Hey friends! Welcome back to another episode of Nourished to Bloom. Today, we've got a special treat—our very first guest on the podcast in celebration of our 50th episode, and we're diving into a topic every parent grapples with—how to handle picky eaters and raise an intuitive eater. Trust me, you're going to love the insights from this conversation!
In this episode, I sit down with Sarah Derry, a fellow registered dietitian, to share some practical strategies and heartening truths about managing picky eating in your household. Let’s turn those mealtime battles into a nurturing experience that aligns with your faith-filled approach to wellness.
🌟 Here's the key takeaway: It's all about patience, trust, and meeting your child where they are, both emotionally and developmentally.
Think about it for a moment – what if we approached mealtime with the curiosity of a child? What if, instead of fearing the mess or the refusal, we celebrated each small step like the triumph it is?
Here's a sneak peek of the latest episode:
👶 Understanding the typical timeline for picky eating phases
💪 Strategies to support children across different ages: toddler years, school-age kids, and teenagers
👂 The importance of listening and responding to your child's individual eating challenges
👩👧👦 Building a trusting relationship around food and mealtimes
This week, let's try to add a sprinkle of joy to one meal. Perhaps a fun game or a food experiment – let’s turn mealtime into a moment of connection and exploration.
Next Steps:
Share the podcast! Celebrate with me by sharing this episode with a friend who might need some support on their parenting journey. Thank you for being part of our community and here's to the next 50 episodes of growth and transformation together!
Connect with Sarah Derry, RD, Nourished Village Nutrition! On Instagram: @nourishing.picky.eaters Visit her website: https://www.nourishedvillagenutrition.com/
Book your FREE Wellness Audit Session: Click Here
Connect on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/karatrochta/
Join The Nourished to Bloom Community: www.community.karatrochta.com
Instagram: www.instagram.com/karatrochta
The Nourished to Bloom Podcast Show Notes: www.podcast.karatrochta.com/shownotes
00:00:00
So isn't it the most frustrating thing as a parent when you prepare a
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meal and you put it on the table for your family to eat and one
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of your kids looks at it and goes, ew, gross. I don't
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like that. I'm not gonna eat it. And you're so
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frustrated because literally two weeks ago they were scarfing that same meal
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down. I get it. It can be so frustrating and so challenging when
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our kids constantly are changing their minds and their preferences when it
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comes to food. And it's especially difficult if you tend to have a
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child would maybe label or call a picky
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eater. And so I really wanted to incorporate
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a conversation, an episode around picky eating in
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our series of how to Raise an Intuitive Eater. And I'm
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super excited for this episode for a couple of reasons. One,
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it is the 50th episode of the Nourish to Bloom podcast which is
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such an amazing milestone and I appreciate every single one of you
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tuning in week after week to join the conversation and to
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listen about how you can incorporate faith, blood, wellness and
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Christ centered intuitive eating into your life. And two,
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I'm actually bringing my first guest on to the
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podcast today. So today I'm going to chat with fellow
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dietitian Sarah Derry. She specializes in working
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with picky eaters and she's been our personal dietitian
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for our own resident picky eater in our house. And so I
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couldn't think of a better person to come on and share some
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practical and, you know, really easy tips
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on how to manage maybe the picky eater that you have
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in your house. So, so excited to have Sarah join us. Thanks
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again for tuning in and we will jump in and I'll see you
00:01:44
in the podcast. Welcome to the Nourish to Bloom podcast
00:01:48
where your faith meets your health. I'm your host, Kara Trochta,
00:01:52
a registered dietitian and certified Catholic coach and I'm here to help you
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cultivate a deeper connection with your body, your spiritual and the
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nourishment that sustains them both. In a world filled
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with noise and confusion about food, health and body
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image, this podcast offers truth and healing from a Christ centered
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perspective. Together, we'll untangle the deep roots of diet
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culture and discover what it means to truly care for
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ourselves through joyful nourishment of mind, body and
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soul, we're here to dive into the transformative power of intuitive eating
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coupled with the rich teachings of our Christian faith. With every
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episode, I'll be cheering you on, offering insights, inspiration
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and practical tools to help you heal your relationship with
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food and embrace the beauty of your body as a temple of the
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Holy Spirit with confidence and courage that
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can only be found in Christ. Join me as we journey together
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towards a more holistic approach to wellness, one that honors the wisdom
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of your body as God's creation, the teachings of our faith,
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and the unique purpose you're called to fulfill.
