June 27, 2025 • 45 mins
Welcome to the MilesFromHerView podcast, powered by KatFit Strength. Host Kat, a seasoned strength trainer and mom, discusses genuine solutions for women balancing fitness, motherhood, and life. In this episode, Dr. Megan Bragg, a registered dietitian nutritionist specializing in maternal and child nutrition, shares insights into picky eating, debunking dietary myths, and the importance of prenatal nutrition. Dr. Bragg emphasizes a balanced and intuitive approach to eating, highlighting the significance of breaking the cycle of perfectionism surrounding diet. Kat and Megan offer practical advice for creating a stress-free environment around food and maintaining a healthy relationship with it. Tune in for expert tips on nourishing yourself and your family amidst the daily chaos.
Get in touch with Megan:
🛜 www.familycenterednutritionscience.com
📩mbragg@familycenterednutritionscience.com
00:00 Introduction to MilesFromHerView
00:48 Meet Dr. Megan Bragg: Expert in Maternal and Child Nutrition
02:02 Understanding Picky Eating in Children
06:30 Addressing Common Myths and Fears About Picky Eating
11:10 The Role of Language in Shaping Healthy Eating Habits
17:56 Maternal Nutrition: Impact on Early Life and Pregnancy
20:53 Postpartum Nutrition and Self-Care for New Moms
22:45 Prioritizing Nutrition Postpartum
23:32 The Myth of Perfection in Diets
24:41 Understanding Healthy Eating
29:48 Intuitive Eating and Hunger Cues
36:50 Challenges of Nutrition Research
41:13 Encouragement for Moms on Nutrition
43:39 Conclusion and Resources
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Kat (00:00):
Welcome to MilesFromHerView, the podcast
powered by KatFit Strength,where busy women like you find
practical solutions to fuel yourfitness journey with
authenticity and resilience.
I'm Kat, your host, a mom of twoactive boys, a business owner,
and an ultra marathon runner anda strength trainer in her
forties with nearly two decadesof experience.
(00:21):
I'm here to help you cut throughthe noise of fads, hacks, and
quick fixes.
This is a space where wecelebrate womanhood and
motherhood.
All while building strength andresilience and reconnecting with
you from a place ofself-compassion and worthiness.
Whether you're lacing up yourrunning shoes to go out for a
run, driving your kids topractice or squeezing in a
(00:42):
moment for yourself, I'm righthere in the trenches with you.
Let's dive in.
Dr.
Megan Bragg is a registereddietician nutritionist with a
PhD in nutritional biology.
Megan received her RDNcredential in 2015 before
beginning a research careerfocused on maternal slash child
(01:03):
nutrition.
Over the past 10 years, she'spublished studies ranging from
the role of choline in.
For growth and development amongchildren in Malawi to the impact
of maternal diet duringpregnancy on children's autism
development.
As the owner of Family-CenteredNutrition Science, Megan has
recently been using theinformation she's learned to
(01:24):
provide evidence-based nutritioncounseling for moms.
Children and families.
She currently offers telehealthsessions related to reproductive
nutrition, fertility, prenatal,and postnatal children
nutrition, introduction to ofsolids picky eating and women's
health PCOS to Menopause forfamilies in Pennsylvania,
Delaware, and New Jersey.
(01:46):
When she's not learning ortalking about nutrition, Megan
likes to spend time outdoorswith her husband and her two
sweet kiddos.
Welcome.
I'm super excited to have youhere and have this conversation.
Thanks.
Thanks so much for having me.
I'm really excited to be heretoo.
Let's jump in with picky eatingbecause this is one I hear a lot
(02:06):
and I'm this most people whohave been following this
podcast, Noah, I'm a mama of twoboys, and picky eating.
To me as a mom, I see it evolvethroughout the stages where, it
was different when they werelittle to now my kids are 10 and
13, as a parent, we all stress.
We want our kids to eat and wewant mealtime to be.
(02:28):
I.
Less battles, less of aheadache.
Maybe fun.
We want it to be fun too.
I would love to start with apicky eating where should we be
concerned?
Where should we not
Megan (02:38):
sure.
Absolutely.
Great question.
Really important one.
I think a lot of parents aresurprised when maybe their
infant is eating a lot ofamazing foods, all kinds.
And then as the kid gets older,they actually start refusing
foods they used to eat asinfants.
The fact is that actuallyinfants are usually less picky
than toddlers and preschoolers,which is why it's great to
(03:00):
introduce as many foods aspossible in that first year.
But once they move intotoddlerhood, you know, picky
eating is kind of par for thecourse.
And what it might look like ismeals where they don't eat very
much.
Parents joke about theirtoddlers, preschoolers,
kindergartners just having dayswhen they're just living on air
and like puffs, and that's kindof within the realm of normal.
(03:24):
On the other hand, sometimesthey'll have food jags or they
just love a food, they wanna eatit all the time.
They may have limited acceptanceof new foods or new textures is
a huge one.
New flavors they may refuse.
Foods they used to like, and allof this is.
Kind of to be expected, atleast, you know, to some extent
(03:44):
or less.
And especially with new foods,it can often take seven or more
exposures for a kid to reallytry and enjoy a food so they're
not eating it the first time.
You know, that's, that's kind ofwithin the realm of normal,
honestly.
And for the most part, it'sokay.
You know, kids, especially youngkids can generally eat what they
need to live.
Their, their body signals aresuch that they, they know how
(04:06):
much they kind of need to eat.
Others are a slower rate ofgrowth than infants.
So they may be eating a littlebit less, or at least it may be
looking like they're eating alittle less.
I recommend thinking over theentire day, instead of meal by
meal can be a way to help kindof understand what they're
getting in overall and if it'senough.
And the good news is that manykids grow out of this more
(04:27):
intense, picky eating withoutany intervention or any, any
real, you know.
Team healthcare work.
Mm-hmm.
But when it becomes more of aconcern, I'd say, is when the
child's not growing well.
So your pediatrician's tellingyou they're falling off the
growth curve, they'reskyrocketing above the growth
curve.
You know, that's, that's aconcern.
If they're avoiding entire foodgroups, I'd also be a little
(04:50):
concerned about nutrientdeficiencies.
So if they're not having anydairy or, you know, dairy
substitute, whatever that is foryour family, if they're not
having any fruits or veggies,any, you know, protein foods,
then it might be you know, timeto talk to a healthcare
provider.
And those are kind of themedical concerns.
But I'd also say.
You know, if it's a problem foryou, like it's a problem.
(05:12):
So if it's affecting yourfamily's quality of life, if
every meal is just like abattle, if you're just dreading
that's the least favorite partof your day, then, you know,
talk to someone, see if you canget some help to, to help it,
you know, decrease a little bitor to, to under at least change
your understanding of kind ofwhat it is and if it is a
(05:32):
problem.
So, you know, talk to ahealthcare provider, talk to a
dietician.
Some kids do have diagnosablefeeding difficulties like
avoidant resistant food intakedisorder.
And these kids obviously canreally benefit from a team of
providers to help them improveintake too.
Kat (05:50):
That was very good.
That like, I think just thinkingback to when my kids were.
Toddlers and both my kids werepolar opposite kids.
That was the, the silly part ofmy older one, like ate
everything except meat.
The pediatrician wasn'tbothered.
He was really enjoying otherprotein plant-based items.
So like, to your point, hewasn't.
(06:12):
Avoiding all of'em, yeah.
But it was, it was one of thosethat it was like, is he ever
going to eat meat?
I know you touched on this and Ithought this was really good.
If it's a problem for you indisrupting home, definitely talk
to individual like experts,professional doctors, and
registered dieticians likeyourself who are experienced in
this.
But what are things that you'relike, I wish this fear or myth
(06:36):
would just go away to help easeparents, to aid them in more of
like, it's okay, this is normal.
In their development.
What are those common myths andfears
Megan (06:46):
one, I think that can be really painful to parents is the
idea that either their parent,their kid is a picky eater and
nothing they can do about it.
Or that they cause this pickyeating.
This is their fault.
And I'd love to just kind ofhelp parents feel better about,
about how they feel about theirkids' picky eating.
(07:10):
And there was a really goodstudy in 2020 that I can share
with you that looked at bothnature and nurture.
Like what do we know about thecauses of picky eating?
And the, what they found wasthat it's both.
So if you're the parent who'sthinking like, there's nothing I
can do.
There are some things that youcan do to help if you, if you're
pregnant or have a younger kidto help prevent picky eating.
(07:32):
And if you already have a pickyeater, some things you can do to
help reduce their pickiness.
And on the other hand, if youalready have a picky eater, then
some of it is out of yourcontrol.
Some of it is genetic actually.
So there's evidence that kidshave different abilities to
taste bitter foods and thesekids that are genetically
predisposed, tasting bitterfoods.
(07:54):
They are more likely to bepicky.
Nothing you did, nothing anyonedid.
There's also, of course,developmental diagnoses like
autism that could influencechildren's picky eating.
Again, nothing to do with, thethings that you've done, but I
think the, the takeaway feelingthat some of it is out of your
control and that some of it youcan make small changes things
(08:17):
like.
Lots of early exposure in thatfirst year of life, and babies
actually can taste flavors inthe amniotic fluid during
pregnancy.
So even before the baby's born,you can be getting in lots of
different flavors that you'dwant them to be more accustomed
to.
Parenting practices.
We can do like child-centeredpractices based on
encouragement, praise insteadof, you know, guilt or rules or
(08:41):
forcing.
Modeling food intake, creating astress-free meal environment or
a lower stress, at least a mealenvironment.
All these things are things wecan do to reduce kind of any
genetic background or any otherthings that are out of our
control and try to get to theleast picky that we can get
within that level.
Kat (09:02):
I just find eating.
The way I talk to my clients iseating is so intimate with like,
and personalized.
Mm-hmm.
And you wanna get excited about what you eat because it
should be good.
And we should also be curiousabout other foods.
And it's okay to articulatemaybe why.
(09:24):
You may not like it, et cetera.
Or like, one in my householdwhat is it, edamame, my kids and
my husband love edamame.
I don't always like it, but I'mlike, it's okay.
I'll leave it.
You know?
And they're like, not myfavorite.
No.
It's just not my, I don't knowwhy I am, like, I like want to
love it.
Mm-hmm.
Sure.
