Health is a Family Affair (feat. Julie Revelant)

It's hard. Getting kids to eat healthfully is not easy and when we're busy, it's even harder. But raising healthy people is potentially one of the greatest responsibilities and greatest challenges of parenthood. This week Jenn talks to Julie Revelant who has spent years in health journalism and communication with a focus on families. Ever wondered what to do with your picky eater? What do we do so we don't cause disordered eating later in life? It's all here for the taking! Plus a bit about how we got into this conundrum. Whether you're a parent now, a grandparent or may be a parent one day in the future, you won't want to miss this.  

Outline:

• Welcome back 
• How to be featured on our 100th full length episode
• Intro today's topic & meet Julie Revelant, today's featured guest
• Julie's story - growing up in the '80s, gained more than the Freshman 15 in college, after college it was Chinese food every Friday, found her way to a healthy weight and way of eating, then had two daughters to raise
• Why this is so challenging, raising healthful kids
• The media & food marketing
• "Food" prevalence & food rewards
• Food culture
• Pediatricians
• When you're concerned about a kid's weight, do you turn to the pediatrician? 
• The challenge of who is in control of what kids eat & the resources available
• When does it start? Earlier than we think!
• Kids naturally, developmentally get picky around age 2
• Healthful family dinners & getting kids excited about healthy eating
• Eating as a family, even if not dinner
• Get kids cooking (choose your day wisely)
• Look at cookbooks together
• Bring kids to the grocery store or Farmers' Market
• Kabobs
• Spices for kids
• Parsley, oregano, paprika, onion, garlic, cinnamon
• Alternative chips & getting kids to eat more veggies
• Picky eaters & trying new foods
• the self-fulfilling prophecy of what we say
• the food environment
• trying foods many times, starting with tiny portions
• Re-think what we're teaching as food culture
• Non-food-related rewards, minimizing rewards
• System-wide overhaul
• Structured meal & snack time
• Balancing encouraging & forcing healthful choices to not create disordered eating
• What you say & do
• How you view yourself, your habits, your own body
• Exploring food & the food experience
• Teaching mindful eating
• Food insecurity - what we need to know & what we can do
• Final thoughts from Julie

Links:

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Julie's Website, IG, FB & Podcast

Quotes:

"I can turn this around for my kid! They don't have to grow up on processed food...this is one of my biggest responsibilities as a parent." - Julie Revelant

"A study from 2020 in the Journal of the Association for Consumer Research found that children who don't already have strong preferences for certain foods tend to choose a couple of foods, rather than just one and when asked to choose all of their snacks for the week ahead of time, instead of choosing one snack everyday, they chose a wider variety of options, including fruit."  - Julie Revelant  

"We want to give our kids choices, within reason."   - Julie Revelant 

"It has to be parents leading the way with healthy eating habits." - Julie Revelant 

"Food preferences start in utero, so what we eat during pregnancy is just as important as what we feed them after birth." - Julie Revelant 

"Let's not remind them that the last time they tasted something they didn't like it." - Jenn Trepeck

"A non-food-related reward can be quality time." - Jenn Trepeck