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You were made to bloom, to come into
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full beauty and health in order to bear good fruit for the Lord with your
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life. So if you're ready to nourish your body, feed your soul, and
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bloom into the best version of yourself, then you're in the right place. And
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I'm so happy you're here. Welcome to Nourish to
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Bloom, where every day is a sacred invitation to
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thrive. Hey there. Welcome back to the Nourish to
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Bloom podcast. So happy to have you here this week
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and tuning in. I hope your week is off to something
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beautiful and blessed. I like I said in the intro, I'm
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so excited for this episode because it's the 50th episode of the Nourish to
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Bloom podcast, which seems like quite a feat in my life if I reflect
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back on it, considering that it started in April. It seems like it's
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both gone super fast and super slow. But here we are at the
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50th episode and like I said, I am joined with
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my first ever guest on the Nourish to Bloom podcast.
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So today, joining me is Sarah Dairy. She is a fellow
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registered dietitian. She specializes in
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pediatrics and working with picky
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eaters and she ranges
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or she works with picky eaters across all ages and levels of picky eating,
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from that just kind of typical toddler picky eating to
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kids who are diagnosed with feeding disorders and kind of everything in
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between. She has been our resident picky eating
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dietitian within her own household and my daughter Kennedy has worked
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with her in the past to kind of navigate some of our own picky
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eating struggles. Sarah is also the mom to two
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girls, so she gets it and how challenging feeding kids
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can be. But it's really cool because she combines her personal
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experience as well as her professional expert
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expertise to really help families reverse those picky
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eating struggles with simple but really realistic
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steps that feel good to the whole family and I
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think really kind of help stop that food fight in general.
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So welcome Sarah. Thanks for having me. Yeah, I'm
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excited. This is so fun. When I was thinking about. So this,
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this episode is in. In a series that I'm calling How to Raise an
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Intuitive Eater and So when I was thinking about what I wanted to kind of
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focus on, I know that a lot of my listeners
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are moms, and they likely have picky eaters in their own
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household, just like I do. And so I was like,
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I am really not the expert on picky eating, but I know somebody who is.
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And so I couldn't think of a better person to have join this
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conversation and just kind of give us some ideas, talk a little bit about picky
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eating and. And what that looks like. Thanks,
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Kara. Okay, so I think to get us
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started, kind of one of the questions I want to lead off with, because I
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think we're kind of kindred spirits in this sense. We're both dietitians,
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we're both moms, but we both kind of had our own
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struggles in the past with our relationship with food
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and through our own healing journey, it's kind of led us to the path
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that we're on now in, you know, kind of our specific areas
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of expertise. So do you mind sharing a little bit of, like, your
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story, your own healing journey and how that has led you to where you
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are and, you know, specializing and working with picky eaters?
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Yeah. So my relationship with food has been rocky,
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or at least was rocky for quite some time. I started
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off just in a household that didn't prioritize
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nutrition. I was on the side of things,
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and, you know, that was really hard growing up. I remember those
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conversations where my pediatrician sat me down with my growth chart to
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show me that my weight was too high. I remember being made fun of for
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how I looked and that, which is no surprise, probably to
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anybody, that led me to years of disordered eating and really rough
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relationship with food. So in my 20s,
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so I actually went to college initially not for nutrition. I went for biotechnology.
