Episode 79: My wishes for 2026

Episode 79: My wishes for 2026

In today’s episode, I’m doing things a bit differently. Rather than diving into a specific nutrition topic, I’m getting personal and sharing my five wishes for 2026—not all food-related, but all close to my heart as a parent and paediatric dietitian.

I’m talking about the things that I'd love to see improve/change with our world. It's not all heavy, just honest and real, and hopefully makes you feel less alone in the chaos of feeding kids and managing life.

Thank you for being part of this community. Whether you’re dealing with a picky eater, trying to navigate nutritious foods for your fussy eater, or just doing your best with quick easy food whilst working full-time, I see you. Here’s to a healthier, kinder 2026 for all of us.

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

Highlights:

Food, Family, and a Fresh Start for 2026 (00:00.014)
Living with Compassion (02:18.292)
Mindful Choices, Meaningful Life (04:34.068)
When School Holidays Meet Snacks: A Mom vs. Ultra-Processed Foods Story (06:46.83)
Holiday Treats, Everyday Snacks, and Parenting in a Processed World (09:06.722)
Ultra-Processed Kids and the Pressure to Be a Perfect Parent (11:32.83)
You’re Doing Enough: Parenting Without Guilt or Comparison (13:58.956)
Less Guilt, More Presence: Parenting in Real Life (16:13.048)
Starting 2026 with Awareness and Intention (18:36.078)

Show notes

READ TRANSCRIPT

Show Notes

Episode Highlights
Factory Farming & Better Meat Choices
Why I’m passionate about reducing factory-farmed meat consumption and practical ways to swap meat for legumes as protein sources for children.

The Ultra-Processed Food Problem
My son’s school holiday eating confession and why Australia’s food standards are failing our kids compared to countries like Japan that prioritise childrens nutrition.

Ditching Comparison Culture
Why parents—especially mothers—need to stop beating themselves up and comparing themselves to others when they’re already doing a brilliant job.

Creating Less Noise
Practical thoughts on reducing the overwhelming daily noise from social media, emails, and constant decision-making that leaves us all scrambled.

Being Present with Family
My plan to be more intentional with family time, compartmentalise work better, and stop trying to juggle everything at once in 2026.

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

Food, Family, and a Fresh Start for 2026 (00:00.014)
You're listening to the Easy Feed podcast episode number 79. My wishes for 2026. Hi there, I'm Karina 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, hello, welcome back.

Welcome to our final episode of 2025. I hope you've had a great year. I hope that you've enjoyed these podcast episodes. I've loved recording them and sharing them with you. Thank you for your kind words about my podcast. It's funny, you know, the different places that you hear people commenting or, you know, they say, you've got quite a following in Melbourne and you don't even realize like when you're recording this podcast, I guess you don't think about.

every little looking cranny that it's getting to, but I hope it's helpful for you. hope it gives you ideas. hope it gives you motivation around feeding kids because at the end of the day, that's what I'm here to do. I'm here to share credible knowledge to try to cut through the noise of nutrition and feeding kids because my goodness, there is so much noise out there.

This is good. This is bad. This isn't. It's so confusing. Butter is good. Butter's bad. Like he was like, why do I feed my kids? So thank you for being here. Whether you follow me on this podcast, whether you follow me on social media, follow me on my Sunrise TV segments or all of them, then thanks for following me. Thanks for being here. I hope that, yeah, I hope you enjoy being part of my community because I love.

I love my followers, I love the feedback and the comments and the questions. I'm here for all of it and I hope it helps. So today's segment is a little different rather than talking to a particular topic. I liked the idea of making it a little more personal and sharing my wishes for 2026. They're not all related to food and nutrition, but you know, I'm a parent and I think it's, it's good to share what we're hopeful for. I must say I never.

Living with Compassion (02:18.292)
make New Year's resolutions. I'm not one to do that. I don't know why actually. I just think it's, I'm always striving to be better and do better. And I don't know, I feel like just doing it on January 1 is a little, I don't know. I don't know what the word is, but I just don't do it. So anyway, but I do have wishes for 2026 and I guess there, a lot of them are ongoing wishes for me.

so I thought I'd share them with you and some of these may resonate with you, maybe all of them. but anyway, here goes. So my number one, and you will have gleamed this sort of theme from me, from my podcast episodes. If you've spent any time with me, you'll know how much I love animals. And for me, this is a very personal one, but for me, I would love to see us eating less.

factory farmed meat, not only because we generally don't need it, it's cruelty. It's cruelty to animals. It's, you know, the farming practices that happen here in Australia are disgusting and I can't stand it and I can't stand the factory farming industry and I wish it would stop. It's so cruel and I don't support the majority of, you know, meat because it's factory farmed. So it's something that I find.

disgraceful and you know, when you buy a piece of meat in a pack in the supermarket, you don't know the torture that that animal's gone through. You don't know what it's been fed. You don't know whether it's been, you know, fed just rubbish pellets. You know, the fish, you don't know about the fish that they've basically eaten just as many feces as food. You know, they're jammed into these tiny areas when they're farming fish. like it's...