(09:44):
Don't like, I appreciate thenutrition factor of it, but I'm
like, eh.
If I don't have to eat this, Iwouldn't eat it.
It wouldn't be my top choice,but Right.
I like that.
They like it, so, right.
Megan (09:56):
And allowing them that freedom that there's things they
probably don't, it's not theirfavorite, you know?
And that's okay.
Not everything's gonna be theirfavorite.
Kat (10:02):
Yeah.
It was funny.
We love Brussel Sprout.
Well, my youngest doesn't lovebrussel sprouts in my house, but
the other three of us lovedRussell Sprouts and he had said
one day he is like.
Mom, not a fan of Brusselssprouts, but they're on my plate
and I know they will help me.
So I'll have a few, but can Inot?
Finish all'em.
Can I leave too?
(10:22):
Sure.
that's totally fine.
Like you don't, to me, you don'thave to finish your plate.
I always ask my kids, and Iwould love to hear wording on
this.
I always say like, is your bellycomfortable?
Do you feel like you could eat alittle bit more?
Or you know,'cause I knowthere's that natural inkling, I
mean, I'm human too, where I'mlike, oh, if there's a big
(10:44):
chocolate cake over there.
Maybe I'm not gonna finish my,,more nutrient dense meal and
just skip to the cake.
And it's like, but wait, let'smake sure we eat the nutrient
dense.
And then still it's okay tohave, or less nutrient dense
foods.
I'd be curious to even justlanguage around eating and
(11:04):
especially with young kids andyourself too, is important.
How do you advise parents withthat?
Especially with picky eaterstoo?
Megan (11:13):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
I think language is important.
Even before that, I think onething I wanna talk about that
you mentioned before, this wholeidea of.
I'll put it out there and we'llsee what they do.
So we say like in the childfeeding area, that it's the
parent's responsibility todecide what and when is served.
So what types of foods.
(11:33):
When they're put out there, youdecide what's for dinner and
when basically, and that's thelimit of your responsibility.
That's the limit of yourcontrol.
And the kids' responsibility isto decide if they want to eat
it.
And how much.
Mm-hmm.
This can help reduce a lot ofparent stress to know that at
the end of the day, like unlessyou are shoving foods in their
(11:56):
mouth, which I cannot recommend,you can lead a kid to the
kitchen, but you can't make themeat right.
Like it is not yourresponsibility that they put
something in their mouth andchew it and swallow it and eat
it.
So it's your responsibility toput it out there and to create
an environment where they cantest it and try it and feel
comfortable.
Potentially trying new foods oreating foods that they've had in
the past as well.
(12:17):
Kind of trusting your kid andletting it go.
As for the language, I do tryto, I have younger kids, right?
So the language was probablygonna be a little bit different,
but I try to talk about the, themaybe the uses of the food, the
fact, the descriptions of thefood.
Try to leave out the value ofthe food, right?
(12:38):
So instead of, this is healthy,so please eat it.
This is unhealthy, we're notgonna eat it.
I'll say, this has lots ofprotein.
It's gonna make your body sostrong.
Like these have lots of vitaminsand minerals, like your body's
gonna feel so happy after youeat these.
Or on the flip side, you know,this has more sugar than we
really need.
So if you eat a lot, yourtummy's gonna feel sick, but we
(12:59):
can eat it right now.
It's fun to eat these things onbirthdays, you know, things like
that.
So I think using theselanguages, using this language
that tries to take the, thevalue, the fear or positive
value, the good and bad out offoods can be really useful.
'cause as a dietician, I believethere are no good or bad foods.
(13:22):
Every food has a place.
And I think as a, as a parent,part of our job is to offer a
variety of food.
Kids will encounter in theirreal life, whether in your
house, in school, you know, inbirthday parties and, and help
them kind of find theirrelationship with that food and
understand what it might do forthem or how it might make them
(13:43):
feel and help kind of ask,teaching them to ask questions
like that as well.
Kat (13:48):
I like how you said it's.
Taking the value out of thefood.
And it, it, I think that's hugewhen we put too much value and
worth on food, it develops amistrust in the relationship of
eating the food.
And I can't stand the, is thisgood or bad?
(14:11):
Well, it's, it's neither.
It's, it is what it is.
I don't know if it's still onNetflix, but when my kids were
little, there was a show calledStory Bots, and they did, I'll
have to have to find this.
I'm sure it's on YouTube.
They did an episode on food.
And I was a little skeptical.
(14:32):
I was like, okay, how are theygonna present food?
Because too often it's goodfood, bad food.
That's how it's presented.
And I prefer, well, there's morenutrient dense foods and a
little less nutrient densefoods.
They all have their place, butwe wanna make sure we're really
eating more nutrient densefoods.
That's the base, that's a goodfoundation of our food.
Mm-hmm.
And the less nutrient densefoods can all fit in there.
(14:53):
Yeah.
It's totally fine.
But the way they did this was toyour point of.
Illustrating on the terms of thekid level of.
The energy process of the food.
Mm-hmm.
And kind of in a partyatmosphere.
They were like at a dance partythey talked about how fun it was
to eat the candies and howvegetables, they didn't say it
(15:14):
wasn't fun, but the story aboutcharacters were like, oh, we're
gonna gravitate towards the.
The sugary sweet treats becauseit's gonna give us energy
faster.
Where the ones that ate thevegetables had energy longer and
more sustainable, and they wentin and broke it down on those
terms.
My kids were so enthralled bythat episode and I was impressed
(15:35):
how they did it on a way thatwas very.
Neutral with the language oneducational to your point of
like, this is gonna provide youreally good energy.
This is gonna help build thosemuscles.
This is gonna help build thebones.
This is why we eat these things.
And they also didn't negateeating the candies and the
chocolates and the cookies andthat.
It was just they can be theretoo.
(15:57):
I was like, wow, good on them,that this is really entertaining
and really well done.
So my kids from there, when itwould be like holiday would be
like, oh, that gave, and Iforget the character's names,
but said story about a tummyache, uhhuh.
I know I can eat this, but Idon't wanna eat too much.
'cause sugar will make you alittle not feel so good.
(16:18):
And so I thought that was coolthat for them it brought it back
to reality.
All the things like how I talkabout food, that they see it in.
They're like, oh, this makessense.
So.
Yeah, I'll have to find that andsend that to you.
Yeah, I want that.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And listeners, if I find it onYouTube, I'll put it in the show
notes.
It's not, it's Story Bots also areally great entertaining show
(16:40):
that's not annoying.
Megan (16:41):
I know, I agree.
It, it's your chance as a parentto not only model a healthy
diet, but a healthy relationshipwith food.
Right?
Yeah.
This is so great, and if youdon't have a healthy
relationship with food, this isyour chance to, try to get
there, talk to a dietician or amental health professional or a
friend, and try to figure outwhat your understandings and
beliefs are about foods and, youknow, if you can do this work,
(17:05):
then maybe your kids won't haveto.
And that's, that's a great giftto have.
Right?
Kat (17:09):
Yeah, I hear it from my clients too.
They're like, well, I don'twanna pass down my.
Poor relationship with food orexercise.
And that's why I'm like, to yourpoint, work with a registered
dietician who is qualified tohelp you decode the stories,
work with a therapist, becauselike you said, it's, that's how
it's going to stop.
(17:30):
If you.
And the language around it, likeyou're gonna identify, you're
gonna become aware.
And I feel they're, and I stressthis with my clients, that it's
not, you shouldn't feel guilt orshame around it.
And when you're working throughit, it's huge.
You're working on healingyourself and you're gonna be
stronger for it.
And it's also gonna help yourkids.
So there's no guilt or shameand, we grew up in the diet era,
(17:53):
like the raging diet era,
Megan (17:55):
absolutely.
Kat (17:56):
I'd love to kind of dive into that, the maternal.
Nutrition because I think thatis something so interesting
Megan (18:03):
yeah.
It's so interesting how what weeat in early life impacts our,
our kids, and, and we're findingmore and more of the different
ways that it can.
And you know, for the most partthey're smaller effects.
So I don't wanna scare anyonewho couldn't eat very much
during pregnancy, felt like theydidn't eat very healthy during
pregnancy.
You know, your kid will beabsolutely fine, but if you, if
(18:25):
you are in a position where youare becoming pregnant or your,
your kid is early in life.
There is a lot of evidence thateating a general healthy diet
with plenty of fruits, veggies,whole grains, you know, protein,
foods, everything in moderation,these helpful diet patterns are
associated with improved youknow, development, whether it's
cognitive development, improvedgrowth, and on the flip side,
(18:49):
not getting enough of certainnutrients of course can also
impact growth.
I think one thing that a lot ofparents don't know maybe is the
importance of nutrition evenbefore you become pregnancy or
in very early pregnancy.
And so they actually, a lot ofscientific experts, including
the American College of OBGYNs,obstetricians and Gynecologists
(19:10):
mm-hmm.
Suggest taking a prenatalvitamin before you even become
pregnant.
And I think that message isn'talways there, especially because
sometimes we don't see our OBGYN until, you know, week 9, 10,
11.
And we're learning that it'sreally important to come into
pregnancy already nourished withthat, with that kind of bank of
nutrients there.
(19:30):
'cause it's hard to build thatup again even when you're taking
a prenatal vitamin.
And because some of thesecritical windows are very early
in pregnancy, like folic acid,which is why we put folic acid
in the foods right.
And it helps reduce our risk of.
Neural tube defects.
So if you, if you have listenerswho maybe are already had a kid,
maybe they're going to haveanother, maybe they're in their
(19:50):
first pregnancy, you know andmaybe considering another, just,
just really getting thatnutrition on board if you can,
before you even become pregnantis a, is a great tip as well.
Kat (20:00):
I had several clients go through IVF they've.
Asked for registered dieticiansbecause nutrition is a huge
part.
Pregnancy takes a lot from awoman's body.
And as I tell my clients, wewant to make sure on from the
strength training and cardio andmobility side that we're working
(20:20):
on giving back to the body thatwe shouldn't be in a process,
especially in those first 24months of looking to be in such
a caloric deficit and doing suchintense workouts because
hormonally, our bodies arerepairing itself, Makes perfect
sense, especially like gettingthat foundational benefit there
for the nutrition so thatyou're, you're really set up for
(20:44):
great success in that regard.
