Episode 77 : 3 Ways To Improve the Way Your Child Eats - Today

Episode 77 : 3 Ways To Improve the Way Your Child Eats - Today

As a Paediatric Dietician and mToday we cover 3 simple, practical changes you can make today that will quickly improve the way your child eats.

These are the strategies I use myself, and I teach them becuase they work because they’re realistic, gentle, and grounded in what children actually need to build trust with food. If you’re raising a picky eater or navigating the daily battles of a fussy eater, this episode will give you a clear, manageable starting point.

Here’s what we cover:

Challenging Without Overwhelming
A calm way to expose children to new, nutritious foods without creating mealtime stress.

Breaking the Snack Cycle
How to disrupt “snack creep” and set up snack platters that genuinely support children’s nutrition.

One Win at a Time
Why choosing a single, achievable change leads to consistent progress in healthy diets for fussy eaters.

The Power of Language
How talking about your child’s eating – even casually – shapes their identity and confidence with food.

Building Trust at the Table
What a supportive feeding environment looks and feels like for picky or anxious eaters.

If you’d like more support, you’ll find helpful links below, including nutritious recipes, snack guides, and tools that make feeding a fussy eater far less stressful.

Links:
https://nourishwithkarina.com/feedingbabies
https://nourishwithkarina.com/membership

Highlights:

Introduction (00:00.074)
Practical Ways to Improve Children’s Eating: Positive Feeding and Gentle Food Challenges (02:25.176)
Balancing Familiar Foods and Gentle Challenges: Strategies to Reduce Picky Eating in Children (04:41.672)
Subtle Food Exposure and Snack Strategies: Reducing Fussy Eating in Children (07:02.36)
Snack Strategies and Modeling Healthy Eating: Tackling Fussy Eating and Snack Creep (09:18.43)
Small Wins for Big Changes: Boosting Kids’ Nutrition One Step at a Time (11:46.65
Boost Kids’ Nutrition and Confidence: Small Wins, Smart Snacks & Positive Mealtime Habits (14:00.162)
Raising Confident Eaters: Small Changes, Smart Snacks & Avoiding Labels (16:15.422)
Stress-Free Lunchboxes: Simplifying Snacks, Meals & Family Feeding (18:16.802)

Show notes

READ TRANSCRIPT

Show Notes

Show Notes & Resources

Join my Private Group! https://nourishwithkarina.com/privategroup

Healthy Recipes for Kids: https://nourishwithkarina.com/healthy-recipes-for-kids

The Three-Week Feeding Kids Reset https://nourishwithkarina.com/3weeks

Healthy Snack Supermarket Guide https://nourishwithkarina.com/3weeks

Healthy Kids Snacks & Lunchbox Planner https://nourishwithkarina.com/planner

Introduction (00:00.074)
You're listening to the Easy Feed Podcast episode number 77, three things that you can do now to improve the way that your child eats. Hi there. I'm Carina Savage and with over 20 years experience feeding children, including my own, I've learnt all the secrets that busy mums need to get their children eating better and actually enjoying healthy foods. So a huge welcome to the Easy Feed Podcast.

Hello and welcome back. It's great to have you here with me in the Easy Feed podcast. my goodness. I was rebooking patients for a month review and I can't believe that that's going to be pretty much Christmas. It's crazy. Six weeks until the new year, 2026. So wow. I hope that you're really well and that life isn't too crazy busy for you right now. I know that at this time of the year, it can tend to start to ramp up and get really busy and kind of nice though.

Sometimes because you have lots of interview gatherings and concerts and get-togethers. So it can be really lovely time of year, but it can also be a very busy time of year. Sometimes the time of year where we eat a lot more festive treats and sweets and alcohol and sugary drinks and look, there's a time and a place for those. But sometimes it gets a little out of control. So sometimes parents, you know, can get a bit worried about that.

And actually I do have a podcast episode on that, managing the sugary, know, treats over the festive season. And you can check that out. It's episode number 53 of the Easy Feed podcast. But anyway, that's a little way away. Those Christmas celebrations, I think everybody's still in school and work and action mode. We've still got sport on the weekends and you know, everything's still in full swing. And so I think, you know, whilst we're in routine at school,

It can be very helpful because we've got the usual breakfast. We've got the school lunch boxes after school, you know, it's the usual snack fest. But you know, we have routine and structure, which is a good thing from that perspective because you know, kids can't just have access to snacking from the pantry all day long because they're not at home. So that's good from that perspective. But anyway, I digress. That wasn't what I had planned on talking about today, but you know, it's, guess, all practical management of kids with...