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But, you know, over those later teen years of kind of
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navigating that disordered eating, I really took a love in
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nutrition and how to nourish my body, and that took me into becoming a
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dietitian, which dietitians do have kind of a similar background in that area,
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but really focusing on healing my relationship with food and having that better relationship
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with food and my body. So I'm definitely in a better place now. I'd say
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for the last decade, maybe. Maybe a little more than 10 years,
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you know, it's been up and down. You know, I still go through some of
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those phases where I do struggle and I do look in the mirror and,
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you know, have those negative thoughts that resurface. But for the
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most part, you know, I. I am so much better than I was. I
00:07:42
love food for what it does for my body, and I've. I've learned to just
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love and accept myself for how I look, you know, but when
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it comes to a professional sense, and even just as a mom, my number
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one goal for any child that I come into contact with, whether it's my own
00:07:57
kids or my clients, is just to make sure they do have that healthy relationship
00:08:00
with food, that it is a positive experience. You know, when
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I started as a dietitian, I was working at a hospital, working with kids with
00:08:07
cystic fibrosis, and they struggled with growth, they struggled with picky eating.
00:08:11
And I saw just, like, how much that tore apart families, how stressed the
00:08:15
parents were, how challenging the relationships were, and I was also seeing
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kids that hated food and just were having such a negative
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experience with food. So I think the combination of everything has just led
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me to where I am just wanting kids to feel confident with food, wanting to
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feel confident in themselves, and just having a really good experience with it
00:08:34
overall. Yeah, I love that. I can totally
00:08:37
relate to just that. You know, the things that you said
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about still, like, the ups and downs with that healed
00:08:44
relationship, I think that's really important for anybody to hear is that while,
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like, the intuitive eating framework and that, you know, healed
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relationship is, you know, what we're doing for the most part, there
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are always those. Those struggles. And so I think it's just, that's normal and
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natural part of life, that there's going to be ups and downs and all part
00:09:03
of it. And really just love how
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you just take that approach with kids, because I think that they're
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just. They're sponges at that age. Right. And so I talk a lot
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with, you know, my listeners and my clients about being role models. You know, I
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get that question a lot with, how do I do that? Like, how do I.
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How do my kids have this healthy relationship? And I'm like, well, you have to.
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You have to go first, right? But I went
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first in my own relationship. But, yeah, I still, you know,
00:09:32
have a kid who struggled with. With picky eating, and
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that definitely messed with my mind a lot
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from, you know, both a personal and professional experience, but
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knew that role
00:09:46
modeling wasn't enough. You know, you and I talked about it in. In
00:09:50
working with Kennedy was that it was so hard to be the mom and the
00:09:53
dietitian in the room. Right. And so, you
00:09:57
know, I. I knew, and I was at that point where it was like, I
00:10:01
knew I couldn't be that person. But what would you tell, you know,
00:10:04
another, another mom, another parent who's listening, like, when
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should they be concerned about their kids picky
00:10:11
eating? Like, when does it become. I don't necessarily. I mean, I would. Maybe
00:10:15
you can speak to it, because I don' Is it like on a continuum essentially,
00:10:19
like where you have like different levels of it and it's like when you kind
00:10:23
of hit this threshold, you're like, okay, yeah, we should seek professional help. Yeah. So
00:10:26
let's, let's first just talk about when picky eating tends to start
00:10:30
first. So if we're talking about typical picky eating,
00:10:34
we start to see that crop up around 18 months to two
00:10:37
years. And it's a very typical, or can be a very typical
00:10:41
developmental. Right. Kids are becoming more independent,
00:10:45
they're learning, they can say no, they're developing preferences.
00:10:49
So that's often where we do see it start. I do want to
00:10:53
mention that not all feeding struggles are picky eating. And
00:10:57
this is kind of like that continuum you talk about, right? There's that typical phase
00:11:00
of picky eating that we all are pretty familiar with. But then there's all
00:11:04
these other things that can be contributing to a feeding difficulty. So for example,
00:11:08
sensory challenges, oral motor difficulty, digestive
00:11:11
issues, traumatic feeding issues, so maybe choking
00:11:15
incidences as a young infant or a toddler, all of these things
00:11:18
can play into it. So for some of those kids that have more deeply rooted
00:11:21
feeding challenges, we can see that start anywhere from
00:11:25
infancy, right? Even on bottles or starting solids, we can see an issue
00:11:29
start or toddler years or even later on in
00:11:33
childhood. So, so the range is
00:11:36
just so individualized. Right. So kind of the way that we
00:11:40
react to it really depends on what the severity is of it.
