Episode 1: Welcome to The Easy Feed Podcast

Episode 1: Welcome to The Easy Feed Podcast

I'm Karina Savage, and welcome to The Easy Feed Podcast!
I'm here to help you nourish your kids more easily.. and to get them actually enjoying healthy foods.

With over two decades of experience in feeding kids, including my own, I've uncovered all the tricks to help get your children eat better and boost their nutrition while saving you precious time in the kitchen.

Follow me on Instagram and Facebook

Links
https://nourishwithkarina.com/feedingbabies
https://nourishwithkarina.com/3-week-feeding-kids-reset

Highlights:

Introduction (00:00.142)
Karina shares her journey and highlights important aspects of feeding kids (00:40.334)
Helping parents improve their children's eating habits (03:06.926)
Understanding the Importance of Healthy Eating in Motherhood (05:27.246)
Parental Stress and Family Disagreements (07:50.382)
Nurturing Desires and Family Disagreements (10:07.246)
Understanding the Importance of Success in Feeding Children (12:31.15)
Gut Health and Confidence in Child Feeding (14:52.654)
Aims to motivate and empower parents in their role of feeding their children. (17:12.397)
Emphasizes the importance of focusing on happiness and gratitude (19:35.534)

Show notes

READ TRANSCRIPT

Show Notes

I'm Karina Savage, and welcome to The Easy Feed Podcast!
I'm here to help you nourish your kids more easily.. and to get them actually enjoying healthy foods.

I get it – the struggle to provide a balanced diet for your family can sometimes feel overwhelming. That's why this podcast is your go-to guide, packed with tips, advice, and practical "doable" solutions to make your life easier.

If you're tired of the stress and worry that often comes with mealtimes, you're in the right place. I'll help to lift that heavy load off your shoulders, so you can feel happy, confident, and assured that your kids are growing up healthy and strong.

Tune in to The Easy Feed Podcast, because together, we're turning those mealtime challenges into a piece of cake – or maybe even some carrot sticks.

I can't wait to inspire you with quick wins to nourish your family.

Let's celebrate happy, healthy kids!

Gets your child eating more nutritious foods and enjoying them! Join the waitlist today : https://nourishwithkarina.com/membership

