Realfoodology - 64: Kids Nutrition with Jaime L. Mathews

Episode Date: November 10, 2021

Jaime is a journalist, holistic health educator and mother of 5. She is also the author of the book Sunroofs and Shoeboxes, a collection of the little nuggets of wisdom she has found in the little things of everyday life.  In this episode we talk about nutrition for kids, how to explain nutrition to your kids, how to help train and develop their pallet for healthier foods and so much more. Check Out Jaime: Book: https://www.amazon.com/Sunroofs-Shoeboxes-Journey-Unexpected-Gratitude/dp/B08YQM3X6Z Official website: https://thesweetlife.co/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jaimeleemathews Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jaimeleemathews Pinterest: https://www.facebook.com/jaimeleemathews Thrive Global: https://thriveglobal.com/authors/jaime-mathews/ Sass Magazine: https://sassmagazine.com/contributor/sass-contributor-jaime-mathews/

On today's episode of the Real Foodology Podcast. I mean, I think a lot of picky eaters come from picky parents. Either picky parents or parents that just don't know or they're so, you know, overwhelmed that they just are doing the best they can. And so throwing something in that's easy is, you know, giving that to them is just what's easiest. Um, but I do, I do believe that a lot of, if not all of the nutrition of kids starts with, you know, it starts with the, it starts with us. I mean, we have to take accountability, like we are their parents and it's up to us to help develop their taste buds. Who else is going to do that? Hi, welcome back to another episode of the Real Foodology Podcast. I am Courtney Swan.

I'm really excited about today's episode. I realized that I say that a lot. It's not lost on me, but it's genuine. I am so grateful that I get to have these amazing conversations with people. You know, my, my passion is nutrition and healthy living and educating on what it means to be truly healthy and how to really feel good in your body. And so when I have the opportunity to have really amazing conversations with people that I respect, and I just have fun with them. I have so much fun with these conversations. This one in particular has been on my list for a long time. I've been wanting to do this, but I needed to find the right person to have this conversation. On today's episode, I talk with Jamie L. Matthews.

She is a journalist and also a holistic health educator with her master's in nutrition. And she also happens to be a mom of five. She also wrote a book called Sunroofs and Shoeboxes, which should be out by the time that this episode airs. Like I said, I really enjoyed this conversation. I've been wanting to have this for a long time as someone who personally really wants kids. And I have a lot of friends that have kids. So this topic of discussion is really fascinating and important to me. We dive all into nutrition for kids. We talk about how to explain nutrition to your kid, how to get them to eat a wide variety of foods when they're little,

how to help train and develop their palate for healthier foods and also a variety of foods, how she finds balance for her kids while trying to encourage them to eat healthy, but not to deprive them of birthday parties and Halloween. We also address when to start feeding real solid foods, as well as what foods to kind of start out with, how she feels about kids clearing their plates. And lastly, we address something that personally I find to be really important, this notion of good and bad foods or healthy versus unhealthy and why she and I actually think that we should label foods as healthy and unhealthy and how it can be really damaging to tell kids that there's no such thing as something that is unhealthy for you and that you can just

eat to your heart's desire. I feel very strongly about this topic and I hope that you will listen to what we have to say about that. With that, let's just get to the dang episode. I hope you guys enjoy it. This is really exciting. Organifi now has kids stuff. They just released two kid products. One is called Easy Greens, and it's a refreshing green apple juice where kids will never know that it's packed with veggies. And the other one is called Protect. It's a delicious wild berry punch like the Kool-Aid that we used to have as a kid, but without any sugar. This is really exciting. And if you've listened to the podcast for a while, you know that I'm a huge fan of Organifi and most specifically because every single product that they make is glyphosate residue free. So you know that you're going to be able to give these powders to your kids and know that they will be able to consume them safely without any glyphosate in it. So let's break down each one. The Easy Greens is a nourishing and delicious blend of superfoods and veggies that provides essential nutrients, probiotics, and digestive enzymes to bring balance to kids' growing bodies without fillers, additives, or junk. It helps to fill in nutritional

gaps, aids in growth and development, supports digestive health, has a rich micronutrient profile, and includes digestive enzymes. This would be a great way to sneak in greens for your little one without them actually knowing that it's healthy for them. And the second one, which is the wild berry punch similar to Kool-Aid is called Protect, and it is to support your child's daily immune health with food derived nutrients that work to strengthen their body's first line of defense. I know just through girlfriends of mine that have children that when your kids are going to school, going to daycare, they're coming home sick a lot more often just because they're getting exposed to different kids and different viruses when they're

out in the world playing with kids. So this would be a great way to help to support your little one's immune health. It's organic and it's also made with real whole food ingredients. It has a delicious berry taste and it's low sugar and it's gentle enough for kids to take every single day. And I really love the ingredients in this one. It's orange and acerol cherry, which is a powerful source of vitamin C and antioxidants. Astragalus, elderberry and propolis. These are all really great for overall immune health. If you want to try the products that I talked about today or any of the Organifi products, go to Organifi.com slash realfoodology and use code realfoodology for 20% off. Again, that's Organifi. It's O-R-G-A-N-I-F-I.com slash realfoodology.