00:11:44
But where I think parents really need to start thinking about
00:11:48
getting some help is first of all, if there are those situations where
00:11:52
your child doesn't even start off eating well, right. If
00:11:56
from starting solids, your child is struggling, I highly recommend
00:11:59
seeing an occupational therapist or a speech language pathologist right away to
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see if there's any chewing or swallowing issues going. But
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if you're more of that typical toddler situation that
00:12:11
maybe just has spiraled for a while and it feels like it's getting out of
00:12:14
control. Or maybe your child is an extremely picky eater with sensory challenges. But later
00:12:18
on, I would look at how stressful is it for your family?
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How stressful is it for your child? Are they just
00:12:25
ignoring these foods on their plate or are they having a full blown panic attack
00:12:29
or running screaming from the table when they see a new food. Right. Are they
00:12:32
distressed around new food? How many foods do they have in their
00:12:35
rotation? If your child has 20 foods or fewer than that
00:12:39
that they are eating, definitely you've got to get help.
00:12:43
Because when your child only eats such few foods, they're going to
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repeat them all the time. They're going to get sick of them, they're going to
00:12:49
drop them out of their diet, and then their diet's going to keep shrinking from
00:12:52
there. Right. Or if you notice your child eliminating
00:12:55
entire food groups or texture groups. So say your child doesn't eat
00:12:59
any protein foods or no fruits or veggies, or
00:13:03
they only eat crunchy foods but won't eat anything wet or pureed
00:13:06
texture. Those are some signs that you definitely need to get some more support
00:13:10
because there's more going on to it, and your. Your child's
00:13:14
probably not going to overcome that on their own if you don't take
00:13:17
action. Yeah, I really. Yeah, that's really helpful. I think for us
00:13:21
personally, in my own house, it was that stress, right? That stress that it
00:13:25
was, like, really impacting mine and Kennedy's relationship.
00:13:29
And just meal times became stressful. It was like, is she gonna
00:13:33
eat? Is she not gonna eat? And then I think there's a little bit of,
00:13:36
like, blame from maybe my side in the sense
00:13:39
that she was, like, such a
00:13:43
robust eater as, like an infant and toddler. And then it just became
00:13:47
like, like you said, like, she cut out all fruits is really what we
00:13:50
struggled with. And it was just like, why? What did I do wrong? And I
00:13:54
think that that's something that maybe parents. Parents feel is like,
00:13:58
did they do something wrong? Can you. Can you speak to that at all?
00:14:02
Yeah. So, I mean, in so many cases, it's
00:14:06
nothing we did wrong. Right? It's just. It's just how it happens sometimes, or
00:14:10
something else is going on. And I think. I think
00:14:14
the thing as parents is we can control what we can control. Right. We can't
00:14:17
control our child all of a sudden going from this amazing eater as an infant
00:14:21
to all of a sudden having opinions as a toddler. Right. We can't control that.
00:14:25
But in those instances, we really have to focus on those things that are
00:14:28
controllable to us. So really coming back to those
00:14:32
foundations of, okay, well, even though they're saying they don't love this,
00:14:36
I'm going to keep serving it anyways. Right? So really sticking with the structure of
00:14:39
keeping those foods in rotation, making sure that you're the one who's deciding what
00:14:43
goes on that plate each time, not overly catering to your child,
00:14:47
not asking them what they want to eat every single meal and snack. Right. Because
00:14:51
your kid's only ever going to pick their favorite food. So
00:14:54
really coming down to those sorts of things, really making sure they're not grazing on
00:14:58
snacks all day and dulling their appetite for actual meal food. So,
00:15:01
yes, it is a phase and it's something that
00:15:05
we might not have control over and it might be frustrating, but
00:15:09
we can't just do nothing. We have to still do a little something about it.
00:15:13
Otherwise kids can kind of get stuck in that pattern.
00:15:16
Yeah. So any differences or
00:15:19
anything that you see? Because we kind of focus a lot on that, like that
00:15:23
toddler age. Anything different that you
00:15:26
see in as kids get older. So,
00:15:30
you know, more like that teenage type year like, or teenage
00:15:34
type years, like, do you work with that population?