Introduction (00:00.142)
You're listening to the Easy Feed Podcast, episode number one.
I'm Karina Savage and with over 20 years experience in feeding kids, including my own, I've learned all the secrets that busy mums need to get their kids eating better and improve their nutrition while spending less time in the kitchen. This podcast will show you exactly how to take stress and worry out of feeding your children so that the load is lifted off your shoulders and you feel happy and confident knowing your kids are healthy.
This is the Easy Feed Podcast.
Karina shares her journey and highlights important aspects of feeding kids (00:40.334)
Thank you so much for tuning into the Easy Feed. I am your host, Karina Savage, and I wanna say thank you for being here. In this episode, I'm gonna be sharing a bit about me and my journey and why you wanna be listening to me and what you're going to get out of it. Some of the most relevant and important things about feeding kids we must be paying attention to and we must be learning and mastering are often not talked about. And I'm here to share those with you.
I've had this compelling urge over the past few years to create this podcast for you. And I'm so excited that finally it's coming to fruition. It's been a while, but I'm so excited that it's finally arrived because my mission is to motivate and empower moms with feeding kids. Goodness knows as busy moms, we have enough on our plate and feeding kids can be a real punish. So my role is to make sure that no mom.
Emma feels defeated and alone with feeding her children because seriously, parenting is hard enough and we all need to support each other and lift each other up. And we just need people in our corner. And I'm here to be that person for you, that feeding kids expert. I've been around for a while now, 21 years as a pediatric dietician and mom of two who have been a little bit fussy themselves. So I'm here to cover a whole lot of goodness for you in the feeding kids.
department. So we're going to be covering a whole lot of things from how to get your children to start eating healthier foods, how to boost the nutrients throughout their day, how to become a label reading guru, you know, healthy snack ideas, you name it, we'll be covering it in this podcast. And of course, I'm open to suggestions. So please let me know if there's a specific topic that you would like covered. So how are your kids eating these days?
Are you happy with how they're eating? Well, if I answer that question honestly for myself, I'd say that we are getting there and we've come a long way. My children are now nine and 11 and boy, it's been a journey. But my mission is to shorten that journey for you. So it's not 11 years of your life feeding children that you are feeling a little too frustrated.
Helping parents improve their children's eating habits (03:06.926)
and I'm here to shortcut that beating journey for you and get your children eating better and more quickly. Because as parents, we want our children to eat well. But unfortunately, no matter how we try, how much we try, our efforts do not always correlate to our children being good eaters. So just because you're spending hours finding healthy recipes and shopping and...
spending so long in the kitchen trying to cook these healthy meals, it doesn't mean that your child is going to eat it and be healthier. And it drives us nuts, doesn't it? Because we can literally feel like we're wasting hours and hours preparing and cooking for kids and it doesn't necessarily work. So what is the secret juice? You'd think that the more effort we put in, the more we got out right. The more success we would have with our children eating and look, you know, some lucky mums.
do have that experience, but I can't say I've had that experience. And speaking for the thousands of mums that I've spoken to over the years, you know, a lot of us don't experience that luck or that, that, you know, light meal times where children just use, have fun and they just eat. So how do we change them? How do we get them to start eating healthier? Well, that's why I'm here. So, you know, you see all those
Instagrammable lunches and dinners on social media. And that can make us feel crappy because you just think, you know, if only I could cook like that or prepare that, you know, then that'd be healthier. But let me tell you, that is not the case. You know, it doesn't have to be Instagrammable. I'm very big on that because I'm all about keeping it realistic, keeping it doable, keeping it practical for the busy mom, because it doesn't necessarily work anyway. So what I tend to look at is the bigger,
feeding environment, bigger feeding ecosystem, because it's not about just putting broccoli on the plate every night. That's not necessarily going to get your child eating broccoli. Look, it might help. And that's certainly perhaps what we will get taught at uni as dieticians to say just repeated exposure. That's what's going to work. But, you know, I speak from experience and you've got your own kids and you've probably tried that too. And it's not necessarily going to work.
Understanding the Importance of Healthy Eating in Motherhood (05:27.246)
So what I'm here to do is to scratch the surface a little bit. I'm going to be talking about things that you might not hear about on other podcasts because it looking at that whole greater feeding ecosystem or environment, which not only looks at, you know, what's happening at dinner time on the, at the dinner table, but it's also looking at our own mindset, our own confidence as moms, because that plays a huge role in everything, our own minds and our own.
approach to feeding children makes or breaks, you know, at dinner time, it makes or breaks how our children behave around food, how they think about food, because as parents, we are their teachers for everything in life. Good luck to them. And feeding kids, we need to teach them about food. We need to teach them about healthy eating. And I realized how I approached mealtimes and
eating, you know, encouraging my daughter to eat. It probably wasn't the most effective way to actually get her to eat new foods. And, you know, I've taken 11 years, well, the best part of that time to really refine and work out the best way. And that's what I'm here to do is to share that with you. So it's not just talking about the practical stuff at dinner time. It's a lot to do with how we show up as moms.