Practical Ways to Improve Children’s Eating: Positive Feeding and Gentle Food Challenges (02:25.176)
But I guess it all relates to managing kids and moving into this festive season. You know, we are faced with those challenges a bit like Easter time and Halloween, although Halloween is more like a one-off day, whereas the school holidays tend to go on for a lot longer. But I wanted to take a minute today to record this segment on three practical ways that you can start making changes today that will improve the way your children eat. Because sometimes we don't.

take that 30,000 foot view. don't stop, pause and you know, from above, the aeroplane view, look down and go, what is happening? We're kind of into such survival mode and we're doing our thing and we're necessarily surviving rather than necessarily thriving in terms of their nutrition and feeding them because we kind of get stuck on this rat race of just giving them what they want, giving them what we know that they will eat.

Also trying to find new foods, new healthy foods. Sometimes it's exhausting and if they refuse it, then they haven't eaten and they're cranky and you've got food being thrown in the bin that you spend money on and then they don't have the food. so, you know, I can see why we do fall into that trap of just giving them what they want. But my number one today for trying to improve the way they eat quickly is to start challenging them with a little extras.

So I'm not saying that if your child has never eaten chicken satay in their life, that that is all you give them for dinner because that could end really badly. And that's not what I'm all about. I'm not all about saying, this is your dinner, eat it, or you go to bed hungry. And then there'd be a massive fight, huge stress, the child's stressed, the child eats nothing, the child goes to bed hungry. It's just a...

a negative environment, a negative feeding environment and the child comes to the table the next day, probably a little bit more stressed and anxious about how this was going to play out. And it's just not a really nice feeding environment. What I suggest is always presenting the child with something that you know that they will like and that they do trust, but also trying to stretch them.

Balancing Familiar Foods and Gentle Challenges: Strategies to Reduce Picky Eating in Children (04:41.672)
Ideally with something that you're eating that they may not yet be comfortable and familiar and trusting of yet, but you are eating it and if they see you eating it and they've got a little bit there that they can potentially try if they wish, that is the way that you're going to start to stretch them and get them trying some new foods. Because if we're always just giving them the macaroni cheese, the chicken nuggets, the sausages, the plain rice, the plain pasta,

We're reinforcing that fussiness. We're saying, sure, you can just have that plain food. Sure. That's healthy eating. Sure. You can just keep eating the way you want and we're not going to stretch you. What happens then is they start getting narrower and narrower and narrower. And the child really starts to gain the power, gain the upper hand there because the parent kind of feels powerless to get them to change anything.

We want them to eat, we're desperate for them to eat. And so we say, okay, we'll just give you the plain pasta because I know that you'll eat it. So we start to lose the power and we're reinforcing the fact that the child can dictate what they want. And so I think it's really important to, yes, be considerate of what they're wanting to eat. To always have something that you know that they will like and feel up on, but also having food that will challenge them.

Either on their plate or on the side plate. Look, we talk about this all the time in my class eating program, in a side nourishing kids, because it's an ongoing challenge for parents. We really need to have a plan, a game plan that helps to teach the children what normal healthy eating is. And it's not just a bowl of plain rice every night, even though that's probably what some of them would really love. Or just cheese or just nuggets, because my goodness, that's what they love to eat. But again,

It's the messages that we're giving to our children. That's really important here. And it's from a young age. They learn how to manipulate the situation and push all of our buttons so that they get what they want from a very young age. And I'm not trying to make them out to be vindictive because they do it because that's what they love and they know it works. And so they just keep doing it. It's yummy for them. And they don't want these foreign greens, sour, bitter things that they're not sure about. they're just doing what's innate to them. So.

Subtle Food Exposure and Snack Strategies: Reducing Fussy Eating in Children (07:02.36)
They're not doing anything wrong, but we need to teach them about healthy eating. And the way that we do that is to subtly, supportively expose them. And I'm not saying that, you know, cut all your carrots up into pretty stars and make a face out of all the veggies every night, because that may not necessarily work, especially if a child has an underlying sensory issue and they don't like anything cooked or they like it raw or they like it frozen. Like, you know, there's a whole lot of reasons why kids might be fussy. So.