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I'm so excited for you to come on today, Jamie. I want to talk all about kids' nutrition. Before we dive into that, why don't you give everyone just a little background on you and what you do? Okay, so a little background on me. My husband and I own a retail store in the Bay Area. We sell fireplaces, but my background is journalism. I went to school for journalism and went back to school and got a master's wanted to raise my kids with a foundation of healthy food, healthy eating, healthy living. And, um, I have with my husband, I have a blended family. So we have three kids together. We have twin girls who are almost eight and a four and a half year old boy. And then I have two step kiddos, uh, 16 and 14.

So nutrition is a big thing in our house. And we also consume a lot of food in this house as well. So, um, so I kind of do a life of working with my husband on our business, writing, um, and launching our, my book that's coming out. And then also, you know, being a some, I call it myself like a somewhat stay at home mom because I work from home. So, um, just navigating all those different hats that I wear on a, on a given, on a given basis. Yeah.

That's amazing. I'm so in awe of all the mamas that can do all of that. I hope to be a mom one day and I'm already like, how am I going to find the time? Work is so consuming as is. So I always have so much respect for the moms that, and you guys are doing a lot. Thank you. And you will too. You just, you just find your groove somehow. I don't know how, but you just do. That's what I've been told. So, you know, just like take it on as, as it comes. So, um, okay. So I'm excited to dive into all of this. As I was telling you before we started recording, I've been wanting to do an episode like this for a while because I really just want to cover

kind of all the basics surrounding nutrition for kids. So how do you explain nutrition to a kid? Like how do you kind of get them interested in healthy foods and get them to understand why they should care about what they eat? Yeah, that's a great question. So I think it really starts from the beginning. I mean, it really starts from, well, let's actually back it up. I believe it starts in utero. I believe that kids' nutrition starts with what mom is eating when she's pregnant, because as we all know, the babies are getting that. And so I think a lot of it starts even as far back as then. And then, you know, when baby's born, I believe that, you know, if you're breastfed or formula fed, that's a personal choice. My kiddos were breastfed, but that was my choice. And I was

able to do that. I know that some are not, and that's no judgment at all. But even starting back in terms of formula, you know, what kind of formulas are there? Some really junky sugar laden formulas out there. And then when you get to, you know, when they start eating some solid foods, it's really introducing those rainbow of colors right from the get go. And, you know, we hear about that in schools and you see the color chart, but that's really true because number one, babies are so visual. So, you know, if something looks like fun colored Play-Doh, they're a little bit more apt to dig in and try and get their fingers in it. If it has different textures, I mean, sometimes kiddos are not as, you know, in love with different

textures, but you know, those bright colored, like avocados were some of my baby's favorite things to eat. Um, right away that was literally, I think it was one or it might've been both of my twins' first foods was avocado, mashed avocado. And you know, it's just, they, they, they loved it and, you know, bright colored mangoes and, um, really just introducing it first by sight and the colors that they're introduced to, I think is a good way to start for any, for any kids nutrition. I think it starts there because they're not going to understand, you know, what's a macronutrient, you know, what's a protein, what's a carb.

Um, I mean, and they're really just going to understand what you're providing for them at the end of the day. Um, I was kind of crazy when I, when my kiddos were, my twins were babies. I made all of their own baby food and all of it because I wanted to know exactly what was in every single ounce of what they were eating. And for me, partly a little bit of that, I think, was a little bit of my trauma of having twin newborns that were in the NICU for almost two weeks. And seeing, um, you know, the little feeding tubes at first when they were born. And I just thought, Oh my gosh, these delicate little tiny humans. Like I have to give them as much of a headstart as I possibly,

possibly can. Even it means I'm, you know, using my Vitamix at 11 o'clock at night to make baby food for the next morning, you know? Yeah. I love that. I feel like I'm going to be that mom too. That's making all that food. Totally. Oh yeah. You know, it's like, that's how you know that they're getting good, clean, organic food when they were in the, the NICU, the little feeding tubes that they get, what do they feed them? Is it like a formula kind of thing? Yeah. It's just like a gross formula that I was like, uh, please no. Did they let you change that if you wanted to, or is there not really any saying? No, there wasn't really saying it because it was all about get their body weight up, get them, you know, because my babies were fully developed when

they were born, but they were about five weeks early, four and a half weeks early. So they just didn't have that drive to eat. So they were healthy. Everything was developed perfectly. They were actually a good size, but they just didn't care about food yet, including nursing. And so I would go there and I'd be pumping and I'd be trying to nurse them. And the nurses were just like, do you want to get them home? And I'm like, yeah, this is torture. And so they're like, they just need to eat no matter what it is. You know, in my heart, I'm thinking, no, breast milk is so much better than the other stuff. But, um, I just followed their lead on that because I was so just desperate to get them home. But as soon as they got home, I was like,