how we're feeding our children. And of course, you know, I'm going to give you all those tips and tricks along the way and you know, what to look for and what not. So I'm going to arm you with your own feeding toolkit so that you're more able to feed your children healthy. And you've just got that information. Knowledge is power, right? So often as mums, we feel super guilty when our children eat a lot of junk and some mums tell me that they really feel like a total failure.
And I think a lot of the time we link our self -worth to how our children eat. If certainly I've been guilty of that and I don't think that's fair. It happens, but I don't think that's fair. And it's often hard to separate the two. It's hard to separate how our children eat and behave around food and our own ability as a mum to parent them and to nurture them. Because as a mum, we have an innate ability.
Parental Stress and Family Disagreements (07:50.382)
or an innate desire, I should say, to nurture our young. And we want them to be nourished and to thrive. And it's not only human nature, it's nature of all kinds, the animal kingdom, right? Any animal, whether it's a gorilla or a cow or a bird, you know, they want to feed their young and they want them to thrive. And so when your child doesn't follow suit and doesn't eat like you think they do,
should eat to be healthy and to thrive, then that throws a curveball at you. And that curveball, so to speak, can really rock the boat and it can rock your confidence as a mom. And it certainly can bring a whole lot of stress and worry, not only at beating time, but all throughout the day, because it makes you feel like you're not doing a good job as a mom. It makes you feel worried that they're not getting enough. So.
The stress and worry can have a massive ripple effect and it can extend throughout the whole family too, because sometimes you find, often I find, you know, mum and dad will have disagreements, arguments about the best approach to feeding little Johnny. And sometimes dad will have a different approach to mum, maybe one's more forceful and the other one doesn't agree with that. And I've certainly had families that tell me that they've actually pinned their child down to feed them.
Or I've also had families tell me that they gave their child, or they tried to bribe their child with 50 bucks to try to eat something. So, you know, there's huge different approaches in families and sometimes parents will have different approaches between them. And when that happens, that can have, bring about a lot of stress and disagreement between the parents. And then, you know, that unrest and that, that
argumentative sort of vibe at dinner time can extend throughout the day. And, and sometimes, you know, the family's just not as happy as it could be compared to when or if you are having connected, happy, light, fun family meal times together. Because look, in our busy lives, there's not many opportunities for us as a family to come together to connect each day. We're often pulled in all different directions. And look, I appreciate that. It's not always possible for it.
Nurturing Desires and Family Disagreements (10:07.246)
both parents to be home at dinner time. I completely appreciate that. So often it's not always the happy family sharing dinner time together, but if that can happen, then amazing. Or if it can happen on the weekend, then amazing. Because that is really valuable time. And it's a whole lot of really solid evidence about the social and emotional benefits of families connecting and coming together. And dinner time is a great opportunity for that. But...
You know, it's not always possible and we'll talk about more about that in another podcast. But I just wanted to share a little bit about my story now. As I said, my children are now nine and 11, but if we rewind to when my daughter was young, she was super, super fussy. And look, she's getting there now, but back then she really didn't eat meat. She was low in mind. She actually had a blood test because, well, I'll expand on that in a little bit.
but she was definitely on the lean side and I had, you know, grandparents saying, you know, she's a bit skinny and I'm like, I'm an pediatric dietician. I should be able to nourish my child. So not only as a mom, but as a healthcare professional who specializes in that area, how do you think I felt when I had people saying, she's a bit skinny and she's, you know, she only eats cheese and pasta. So, you know, I was feeling pretty crappy myself too, because I had this skinny little, I had a vision.
Bussy Eater staring up at me and I'm like, my God, like, what am I going to do? So my confidence was pretty shattered and was pretty rock bottom. And yeah, my mindset was not positive and my perspective on feeding her was really, I guess, of the vibe that it was a struggle and it felt like a failure to be honest. So what I've realized is that.
I wasn't necessarily a failure, it was just how she was. But if I'd done things differently, I think I probably could have created a slightly more positive sort of mindset and vibe, which then would have meant that she probably expanded her intake a lot quicker, which would have then reduced my worry and stress and feeling of being judged and all of that that comes with, you know, kids that don't eat well and mums who worry about their kids who don't eat well. So.
Understanding the Importance of Success in Feeding Children (12:31.15)
You know, I think I would have saved myself years of battling this and comparing what she ate to others and wishing like I could have started all over again. And that's why I'm here to try it short that time for you. So if I had her now knowing what I know now, I'm positive it would be completely different. I'm positive that she would have had a different feeding experience. And again, it's not, it's not just, you know,
putting veggies on their plate because you know I could do that. It's all the stuff you can't see. It's all the hidden little things. It's the mindset, it's the approach, it's the vibe, energy, talk about food. It's all those little things that are actually the big things that really play into whether a child is actually going to try food or not. So all these little secrets to success feeding kids is what I'm here to share with you.