That's a whole nother conversation. And as I said, I go into a lot about that inside the three week feeding kids reset, which is my Fussy Eating program. But it's about making sure that we are subtly offering them exposure to new foods that they may not yet be comfortable with, familiar with or want to eat. So it's really important that yes, we feed them food that they like, but we're not.

just stuck in the kids dinners and you're not just eating macaroni cheese altogether every night because that's not good for you and that's not good for them either. So we're not taking away their favorites, but we are trying to broaden their horizons subtly, supportively, calmly. We're not making a big deal of it, but we are doing it consistently. Okay. My number two is to change up their snacks. Again.

We can get into the routine of the same old snacks, the same old crackers, the same old, it might be Jats, the same old beef jerky. It might be cheese. It might be pickles. It might be Oreos. It could be tiny teddies. It could be hummus maybe, but it's important to, whether it's a healthier or an unhealthy or, and it's probably more important if it's more of the unhealthier, it's really important that we try to mix it up or

value add to their day. It's really important that we try to mix it up or value add to their day, especially to their snacks. And this is why I love a snacks platter because that's where we can really have some of their, you know, happy, safe snacks or the snacks that they're familiar with and they like. And then we can also have those extra new snacks, foods that they may not yet want to eat or choose to eat.

Snack Strategies and Modeling Healthy Eating: Tackling Fussy Eating and Snack Creep (09:18.43)
You could just put one or two on the side there and you may walk across the room and, you know, walk past the platter and grab one and eat it and off you go. So it's showing them that you want that and you're enjoying it, but you're not making a big deal out of it. You're not going, I'm going to pick up this yummy cashew and eat it. And gee, it's so yummy. So crunchy. Wouldn't even talk about it, but they see you picking up that cashew. They see you putting it in your mouth. They see you crunching and enjoying it. And naturally that's going to make them more inquisitive to try it.

You don't say anything, your body language does all the selling for you. You don't need to say a word. And that's really important because as soon as we try and oversell a food, everything backfires. We do need to be careful of what we can call the snack creep. And I've certainly seen this in my son sometimes, especially if he's home, maybe it's school holidays and he'll just go to the cupboard every hour. Back to the cupboard, back to the cupboard. And it's always something that's white, crunchy, usually processed.

And it's just a fast hit. It's a fast sugar usually, and it's just a hit. Even if it's, you know, white crackers, it's still a hit. they're getting a bit of a hit of, you know, carbohydrate, sugar, salt, but it's not lasting long in their bloodstream. It's not giving them fiber. It's not giving them much nutrition at all. And so then they're hungry again, half an hour later, an hour later, usually it's even half an hour the way that the glycemic index works. And then they're back at the pantry for another hit. And so this snack.

creep can be, it sounds like a person, but snacks that creep in, creep in, creep in, it becomes basically a whole snack day. This is an issue because then our children aren't getting those high fiber whole foods that they would normally have at a complete meal, like a lunch or a dinner, for example. If they've snacked too much throughout the day, they may not want a proper dinner. So it's important to be really mindful of the...

snack creep over the school holidays, especially. And if this is happening, then snack platters are really important because that's where you can put that real balance of those white crunchy foods that they might go for in the pantry and then plenty of other plant-based foods that are going to give them their fiber and the nutrition that we're wanting our children to have. Okay. My third tip to start seeing real changes happening quickly is to focus on one

Small Wins for Big Changes: Boosting Kids’ Nutrition One Step at a Time (11:46.658)
thing only and actually get that happening consistently and properly, and then move on to the next thing. Because if you can focus on one small win and actually achieve that win consistently, that's going to really help your child's nutrition. Okay. And so this could be swapping their bread from plain white bread to wholemeal bread or grainy bread.

It could be getting in an extra server vegetables in the lunchbox that they actually eat. It could be getting in protein in the lunchbox. That's not ham or salami or processed meats, because sometimes that's a challenge. It could be getting an extra server fruit in a breakfast time. So whatever your little win is going to be, focus on one thing to achieve. Get that done. Get that under your belt. Achieve that win. Feel successful.

do it consistently and then you can move on to your next challenge. But it's really important that we focus on those small achievable bite size tasks so that we actually make progress. Because sometimes if we try to get too many things done, then it all falls in a heap and then nothing gets done. So it's really important to try to start the wheels moving, get that momentum going. One small wind will lead to another small wind, but we've got to start somewhere.