no, you're like, all right, I'm on, I'm dialing in the nutrition. I mean, this is, I don't want to go too far down a tangent, but I just have to say, this is, this is my problem when, uh, with our standard medical care is that there's no, there's no emphasis on nutrition whatsoever. It's just like, we'll just load you up with whatever we can. We just, you know, as long as we like fatten you up, it doesn't really matter how. And I'm like, you can do that with whole real foods, you know? And I, I, I would have no idea what it's like for feeding an infant, but I just think about, you know, and I, I would have no idea what it's like for feeding an infant. But I just think about, you know, like friends that I had in the hospital that were on a feeding tube, and their parents had to advocate for this, like really healthy,

organic food that they would put in their feeding tube, because otherwise, the crap they were putting in there was literally just like corn syrup, canola oil, it was a bunch of junk. It's horrible. It is horrible. And it's literally just what is handed to these nurses. And, you know, they're doing the best they can. And they may have, I mean, the background of MDs and nurses, and I mean, they're amazing humans. I'm not taking anything away from that. But nutrition is not a huge, they're not like gobs of courses in the medical field on nutrition. There's,

there's just not. And they're so amazingly brilliant in every other aspect, but like, I wouldn't go to my doctor for nutrition advice, not because I don't respect them as a doctor, but because that's not what their expertise is. Their expertise is like saving my baby's life if they need to, or for certain, you know, doing surgeries, please like all day, but I'm not going to ask you what kind of, you know, protein, fat and carbs I should be feeding my, my infant. I'm, I just, I'm just not respectfully, of course. Of course. Yeah, absolutely. And that's like part of the problem with the medical system. And a lot of them are following protocol and the hospitals have contracts with these food companies. I mean, it's a whole mess. And it's something that I hope that I can be a part of changing someday. So, okay.

I want to get back on nutrition. I love that about you. So all I kept thinking about when you were talking about like colors for kids, I was like, man, I bet kids love like purple sweet potatoes or even the orange ones too, because they're really brightly colored. Um, so I, okay. So I used to nanny for these two little girls and one was three and one was four. And my biggest struggle was getting them to eat healthy. Like part of my thing, part of my, um, I guess like relationship with their mom is their mom would always be like, please like help them, you know, try to eat

healthier because I was actually at the time getting my master's in nutrition. And I really struggled with it with this. Is this because do you think that maybe their mom didn't start incorporating a wide array of foods like early on? Cause they basically would eat like four things. I do. I mean, I think a lot of picky eaters come from picky parents, either picky parents or parents that just don't know, or they're so, you know, overwhelmed that they just are doing the best they can. And so throwing something in that's easy is,

you know, giving that to them is, is just what's easiest. But I do, I do believe that a lot of, if not all of the nutrition of kids starts with, you know, it starts with us. I mean, we have to take accountability.

Like we are their parents and it's up to us to help develop their taste buds. Who else is going to do that? It's us. You know, like my husband's very picky. And so his two kiddos from another marriage used to be a lot pickier. Well, then I walk in their life at four and six and I'm like, okay, we're not doing frozen vegetables anymore. We are going to be doing other things. And, you know, you know, and again, like no fault of his own, you know, he probably had

picky parents, you know, it's like, it's this chain reaction that, that I think starts. And then once it does start, it's hard to break. It's, you know, when you come in three and four and they've been used to having their taste buds have a certain type of taste in their mouth, it's hard to unlearn some of those things. That's where you have to get super sneaky. Yeah. Well, that's exactly what I did. I would blend kale into their like marinara sauce. And what else did I do? I can't even remember. I was basically just like blending. I'd blend like cauliflower into various sauces and, you know, just kind of like sneaking veggies in, which is a great for people listening, a great, um, trick if you already are at a point

with your kid where they're pretty picky. Um, but what, so, okay. I have a lot of questions from like the early stages. So obviously it starts in in vitro. I've already, we've talked about that a lot of my podcasts. I want to talk about like once your baby, um, is out of the womb growing up. So how old are they generally when they can start eating solid foods? Usually you can start introducing self foods like four to six months. Um, I, I think with all three of my kiddos, it was about six months. Um, but they start to tell you when they're ready. They'll start kind of making, they'll start grabbing for things.