00:15:37
Are you seeing any patterns or what does that look like? Yeah, so I
00:15:41
do work with teens and even some adults in some cases. And
00:15:45
you're right, there are different things that we have to do at different ages. So
00:15:48
you have those toddlers, the foundations are really important for them. And then
00:15:51
taking that pressure off food, doing a little food play, making it fun, meeting them
00:15:55
where they're at with the food is really important for that age group. Then somewhere
00:15:58
in the middle, we have this school age child which is like
00:16:02
6 to 11 ages. And this group presents a whole
00:16:06
new slew of challenges because they're now in this developmental stage
00:16:10
called concrete operations where they are a black and white thinker. So
00:16:13
this is very much the time when we have to start working on their mindset
00:16:17
around trying new foods. They at this point have years of practice
00:16:21
being a picky eater and being stuck in these habits and they're identifying as a
00:16:24
picky eater. And that black and white mindset is so hard because you
00:16:28
get into the frame of mind of I either like it or I don't, or
00:16:31
it has to be the most amazing food I've ever tasted in order to eat
00:16:34
it or I'm not touching it. Right. So we really have to work on mindset
00:16:37
in that situation. Reminding them that learning to like foods takes time.
00:16:41
Reminding them that if we don't like it yet, we might have to give it
00:16:45
more time or how can we fix this food to make it better for us?
00:16:48
Or even, you know, it doesn't have to be a 10 out of 10 most
00:16:51
delicious for us to be able to eat this food. We all eat foods that
00:16:54
are just okay. And that is such a hard concept for the kids in
00:16:58
this age group to grasp. You know, I think sometimes it's hard. For
00:17:02
us to grasp that as adults too. Right. Like, dinner was just
00:17:06
kind of meh tonight. I know, and that's such a good point. Because
00:17:09
as adults, we can say, hey, I'm not in the mood for pork and
00:17:13
potatoes tonight. I'm going to make pasta instead. Right. It's like we all do that
00:17:16
sort of thing where we're like, oh, I'm not in the mood to eat this,
00:17:19
or we only want something that's delicious. Like, do I love cucumbers?
00:17:23
No. Do I know that eating vegetables is important and good for me? And do
00:17:27
I eat them sometimes even though they're not a 10 out of 10 in the
00:17:29
flavor department? Yes. Right. So these are things that we as adults learn over
00:17:33
time, and it's something that we have to help these kids
00:17:37
also understand. So that that's probably the biggest challenge
00:17:40
at that age group. But once you do know how to have a little humor
00:17:44
with them, joke around a little bit, inform them of those things, they start to
00:17:48
get it, it clicks, and then that mindset piece
00:17:51
is in the right frame of mind to start accepting new foods
00:17:56
for the older kids. So even the teens and the adults
00:17:59
at that phase, it's so important that we're empowering them
00:18:03
and just helping them to notice why their eating
00:18:07
is the way that it is. Because most of the time for this age group,
00:18:11
they don't know, like, their eating has just gotten this way. Right.
00:18:14
So what sabotages them when it comes to trying new foods?
00:18:18
What supports them when it to trying new foods? What motivates
00:18:22
them? Right. What turns them off about foods? You know, is looking at a
00:18:25
certain food, you know, a turnoff or smells? Can we adjust
00:18:29
those things? How can we empower them to stand up for themselves?
00:18:33
If someone comments on their eating, That's a big part of it at that age
00:18:36
is the social aspect of, I'm going out to eat, I'm afraid to
00:18:40
order at a hibachi restaurant because I don't like anything. What is my friend going
00:18:43
to say? Right. So what to say in that situation, how
00:18:47
to talk to the server to advocate for yourself and to
00:18:51
get a food item that you need. Right. So it's all of those sort of
00:18:54
life things that come into play at that age. It's really
00:18:58
important. And I would think that, you know, just even that school agency
00:19:01
teen, there's just so much more of an external influence that is also
00:19:05
shaping this picky eating. Anything that you can say or
00:19:09
Attest to as far as, like, how diet culture maybe
00:19:12
impacts, you know, that school age children and picky eating, or is
00:19:16
there really not any sort of correlation in that? I'm trying to think
00:19:20
of the clients I've worked with. I can't say that I've actually seen that
00:19:23
come into play all that much.