Yes.
Megan (20:47):
Yeah, I love that.
Love the exercise as well.
I mean, they go together,obviously hand in hand,
nutrition exercise, so,
Kat (20:53):
So one of the things that I know I struggled with,
especially'cause postpartum issuch a highly pressurized time.
I wanna hear your thoughts onthis, like when client's what
should I be eating right now soI can lose the baby weight?
Like, I'm like, I just want youto eat right enough.
Eat more than you think.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And I, and I always share thestory with them.
I remember so like my youngerone was, he was a preemie and my
(21:15):
had a almost 3-year-old.
The younger one was in the NICUand it was a lot of back and
forth of going to the nicu.
Then, you know, being at homewith my other toddler.
So I remember, and I tell myclients, I said, look, I said,
sometimes you just literallyneed to stand in your kitchen
eating animal crackers whileyour child is building blocks on
(21:36):
the kitchen floor because.
You've realized to a point, Inever want you to get to this
point that you had not eaten allday and you've been going, so
are animal crackers the mostnutrient dense?
Well, if you wanna get granularabout it, probably not.
But at that moment, I'll neverforget, it was actually a really
nice core memory.
Not the fact that I wasn't, hadnot eaten, but I'll never forget
(21:57):
my kid building, building blocksand talking in the story and
just eating animal crackers andthem being the best thing ever.
So eat when you can.
Megan (22:04):
Yes.
I feel like so many moms, or newmoms, any mom, parents,
everyone, they're just reallymotivated to feed their kids in
the healthiest way possible.
And sometimes they forget aboutthemselves, right?
So they're doing all this hardwork at the expense of their own
health and their own energy.
Like, I know I've eaten mealsthat are just like my kids'
leftovers.
(22:25):
Like, that's, that's the meal,you know, like it's me too.
It's everyone.
But it's just like on anairplane, right?
Like you need to secure your ownmask before securing someone
else's.
And when you are fueled well,then you can be the best parent
that you can be.
And for breastfeeding momsespecially, you know, your, your
needs are higher than they wereduring pregnancy.
(22:45):
And so you're exhausted.
You have a million things to do,try to prioritize getting some,
some meals in, whether it's,having someone who can help you.
You know, making sure there'ssomeone on deck for you who can
help prepare meals, whether thatperson is you a few months ago
during pregnancy, like makingthe meals, freezing them,
getting them ready.
(23:06):
Like try to go in with a plan ifyou can and some help because if
you're not fueled well then youknow, you can't be the best mom
you can be.
And I think also when momsprioritize their own health, in
addition to the kids' health it,it models healthy eating habits
and healthy boundary setting andhealthy, self-care.
And so I do think it's soimportant and so challenging to
(23:30):
do that, especially atpostpartum.
Kat (23:32):
Challenging is, I like how you threw in there.
It is challenging because it's,life is messy and I always talk
and I talk a lot on thispodcast.
We're not striving forperfection in any of this.
I see.
Too much in the little, likewhatever, nine by 16 boxes on
Instagram are steeped in perfeperfection and whatever
(23:54):
influencer out there is talkingabout how they have.
Homemade and pretty much groundup their own wheat from field in
the backyard Yeah.
To prepare this amazing meal.
That's not the reality it's, itcan set you up for failure or
feel like you're always fallingbehind.
I'd love.
To hear your thoughts fightingthat perfection and how to find
(24:17):
a, again, going back to like astress-free eating environment
that I know we all strugglewith.
I mean, I, there are times whereI struggle with it, where I'm
like, oh, I should, and as soonas that should work comes, I'm
like, stop.
Yes.
There's no shoulding, like,you're human.
So yeah, just hearing from, youknow.
That, that would be, I know mylisteners love that.
Megan (24:40):
Yes.
Oh, so important.
I think a lot of us are reallydriven, and we definitely have
that basis can have that basisin perfectionism.
Right.
And I mean, I am a registereddietician nutritionist, I'm a
PhD, I'm a mom, I'm an expert.
And I'm telling you, and allyour listeners, no one eats a
perfect diet.
Like, not me, not anyone that Iwork with.
(25:01):
No one you, you and your kids.
Will not cannot and do not haveto eat a perfect diet.
In fact, like as a nutritionresearcher, I honestly couldn't
tell you like, this is what aperfect diet is.
I don't think nutrition researchis there yet.
We can tell you that diets richin fruits, vegetables, whole
grains and protein foods, all inmoderation over many, many years
(25:25):
of, you know, more generallyeating like that, that dietary
pattern that's been associatedwith reduced risk of disease.
Improve child development inmost studies, but not all.
Mm-hmm.
And honestly, that's about it.
I think in nutrition there's alot of confusion about like how
critical it is to eat healthyand what healthy eating even
means.
(25:45):
I think there's like one campthat says, it's not important.
It's, it's all about your genesor it is what it is, or you
can't change what you eat, sodon't worry about it.
And then there's another sidewhere people aren't saying.
If they could just eat right,like if they could just eat
perfectly.
If they ate the right amount ofA, B, and C and they avoided X,
Y, Z, then like they would behealthy.
(26:06):
There'd be no disease risk,they'd be happy and whatever it
is, their goal.
And like most things, right, thetruth is somewhere in the
middle.
So we know that eating generallyhealthy most days associated
with benefits.
That's about it, you know, so,so again, this is like mom's
chance to break somegenerational cycles, talking
(26:26):
about your own understanding ofwhat's a perfect diet, talk
about your own food beliefs,your own need to, achieve
goodness,, through food and, andtalk with a professional,
whether it's a dietician or amental health counselor or a
good friend, and.
Try to break those cyclesbecause no one can eat perfect.
It's impossible.
It doesn't exist.
Kat (26:47):
No one can eat perfect and anyone can make anything look
perfect, especially on anInstagram story or Instagram 30
seconds post.
Yeah, it's, it's just.
I feel like if you try to, therewould be too many restrictions
and it's just not possible.
I do genuinely love it when myfamily we're on the go a lot, or
(27:10):
if we're traveling a lot andwe're eating more meals out than
we normally do.
I love it when my kids canarticulate, like, oh, I can't
wait to go home and eat.
This makes my body feel so muchbetter.
Then it leads to a goodconversation because I'm like,
good.
You understand?
That doesn't mean that eatingout is bad at all.
It is a necessity.
It is great.
It is a luxury, it's a, treatwhatever you wanna classify it
(27:33):
as.
But when they feel the effectsof like, it's been too much i'm
excited too to come home to eatour own food For me, and this is
just my interjection here, Ifeel like really helping my kids
articulate.
How food feels in their bodyYeah.
Helps them.
Yeah.
And I think it breaks down thatgood and bad.
(27:55):
Mm-hmm.
I love what you said about, it'slike there's just no perfection
in it and, and that, clearingthe air with the research eating
a, a diet rich in fruits andvegetables is.
Overtime is gonna help.
I know in my field a lot ofclients and come im being I
want, my macros and my calorieand we want, and there's that
(28:20):
safety there.
We want this very cookie cutterresponse.
Mm-hmm.
But
What do you say to clients when they come in where they're
like, I just really want to knowthis cut and dry number.
Hit that every day, you know,day in, day out, you know.
How, how do you help someonethrough that like, and kind of
breaking down those, I'm gonnasay myths that it's like if you
(28:42):
don't hit this, you know you'refailing, so to speak.
Right.
Megan (28:47):
Well first of all, I think thinking about why you
want that number, right?
It's a safety thing.
It's a way of making yourselffeel like you can do it.
You're safe, you're doing whatyou need to do, and like
acknowledging that that's ahuman thing.
Like that's, that makes sensethat you want that.
I get it.
And, thinking about how longterm could this work for you,
(29:08):
right?
So these rules can bring safetyand they can also bring a lot of
restriction and challenges andlong term, you know, how is that
gonna work for your life foreverwhen there's these challenges,
whether it's becoming a parentor traveling or whatever it is
for you.
And then if you can't reachthose goals, you feel bad,
right?
And so can we get back to,instead of needing a checking a
(29:32):
box, getting back to like whatit feels like to be nourished.
And a lot of us have thiscomplicated relationship with
food and it goes so far backthat it's hard to even remember.
Like, what does it feel like tobe nourished?
Like what does that feel like inyour body?
And so intuitive eating is ahuge topic right now in the
(29:52):
nutrition world and kind ofoutside of it.
And the idea is to help us,, toget back in touch with our
hunger cues, recognizing what itfeels like in our body to give
ourselves permission to eatunconditionally based on what
our body needs and how it feels,and like how, you know, it will
feel afterwards.
So if people are interested inthat, I recommend the book.
(30:14):
It's just literally calledIntuitive Eating by Evelyn
Tripoli.
I'm not sure how to pronouncethat.
And Elise Rush, and they're bothdietician nutritionists and so
it can kind of help you see ifthat's something that you're
interested in as a way to kindof give back to maybe not rules,
but other ways that you can findout if you are feeling good,
(30:34):
other ways to succeed at eating.
If you want to kind of put it inthat terms.
Interestingly.
You mentioned this I thinkbefore, babies are intuitive
eaters.
Little kids, they know whenthey're hungry and they tell you
by yelling, and then they knowwhen they're full because they
stop.
Right?
And then as we and the worldintroduce these expectations and
these biases, even well-meaningrules and and advice, then it
(30:59):
gets harder for them to rely ontheir body cues, to tell them
when they're hungry, and thenhow much to eat.
And the last point I was gonnasay here is that I actually feel
like pregnancy and postpartum isa really great time to reconnect
with your body and kind of getback in touch with that.
For one, I think it's sometimeseasier to recognize hunger cues
(31:19):
because they're like screamingat you sometimes during
pregnancy, right?
You're like, I'm so hungry, I'mgoing to eat you.
Like whoever's in my way.
So you may be feeling hungercues the first time that you
have in a while, and if you domiss hunger cue, you feel like
crap, right?
You're probably nauseous, youfeel miserable.
And so really strong signalsfrom your body at this time
(31:40):
period in the, and many peoplefeel a little bit more
comfortable with the idea ofeating more in these time
periods, you know, as theyshould.
You don't have to eat for two,but eating more is necessary to
fuel your growth and the baby'sgrowth.
And some people feel a littlebit more.