They'll start really seeing more of an interest in food. And so, and some people don't. Some people will breastfeed or bottle feed their baby longer than that. For me, I felt like six months, they were starting to want a little bit more. And so that's when I started just putting little things here and there. You know, again, like avocado, mashed banana, mango, I would steam mango and peaches and apples, and then I'd blend them. And so it was just like an easy texture for them. And it was warm and, and it was sweet, but it wasn't sweetened with extra sugars. It was just the sugars from,

you know, whatever was in there. And then I'd start blending them together as I noticed, okay, well they'll like this. So then I'm going to, I'm going to put like a little bit of zucchini in with this apple and see if they, you know, it's just like that blending together. It's, I mean, you kind of have to be like a, a connoisseur of food, so to speak, you know? I love that. Well, I've heard some people say that what they will do is they'll literally just give their kid whatever, like little portions of whatever they're having for dinner, you know, like simple versions of it. But like, if you're having chicken and like sweet potatoes or, you know, whatever, like you just give them a little of each of that, just so that you kind

of can start introducing them to all these different foods. Absolutely. I mean, butternut squash, sweet potatoes, all of them. I mean, I think I waited a little bit on, well, no, I think when the chicken was like soft enough that they could, you know, with, but before they had teeth that they could swallow it. But yeah, I mean, it's the more, the better, honestly. I mean, you know, there's certain things that you want to be a little bit careful of just because they can be allergenic foods, but, um, but really, I mean, the more, the better, because again, you're just creating that palette at a young age and that goes a long, long way. Yeah, it really does. You know, it's interesting. You brought up the allergenic thing. So obviously like for anyone listening, proceed with caution and also like talk to your doctor about this. But I have heard that there's a lot of parents doing this now where they start to incorporate very, very tiny,

tiny amounts of certain foods that we know to be pretty like allergenic for kids in order to keep them from being allergic to it. Do you know anything about that and if that works and if it's safe or? Yeah. I mean, I, yeah, definitely proceed with caution. Um, but yeah, I did that with even like peanut butter and eggs, strawberries, even, um, little tiny doses. And I would just really watch, like give them a little bit and then I'd see you like, do they have any skin changes? Did they, are they fussy or do they seem gassier? Because there is a lot of research out there that, you know, slowly introducing it can build up a tolerance that they don't ever have a peanut allergy or a fish allergy or egg allergy or things like that.

So, yeah, I mean, definitely I would obviously proceed with caution, but I think there's a lot of, I think there's a lot of I think there's a lot of good research out there that suggests that that is a good avenue to go. And I, I did that. And it was, and knock on wood, my kids have no allergies to anything. Knock on wood. That's, yeah, that's pretty amazing. Yeah, yeah. And I think there's a lot of different things going on. I had a woman Robin O'Brien on my podcast kind of recently, and she talks a lot about food allergies, and how she really believes a lot of different things going on. I had a woman, Robin O'Brien on my podcast kind of recently, and she talks a lot about food allergies and how she really believes a lot of it is the, the changing of our food system that we've done so quickly, like GMOs and, you know,

introducing these genetically modified proteins into our foods that were never there before. And so our bodies are kind of like going into shock. Absolutely. And, and a lot of these allergies start with gut ill health. And babies, depending on what they're fed at an early age, can already start those gut issues. And those gut issues just escalate. And then you turn into allergies and you get autoimmune and all those kinds of things, because when the gut's unhealthy, it spreads everywhere. And that's where a lot of the sources of these diseases stem from is a leak gut syndrome and, and, you know, just gut issues in general. And that starts young with what we're feeding our kids. Oh, man. Okay. So I'm so glad you brought this up because I want to dive into this. So what are well, okay, I want to say one thing and then

I'll ask you this. So I do know that breastfeeding is considered the best just for overall health and for gut health. And, and I've talked about this a lot on other podcasts. I don't want to go dive too deep into it. Um, there are ways around it. I know I want to be sensitive to women that can't breastfeed. Um, you can always get donor milk and everything. So we know that's like a really imperative part of, of, um, the baby's growth. If there's like no other option, I read somewhere that you made your own formula. Can you talk about that? How did you do that? And what did you put in there for the mamas that really like can't breastfeed? Um, wow. Yeah, that was, my husband thought I was crazy. Side note on that

mama. If you start this start this, just be prepared. Your husband might, or your friends might think you're absolutely crazy. So I talked to a chiropractor and, you know, she's a holistic health practitioner. And I was telling her about, you know, my troubles with breastfeeding twins solely because I just, I felt like a milk cow, but I could not produce enough milk to just keep it up after, especially when they really started going and eating a lot more. And so I started to have to supplement. And so I talked to her, I got some therapeutic grade supplements with some almond almond milk and I literally bought this like mortar and pestle

and I was literally grinding up these supplements, blending them all together. I had, um, I, I, gosh, I need to actually go back and see exactly what was in my, my formula and I'll get it to you. Um, love that we can post the show notes if you're okay with that. Yeah, absolutely. I just have to find them. And I, um, so I made my own formula for quite a few months and it was very labor intensive and I was already totally sleep deprived. Um, but I started feeling like, I don't know if this is even enough, you know, because you know, you can't, you can't email your pediatrician and say, Hey, does this sound like, I mean, they'd have no clue. And, um, and so I was just starting to feel like I felt like they needed a little more substance. And that's when I turned to the raw goat milk. And there's a lot of, you know, a lot of people are very anti-raw anything, especially with babies. For me, the research that I did was that raw goat milk has the closest chain to human breast