But as I said, they're not just the physical things. It's a lot to do with our own confidence and our mindset and our energy because they are sponges. They absorb everything from us. And it's not just the physical, the words, the look, it's all of the subconscious. It's the energy, it's the vibe that you're exuding. They pick up on all of that. They are sponges. And, you know, people talk about frequencies and...
the mood and all of those things the kids pick up on and that absolutely makes or breaks meal time. So that's what I'm going to be talking about as well as all the other practical stuff and we're just going to make it fun and keep it light. And hopefully this motivates you with your own children. So I just wanted to dive into a little bit more about what we'll be talking about. I am a huge gut health.
geek. I spent 10 years as a pediatric dietician specializing in gut issues and complex gut issues in a children's hospital. But you know, I've always loved the gastrointestinal tract and digestion and absorption. So yes, I will be delving into that because to be honest with you, gut health is center of our systemic health. And that's not just for children, it's for adults as well. It starts right when you're at
Gut Health and Confidence in Child Feeding (14:52.654)
And a baby starts when you're in utero actually. And we could talk about these another time, but certainly your gut health plays a huge role in your development, your risk of allergies, your risk of obesity, and also the reducing your risk of, you know, problems as an adult. So I'm going to be talking about gut health throughout these podcasts. I'm not going to talk about every podcast, but certainly feel free to throw any questions you've got at me.
about gut health because I will certainly love to answer them. So yeah, that's, that's what something else we'll be talking about. But anyway, back to confidence. I just wanted to let you know that this podcast is really designed to help build your confidence feeding children because as I said, the thousands of moms that I've worked with over the past 21 years, a lot of them have actually confessed to just feeling completely lost around, you know,
how to go about feeding their child, especially when their child is fussy and how to set up a healthy eating plan that will get them on the right track. Now, I will take this moment to pause and let you know that this is the exact reason I have created a Nourishing Kids membership for busy moms who want to feed their children better. It is a complete A to Z toolkit for getting your child to eat better, more nutritious foods without the food stress.
and spending less time in the kitchen. So you can find out more about this nourishing kids membership in the show notes. Okay, back to confidence. So as I've said, as moms, we want to have the right mindset and confidence and beliefs around feeding kids. Because if we don't, then things aren't necessarily going to change. It's not just about making healthy meals. So,
You'll find me talking a lot more about that as well. As a nutrition professional, my job is to cut through the clutter for you, sift through all the reputable research and turn it into practical, doable information for mums. And I'm going to do just that for you, whether it's looking at how much salt a child needs or how we can boost a child's iron intake or how we manage constipation. I'm here to inform you.
Aims to motivate and empower parents in their role of feeding their children. (17:12.397)
motivate you and empower you with feeding your kids. So hopefully we all have a newfound energy and approach. So it's going to reduce that daily grind of feeding kids. Okay. I'll start to wrap things up shortly, but I wanted to let you know that everything that I talk about in this podcast are things that I'm still practicing. So I am certainly not perfect and my kids are certainly not perfect eaters, but gee, they've come a long way. When I find things that are working,
I integrate them into my life and my family and I plan on sharing them with you. My plan is to show you perhaps a different perspective with beating kids. One that I know for sure will help you to feed your children more easily and reduce stress and pressure at meal times. And look, you know, every day is going to be different. There's going to be good days and there's going to be bad days, but you've got to cut yourself some slack. Life's too busy and life's too short to, you know, try and be perfect.
all the time. I know the social media, you know, can certainly play into that and make you feel rubbish because you see everyone succeeding and doing well and look, they only post the good stuff, right? They don't post all the crappy stuff. Well, not many people post the crappy stuff. So you, without realizing, I think you kind of get brainwashed into thinking that's the norm and that's, you know, what normal kids eat. But let me tell you this.
Normal children do not eat all the colours of the rainbow. My children don't eat all the colours of the rainbow. They'd get close sometimes, but you know, certainly for much of their life, they have not eaten all the colours of the rainbow. So I hope that makes you feel better. If nothing else makes you feel better from listening to this podcast so far, I hope that makes you feel better. So my goal is to help you move your child closer
towards eating more colours of the rainbow, help you perhaps boost your child's iron intake or protein intake, or just get them eating healthier foods. My goal is to get families together again where possible, you know, if it is possible for you to eat together or at least one of you eat with the kids, that's my goal. I think we really need to try and place more importance on daily meal times together because it's so crucial. And
Emphasizes the importance of focusing on happiness and gratitude (19:35.534)
And when we do sit down together, I want us to be focused on happiness and gratitude and not necessarily getting another bite of carrot into that because we need to be focusing on the important things. I could go on forever, but let's just say this, this is to be continued. So I'll wrap things up. Thank you so much for being here. And if you like what you hear, please make sure you subscribe to this podcast. And once you've listened to a few, if you really...
do receive some valuable information and you're just feeling this is valuable for you, please leave me a review so that it helps others see the podcast and help others. Have a great week. Bye for now.