Liberal, like liberalization, Iguess, here to feel like they're
allowed to eat food.
(32:01):
And you may be more in touchwith your body or at least
thinking of it more about yourbody and its function and how it
feels.
And so I do think likepregnancy, motherhood,
postpartum, it's, it's sotransformative.
It's a great time to get backinto our relationship with food
and, and our body.
Yeah.
Kat (32:21):
Like you said there, babies and kids are very intuitive.
And then it's the world startsto dictate when and how you can
eat.
Like I think about my older sonwho has 20 minutes in the
cafeteria to eat, and it'squickly inhale, eat, he's 13,
he's a growing child.
That's not enough time for youto actually eat.
So, and then with sports rightafter school, you need to make
(32:43):
sure you have more of a snackright before sports and then a
snack after sports, mm-hmm.
And so I always stress myclients, there's, if you're
generally hungry, you need toeat.
And to your point, I like thatabout like in pregnancy, I was
thinking back, I'm like, man,yeah, I remember when I was
hungry, it was like, get me somefood.
Like.
(33:04):
I find myself like, well, it's10 30 and I just ate breakfast.
Oftentimes it's at like 6 45.
And I'm like, that's a long gap.
So I'm like, it's 10 30, Ishouldn't be hungry.
And it's like, no, no, no.
Your body can be hungry atdifferent times a day.
And I use a hunger scale with myclients of kind of red, yellow,
(33:24):
green.
We don't wanna get to the redzone ever, right?
We know we've nourished ourbody.
And then it's like timing wise,if we can go two hours post a
meal, still feeling full, but atthe two and a half hour, three
hour mark.
You might get some inklings andyou know, I stress with clients
every day is gonna be dependent.
And if you've had, and I myselfam guilty of this and I know
(33:46):
some of my clients found thistrap.
If you have a day where you'rereally preoccupied with
meetings, kids life, you aregoing to be disconnected and it
is gonna hit you like a ton ofbricks when you come out of
that.
Focus time so be prepared withfood.
I always say there's a thingabout having your emergency food
(34:07):
there because.
You, you don't wanna be hangryand your body likes to stay fed.
Mm-hmm.
I said, we don't want peaks andvalleys with our hunger.
We want small undulations.
Mm-hmm.
You know, peaks and valleys for a day because it happens is
okay, but if we're constantly inpeaks and valleys, our body's
not gonna like that.
(34:27):
And for.
My clients were, were reallytrying to maintain that muscle
mass and that strength.
We want food in the body.
We don't wanna exercise in avery hungry state.
You're just not, you're notgonna feel like you can push the
weight or put that effort there.
You're actually gonna feelworse.
And some clients are like, Ifeel sick after I work out.
And I said, because you have nofood in your system, your body
(34:49):
needs those glycogen stores tobe filled with food.
Mm-hmm.
So you have.
Energy.
Mm-hmm.
So, but yeah, it is, I'm alwaysdon't get married to the time
you eat If you're hungry, eatright.
Celebrate that.
You can
Megan (35:04):
feel those hunger cues and, and you can listen to your
body.
It's great.
It's amazing that your body cantell you when it needs food like
that.
It's amazing.
Kat (35:11):
It is.
It is so, so amazing.
I know for myself when I'm inlike a high.
High week, a peak week oftraining, like right now, I'm in
a peak training block.
After, if I'm not hungry after ahigh demand for a long time, I
know I probably did not feel thebest the day before.
Maybe for me, like withendurance running on the run, I
maybe didn't feel as wellbecause my body is like in a bit
(35:34):
of a suppressed state.
It got too stressed.
So it's understanding, that'snot a good thing.
It doesn't mean like, oh, yay, Iam not being, it's, we need to
make sure that we.
Or feel your body there.
And also that when you start tobecome more of an intuitive
eater tuning into those, it cantake a while for your body to
(35:55):
adjust, for you to kind ofunderstand it's not a overnight
process.
Megan (36:00):
So Oh yeah, absolutely.
You know, it took you how manyyears to get into the state
where you are, you know, relyingon these outside cues, and so
it'll take some time to, tounlearn them and to learn new
cues and mm-hmm.
Hopefully,, sometimes thingsthat take a little bit of time
means that they'll also stickaround longer, yeah.
It's not just a bad diet whereyou just.
Just do it and then a week lateryou're done with it.
(36:21):
It's kind of a, a change, alifestyle change.
Kat (36:24):
Yeah, exactly.
So one thing kind of going intofed diets, not a whole can of
worms, right?
'cause that's a whole, that's awhole other thing.
Yeah.
If you had a magic wand Oh yeah.
What would you just see?
Social media, online, what wouldyou just be like, this is the
one thing, maybe it's a littlebit of a host of things that you
could be like, I just want thisout.
(36:45):
It would be so much simpler andless frustrating.
Megan (36:50):
Yes.
Well, I couldn't pick just likeone fad diet thing, but the,
the, the overall, like, I loveto change this, maybe educate
about it, is the idea that.
You see like a study, a singlestudy that says one thing, like
coffee is good, and thensometimes you'll see another
study that says coffee is bad,and, and people will say,
(37:10):
nutrition's fake or nutrition,someone's lying to you.
Someone's whatever it is.
So I would love if peoplestopped relying on single
studies because nutritionresearch is just really, really
tricky.
Right.
In other fields, like if youwanna know something, you do a
randomized trial, you randomizepeople to take drug A or drug B,
and you see what happens.
(37:30):
Mm-hmm.
With like nutrition, you couldnever randomized someone to do a
diet.
Really, you Not many peoplewould agree.
If I flip a coin and I say, youhave to eat.
A cheeseburger every single day,then you have to do it or you
don't get to eat them everagain.
Right?
Like most people would not agreeto be in a study like that and
they would not do it very well.
(37:51):
They would probably sneakcheeseburgers or not eat a
cheeseburger that day'cause theydidn't feel like it, whatever it
is.
So we rely on studies thataren't as strong as randomized
trials.
So we look at associations.
Sometimes we're looking atreally small effect sizes.
We're dealing with people whoare misreporting their diet,
sometimes on purpose, sometimeson accident.
When they're, when they're, whenthey're in our studies, we may
(38:14):
be asking slightly differentquestions.
So the study might be, is coffeegood for blood pressure or any
other studies?
Is coffee good for reducing therisk of heart disease?
If you have diabetes or youknow, whatever it is, the
questions might be slightlydifferent, which is the devil in
the details and which is why Isay in general.
Stop looking at single studies.
If you can stop reading theInstagram stories that are about
(38:36):
single studies for the mostpart, and then look for
consensus statements.
So these are advice from theAcademy of Nutrition and
Dietetics, the American Collegeof Obstetricians and
Gynecologists.
You know, they hire experts whocan look at all of the studies,
not just one, and put it in thecontext of the full body of
research, and then they can giveyou advice that.
(38:58):
You know, is a little safer thanthese one-off studies that you
hear about on Instagram orTikTok or wherever.
Kat (39:05):
I couldn't agree more with the studies and the one-off
studies.
I will just add, dig deeper intothe population size.
I see this a lot in the fitnessaspect to where especially the,
special seasons of life, likepregnancy and postpartum and
perimenopause.
It is extremely small populationsize.
To even some studies wherethere's more men in this study
(39:27):
on something that is like femalerelated than and it's like, no,
that you can't extrapolate thator it's done on rats and not
humans.
So, so that is one where I'm digdeeper and see if multiple
studies come up with the samething versus just a one small
population size thing and who'spaying for the study because
(39:51):
that influencer is then pedalinga product and the product
sponsored the study will, ofcourse, it may not.
Be very clear.
Megan (40:02):
Yes, big red flag is something, is an absolute right.
It's all good or it's all bad.
That's a huge red flag.
Stop, stop reading that.
Take a second.
A hundred percent.
Kat (40:12):
That's the thing is there's no, don't wanna be so absolute
with the absolutisms, but like,like look into it if someone's
screaming that this is the onlyend all.
Be all.
Yes.
Then dig deeper.
Yeah.
Especially in fitness and newnutrition, because if that were
the case then someone would'vebought the rights, patented it,
(40:36):
and they would be the wholepeople capitalizing off of it.
To wrap up, like what would be,maybe not the one, we don't
wanna go into Olms, but likemm-hmm.
Engagement to offer to moms.
Just navigating nutrition forthemselves and families.
I know, I feel overwhelmed aswell.
Like, I mean, we're, we're all,we're human, right?
(40:58):
It can be overwhelming, but justthat woman out there who's like,
okay, I really wanna.
Get, I want to solve thischallenge for me so that it's no
longer a big challenge for me.
What would be thatencouragement?
Megan (41:12):
Yeah.
I'd say at first I'd remind momsand parents that there are a
million ways to feed your kids,right?
And over the millennia there'sbeen million, millions of ways
to feed their kids, and there isno one right way.
Just kind of like we were justtalking about, the best way is
the way that works for you andworks for your family.
And, you know, I believe thatpeople make the best choices
(41:33):
that they can with what theyhave, with what they know, with
kind of the optimization of, oftheir life.
So, try to relax, enjoy yourfood, enjoy your kids.
If you do have an issue that istroubling, you do that research
through these more repeatablesources like the Academy of
Nutrition Dietetics you know,the college acog, right?.
(41:54):
And then talk to a professionalif you need to.
So there's dieticians out there,there's mental health practice
nurse, there's pediatricians,there's ob gyn, there's people
whose job it is to weed throughall that junk so that you don't
have to, right.
And then they can help you findways to help make eating healthy
work for you instead of youdoing all this work to try to
make eating healthy work foryour family.
(42:15):
Yeah,
Kat (42:16):
So, I would say they can reach out to you.
They can find you at familycenter nutrition science.com if
they have questions.
And we'll have your websitelinked in the show notes as a
resource there, even if youcan't help that, I'm sure you're
very well connected to helpthem.
Yes.
Happy to refer.
Yes.
There are qualified therapists who understand, food
(42:40):
challenges as well as disorderedeating and I think it's, it's
amazing.
I yeah.
And quick plug.
I'm
Megan (42:46):
currently actually contracting through a mental
health.
Practice Oak Grove Counseling.
It's in Delaware and they dohave perinatal, certified mental
health therapists as well.
Kat (42:57):
Okay, perfect.
I highly recommend.
Yep.