milk than any other animal source or really anything. And so I used to drive an hour every week to go pick up my bottles, like old school, like milkman bottles of raw goat milk. And that was what I ended up supplementing with. And that for me actually felt better than even making my own formula. Um, because it's just truly nature made, you know, organic nature made. I'm kind of surprised my, my kiddos loved it, but they did. And, uh, that's what we, that's what we supplemented with for, for the majority of the time that they were on with milk and they still don't have cow's milk. I don't, they probably had cow's milk like less than three times in their

whole life. They just, we don't drink cow's milk in our house. That's how it was for me too. I never really liked it. I always would spit it out. It was just not really a fan. Yeah. Wow. That's so interesting about the goat's milk. I also want to make a note for people listening about raw milk. I find it so funny that we are so scared of raw milk. That is how it is meant to be consumed. We actually ruined milk when we started pasteurizing it and homogenizing it because we're taking out all of the nutrients, everything that milk contains that is actually healthy for our body. We take out when we heat it up. And if you think about it, we only started doing that. I don't know when pastures started pasteurization, but it's not been a long time. And for the majority of humanity, we have been drinking raw milk and it's just,

it's so frustrating to me that people get so up in arms about it because I really see it as like the only healthy way to consume milk. And now I understand if you're getting it from like, I understand the reason that we started pasteurizing because, um, you know, when you're scaling such large amounts of it like that, you're heating it and you, uh, yeah, you want to heat it up cause you're concerned about bacteria and there's like large amounts of it. But if you can find a local place near you that does it organic and you know it's like small scale, family owned kind of thing, that is the best healthiest milk that you can get. And you know that it's into our food system, you're also looking at getting milk from a family, you know, possibly a family pet or a farm animal, a small farm, not these huge feedlots. I mean, that could go into a whole other issue that would be probably for a whole other segment here, but, um, I'll bring you back for that. Yeah. Bring me back for that. Cause I've got a lot to say about that. But you know, even, even that, like knowing that I was getting it from a local farmer that was literally within, I mean, I could have driven to that farm and probably met the goats that I was getting the milk from. And there's something about that too,

that for me is, is peace of mind. Like a small farmer is going to know if their goat is sick. If you're getting even goat's milk from a large mass produced, you know, dairy farm, you don't, you don't know. You just can't. There's just too many, there's, there's too many animals. Yeah. Yeah. That's actually a really great point. I didn't think about it like that. Yeah. It's there. There's a lot to be said about our food system. It's really backwards and I should bring you back on so we can talk all about the feedlots and everything, because that's like a whole, like you said, a whole other episode. Oh, totally. It absolutely is. Oh man. Okay. So, okay. So you made your own formula for them and then started incorporating

food slowly. How do we make sure that our kids have really good, healthy guts from the start? And I, like I said, I believe it starts with breastfeeding. And then what are things that, that we can start doing with our young kids to ensure that they have really healthy guts? So I'm with you. I mean, I'm very, I'm very sensitive to moms that can't, that can't breastfeed, but I do feel like if it is possible, even if it's inconvenient or, you know, it's, it is, we were given breast milk for a reason. Our bodies produce it for a reason. So I do believe that is 110% the best option. If that option is available to you, if that option is not available to you, then getting a very high quality formula is essential. In my, in my

opinion, it is essential. At one point before I started making my own, I was getting, um, I was getting a formula from Europe because their regulations are so much better. Yes. Um, but then I was like, Oh, I feel like there's too much sugar in this one. So that's when I started making my own. But I think that you cannot put a price tag on your baby's health. You just can't. So going to the store and getting Similac or any of those things, that's starting the gut ill health right there. You're putting sugars and additives and all sorts of things. And corn syrup. Sorry to interrupt you, but I'm like, I'm pretty sure it's corn syrup. I'm looking it up right there. Um, you're putting sugars and additives and all sorts of things. Corn syrup. Sorry to interrupt you, but I'm like, I'm pretty sure it's corn syrup. I'm looking it up right now because it's really bad. I'm sure it is. And, um, so it's really starting out with

form. Is it awful? What's the second ingredient? Is it like corn syrup or. Okay. The number, the first ingredient is corn corn syrup solids and then it goes to soy protein isolate and then high oleic safflower safflower oil so already you have corn syrup soy and safflower oil as the first three and then they have sugar and then soy oil there's not none of those things should ever be should honestly i would argue ever be in the human body, but let alone in an infant's body that is developing and building their body right now. Yes. Yes. And their brain.

