Kids Cook Real Food Blog

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...]

Dina Rose, PhD, is our guest today on feeding our kids healthily, and she says she’s not actually against the lollipop at the doctor’s…(insert shock here?)…BUT she still would take it away from her crying daughter! Why? She has a real issue with dealing with emotion through food, and we talk about that today in this incredible interview that will push your boundaries (and change the way food looks in your house if you listen well). Here’s just a bit of what you’ll learn: Why the discussion about healthy eating isn’t just about healthy food but about why, when, where, and how much you eat. Why parents who KNOW they shouldn’t bribe their kids with food or make them clear [Read more...]

We talked a few weeks ago about STRESS and its impact on our health and our relationship with our families. I challenged you to be more aware of your breath and take the “Moment to Breathe” challenge, and a few of you chimed in after trying it that it’s really working!! Personally I found being aware of my breath and its ability to control my bodily reaction to stress to be life changing and revolutionary! Why? Because I can control my breath, and in this world where too often things feel out of control, that’s a game-changer. In part 2 today, we’ll discuss how to close the gap between demand and capacity…it turns out that stress ISN’T what happens to [Read more...]

Can you imagine diagnosing yourself with skin cancer? Dermatologist Dr. Keira Barr had that terrifying experience and it changed the way she listened to her skin – which she says had been screaming at her since her childhood to listen up. In today’s interview about skin health – which ends up being about our whole body health with our skin as the humble messenger – Dr. Barr tells us: How and why we should “listen” to our skin when it tries to tell us something Why we shouldn’t be afraid of bacteria (the skin has its own in fact!) How the gut and skin are connected, and even more fascinating, how the BRAIN and skin are connected! Her top safe [Read more...]

Guacamole is the perfect dip for veggies and we make it ALL the time! This recipe is not only a family favorite it’s the perfect chance to get the kids in the kitchen to practice different skills. From letting little ones mash the avocado, to the big kids getting a chance to practice their knife skills: everyone can help with this recipe! No time to watch the whole video? Here are the notes! Homemade Guacamole Video Time Stamps 0:07: Guacamole is a family favorite at our house! We love to dip carrots, cucumbers and other raw veggies in it. Did you know that when you eat raw vegetables it’s best to have a healthy fat along with them to help [Read more...]

Raise your thumb if you feel STRESS on a normal day! We busy moms (and dads) tend to experience stress and feel it right down to our breathing and heart rate, and it affects the way we parent, our productivity, and our own mental AND physical health. Today I’m so excited to use my stress mastery training (I’m “nearly” certified as a Stress Mastery Educator) to teach you about how our brains respond to stress, how it affects our bodies, and best of all, how WE CAN be in control of it! Check out this one simple technique that you can teach your kids! No time to watch the whole video? Here are the notes! Stress Mastery Video Time Stamps [Read more...]

Tech neck? Text neck? Whatever we call it, we can’t deny that we spend WAY too much time looking down these days! Alarmingly, it’s changing the shape of our spine. 😮 My guest today is a physical therapist and integrative health coach who believes bone health starts with good posture, and I am so honored to have gotten all this practical advice from Margie Bissinger! When I first heard her speak, I was texting my mom all sorts of notes about bone health, and after today’s interview, we started making little changes in our own family to improve our posture. Start young before bad habits kick in! In this video we talk about: Why posture is important – it impacts [Read more...]

Raise your hand if you WISH your spouse felt the same way about healthy eating, natural living and/or parenting strategies as you! That would have been me for almost ten years, but all of that has changed. It’s been a long road, and today, my 10-year anniversary of helping families stay healthy without going crazy at Kitchen Stewardship, I’m interviewing my husband to share his story of being dragged along on this journey! We are 100% on the same page now, and it feels AMAZING. I can’t even tell you. But it wasn’t terrible as we worked through things the past 10 years, and today you’ll hear about how we maintained respect, the keys to helping someone learn about new [Read more...]