And we'll put that in the shownotes as well.
But this was awesome.
I hope, I mean, I got a lot outof this too.
I was like, Ooh, this is reallygood.
Hopefully everybody else gotsomething out of this and feels
more confident, but the biggestthing I would say is just like
you said,.
Keep putting the food out there.
Allow the child to explore.
Allow yourself to explore too.
(43:17):
Be curious and that there are somany different ways to eat
nutritiously.
And I think that is huge in aworld where it's so loud that
it's one day, don't eat this thenext day, don't eat that.
And you feel like, what do Ionly eat water?
Like, is that it?
Right.
But thank you so much for comingon Megan.
Thanks so much for having me.
Appreciate it.
(43:38):
You're welcome.
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(44:01):
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It's about showing up foryourself and finding strength in
every step of your journey.
Until next time, keep movingforward one mile at a time.
Welcome to MilesFromHerView, the podcast
powered by KatFit Strength,where busy women like you find
practical solutions to fuel yourfitness journey with
authenticity and resilience.
I'm Kat, your host, a mom of twoactive boys, a business owner,
and an ultra marathon runner anda strength trainer in her
forties with nearly two decadesof experience.
(00:21):
I'm here to help you cut throughthe noise of fads, hacks, and
quick fixes.
This is a space where wecelebrate womanhood and
motherhood.
All while building strength andresilience and reconnecting with
you from a place ofself-compassion and worthiness.
Whether you're lacing up yourrunning shoes to go out for a
run, driving your kids topractice or squeezing in a
(00:42):
moment for yourself, I'm righthere in the trenches with you.
Let's dive in.
Dr.
Megan Bragg is a registereddietician nutritionist with a
PhD in nutritional biology.
Megan received her RDNcredential in 2015 before
beginning a research careerfocused on maternal slash child
(01:03):
nutrition.
Over the past 10 years, she'spublished studies ranging from
the role of choline in.
For growth and development amongchildren in Malawi to the impact
of maternal diet duringpregnancy on children's autism
development.
As the owner of Family-CenteredNutrition Science, Megan has
recently been using theinformation she's learned to
(01:24):
provide evidence-based nutritioncounseling for moms.
Children and families.
She currently offers telehealthsessions related to reproductive
nutrition, fertility, prenatal,and postnatal children
nutrition, introduction to ofsolids picky eating and women's
health PCOS to Menopause forfamilies in Pennsylvania,
Delaware, and New Jersey.
(01:46):
When she's not learning ortalking about nutrition, Megan
likes to spend time outdoorswith her husband and her two
sweet kiddos.
Welcome.
I'm super excited to have youhere and have this conversation.
Thanks.
Thanks so much for having me.
I'm really excited to be heretoo.
Let's jump in with picky eatingbecause this is one I hear a lot
(02:06):
and I'm this most people whohave been following this
podcast, Noah, I'm a mama of twoboys, and picky eating.
To me as a mom, I see it evolvethroughout the stages where, it
was different when they werelittle to now my kids are 10 and
13, as a parent, we all stress.
We want our kids to eat and wewant mealtime to be.
(02:28):
I.
Less battles, less of aheadache.
Maybe fun.
We want it to be fun too.
I would love to start with apicky eating where should we be
concerned?
Where should we not
Megan (02:38):
sure.
Absolutely.
Great question.
Really important one.
I think a lot of parents aresurprised when maybe their
infant is eating a lot ofamazing foods, all kinds.
And then as the kid gets older,they actually start refusing
foods they used to eat asinfants.
The fact is that actuallyinfants are usually less picky
than toddlers and preschoolers,which is why it's great to
(03:00):
introduce as many foods aspossible in that first year.
But once they move intotoddlerhood, you know, picky
eating is kind of par for thecourse.
And what it might look like ismeals where they don't eat very
much.
Parents joke about theirtoddlers, preschoolers,
kindergartners just having dayswhen they're just living on air
and like puffs, and that's kindof within the realm of normal.
(03:24):
On the other hand, sometimesthey'll have food jags or they
just love a food, they wanna eatit all the time.
They may have limited acceptanceof new foods or new textures is
a huge one.
New flavors they may refuse.
Foods they used to like, and allof this is.
Kind of to be expected, atleast, you know, to some extent
(03:44):
or less.
And especially with new foods,it can often take seven or more
exposures for a kid to reallytry and enjoy a food so they're
not eating it the first time.
You know, that's, that's kind ofwithin the realm of normal,
honestly.
And for the most part, it'sokay.
You know, kids, especially youngkids can generally eat what they
need to live.
Their, their body signals aresuch that they, they know how
(04:06):
much they kind of need to eat.
Others are a slower rate ofgrowth than infants.
So they may be eating a littlebit less, or at least it may be
looking like they're eating alittle less.
I recommend thinking over theentire day, instead of meal by
meal can be a way to help kindof understand what they're
getting in overall and if it'senough.
And the good news is that manykids grow out of this more
(04:27):
intense, picky eating withoutany intervention or any, any
real, you know.
Team healthcare work.
Mm-hmm.
But when it becomes more of aconcern, I'd say, is when the
child's not growing well.
So your pediatrician's tellingyou they're falling off the
growth curve, they'reskyrocketing above the growth
curve.
You know, that's, that's aconcern.
If they're avoiding entire foodgroups, I'd also be a little
(04:50):
concerned about nutrientdeficiencies.
So if they're not having anydairy or, you know, dairy
substitute, whatever that is foryour family, if they're not
having any fruits or veggies,any, you know, protein foods,
then it might be you know, timeto talk to a healthcare
provider.
And those are kind of themedical concerns.
But I'd also say.
You know, if it's a problem foryou, like it's a problem.
(05:12):
So if it's affecting yourfamily's quality of life, if
every meal is just like abattle, if you're just dreading
that's the least favorite partof your day, then, you know,
talk to someone, see if you canget some help to, to help it,
you know, decrease a little bitor to, to under at least change
your understanding of kind ofwhat it is and if it is a
(05:32):
problem.
So, you know, talk to ahealthcare provider, talk to a
dietician.
Some kids do have diagnosablefeeding difficulties like
avoidant resistant food intakedisorder.
And these kids obviously canreally benefit from a team of
providers to help them improveintake too.
Kat (05:50):
That was very good.
That like, I think just thinkingback to when my kids were.
Toddlers and both my kids werepolar opposite kids.
That was the, the silly part ofmy older one, like ate
everything except meat.
The pediatrician wasn'tbothered.
He was really enjoying otherprotein plant-based items.
So like, to your point, hewasn't.
(06:12):
Avoiding all of'em, yeah.
But it was, it was one of thosethat it was like, is he ever
going to eat meat?
I know you touched on this and Ithought this was really good.
If it's a problem for you indisrupting home, definitely talk
to individual like experts,professional doctors, and
registered dieticians likeyourself who are experienced in
this.
But what are things that you'relike, I wish this fear or myth
(06:36):
would just go away to help easeparents, to aid them in more of
like, it's okay, this is normal.
In their development.
What are those common myths andfears
Megan (06:46):
one, I think that can be really painful to parents is the
idea that either their parent,their kid is a picky eater and
nothing they can do about it.
Or that they cause this pickyeating.
This is their fault.
And I'd love to just kind ofhelp parents feel better about,
about how they feel about theirkids' picky eating.
(07:10):
And there was a really goodstudy in 2020 that I can share
with you that looked at bothnature and nurture.
Like what do we know about thecauses of picky eating?
And the, what they found wasthat it's both.
So if you're the parent who'sthinking like, there's nothing I
can do.
There are some things that youcan do to help if you, if you're
pregnant or have a younger kidto help prevent picky eating.
(07:32):
And if you already have a pickyeater, some things you can do to
help reduce their pickiness.
And on the other hand, if youalready have a picky eater, then
some of it is out of yourcontrol.
Some of it is genetic actually.
So there's evidence that kidshave different abilities to
taste bitter foods and thesekids that are genetically
predisposed, tasting bitterfoods.
(07:54):
They are more likely to bepicky.
Nothing you did, nothing anyonedid.
There's also, of course,developmental diagnoses like
autism that could influencechildren's picky eating.
Again, nothing to do with, thethings that you've done, but I
think the, the takeaway feelingthat some of it is out of your
control and that some of it youcan make small changes things
(08:17):
like.
Lots of early exposure in thatfirst year of life, and babies
actually can taste flavors inthe amniotic fluid during
pregnancy.
So even before the baby's born,you can be getting in lots of
different flavors that you'dwant them to be more accustomed
to.
Parenting practices.
We can do like child-centeredpractices based on
encouragement, praise insteadof, you know, guilt or rules or
(08:41):
forcing.
Modeling food intake, creating astress-free meal environment or
a lower stress, at least a mealenvironment.
All these things are things wecan do to reduce kind of any
genetic background or any otherthings that are out of our
control and try to get to theleast picky that we can get
within that level.
Kat (09:02):
I just find eating.
The way I talk to my clients iseating is so intimate with like,
and personalized.
Mm-hmm.
And you wanna get excited about what you eat because it
should be good.
And we should also be curiousabout other foods.
And it's okay to articulatemaybe why.
(09:24):
You may not like it, et cetera.
Or like, one in my householdwhat is it, edamame, my kids and
my husband love edamame.
I don't always like it, but I'mlike, it's okay.
I'll leave it.
You know?
And they're like, not myfavorite.
No.
It's just not my, I don't knowwhy I am, like, I like want to
love it.
Mm-hmm.
Sure.
(09:44):
Don't like, I appreciate thenutrition factor of it, but I'm
like, eh.
If I don't have to eat this, Iwouldn't eat it.
It wouldn't be my top choice,but Right.
I like that.
They like it, so, right.
Megan (09:56):
And allowing them that freedom that there's things they
probably don't, it's not theirfavorite, you know?
And that's okay.
Not everything's gonna be theirfavorite.
Kat (10:02):
Yeah.
It was funny.
We love Brussel Sprout.
Well, my youngest doesn't lovebrussel sprouts in my house, but
the other three of us lovedRussell Sprouts and he had said
one day he is like.
Mom, not a fan of Brusselssprouts, but they're on my plate
and I know they will help me.
So I'll have a few, but can Inot?
Finish all'em.
Can I leave too?
(10:22):
Sure.
that's totally fine.