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, soy is one of the most genetically modified foods out there. And so you're putting harmful chemicals, pesticides in your little tiny baby's bellies that are trying to develop. And how are they ever going to develop if that's what is their foundation? They just, they won't. We're starting them off unintentionally. It's not like no one's doing this intentionally, I'm sure. It's just an unawareness of what is in pretty much anything in a box, you know, for the most part. And especially when it comes to our little ones. I mean, I heard this great,

it's this great reminder that says, if sugar or any form of sugar, which there's so many different names of sugars, as I know you know, I'm sure, if they are in the first three ingredients of anything, consider it a dessert. So it's fine, but just know that you're eating dessert. So if that's your breakfast, you're eating dessert for breakfast.

If that's your lunch, then you're eating dessert for lunch. And that's true with infant formula as well. So I definitely am a big proponent of really, really getting a good quality. I mean, well, in my honest opinion, I think that raw goat milk is number one, uh, if you can't breastfeed, but that's, you know, you have to feel okay with that as well, too. If you're going to be in panic attacks every time you're feeding your baby, because you're scared about raw milk, then that's not a good option for you. Um, so, but, but definitely doing, doing research on, on different types of formulas is going to be, is going to be key to help helping really establish good gut health for your

babies. That's a great point. Well, and I feel like this aspect of it is not spoken about a lot, but when I was in school, we learned that the first two things that I ask every single new client of mine is, were you breastfed and were you born vaginally? Because the reason why that is, is that what happens to you in those first stages of life and what you're fed really set you up for life, you know? And I want to say too, like I want to, for everyone listening, of course, like we also learned in school that, look, like if you weren't breastfed and you weren't born vaginally, it's okay.

Like you can always bounce back. Our bodies are super resilient, and we can really focus on feeding ourselves nutritious foods and do the best that we can. And we have to remind ourselves that our moms were doing the best that they could. You're doing the best that you can as a mom. But now that we know, education is empowering. And so for people that are listening that haven't had kids yet or they're going to have another kid, I like to have this conversation and say, now that you know, it is super imperative that we really pay attention to these little things like what we feed our babies, especially

in the very beginning stages of their life, because it's really going to set them up for great health for their whole life, which is amazing. It does. Absolutely. I'm 100% on board with that. It's, it's knowledge is absolute power when you are becoming a mom or you are a mom. Um, and truly food can really heal so much. I mean, can truly heal so many things, but it starts with knowing your food and where it comes from and making as healthy of choices as you possibly can. And, um, and that starts with, with our babies for sure. For sure. Yeah. So you saying that just made me think of something that I have always wondered about. So, and I've read a little bit about this, but I want to hear your take. I've read that, um, you know, if you have a kid that is spinning up a lot or they're fussing a lot, or let's say even they have some sort of eczema going on or even asthma, most of the time,

the majority of the time that can be attributed back to what they're eating in their diet. And if you can figure out either what that allergen is or whatever you're feeding them that is making them upset, you can usually get rid of those symptoms. Is that what you found? Absolutely. Oh yeah, absolutely. And, and when I, one of my twins definitely had more gut, like she had more constipation and things like that when she was about two months old. But it was solely directed back to what I was eating. And then the light bulb went off one day and I was like, oh my gosh. And actually for her, broccoli was really bothering her. So I mean, I was like, oh, bummer because I was like, oh my gosh. And actually for her, um, broccoli was really bothering her. So, I mean, I was like, oh, bummer. Cause I was eating something healthy, but for her, it was,

it was too much for her little, for her little system at that time. Um, and now, I mean, she loves broccoli, but, um, at the time it was, it was too much for her, but yes, it goes back to what we as mamas are eating. And then if we're nursing, what's getting into their, you know, what's getting into their milk. And then when they start eating, same thing, absolutely same thing. And sometimes it's even if you're feeding your babies healthy, but let's say you're giving them something raw that needs to be just slightly steamed to release, you know, so it's not so heavy on them. Even like little tweaks like that is, is very, is very helpful, but a lot of even, even like eczema and asthma, a lot of that will stem back

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remember I would always have these like, you know, natural off-brand cereals and like super healthy stuff, which now looking back as an adult, I'm like, thank you, mom. I'm so grateful for it. But as a kid, I would go to my friends. I had one of my best girlfriends. Her mom would get her Burger King like four nights a week. I'd go over and they would just, their pantry would be loaded with all the candy in the world, the Pop-Tarts, the Dunkaroos, like all this stuff I didn't get at home. Actually, this is so funny. I ran into my friend's mom a couple years ago. And she was like, Wow, you've really changed your tune with eating healthy. She's like, I remember you would come over and just like I would clear out their pantry. You know, and I think about this often. And I look back at it and laugh like I think it was just like me being a kid and wanting all the junk food and stuff. And my mom was doing her best. And I'm really grateful that my mom fed me really well.