00:19:28
I really haven't. I don't know. I don't know if it's just the population that
00:19:31
I have found my way to, but I haven't really heard
00:19:35
much, you know, in regards to that. For. For me, the most of the kids
00:19:38
that I see more so have that fear of trying new foods and
00:19:42
not necessarily like, have you ever heard of Arfan Avoidant restrictive food intake
00:19:46
disorder? So they more have that form of disordered eating where they're fearful
00:19:50
or they have these underlying senso issues with food and not necessarily that it's
00:19:53
driven by body dysmorphia or diet culture or anything like
00:19:57
that. It's a true fear of the food itself or a true struggle with
00:20:01
the food itself and not necessarily influenced by something else.
00:20:05
But also, in my program, like with any of the kids that I work with,
00:20:10
we do talk about nutrition. Absolutely. But
00:20:14
my priority with most of the kids is variety in
00:20:17
any form. So a lot of times, depending on how
00:20:21
selective a child is, we might be working on a different flavor
00:20:25
of chip or a different flavor of ice cream or, you know,
00:20:29
adding a cracker. Right. So we oftentimes
00:20:33
are focusing on variety first and not necessarily talking
00:20:36
nutrition all that much to begin with. It is easier
00:20:40
for a lot of kids to branch out to those kind of
00:20:43
snackier foods because they're more palatable, they're easier
00:20:47
to like. And then once they gain confidence, we go out to those like,
00:20:51
more nutritious food, so to speak. Yeah. In a previous
00:20:55
episode in the series, I talked a lot about like nutrition by addition. Right.
00:20:59
So when your kids kind of gravitate towards maybe more those snacky foods, just like
00:21:03
empowering them to what can we add to this that like, makes this
00:21:06
more balanced or makes this more nutritious or even makes this more
00:21:10
satisfying as a way to kind of bring those two worlds together
00:21:13
of the nutrition piece of it, but then also that
00:21:17
satisfaction piece. And you know, like, I mean, we hear it as
00:21:20
dietitians, nutrition doesn't work if they're not. If the person's not actually eating
00:21:24
it. Right. And so that's, I think one of the challenges that we face as
00:21:27
parents is meshing those two things together because we
00:21:31
inherently know, you know, probably how important the nutrition piece is. And if any
00:21:35
of us have had any of that diet culture influence, it seems to be
00:21:38
like, right, that very black and white. It's got to be this or nothing. But
00:21:42
then just trying to bring these two things together to really help
00:21:45
support kids have that. Having that healthy relationship with food.
00:21:49
So how would you say, like, you incorporate
00:21:53
intuitive eating into supporting the management of
00:21:57
picky eating? Yeah. So, I mean, as a parent,
00:22:00
you know, raising a child as an intuitive eater, we
00:22:04
can really do that whether our child is a picky
00:22:08
eater or not. Because really, that
00:22:11
intuitive eating approach is not so much what our kids eating
00:22:15
as it is how we're feeding them and how we're talking about food and educating
00:22:19
them about food. Food. So when we work with families,
00:22:22
it's a lot like you said, of gentle nutrition over
00:22:26
time, adding on, you know, hey, it's great. You can have your tips. And
00:22:30
also, what can we add to this meal? It's really based
00:22:33
in a lot of trust in the parent and child, really having that
00:22:37
trusting relationship around food and that trusting relationship
00:22:41
at mealtime. So that way we are trusting that our kids are
00:22:45
listening to their body and getting what they need. But it's also this
00:22:48
collaboration as we teach them about other foods. Right. So we can't
00:22:52
be so much like
00:22:56
pushing certain foods and doing these sorts of things if they are not ready for
00:23:00
it, because intuitively, they don't have that
00:23:03
desire to try new foods. They maybe are listening to
00:23:07
other internal messages in their body, like their sensory system might
00:23:11
be overriding that, or they're avoiding foods because of their
00:23:15
sensory challenges there. Or we're helping them tune back into hunger
00:23:18
because some picky eaters lose touch with that because they're stressed
00:23:22
at meal time. So there's a lot of little moving elements to it. But I
00:23:25
think it all comes back to just working with your child, meeting them where they're
00:23:28
at, and just gently encouraging them, you know,
00:23:32
in order to branch out to new foods and, you know, explore
00:23:36
different things. Yeah. Okay. So I know this
00:23:40
seems like, how would you even narrow this down? Because there's just so many
00:23:43
different elements to picky eating. But let's.