It's disgusting and it shouldn't be allowed. And I feel very passionate about factory farming and the cruelty that goes on, especially in the pig industry. my God. It's, it's again, it's torturous. And so look, you know, you may be wanting to switch this podcast episode off right now, but it's the reality of what we're living in and also the food that we're feeding our kids. So yes, I do try to buy organic meat as much as possible. And look, my daughter is vegetarian. I.

Mindful Choices, Meaningful Life (04:34.068)
I'm mostly plant-based and my son and my husband eat meat, but we do try to buy better quality meat just because when we do eat meat, we want decent quality. And look, that's not always possible because it is more expensive, but I would encourage you to think about options to swap out meat for legumes like lentils, chickpeas, kidney beans, because they are such a great source of protein and we don't need that much protein. We only need about a gram per kilo per day.

That's adult and children. There's far more protein going into our mouths and into our stomachs than we actually need. Yes, in kids, we need to focus on iron, but that's because they're guzzling so much dairy. And that's another problem. I'm not going to talk about that on this podcast, but you would have heard me talk about that before, if you've spent any time with me. So for me, my number one would be that we were kinder to animals, that we farmed our animals in a better way.

Look, if all our animals were raised in a humane way and killed in a humane way, I might feel better about eating meat, but at the moment it's disgusting and I really struggle with that whole concept. So for me, number one, it's super personal, but you know, it's me. And so I wanted to share it. But number two, I just wish that we were

In a world that was less noisy. I really wish we had less noise. Like I know that our brain has to process at least 35,000 decisions a day. And not only the decisions, but we are overwhelmed with social media noise. We are overwhelmed with emails. We've got the kids going, ma ma ma ma. We've got so much going on. There's just so much noise and I just wished it somehow.

there was less noise and I need to probably be more intentional for myself about how I can create less noise for me, possibly less scrolling for me being really intentional with what I'm doing every day, which may make me feel a little bit more organized in my head and less scrambled and therefore maybe less noisy. I don't know, but I really hope for less noise. Just have to work out the best way to get that less noise.

When School Holidays Meet Snacks: A Mom vs. Ultra-Processed Foods Story (06:46.83)
Um, that's a work in progress, right? If you've got any ideas, let me know. Okay. My number three really, I think impacts my family significantly, especially my son. And look, it's my fault as well for bringing these foods into the house, but he will also go and buy them at the supermarket if I'm not there, if he's got a bit of money. And it's ultra processed foods. Now look, we've always grown up with ultra processed foods. There's always been chips and chocolate, but.

just feel like there's so much more rubbish in our supermarket shelves these days. And it just makes it really unhealthy for our kids. I'm fine for them to have some chocolate or some chips, but they're layering ultra processed food with ultra processed food with ultra processed food. In my son, I'm sure these holidays is just going from one thing to the next, especially the other day I was really busy.

I was on patient calls and I was recording a video and he was literally left to fend for himself downstairs. I mean, he's 11, he can do that, but he didn't make himself anything decent. I said to him afterwards, said, buddy, you could have just made yourself a cheese toastie. Granted the other day, he did make himself some porridge, which I was pretty impressed about. was like, amazing. Well done, mate, that you made that for breakfast for yourself. That's fantastic. But yesterday, oh my gosh, it was, yeah, he literally went from.

Well, I also have to say this for the first time ever, he said to me, mom, it's the school holidays. Can I please, please ride up the street? Cause he knew I was working and buy a box of cocoa box, like a special school holiday treat. And for the first time ever I weakened and I was like, okay. I just thought back to when my mom said to us school holidays, you can have fruit loops. So I was like.

All right. I said, all right, buddy, you can, okay. This is like a treat for you. So off he goes. So off he went up the street and bought his box of Coco Pops. I'm like, this is like a one-off, right? And came home and had his Coco Pops. And then of course I'm on patient calls and then I don't know what happened after that. I don't know. mean, he usually likes fruit, but then I think he actually probably went to Panettone, which, you know, I grew up in an Italian.