Like you don't, to me, you don'thave to finish your plate.
I always ask my kids, and Iwould love to hear wording on
this.
I always say like, is your bellycomfortable?
Do you feel like you could eat alittle bit more?
Or you know,'cause I knowthere's that natural inkling, I
mean, I'm human too, where I'mlike, oh, if there's a big
(10:44):
chocolate cake over there.
Maybe I'm not gonna finish my,,more nutrient dense meal and
just skip to the cake.
And it's like, but wait, let'smake sure we eat the nutrient
dense.
And then still it's okay tohave, or less nutrient dense
foods.
I'd be curious to even justlanguage around eating and
(11:04):
especially with young kids andyourself too, is important.
How do you advise parents withthat?
Especially with picky eaterstoo?
Megan (11:13):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
I think language is important.
Even before that, I think onething I wanna talk about that
you mentioned before, this wholeidea of.
I'll put it out there and we'llsee what they do.
So we say like in the childfeeding area, that it's the
parent's responsibility todecide what and when is served.
So what types of foods.
(11:33):
When they're put out there, youdecide what's for dinner and
when basically, and that's thelimit of your responsibility.
That's the limit of yourcontrol.
And the kids' responsibility isto decide if they want to eat
it.
And how much.
Mm-hmm.
This can help reduce a lot ofparent stress to know that at
the end of the day, like unlessyou are shoving foods in their
(11:56):
mouth, which I cannot recommend,you can lead a kid to the
kitchen, but you can't make themeat right.
Like it is not yourresponsibility that they put
something in their mouth andchew it and swallow it and eat
it.
So it's your responsibility toput it out there and to create
an environment where they cantest it and try it and feel
comfortable.
Potentially trying new foods oreating foods that they've had in
the past as well.
(12:17):
Kind of trusting your kid andletting it go.
As for the language, I do tryto, I have younger kids, right?
So the language was probablygonna be a little bit different,
but I try to talk about the, themaybe the uses of the food, the
fact, the descriptions of thefood.
Try to leave out the value ofthe food, right?
(12:38):
So instead of, this is healthy,so please eat it.
This is unhealthy, we're notgonna eat it.
I'll say, this has lots ofprotein.
It's gonna make your body sostrong.
Like these have lots of vitaminsand minerals, like your body's
gonna feel so happy after youeat these.
Or on the flip side, you know,this has more sugar than we
really need.
So if you eat a lot, yourtummy's gonna feel sick, but we
(12:59):
can eat it right now.
It's fun to eat these things onbirthdays, you know, things like
that.
So I think using theselanguages, using this language
that tries to take the, thevalue, the fear or positive
value, the good and bad out offoods can be really useful.
'cause as a dietician, I believethere are no good or bad foods.
(13:22):
Every food has a place.
And I think as a, as a parent,part of our job is to offer a
variety of food.
Kids will encounter in theirreal life, whether in your
house, in school, you know, inbirthday parties and, and help
them kind of find theirrelationship with that food and
understand what it might do forthem or how it might make them
(13:43):
feel and help kind of ask,teaching them to ask questions
like that as well.
Kat (13:48):
I like how you said it's.
Taking the value out of thefood.
And it, it, I think that's hugewhen we put too much value and
worth on food, it develops amistrust in the relationship of
eating the food.
And I can't stand the, is thisgood or bad?
(14:11):
Well, it's, it's neither.
It's, it is what it is.
I don't know if it's still onNetflix, but when my kids were
little, there was a show calledStory Bots, and they did, I'll
have to have to find this.
I'm sure it's on YouTube.
They did an episode on food.
And I was a little skeptical.
(14:32):
I was like, okay, how are theygonna present food?
Because too often it's goodfood, bad food.
That's how it's presented.
And I prefer, well, there's morenutrient dense foods and a
little less nutrient densefoods.
They all have their place, butwe wanna make sure we're really
eating more nutrient densefoods.
That's the base, that's a goodfoundation of our food.
Mm-hmm.
And the less nutrient densefoods can all fit in there.
(14:53):
Yeah.
It's totally fine.
But the way they did this was toyour point of.
Illustrating on the terms of thekid level of.
The energy process of the food.
Mm-hmm.
And kind of in a partyatmosphere.
They were like at a dance partythey talked about how fun it was
to eat the candies and howvegetables, they didn't say it
(15:14):
wasn't fun, but the story aboutcharacters were like, oh, we're
gonna gravitate towards the.
The sugary sweet treats becauseit's gonna give us energy
faster.
Where the ones that ate thevegetables had energy longer and
more sustainable, and they wentin and broke it down on those
terms.
My kids were so enthralled bythat episode and I was impressed
(15:35):
how they did it on a way thatwas very.
Neutral with the language oneducational to your point of
like, this is gonna provide youreally good energy.
This is gonna help build thosemuscles.
This is gonna help build thebones.
This is why we eat these things.
And they also didn't negateeating the candies and the
chocolates and the cookies andthat.
It was just they can be theretoo.
(15:57):
I was like, wow, good on them,that this is really entertaining
and really well done.
So my kids from there, when itwould be like holiday would be
like, oh, that gave, and Iforget the character's names,
but said story about a tummyache, uhhuh.
I know I can eat this, but Idon't wanna eat too much.
'cause sugar will make you alittle not feel so good.
(16:18):
And so I thought that was coolthat for them it brought it back
to reality.
All the things like how I talkabout food, that they see it in.
They're like, oh, this makessense.
So.
Yeah, I'll have to find that andsend that to you.
Yeah, I want that.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And listeners, if I find it onYouTube, I'll put it in the show
notes.
It's not, it's Story Bots also areally great entertaining show
(16:40):
that's not annoying.
Megan (16:41):
I know, I agree.
It, it's your chance as a parentto not only model a healthy
diet, but a healthy relationshipwith food.
Right?
Yeah.
This is so great, and if youdon't have a healthy
relationship with food, this isyour chance to, try to get
there, talk to a dietician or amental health professional or a
friend, and try to figure outwhat your understandings and
beliefs are about foods and, youknow, if you can do this work,
(17:05):
then maybe your kids won't haveto.
And that's, that's a great giftto have.
Right?
Kat (17:09):
Yeah, I hear it from my clients too.
They're like, well, I don'twanna pass down my.
Poor relationship with food orexercise.
And that's why I'm like, to yourpoint, work with a registered
dietician who is qualified tohelp you decode the stories,
work with a therapist, becauselike you said, it's, that's how
it's going to stop.
(17:30):
If you.
And the language around it, likeyou're gonna identify, you're
gonna become aware.
And I feel they're, and I stressthis with my clients, that it's
not, you shouldn't feel guilt orshame around it.
And when you're working throughit, it's huge.
You're working on healingyourself and you're gonna be
stronger for it.
And it's also gonna help yourkids.
So there's no guilt or shameand, we grew up in the diet era,
(17:53):
like the raging diet era,
Megan (17:55):
absolutely.
Kat (17:56):
I'd love to kind of dive into that, the maternal.
Nutrition because I think thatis something so interesting
Megan (18:03):
yeah.
It's so interesting how what weeat in early life impacts our,
our kids, and, and we're findingmore and more of the different
ways that it can.
And you know, for the most partthey're smaller effects.
So I don't wanna scare anyonewho couldn't eat very much
during pregnancy, felt like theydidn't eat very healthy during
pregnancy.
You know, your kid will beabsolutely fine, but if you, if
(18:25):
you are in a position where youare becoming pregnant or your,
your kid is early in life.
There is a lot of evidence thateating a general healthy diet
with plenty of fruits, veggies,whole grains, you know, protein,
foods, everything in moderation,these helpful diet patterns are
associated with improved youknow, development, whether it's
cognitive development, improvedgrowth, and on the flip side,
(18:49):
not getting enough of certainnutrients of course can also
impact growth.
I think one thing that a lot ofparents don't know maybe is the
importance of nutrition evenbefore you become pregnancy or
in very early pregnancy.
And so they actually, a lot ofscientific experts, including
the American College of OBGYNs,obstetricians and Gynecologists
(19:10):
mm-hmm.
Suggest taking a prenatalvitamin before you even become
pregnant.
And I think that message isn'talways there, especially because
sometimes we don't see our OBGYN until, you know, week 9, 10,
11.
And we're learning that it'sreally important to come into
pregnancy already nourished withthat, with that kind of bank of
nutrients there.
(19:30):
'cause it's hard to build thatup again even when you're taking
a prenatal vitamin.
And because some of thesecritical windows are very early
in pregnancy, like folic acid,which is why we put folic acid
in the foods right.
And it helps reduce our risk of.
Neural tube defects.
So if you, if you have listenerswho maybe are already had a kid,
maybe they're going to haveanother, maybe they're in their
(19:50):
first pregnancy, you know andmaybe considering another, just,
just really getting thatnutrition on board if you can,
before you even become pregnantis a, is a great tip as well.
Kat (20:00):
I had several clients go through IVF they've.
Asked for registered dieticiansbecause nutrition is a huge
part.
Pregnancy takes a lot from awoman's body.
And as I tell my clients, wewant to make sure on from the
strength training and cardio andmobility side that we're working
(20:20):
on giving back to the body thatwe shouldn't be in a process,
especially in those first 24months of looking to be in such
a caloric deficit and doing suchintense workouts because
hormonally, our bodies arerepairing itself, Makes perfect
sense, especially like gettingthat foundational benefit there
for the nutrition so thatyou're, you're really set up for
(20:44):
great success in that regard.
Yes.
Megan (20:47):
Yeah, I love that.
Love the exercise as well.
I mean, they go together,obviously hand in hand,
nutrition exercise, so,
Kat (20:53):
So one of the things that I know I struggled with,
especially'cause postpartum issuch a highly pressurized time.
I wanna hear your thoughts onthis, like when client's what
should I be eating right now soI can lose the baby weight?
Like, I'm like, I just want youto eat right enough.
Eat more than you think.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And I, and I always share thestory with them.
I remember so like my youngerone was, he was a preemie and my
(21:15):
had a almost 3-year-old.
The younger one was in the NICUand it was a lot of back and
forth of going to the nicu.
Then, you know, being at homewith my other toddler.
So I remember, and I tell myclients, I said, look, I said,
sometimes you just literallyneed to stand in your kitchen
eating animal crackers whileyour child is building blocks on
(21:36):
the kitchen floor because.