But how do you kind of find that balance where you don't create a kid that's just like binging all this junk, you know, every time they leave the house? Right? Yeah. Oh, yeah. Well, so your mom and I would be like really good friends, because I am absolutely that person. You know, if we have cereal in the house, which we do. Because, again, like sometimes there's just mornings where I don't have time to cook them eggs and have fruit. I mean, there's just, I mean, most mornings I do. But, yeah, all of my cereals are, you know, like they'll ask me. They love Honey Nut Cheerios. And Grammy and Grampy have the real Honey Nut Cheerios at their house.

And so when they have sleepovers, they get to have that. Well, at our house, I'm like, okay, I'll get you Honey Nut Cheerios. But of course I don't get them the real Honey Nut Cheerios. And they did not, they didn't like it. Just side note on that. The fake Honey Nut Cheerios is, I guess, not as good as the real ones. But overall, I do exactly what your mom did. I mean, I let them have fruit snacks, but it's an organic brand. Um, we have crackers, but you know, sometimes they're gluten-free and a lot of times they are organic. No, they're always organic actually. Um, even I have a funny story about, uh, one night my husband and I were like, okay, let's do s'mores with the kids. And so we, unbeknownst to each other, had went out, I guess we both went to the store that day and bought s'mores makings.

Well, I bought the only, and I don't even know how organic or healthy these marshmallows were because I mean, they're a marshmallow, let's be honest. Yeah, it's still sugar. It's still totally sugar in a little white ball. And I bought like the organic graham crackers and then a dark chocolate always. Like I very rarely buy milk chocolate. And I come home and he had gone to the store too and totally bought like the normal, right? The normal s'mores making.

And we literally put them side by side and posted a picture on Facebook and said, who do you think bought what? And, you know, all my friends know that like, oh yeah, Jamie definitely bought those. But I just try, I never want to deprive my kids from enjoying some of the sweet indulgences of life. I mean, that's, you know, having s'mores is part of being a kid. Having cotton candy at the fair is part of being a kid. Having a little bit of candy at the theater is is part of being a kid. Having cotton candy at the fair is part of being a kid. Having a little bit of candy at the theater is a part of being a kid, but it's like the treats, you know, like they know when we go on vacation, if we're going to go on like a road trip, like I'll let them each pick out like one candy and one like junkie snack. And, and I'll, and I'll buy that for them. Cause it's like a fun special something different but

the everyday life our everyday life they know that what i provide for snacks is going to be on the healthier side and it's funny because even now they have a hard time telling me what junky snack that they want or sometimes they'll be like okay well my junky snack that they want, or sometimes they'll be like, okay, well, my junky snack, I'll do seaweed. And I'm like, okay, sure. You want that to be your junky snack? No problem. Um, you know, so it, they just, it just becomes, it kind of becomes second nature to them, but do they love, you know, Sour Patch Kids? Yeah, for sure. But I will say that because I've been feeding them with as minimal sugar as I can, like if we go to a restaurant and they order pancakes that they think are going to taste like what I make or even like waffles, they do not like them. It's way too

sweet for them. Partly because of the syrup, because I use like a hundred percent maple syrup and I use, and I have like organic gluten-free waffles or, or paleo pancakes, but that's what their taste buds are used to. And so they absolutely do not like the, you know, this quick buttermilk pancakes. And I'm like, sweet, that's a win. That that's amazing. And that's my hope when I have kids, cause I will be just like you, I'll be making them, you know, the healthy gluten free organic pancakes at home. And that's my hope is that if you can train their palate really early on, they won't want the really sugary stuff. You know, and that's because it is all about palate, because I even saw in, you know, of course, like I had that time period of my life.

And then I went to college and I figured out that I needed to start eating healthier because I felt really bad in my body. And since I have gone back and changed my palate, I couldn't even eat those like biscuit pancakes either. I mean, one, I'm gluten-free because I'm allergic to wheat. But also like the same kind of thing. I feel like your kids, I'm like, oh, this is way too sweet for me. Yeah. And even I try and associate when they feel really bad, I'll associate, well, well, honey, you know, you like, if they have a stomach ache or they have a headache or they're constipated, well, what did you eat? Oh, well, I went, you know, we had the birthday party and I'm like, well, that's probably exactly why you

have this because normally when you're eating how you normally eat, you're, you don't experience that stuff. And I'm like, oh, oh yeah. You know? And so it's kind of, it's kind of starting to connect the dots for them at a young age, just to see that food does affect how you feel. And that's a hundred percent true. It affects how you sleep and if you have headaches and how much energy you feel. And that's a hundred percent true. It affects how you sleep. And if you have headaches

and how much energy you have, and if you're, you know, if they're tired at their soccer game, you know, like on Saturday, they had a soccer game, but they'd come from a birthday party where they had pizza and cake and, you know, and of course that's part of being at a birthday party, but they were dragging at the soccer game because they didn't have what they normally would have been fueling their bodies with. And, and they're aware of it, you know, they may not want to admit it because then they're like, well, yeah, well, that was really good. Um, but you know, at least it's starting to connect the dots a little bit in terms of what they can understand for their age. Yeah. I'm so glad that you brought that up. I've never thought about that. And that is so,