Holiday Treats, Everyday Snacks, and Parenting in a Processed World (09:06.722)
household and well, my dad's, well, it came out from England when he was two, but my mom's side's all from the north of Italy. And so we grew up having panettone every Christmas. So basically it's just like a semi-sweet bread. You just pull it apart and it's doughy and just delicious. It's got a little bit of a rum flavor. So it's, you know, it's a unique taste, but of course, you know, kids love what they grow up with, what is familiar to them. And my kids love panettone.

So it's just this big like bowl of panettone, like a baked panettone that, um, it's kind of like, you know, the Barbie cake shapes that, um, when you make a Barbie cake and you shove the Barbie in the top, it's kind of like that shape. Anyway, he would have just gone and grabbed some of that. And then he would have moved on to the other day, Grain Waves were on sale. I was like, grab a couple of packets of those. Then he moved to some Grain Waves and I'm like...

Buddy, there is nothing healthy about that. Well, I mean, it's a better option to Doritos, which is why I bought the Green Waves. And I'm like, is not normal, V. So I know it's an anomaly and hopefully I'm making you feel more normal by telling you this, telling you all my secrets, but there's just so much rubbish and it really frustrates me, especially muesli bars. my gosh. You go to the muesli bar aisle and there's, I don't know about

five options that are actually half decent, the rest are just full of additive and sugar and rubbish. mean, that's why I've got my supermarket guide and my supermarket guru program so that you can easily find those options and actually will one pop the links to those in the show notes so that you can, you can find them. So really for me, number three is trying to reduce ultra processed foods. And I'm not here to say that we shouldn't have any of them because that's not real life either, but.

If we had slightly better options or if our food standards actually looked after us and wouldn't allow some of this rubbish to actually be on the shelf, then the kids aren't going to have access to it, whether we're there or not. And then less of that rubbish is actually eaten. You know, I actually saw something online about half an hour ago and it so interesting. It was the fact that in Japan, they do not allow ultra processed foods into the school.

Ultra-Processed Kids and the Pressure to Be a Perfect Parent (11:32.83)
not at all. And they showed a picture comparing Japan and America. And they were saying, because Japan really values nutrition, it values the health of the future generation. And so you want to set the future generation up for success. And so for that reason, it doesn't allow ultra processed foods because they've identified that they're just rubbish for our kids and for our future generations, just making us sicker. they were comparing what the Japanese children get offered at lunch, which is literally home cooked.

Fish, miso, or it must be school cooked, but basically homemade, if that makes sense. miso, rice, vegetables, fish, and what else was in there? what did they say? Paddock milk. So like fresh milk. And maybe there was some fruit in there. Maybe not. I can't really remember. Anyway, then they flipped to what the American kids eat and it was like pizza, fries.

chocolate milk drink, like all processed, all laden with either fat or sugar. And no wonder there's an obesity epidemic. And Australia is not much better, honestly. Like it's a, it's a real issue. So we're not really looking after our own country really with the rubbish that our government, food standards allows. And I think the Japanese are doing a pretty damn good job and that's why they're so much healthier. Okay. I did digress, but not really. I think it's irrelevant.

Okay. So moving on to number four, I wish we compared less. I wish as parents, as mothers, especially, we were kinder to ourselves and didn't feel like failures all the time. I'm not saying that you are feeling like a failure all the time, but I think so often we can beat ourselves up. And I know that I beat myself up a lot about the amount of screen time my son in particular has, although my husband tells me that my daughter's no better.

that's probably a big area that I beat myself up about. I don't beat myself up about food because I'm really happy with the way my kids eat now. but I used to, I used to, but I just feel like there's so much comparison that goes on. Only the other day I had a dad on a call that I was consulting with the parents because their child is super fussy. And so many times in the call he goes, my gosh, you know, we failed at this. No, he said, I failed. I failed like multiple times. And it got to the point where I said.