You've realized to a point, Inever want you to get to this
point that you had not eaten allday and you've been going, so
are animal crackers the mostnutrient dense?
Well, if you wanna get granularabout it, probably not.
But at that moment, I'll neverforget, it was actually a really
nice core memory.
Not the fact that I wasn't, hadnot eaten, but I'll never forget
(21:57):
my kid building, building blocksand talking in the story and
just eating animal crackers andthem being the best thing ever.
So eat when you can.
Megan (22:04):
Yes.
I feel like so many moms, or newmoms, any mom, parents,
everyone, they're just reallymotivated to feed their kids in
the healthiest way possible.
And sometimes they forget aboutthemselves, right?
So they're doing all this hardwork at the expense of their own
health and their own energy.
Like, I know I've eaten mealsthat are just like my kids'
leftovers.
(22:25):
Like, that's, that's the meal,you know, like it's me too.
It's everyone.
But it's just like on anairplane, right?
Like you need to secure your ownmask before securing someone
else's.
And when you are fueled well,then you can be the best parent
that you can be.
And for breastfeeding momsespecially, you know, your, your
needs are higher than they wereduring pregnancy.
(22:45):
And so you're exhausted.
You have a million things to do,try to prioritize getting some,
some meals in, whether it's,having someone who can help you.
You know, making sure there'ssomeone on deck for you who can
help prepare meals, whether thatperson is you a few months ago
during pregnancy, like makingthe meals, freezing them,
getting them ready.
(23:06):
Like try to go in with a plan ifyou can and some help because if
you're not fueled well then youknow, you can't be the best mom
you can be.
And I think also when momsprioritize their own health, in
addition to the kids' health it,it models healthy eating habits
and healthy boundary setting andhealthy, self-care.
And so I do think it's soimportant and so challenging to
(23:30):
do that, especially atpostpartum.
Kat (23:32):
Challenging is, I like how you threw in there.
It is challenging because it's,life is messy and I always talk
and I talk a lot on thispodcast.
We're not striving forperfection in any of this.
I see.
Too much in the little, likewhatever, nine by 16 boxes on
Instagram are steeped in perfeperfection and whatever
(23:54):
influencer out there is talkingabout how they have.
Homemade and pretty much groundup their own wheat from field in
the backyard Yeah.
To prepare this amazing meal.
That's not the reality it's, itcan set you up for failure or
feel like you're always fallingbehind.
I'd love.
To hear your thoughts fightingthat perfection and how to find
(24:17):
a, again, going back to like astress-free eating environment
that I know we all strugglewith.
I mean, I, there are times whereI struggle with it, where I'm
like, oh, I should, and as soonas that should work comes, I'm
like, stop.
Yes.
There's no shoulding, like,you're human.
So yeah, just hearing from, youknow.
That, that would be, I know mylisteners love that.
Megan (24:40):
Yes.
Oh, so important.
I think a lot of us are reallydriven, and we definitely have
that basis can have that basisin perfectionism.
Right.
And I mean, I am a registereddietician nutritionist, I'm a
PhD, I'm a mom, I'm an expert.
And I'm telling you, and allyour listeners, no one eats a
perfect diet.
Like, not me, not anyone that Iwork with.
(25:01):
No one you, you and your kids.
Will not cannot and do not haveto eat a perfect diet.
In fact, like as a nutritionresearcher, I honestly couldn't
tell you like, this is what aperfect diet is.
I don't think nutrition researchis there yet.
We can tell you that diets richin fruits, vegetables, whole
grains and protein foods, all inmoderation over many, many years
(25:25):
of, you know, more generallyeating like that, that dietary
pattern that's been associatedwith reduced risk of disease.
Improve child development inmost studies, but not all.
Mm-hmm.
And honestly, that's about it.
I think in nutrition there's alot of confusion about like how
critical it is to eat healthyand what healthy eating even
means.
(25:45):
I think there's like one campthat says, it's not important.
It's, it's all about your genesor it is what it is, or you
can't change what you eat, sodon't worry about it.
And then there's another sidewhere people aren't saying.
If they could just eat right,like if they could just eat
perfectly.
If they ate the right amount ofA, B, and C and they avoided X,
Y, Z, then like they would behealthy.
(26:06):
There'd be no disease risk,they'd be happy and whatever it
is, their goal.
And like most things, right, thetruth is somewhere in the
middle.
So we know that eating generallyhealthy most days associated
with benefits.
That's about it, you know, so,so again, this is like mom's
chance to break somegenerational cycles, talking
(26:26):
about your own understanding ofwhat's a perfect diet, talk
about your own food beliefs,your own need to, achieve
goodness,, through food and, andtalk with a professional,
whether it's a dietician or amental health counselor or a
good friend, and.
Try to break those cyclesbecause no one can eat perfect.
It's impossible.
It doesn't exist.
Kat (26:47):
No one can eat perfect and anyone can make anything look
perfect, especially on anInstagram story or Instagram 30
seconds post.
Yeah, it's, it's just.
I feel like if you try to, therewould be too many restrictions
and it's just not possible.
I do genuinely love it when myfamily we're on the go a lot, or
(27:10):
if we're traveling a lot andwe're eating more meals out than
we normally do.
I love it when my kids canarticulate, like, oh, I can't
wait to go home and eat.
This makes my body feel so muchbetter.
Then it leads to a goodconversation because I'm like,
good.
You understand?
That doesn't mean that eatingout is bad at all.
It is a necessity.
It is great.
It is a luxury, it's a, treatwhatever you wanna classify it
(27:33):
as.
But when they feel the effectsof like, it's been too much i'm
excited too to come home to eatour own food For me, and this is
just my interjection here, Ifeel like really helping my kids
articulate.
How food feels in their bodyYeah.
Helps them.
Yeah.
And I think it breaks down thatgood and bad.
(27:55):
Mm-hmm.
I love what you said about, it'slike there's just no perfection
in it and, and that, clearingthe air with the research eating
a, a diet rich in fruits andvegetables is.
Overtime is gonna help.
I know in my field a lot ofclients and come im being I
want, my macros and my calorieand we want, and there's that
(28:20):
safety there.
We want this very cookie cutterresponse.
Mm-hmm.
But
What do you say to clients when they come in where they're
like, I just really want to knowthis cut and dry number.
Hit that every day, you know,day in, day out, you know.
How, how do you help someonethrough that like, and kind of
breaking down those, I'm gonnasay myths that it's like if you
(28:42):
don't hit this, you know you'refailing, so to speak.
Right.
Megan (28:47):
Well first of all, I think thinking about why you
want that number, right?
It's a safety thing.
It's a way of making yourselffeel like you can do it.
You're safe, you're doing whatyou need to do, and like
acknowledging that that's ahuman thing.
Like that's, that makes sensethat you want that.
I get it.
And, thinking about how longterm could this work for you,
(29:08):
right?
So these rules can bring safetyand they can also bring a lot of
restriction and challenges andlong term, you know, how is that
gonna work for your life foreverwhen there's these challenges,
whether it's becoming a parentor traveling or whatever it is
for you.
And then if you can't reachthose goals, you feel bad,
right?
And so can we get back to,instead of needing a checking a
(29:32):
box, getting back to like whatit feels like to be nourished.
And a lot of us have thiscomplicated relationship with
food and it goes so far backthat it's hard to even remember.
Like, what does it feel like tobe nourished?
Like what does that feel like inyour body?
And so intuitive eating is ahuge topic right now in the
(29:52):
nutrition world and kind ofoutside of it.
And the idea is to help us,, toget back in touch with our
hunger cues, recognizing what itfeels like in our body to give
ourselves permission to eatunconditionally based on what
our body needs and how it feels,and like how, you know, it will
feel afterwards.
So if people are interested inthat, I recommend the book.
(30:14):
It's just literally calledIntuitive Eating by Evelyn
Tripoli.
I'm not sure how to pronouncethat.
And Elise Rush, and they're bothdietician nutritionists and so
it can kind of help you see ifthat's something that you're
interested in as a way to kindof give back to maybe not rules,
but other ways that you can findout if you are feeling good,
(30:34):
other ways to succeed at eating.
If you want to kind of put it inthat terms.
Interestingly.
You mentioned this I thinkbefore, babies are intuitive
eaters.
Little kids, they know whenthey're hungry and they tell you
by yelling, and then they knowwhen they're full because they
stop.
Right?
And then as we and the worldintroduce these expectations and
these biases, even well-meaningrules and and advice, then it
(30:59):
gets harder for them to rely ontheir body cues, to tell them
when they're hungry, and thenhow much to eat.
And the last point I was gonnasay here is that I actually feel
like pregnancy and postpartum isa really great time to reconnect
with your body and kind of getback in touch with that.
For one, I think it's sometimeseasier to recognize hunger cues
(31:19):
because they're like screamingat you sometimes during
pregnancy, right?
You're like, I'm so hungry, I'mgoing to eat you.
Like whoever's in my way.
So you may be feeling hungercues the first time that you
have in a while, and if you domiss hunger cue, you feel like
crap, right?
You're probably nauseous, youfeel miserable.
And so really strong signalsfrom your body at this time
(31:40):
period in the, and many peoplefeel a little bit more
comfortable with the idea ofeating more in these time
periods, you know, as theyshould.
You don't have to eat for two,but eating more is necessary to
fuel your growth and the baby'sgrowth.
And some people feel a littlebit more.
Liberal, like liberalization, Iguess, here to feel like they're
allowed to eat food.
(32:01):
And you may be more in touchwith your body or at least
thinking of it more about yourbody and its function and how it
feels.
And so I do think likepregnancy, motherhood,
postpartum, it's, it's sotransformative.
It's a great time to get backinto our relationship with food
and, and our body.
Yeah.
Kat (32:21):
Like you said there, babies and kids are very intuitive.
And then it's the world startsto dictate when and how you can
eat.
Like I think about my older sonwho has 20 minutes in the
cafeteria to eat, and it'squickly inhale, eat, he's 13,
he's a growing child.
That's not enough time for youto actually eat.
So, and then with sports rightafter school, you need to make
(32:43):
sure you have more of a snackright before sports and then a
snack after sports, mm-hmm.
And so I always stress myclients, there's, if you're
generally hungry, you need toeat.
