Kids Cook Real Food Blog

My husband is back with us again today for Father’s Day week… Let’s talk about the role of fathers in kids’ healthy lifestyles and what you should do if you just hate cucumbers! We chat about: Whether there are still foods he doesn’t like and what he does about that. How he can see our kids mimicking us as the examples in the household. Encouragement and advice to those of you who don’t feel like your spouse is on board with your healthy lifestyle goals, and to those of you who want to get on board. No time to watch the whole video? Here are the notes! Healthy Dads Video Time Stamps 0:34: My husband was on a few months [Read more...]

Will sleep become the new kale? Or the new cancer? Adults are shorting ourselves on sleep in droves in our “always-on” culture, and I’m unfortunately leading the pack. That’s why I begged sleep science coach Christine Hansen to join me for a half hour to get some important tips!! I started implementing a new way to wake up my kids immediately, and I know being a better parent means being well-rested (i.e. not angry mommy). If you feel like you’re not getting a tight 8 in bed OR your sleep quality doesn’t feel optimal, this is a must listen. We talk about: How adult sleep is so much more complicated than infant sleep. Our brain’s many jobs during sleep – [Read more...]

When we went grain-free for a while, pizza night disappearing was one of the saddest parts! Then I found a crazy-good almond flour crust, and back it came! But then…baby #4 had an egg allergy, so I had to get the eggs out of the crust…and then daughter discovered a dairy intolerance, ay yi yi, so we had to make MORE changes! We’ve added a lot of seasoning as well, and my kids (who kicked me out of the kitchen to film this) now present our… grain-free egg-free dairy-free (option) …favorite homemade pizza crust! What can we say? It’s delicious and our Sunday night tradition. The kids have been making it every other Sunday for 2 years now, and they [Read more...]

I’ve been telling everyone about this book! Ever since I read (okay, listened to) The Gift of Failure by Jessica Lahey, it has truly changed my parenting. My mindset about the mistakes my kids make and little accidents they have is totally more peaceful, and the whole time I was absorbing the information, I was thinking, “How can I interview this author so I can share her amazing wisdom with my audience???” Turns out all I had to do was post something I had done using the Failure Philosophy with one of my kids here on Facebook, and someone tagged her and now — here we are! 😀 This is quite possibly my favorite interview yet, and I can’t wait [Read more...]

Did you start to question the products you put on your kids’ skin once you were a mom? Meet Tatyana Cerullo, attorney and formulator of Kokua Suncare, who came to that realization as she saw the legal system behind the marketing. We get so much conflicting information these days about whether the sun is something to hide from or embrace, what’s safe to apply on our skin, and how to manage it all. Now as a mom of 2, Tatyana brings a nice balance to the conversation. Sunscreen is easy to buy, excruciatingly simple to spray on, but deadly hard to understand. Our family has personally tested over 100 kinds of mineral sunscreen, and Kokua is far and away one [Read more...]

Ever hear someone say, “He’s just skinny because he has a high metabolism?” Or used this one: “I have trouble losing weight because I have such a slow metabolism…” ? What about our kids? Are there things we can do, habits we can set, foods we can eat, to CHANGE their metabolism and set them up for either positive or negative outcomes? Nutritionist Sara Vance says YES! People’s metabolisms are a huge KEY to their health (and weight) and we can help them out…or mess them up royally. Here’s what you’ll learn in today’s expert interview: Did this nutritionist love veggies as a kid?? What “metabolism” actually means (and dude – it’s totally not what I would have expected or [Read more...]

“It takes a lifetime to build a great life,” reminds Matt Gersper, founder of Happy Living and author of The Belief Roadmap. Can that life be filled with video games? You’ll be surprised what we end up teasing out! (I didn’t think I liked where it was going for a while, but you’ll probably see in my face when it all became okay…) In today’s interview, Matt shares how he discovered his own life of significance and how that affects every move he makes. We dig into his 7 foundations of the Belief Roadmap and why it’s not just for adults – how can we as busy parents help our kids live life with a purpose? It’s not about checking [Read more...]

Kids are messy in the kitchen!!! Parents tell me this all the time, which means it must be part of the hard job of parenting to teach them to clean up. We’re still working on it in the Kids Cook Real Food household, but we have some tried-and-true after-dinner routines that we’d like to share with you today, and you’ll see me live-teach some new habits to my kids as well! I hope this is helpful to you as you try to work yourself out of job by raising healthy, independent, responsible kids!! Pick a day this week to start creating new dinnertime habits for your kids! No time to watch the whole video? Here are the notes! Cleaning the [Read more...]

Last week in Dr. Biljana Uzelac’s interview, she said one of the most effective strategies to get kids to be open to try new foods is to enlist an outside challenge. I’ll be that challenger for you! In today’s video I’m going to discuss some strategies for parents to introduce new foods smoothly, go over various personality types and how we might motivate them to be more courageous with their palate, and then talk RIGHT to the kids, challenging them to try something new this week (with some practical strategies) and post a picture of their new food or themselves with it on this thread (with parent permission of course). We’ll all cheer these kids on and celebrate their successes! [Read more...]

Can kindergartners make good decisions about what to feed themselves? What if all they want to eat is chicken dipped in ketchup at a meal? Find out some fascinating research on that, plus rock solid tips for starting babies off right with food, the attitude parents need at the dinner table, and how to motivate older kids to make healthy choices from Dr. Biljana Uzelac. She’s an MD who found that her medical training was lacking and added integrative medicine and more to her education. No time to watch the whole video? Here are the notes! Make Healthy Food Count Video Time Stamps 0:25: Dr. Uzelac shares her story. She grew up in Serbia, and didn’t appreciate her mom making [Read more...]