00:23:47
So anybody who's listening, who maybe is struggling with picky eating, eating
00:23:51
what would either be some strategies that would maybe help get them
00:23:54
started, some things that they could maybe try at home, or maybe
00:23:58
just like, there's this message that you feel like parents of picky
00:24:02
eaters really need to hear to,
00:24:05
you know, really start to, I think, work on their own Mindset, because as
00:24:09
parents of picky eaters, we have our own mindsets. Right. We have our own thoughts
00:24:12
and beliefs about what this looks like. So anything that you can. You can
00:24:16
share as far as that goes. Yeah. So when it comes to your
00:24:20
mindset, I would say just wrap your mind around the fact that your child isn't
00:24:24
being picky to make your life difficult. Right. They're not just trying to
00:24:28
be annoying and frustrating. You know, there's the true reason why eating
00:24:31
feels hard to your child. And recognizing and acknowledging that
00:24:35
is so important. A, to get you on the same team as
00:24:39
your child, but B, also so that your child knows that
00:24:43
you get them right and that you're helping them.
00:24:46
So that's kind of the first thing is just know that they're not doing it,
00:24:50
you know, just because. Right. And
00:24:54
then, you know, different ways that we can work on things. So those strategies we
00:24:57
mentioned before with just having that good mealtime foundation at first,
00:25:01
no pressure, you know, curb the grazing, you be
00:25:05
mostly in charge of what's on the menu. Of course, it's okay to get
00:25:08
those opinions and requests here and
00:25:12
there, but. But mostly making sure that you're rotating their foods as much as
00:25:15
possible and then really helping
00:25:19
to take that focus off of eating at first makes a
00:25:23
huge difference. So I know when we were talking about trying to get our kids
00:25:25
to eat new food, obviously the end goal is to get them to actually eat
00:25:29
that food. But a lot of kids do need to start at some of the
00:25:32
preliminary steps of just playing with that food, touching it, smelling
00:25:36
it, cooking it, watching you eat it, you know, all those sorts of things to
00:25:39
get comfortable with it first. So if your child. If you've been trying to get
00:25:43
your child to try bite and you're saying things like, just try this, just try
00:25:45
this, and they're not. You've got to back up and start there instead. I think
00:25:49
one of the things that you. That one of the tools that you gave us
00:25:52
that we still, like, we still laugh about it, we still use it. It's like.
00:25:55
What did you call it? The snake? This. What is it? Snake
00:25:59
taste. Yeah. Or the taste. Is that what it is? Yeah, yeah, we
00:26:02
still talk about that. Which basically, for anybody listening, it's just basically like your.
00:26:06
Your kid using their tongue to just like, quickly, like, touch the food with
00:26:10
their tongue. And it kind of seems silly
00:26:14
if you're like, from the outside perspective, but it was just. Even with my
00:26:17
own daughter, that was just a huge milestone to see that there were
00:26:21
some. Those preliminary steps That I just missed
00:26:25
the boat on. Right. It was just try it. Just try it. Like, why won't
00:26:28
you try it? But just realizing there are so many things that can lead
00:26:31
up to them actually trying it. And so just some of those
00:26:35
preliminary steps are really, really helpful. And they really do
00:26:39
kind of ease that. That stress and
00:26:42
frustration at meal time, because it does feel like you're then in some ways
00:26:46
making some sort of progress, right? Yes.
00:26:50
Yeah. It helps so much. And you're right. No one realizes that eating is so
00:26:53
complicated, but it's actually the most complex sensory task
00:26:57
that kids do. There's over 32 steps in the eating process.
