Times.

Warsh says parents want to have an open discussion, and unfortunately, many physicians practicing modern medicine are unwilling to do that—particularly with topics like vaccines. He encourages open discussions, even on controversial topics. This is part of the reason his practice has flourished.

Warsh’s focus on prevention and lifestyle doesn’t align with the typical medical model constrained by brief appointments. He dedicates time to comprehensive patient histories, discussing diet, environmental factors, sleep, and exercise. “You can only do so much in two or three minutes,” Warsh said. If you’re not focusing on lifestyle, you’re missing a crucial part of health, he added.

Warsh advocates for a partnership between doctors and patients. “I don’t think it’s a doctor’s job to tell people what to do,” he said. “It’s to teach them what to do,” he added. People need to respect diverse opinions and perspectives rather than fostering division, he noted.

In his recent book, “Parenting at Your Child’s Pace: The Integrative Pediatrician’s Guide to The First Three Years,” Warsh aims to empower parents with information and confidence. His message is clear: “Parenting is not a one-size-fits-all proposition.”

Parents Are Stressed

Modern parenting faces unprecedented challenges, largely due to information overload. Warsh identifies stress as a major issue, particularly for first-time parents.

“The stress has increased because I feel like people don’t trust themselves as much anymore because there’s just so much access to information—it’s really hard to synthesize it, and you always feel like you’re missing something or doing the wrong thing,” he said.

Warsh’s approach to helping stressed parents is to answer questions and discuss concerns, but primarily, it’s to reassure them that what is happening is “okay and normal.” While it’s natural to worry about serious symptoms, true emergencies are rare, he added.

“[For] most other things, you have time. There isn’t one right way to do almost anything in parenting, so a lot of it is really just trying things and using your gut to figure out what the best option is going from there,” he said.

Trusting Parental Intuition

Instead of comparing to others or second-guessing gut feelings, Warsh encourages parents to trust their instincts.

“You have to go back to remembering that there’s nothing more powerful than our gut instincts,” he said. “And if there’s anything that a smart doctor will use—number one is a mom’s instincts. I think that’s a super, super helpful piece of information to have when you’re thinking about anything that’s health or wellness,” he added.

First-time parents often worry excessively, Warsh noted, as they navigate unfamiliar territory without self-trust—a sentiment he shares in the book.

“You really can do most things. You just have to trust that you can. And most people trust themselves a lot more after they’ve been through it once,” he said.

Warsh hopes his book will help parents feel confident raising their children in a way that works best for them and their children while also finding joy in the process.

Warsh is not the first expert to recognize the power of intuition and its role in health and healing.

In her book “Radical Remission: Surviving Cancer Against All Odds,” Dr. Kelly Turner, who is a researcher and psychologist, investigated more than 1,000 cases of people who recovered from a severe and often terminal cancer diagnoses. They all shared nine factors in common, one of which was following their intuition. An entire chapter of the book is dedicated to intuition and gives several examples of how patients used it to guide their healing. 

Dr. Judith Orlof is a psychiatrist, intuitive healer, and author who has written several bestselling books that combine psychiatry, intuition, and personal growth. She teaches people to use intuition to heal emotionally, mentally, and physically. She also advocates for using intuition in conventional medicine, encouraging doctors and health care providers to trust their intuition to better understand and treat their patients.

Allopathic to Integrative

Warsh takes a holistic, integrative approach to treating his patients. In an interview with The Epoch Times, he expressed his openness to learning from diverse cultures and philosophies.

Warsh defines integrative medicine as “balancing the best of Western medicine with alternative and holistic practices.”

This approach emphasizes investigating the root causes of illness and focusing on preventive measures like diet and exercise.

Integrative medicine can include numerous modalities, like yoga, acupuncture, and nutrition. Warsh’s website describes it as the “appropriate use of both conventional and alternative methods,” enabling the body to heal itself while focusing on promoting health and preventing disease.

The SEEDS of Wellbeing

Warsh uses the acronym SEEDS to represent the five factors most significantly impacting physical, mental, and emotional health:

• Stress
• Environment and toxins
• Exercise
• Diet
• Sleep

Of the five, he says the most crucial ones are diet and toxins.

Despite the overwhelming prevalence of toxins in today’s world, small changes can have a powerful impact, Warsh said, referencing a Harvard study comparing canned and fresh soup consumption.

Many food and drink cans are lined with bisphenol A (BPA)–an endocrine-disrupting chemical linked to obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. The study had volunteers eat one serving of canned soup daily for five days while another group ate fresh soup. After five days, those who ate canned soup had more than 1000 times (1,221 percent) the BPA in their urine than those who ate soup made with fresh ingredients.

Warsh encourages simple actions to improve children’s health, such as cooking meals together and eating fresh foods whenever possible.

‘Dr. Gator Smoothie’

Warsh cautions against self-proclaimed gurus offering “magic bullet” solutions, noting that this “one-size-fits-all” mentality often fuels stress for parents.

His “Dr. Gator Smoothie” is meant to poke a bit of fun at those miracle solutions meant to cure everything, but is, in fact, “a carefully crafted recipe designed to compliment a balanced, integrative approach to your family’s health and wellness,” according to his book. We can implement the smoothie’s contents into our day-to-day lives to improve health and wellness. The book goes into more detail, but the raw “ingredients” are below:

• Emotionally nurturing spaces
• Mental health support
• Mindful stress management and resilience
• Social support
• Regular physical activity
• Adequate sleep
• Balanced nutrition
• Limiting toxins
• Access to health care
• Limited tobacco exposure
• Clean air and water
• Strong community ties
• Love and affection

Final Thoughts

While nothing truly prepares you for the anxieties and uncertainties of being a parent, technological advances and improved safety standards have made it safer than ever, Warsh noted. Today’s challenges lie in managing information overload, distinguishing between minor issues and true emergencies, and trusting parental intuition.

Warsh emphasizes that parents’ daily choices significantly impact their child’s health. He encourages focus on quality nutrition and toxin reduction, stressing that these small steps build a foundation for lifelong health.

Finally, Warsh hopes to empower parents to make the decisions that are right for them and their children while reassuring them that their parental intuition is innate and can be trusted. He reminds us that what is needed to be a great parent hasn’t changed and is about being loving and attentive to our children.

Perhaps the thing he wants parents to remember most is that, ultimately—you got this.