And to your point, I like thatabout like in pregnancy, I was
thinking back, I'm like, man,yeah, I remember when I was
hungry, it was like, get me somefood.
Like.
(33:04):
I find myself like, well, it's10 30 and I just ate breakfast.
Oftentimes it's at like 6 45.
And I'm like, that's a long gap.
So I'm like, it's 10 30, Ishouldn't be hungry.
And it's like, no, no, no.
Your body can be hungry atdifferent times a day.
And I use a hunger scale with myclients of kind of red, yellow,
(33:24):
green.
We don't wanna get to the redzone ever, right?
We know we've nourished ourbody.
And then it's like timing wise,if we can go two hours post a
meal, still feeling full, but atthe two and a half hour, three
hour mark.
You might get some inklings andyou know, I stress with clients
every day is gonna be dependent.
And if you've had, and I myselfam guilty of this and I know
(33:46):
some of my clients found thistrap.
If you have a day where you'rereally preoccupied with
meetings, kids life, you aregoing to be disconnected and it
is gonna hit you like a ton ofbricks when you come out of
that.
Focus time so be prepared withfood.
I always say there's a thingabout having your emergency food
(34:07):
there because.
You, you don't wanna be hangryand your body likes to stay fed.
Mm-hmm.
I said, we don't want peaks andvalleys with our hunger.
We want small undulations.
Mm-hmm.
You know, peaks and valleys for a day because it happens is
okay, but if we're constantly inpeaks and valleys, our body's
not gonna like that.
(34:27):
And for.
My clients were, were reallytrying to maintain that muscle
mass and that strength.
We want food in the body.
We don't wanna exercise in avery hungry state.
You're just not, you're notgonna feel like you can push the
weight or put that effort there.
You're actually gonna feelworse.
And some clients are like, Ifeel sick after I work out.
And I said, because you have nofood in your system, your body
(34:49):
needs those glycogen stores tobe filled with food.
Mm-hmm.
So you have.
Energy.
Mm-hmm.
So, but yeah, it is, I'm alwaysdon't get married to the time
you eat If you're hungry, eatright.
Celebrate that.
You can
Megan (35:04):
feel those hunger cues and, and you can listen to your
body.
It's great.
It's amazing that your body cantell you when it needs food like
that.
It's amazing.
Kat (35:11):
It is.
It is so, so amazing.
I know for myself when I'm inlike a high.
High week, a peak week oftraining, like right now, I'm in
a peak training block.
After, if I'm not hungry after ahigh demand for a long time, I
know I probably did not feel thebest the day before.
Maybe for me, like withendurance running on the run, I
maybe didn't feel as wellbecause my body is like in a bit
(35:34):
of a suppressed state.
It got too stressed.
So it's understanding, that'snot a good thing.
It doesn't mean like, oh, yay, Iam not being, it's, we need to
make sure that we.
Or feel your body there.
And also that when you start tobecome more of an intuitive
eater tuning into those, it cantake a while for your body to
(35:55):
adjust, for you to kind ofunderstand it's not a overnight
process.
Megan (36:00):
So Oh yeah, absolutely.
You know, it took you how manyyears to get into the state
where you are, you know, relyingon these outside cues, and so
it'll take some time to, tounlearn them and to learn new
cues and mm-hmm.
Hopefully,, sometimes thingsthat take a little bit of time
means that they'll also stickaround longer, yeah.
It's not just a bad diet whereyou just.
Just do it and then a week lateryou're done with it.
(36:21):
It's kind of a, a change, alifestyle change.
Kat (36:24):
Yeah, exactly.
So one thing kind of going intofed diets, not a whole can of
worms, right?
'cause that's a whole, that's awhole other thing.
Yeah.
If you had a magic wand Oh yeah.
What would you just see?
Social media, online, what wouldyou just be like, this is the
one thing, maybe it's a littlebit of a host of things that you
could be like, I just want thisout.
(36:45):
It would be so much simpler andless frustrating.
Megan (36:50):
Yes.
Well, I couldn't pick just likeone fad diet thing, but the,
the, the overall, like, I loveto change this, maybe educate
about it, is the idea that.
You see like a study, a singlestudy that says one thing, like
coffee is good, and thensometimes you'll see another
study that says coffee is bad,and, and people will say,
(37:10):
nutrition's fake or nutrition,someone's lying to you.
Someone's whatever it is.
So I would love if peoplestopped relying on single
studies because nutritionresearch is just really, really
tricky.
Right.
In other fields, like if youwanna know something, you do a
randomized trial, you randomizepeople to take drug A or drug B,
and you see what happens.
(37:30):
Mm-hmm.
With like nutrition, you couldnever randomized someone to do a
diet.
Really, you Not many peoplewould agree.
If I flip a coin and I say, youhave to eat.
A cheeseburger every single day,then you have to do it or you
don't get to eat them everagain.
Right?
Like most people would not agreeto be in a study like that and
they would not do it very well.
(37:51):
They would probably sneakcheeseburgers or not eat a
cheeseburger that day'cause theydidn't feel like it, whatever it
is.
So we rely on studies thataren't as strong as randomized
trials.
So we look at associations.
Sometimes we're looking atreally small effect sizes.
We're dealing with people whoare misreporting their diet,
sometimes on purpose, sometimeson accident.
When they're, when they're, whenthey're in our studies, we may
(38:14):
be asking slightly differentquestions.
So the study might be, is coffeegood for blood pressure or any
other studies?
Is coffee good for reducing therisk of heart disease?
If you have diabetes or youknow, whatever it is, the
questions might be slightlydifferent, which is the devil in
the details and which is why Isay in general.
Stop looking at single studies.
If you can stop reading theInstagram stories that are about
(38:36):
single studies for the mostpart, and then look for
consensus statements.
So these are advice from theAcademy of Nutrition and
Dietetics, the American Collegeof Obstetricians and
Gynecologists.
You know, they hire experts whocan look at all of the studies,
not just one, and put it in thecontext of the full body of
research, and then they can giveyou advice that.
(38:58):
You know, is a little safer thanthese one-off studies that you
hear about on Instagram orTikTok or wherever.
Kat (39:05):
I couldn't agree more with the studies and the one-off
studies.
I will just add, dig deeper intothe population size.
I see this a lot in the fitnessaspect to where especially the,
special seasons of life, likepregnancy and postpartum and
perimenopause.
It is extremely small populationsize.
To even some studies wherethere's more men in this study
(39:27):
on something that is like femalerelated than and it's like, no,
that you can't extrapolate thator it's done on rats and not
humans.
So, so that is one where I'm digdeeper and see if multiple
studies come up with the samething versus just a one small
population size thing and who'spaying for the study because
(39:51):
that influencer is then pedalinga product and the product
sponsored the study will, ofcourse, it may not.
Be very clear.
Megan (40:02):
Yes, big red flag is something, is an absolute right.
It's all good or it's all bad.
That's a huge red flag.
Stop, stop reading that.
Take a second.
A hundred percent.
Kat (40:12):
That's the thing is there's no, don't wanna be so absolute
with the absolutisms, but like,like look into it if someone's
screaming that this is the onlyend all.
Be all.
Yes.
Then dig deeper.
Yeah.
Especially in fitness and newnutrition, because if that were
the case then someone would'vebought the rights, patented it,
(40:36):
and they would be the wholepeople capitalizing off of it.
To wrap up, like what would be,maybe not the one, we don't
wanna go into Olms, but likemm-hmm.
Engagement to offer to moms.
Just navigating nutrition forthemselves and families.
I know, I feel overwhelmed aswell.
Like, I mean, we're, we're all,we're human, right?
(40:58):
It can be overwhelming, but justthat woman out there who's like,
okay, I really wanna.
Get, I want to solve thischallenge for me so that it's no
longer a big challenge for me.
What would be thatencouragement?
Megan (41:12):
Yeah.
I'd say at first I'd remind momsand parents that there are a
million ways to feed your kids,right?
And over the millennia there'sbeen million, millions of ways
to feed their kids, and there isno one right way.
Just kind of like we were justtalking about, the best way is
the way that works for you andworks for your family.
And, you know, I believe thatpeople make the best choices
(41:33):
that they can with what theyhave, with what they know, with
kind of the optimization of, oftheir life.
So, try to relax, enjoy yourfood, enjoy your kids.
If you do have an issue that istroubling, you do that research
through these more repeatablesources like the Academy of
Nutrition Dietetics you know,the college acog, right?.
(41:54):
And then talk to a professionalif you need to.
So there's dieticians out there,there's mental health practice
nurse, there's pediatricians,there's ob gyn, there's people
whose job it is to weed throughall that junk so that you don't
have to, right.
And then they can help you findways to help make eating healthy
work for you instead of youdoing all this work to try to
make eating healthy work foryour family.
(42:15):
Yeah,
Kat (42:16):
So, I would say they can reach out to you.
They can find you at familycenter nutrition science.com if
they have questions.
And we'll have your websitelinked in the show notes as a
resource there, even if youcan't help that, I'm sure you're
very well connected to helpthem.
Yes.
Happy to refer.
Yes.
There are qualified therapists who understand, food
(42:40):
challenges as well as disorderedeating and I think it's, it's
amazing.
I yeah.
And quick plug.
I'm
Megan (42:46):
currently actually contracting through a mental
health.
Practice Oak Grove Counseling.
It's in Delaware and they dohave perinatal, certified mental
health therapists as well.
Kat (42:57):
Okay, perfect.
I highly recommend.
Yep.
And we'll put that in the shownotes as well.
But this was awesome.
I hope, I mean, I got a lot outof this too.
I was like, Ooh, this is reallygood.
Hopefully everybody else gotsomething out of this and feels
more confident, but the biggestthing I would say is just like
you said,.
Keep putting the food out there.
Allow the child to explore.
Allow yourself to explore too.
(43:17):
Be curious and that there are somany different ways to eat
nutritiously.
And I think that is huge in aworld where it's so loud that
it's one day, don't eat this thenext day, don't eat that.
And you feel like, what do Ionly eat water?
Like, is that it?
Right.
But thank you so much for comingon Megan.
Thanks so much for having me.
Appreciate it.
(43:38):
You're welcome.
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KatFit Strength.
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(44:01):
working for you or what topicsyou want to dive into Next.
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