00:27:01
It requires all eight sensory systems, basically every organ in
00:27:05
your body. You know, so much plays into it. So it's no surprise that
00:27:08
when we tell kids to just try a bite, they panic. They're not there yet.
00:27:13
So all those different ways to explore it, especially the different ways to taste it,
00:27:16
like you just mentioned, with the snake lick, giving them options for how they can
00:27:19
taste it, they don't have to just chew it and swallow it. They can rub
00:27:22
their finger on it and then lick their finger. They can do a snake taste.
00:27:25
They can balance it on their tongue and then spit it out, or bite it
00:27:28
and spit it into a napkin. Right. And then the other side of that, how
00:27:31
can we also give them some coping strategy? So if they taste it and they
00:27:35
don't like the taste, we can spit it back out into a napkin. We can
00:27:38
take a bite of a preferred food or a drink of water to get a
00:27:41
different taste back in our mouth right away, and it's over super fast. So those
00:27:45
sorts of things and teaching your child those small
00:27:48
skills is actually going to help them to be able to taste
00:27:52
foods more comfortably, taste them more often, and then
00:27:55
accept foods much more quickly. Yeah, And I. I mean, I can attest
00:27:59
to it. I mean, like, just, like, even just reflecting on the journey that we
00:28:03
had with you, like, I'm sitting here because we actually had our sessions with Kennedy
00:28:06
in the office that I'm sitting in now. But just, like, I didn't realize until
00:28:10
it was, you know, just sitting here watching her try these.
00:28:14
These different things and implement these little preliminary steps, like, how
00:28:18
much fear there actually was underneath that, and. And
00:28:22
just understanding, like, there's a lot of steps of undoing those
00:28:25
emotions that arise with. With that association
00:28:29
with particular foods and eating and everything. So, yeah, thanks for pointing
00:28:33
out, like, just how complex of a process it is, because I
00:28:37
think, you know, as we get to adulthood, it's Just like, well, you just
00:28:40
eat, right? Like it's just, it's just food. But how many
00:28:44
preferences we have on our own and just remembering that each one of our
00:28:48
kids is, they're, they're a little individual too and that of course they're going to
00:28:52
have preferences, but for whatever reason, I think sometimes we
00:28:55
think, how could, how could they possibly have a preference? Right? They're
00:28:59
just a kid. They don't know yet, but they, they really do. So
00:29:03
I think it's, I think it's been really helpful and your insights have been really
00:29:07
good. So do you want to kind of tell listeners
00:29:11
how they can follow you, how they can find you, how they can learn more
00:29:14
about working with you before we go? Yeah. So
00:29:18
the best place to find me is on Instagram. I put out tons of
00:29:22
free tips all the time. My handle,
00:29:26
I guess is what it's called. It's called Nourishing Picky
00:29:29
Eaters. And anytime anyone has a question, you're more than
00:29:33
welcome to message me over there. I'm in messaging all the time, just talking to
00:29:36
families and pointing them in the right direction. And then if you're at the point
00:29:39
where you do feel like you need some more support, I also offer a four
00:29:41
month coaching program. So you can find info on that through
00:29:45
my Instagram or my website, nourished.
00:29:48
Villagenutrition.Com yeah, and we'll put both of those links in the show
00:29:52
notes so people can easily, easily find those. But thanks
00:29:56
again for being here, Sarah. It's been a really good conversation. It's been
00:29:59
fun. Talk about
00:30:03
picky eating and just kind of, you know, share that
00:30:06
perspective on it because I think parents, again, just see it as very black and
00:30:10
white, but just understanding like there's more to it. And then also I think,
00:30:13
not feeling like they have to do this alone and, and figure this out on
00:30:17
their own, but there are ways that we can get support
00:30:21
in that. So I'm going to go ahead and close this out. Thank y'all for
00:30:25
tuning in. I hope you have a great rest of your week.
00:30:28
Remember, beauty held as a seed, beauty shared is the flower. It is your
00:30:32
time to bloom. And I will see you right back here next week. Take care.
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