Kids Cook Real Food Blog

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...]

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...]