So even if you've got the busiest days right now, it's no excuse. You can still make time to throw two strawberries next to breakfast or to chop up one tiny bit of cucumber and put it in the lunchbox or grab an olive and put it in the lunchbox. Or maybe at the supermarket, just grab a different bread. You know, these things don't take a whole lot of time, but if you can just do one simple change consistently that improves their nutrition.

It will make a big difference to them over the weeks and the months and the years. It doesn't seem like much, but it all adds up. It's just like putting, you know, 10 cents into a jar every day. know, it doesn't seem like much of the time, but after a days and the weeks and the months and the years pass by, you know, that compounded accumulation of cash makes a big difference. And that's the same here with food. I've got one more for you. It's a bonus one. I always like to...

Boost Kids’ Nutrition and Confidence: Small Wins, Smart Snacks & Positive Mealtime Habits (14:00.162)
Give a bit extra. So I've got a bonus one for you and my fourth tip. And that is to stop talking about food or how your child eats in front of them. So what I'm trying to say is if you've got a fussy eater or you're not happy with the way your child eats, do not talk about them in front of them to your friend or to your husband or to your parents or to anyone else because

If they hear you talking about them and the way they eat in front of them, so you're talking about them in front of them, that can really trigger a whole lot of emotions for them that we don't even know is happening. And what we can also do is create a story in their mind. Now our external words can become their internal words. And so, for example, if you do have a fussy eater, and I go into a lot more detail about this in my Fussy Eating Program, the three week leading kids reset.

And if you are talking about them, then it's reinforcing that story of them being fussy in their mind. And so it's only making them more fussy in their mind. So it's giving them almost a label of being fussy in their mind and you've already labeled them in your mind. so it's self-perpetuating and it reinforces it.

We don't want them to have a story in their mind that they're fussy because we don't want them to be fussy. And so don't call them fussy, especially in front of them. This happens all the time with parents and you know, look, it's not your fault. Cause you didn't know that you shouldn't do this, but it's not a good thing to talk about how your child eats in front of them because it does reinforce the story and it does reinforce the current problem that you're facing. If you're not happy with the way your child is eating.

And you're probably not because otherwise you wouldn't be talking about how your child eats in front of them. We want to build our children's confidence with food. We want them to feel that they are healthy, confident eaters. We want them to love food and have a really positive relationship with food. And so we really need to be careful about the energy and the environment that we're creating for our children around food. So that's my bonus number four is to try not to discuss your child's

Raising Confident Eaters: Small Changes, Smart Snacks & Avoiding Labels (16:15.422)
eating, don't discuss your child's weight, don't discuss any of those issues in front of them because it then can make things worse and create a story and they attach that sort of persona to them. And that might not be fair because maybe they're not fussy. Maybe they've just got underlying issues. Maybe they're constipated. Maybe they've got sensory issues. Maybe there's other reasons why they are not eating the way that you would like them to.

But if we label them as fussy and then they take on that persona, then, you know, they might be fussy for the next 20 years. And even as an adult, they might think of themselves as fussy when actually they're not. But we've given them that label right back, you know, when you were talking to your friend about how they eat. just be mindful of that because.

They're so moldable, you know, we influence them in so many ways. We have to be really careful with the words that we choose because they're really powerful, more powerful than we realize. All right. Well, that one's a little bit shorter than my usual podcast, but I just wanted to give you those three tips. And of course the bonus one to try to change the way that your child eats or improve the way that your child eats. And look, honestly, just pick one of those.

four and start there. And then you can always move on to the next one, whether it's starting to branch out and cook some new foods that aren't just on the daily kids rotation or whether it's making a snack platter for them or whether it's changing up their bread or putting some extra fruit with breakfast or trying to get some more veggies into their lunchbox. Remember just focusing on one small change done consistently. That's where you're starting to get the real progress happening.

We'll put some links to helpful resources in the show notes and that would be my Fuss Eating program, the three week feeding kids reset, my healthy snacks supermarket guide, which is a great option for those parents wanting to know exactly which supermarket snacks to give their kids that are additive free, that are lower in salt, that are lower in sugar. So that's a great one. And I'll also put the link to my healthy kids snacks and lunchbox planner because that one just takes

Stress-Free Lunchboxes: Simplifying Snacks, Meals & Family Feeding (18:16.802)
the decision making out of lunchboxes and makes lunchbox prep so much easier. So thanks for being here. Thanks for listening. I hope that's been a nice short, sharp and shiny, but useful episode for you. I wish you a beautiful week and I can't wait to chat with you next time. Bye for now.