You’re Doing Enough: Parenting Without Guilt or Comparison (13:58.956)
You're not failing, you're doing a great job. You're trying really hard. There's a lot of good things you're doing. You're not failing. And so many times I think we can feel like failures or I know that we can feel like a failure, but it's really important to remember that you're doing the best you can. You love your kids. You're doing the best you can for your kids. So try not to feel like a failure and try not to compare yourself because as soon as we go down the comparison path, typically we only compare.

to someone who we feel is doing better than us, and then it brings us down. So it's impossible not to do it all the time, but my wish is that we do it less so that we're all really grateful for what we have done, what we have achieved, what we are, who we are. And I think that helps lift us up and get us through the days and the weeks and the months more easily. So yeah, give yourself a pat on the back rather than comparing if possible. It's just nice to be aware of.

because I think sometimes we do it, we compare without even realizing we're doing it in awareness is the first step, right? So that would be one of my wishes to just make us all feel like we're doing a bit better than we, than we feel because we probably are actually doing better than we feel we are. A lot of parents that I see in my consults, they feel like they're doing really badly. And I'm like,

You're actually doing really well compared to a lot of like fuzzy eaters that I see or parents of fuzzy eaters. see your child's actually eating really well and they're the ones that are really beating themselves up. So yeah, sometimes we're really hard on ourselves when we shouldn't be. So that was one of my wishes. And then the final one for me is just trying not to get bogged down in the nitty gritty of work that could wait.

And look, I'm, know, of course I'm trying to be the best kids dietitian I can be for, for you guys, for, for everybody to support your children so that we grow a healthier future generation. But for me, sometimes I need to just stop and I need to just say to the kids, yeah, sure. Like, you know, I'll watch that movie with you. I'm not going to just do this extra thing for work. I'm actually just going to sit down and watch a Christmas movie with you or, know,

Less Guilt, More Presence: Parenting in Real Life (16:13.048)
Just little things. I think that, you know, they're, they're getting older. They're not going to be here forever. And it's really important to try to make those memories count. And look, I, I'm lucky that I am around a lot for my kids, a lot more than no mum who may have to work externally full time. I'm off site. So I am, I have been blessed and I have been around a lot for my kids, but I still think sometimes I.

could be more present. think that's the thing. I think it's sometimes I'm trying to juggle. I'm always trying to juggle and do both things well. And I don't think you can do that. I think you need to compartmentalize and go do all in on one thing and then all in on the other. And I know that's not necessarily real life, but for me, that's something that I'm going to try and do better in 2026 and really be intentional with just like hiding everything, like hiding my phone, hiding my laptop.

Not hiding because I knew where it's going to be, removing it, putting it somewhere else. Because, and I say to my kids, look, every time I'm on my phone, I am working. Like I'm doing a reel or I'm replying to someone on, you know, online, or I'm replying to an email. So I'm working, but they just see me on my phone and then they're on their devices. And I'm like, yeah, but this is so different. I'm actually working and you're not. so, but they don't, like, doesn't, you know, compute necessarily, or maybe it does, but.

I just feel guilty being on the screen. So for me, I've got to try and be a bit more intentional with like the kids' family time and then my work time and really trying to be more structured with that and probably more diligent with that. And that's going to make me feel better, I feel. I mean, like I love, you know, the bedtime because it's just time that you can spend with the kids and chat and, you know, bedtime to do drag out a bit because that's when we chat.

But I feel like I could get better at that after school or, you know, sometimes I'll miss something that they say and I have to ask them three times because I'm trying to focus on two things at once. And so, you know, again, you probably relate to this, but for me, I'm going to try and be a little more intentional. I'll let you know how this goes, by the way, we can do a little debrief and check in maybe at the end of the first quarter. Anyway, that's my wish is to try to be a bit more intentional with the time and.

Starting 2026 with Awareness and Intention (18:36.078)
a bit more structured so that I'm not trying to, you know, do two things all the time. It's not always going to be possible, but that's, that's what I'm thinking anyway. That, that's, that could be a starting point. Awareness is the first step, right? I'm looking forward to spending some quality time together with the family over the holiday break. And yes, whilst I will still need to do a little bit of work, hopefully I can be even more intentional with time spent with the kids. So yeah, anyway, that's.

That's my thoughts and that's my top five wishes personally for 2026, but I'd love to hear yours. mean, like, I'm sure there's more I could rattle off, but they were sort of the top five that came to mind when I thought, this would be a good topic to share. So let me know what you think. Let me know what yours are. yeah, I'm keen to know because we've all got different challenges. We've all got different journeys.

We've all got different starting points and we've all got different, you know, obstacles along the way. Whether it's financial, whether it's health, whether it's relationship, you know, there's always things that block our way and we've got to find a better way. But I really like the saying, you know, if it's not this, it's something better. And that's a really nice saying, I think, just to say to yourself when times are tough, it's like, right, just keep going. So I hope that 2026 is something better.

for all of you and thanks again for being here. Thanks for being a part of the Easy Feed podcast. Thanks for being a part of my community. Stay in touch and I cannot wait to chat to you more in 2026. Bye for now.