I think that is so important to teach them early on to make the connection with their body, because what it does is it, it causes them to learn to tune into their body and what they're eating and how they're feeling and really to learn those signs. That's really cool. I love that. Yeah, because it's, I mean, I think too, part of eating healthy is also being connected to your body, especially for little girls, you know, I mean, boys too, of course, but there's such a disconnect with, with women and their bodies, but that starts young and it starts, it's starting younger and

younger, which is really sad. I mean, before you think, oh, teenager, no, it's starting really young. And so really connecting that your body is a source of intelligence that can speak to you and tell you when things are wrong. And then you get to be the investigator to determine what that is and why that is. And it just creates this kind of connection of mind and body that they're kind of working together. And it's our job to be listening to see what they're telling us. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it always it all comes back to be listening to see what they're telling us. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it all comes back to education and empowering them.

Yeah. And balance, like you said. Balance is very key because I know that if I was never letting them have sugar, never letting them have candy, never letting them have juices in the house, that they would. They would be like ravaging friends' houses and no one would ever want to have them over for play dates, you know, but so there is that healthy balance of, okay, yes, you will have, we can have juice boxes in the house, but they're going to be, they're not going to be Capri Suns. They're going to be 100% organic juice, but it's, it still feels like a treat to them. Yeah. Yeah.

And I think that's totally fine. That's kind of how I'm going to navigate it as well. Because you don't want to completely deprive them altogether. You just want to make sure that they're getting cleaner versions of it. You know, it's organic. It doesn't have the pesticides and the high fructose corn syrup and just all the junk that doesn't even need to be in there, let alone in our bodies. Oh, yeah, exactly.

That's right. So do you do anything special for when they go to like birthday parties or for let's say like Halloween or do you have any kind of like tips and tricks around that or do you just kind of let them Halloween? Well, let's talk Halloween. So, um, in the past when we would do trick or treating, um, we, uh, I'll let them get, you know, we go to all the houses that they want and, um, trick or treat. And I let them, usually when we come home, I let them have like one or two pieces of candy and then I'll give them like a piece in their lunch, maybe one day, maybe two, or, you know, they'll get maybe three days worth of candy and then it goes bye-bye and it just goes in the

circular file to be sent away. Um, I just, you know, and they'll ask me, where's our candy? I said, Oh, you had enough honey. I was like, you don't, there's no way you need all that candy, you know, and they'll be sad for a few minutes and then they're over it. Um, and then in terms of birthday parties, I mean, again, like they went to birthday party this last weekend and they got candy and, and I let them have a few bites and then they put it down and it just went away into the garbage and they forgot. I mean, they, they luckily have kind of short attention spans, so it's kind of perfect. And they know, they, they know me well enough to know that if they don't know where it is, they know where it is.

It went in the garbage. And I think they've just kind of given up at this point. They're like, yeah, she's just – that's not going to happen. Well, I can tell you as the daughter of a mom that was very much like you, they will grow up and they will be the most grateful for you. So even if they fight you on it right now, my mom reminds me this, my mom loves to remind me of this all the time. Cause she loves that. I'm, you know, so grateful for it now, but she's like, man, you, when you were a kid, she's like, you would throw these tantrums and you'd be so mad at me and you'd be so upset. You wanted Burger King, all this stuff. And she's like, aren't you glad now? And I'm like, I'm the most grateful. I am the most

grateful that you set me up for a life of great health, you know? Oh, good. I hope that I hope my girls say the same thing to me. Hope they're not like in therapies being like, and then my mom, she didn't let me have this. I mean, that's possible too, but I hope, I hope not. You know, and here's the other thing, even talking about tantrums. I mean, even things like childhood behavioral issues that we think are behavioral issues often are food issues. They're often food issues, not behavioral issues.

Exactly. You know, what's interesting about that, there is a great link to sugar and behavioral issues. And then there's also another one that's so profound or prominent that actually in the UK, they don't allow dyes in their food because they have linked these dyes. I forgot which ones, but I would say all of them. But you know, like you look in the back and it's like red number five, yellow 30 or whatever. Yeah. So they have found a direct correlation with those dyes and behavioral issues in children so much so that the UK doesn't allow them in their food. Exactly. Oh my, we can learn so much from the UK and really other parts of Europe. I mean, other parts of the world, to be honest, we could learn so much about, you know, even just what to

question, you know, things like food colorings and, you know, high fructose corn syrup and all these kinds of things. I mean, we can learn so much from other countries, but, and unfortunately we are so, um, we are so bogged down by big pharma and the food industry. And again, that's a whole other topic, but you know, it really weighs heavily on our food system and, um, and what's allowed and what's not allowed because there's so many things in other parts of the world that are like completely banned that are fair game in the States. And it's not because they're healthy. It's because there's big money behind it. Yeah, it's food lobbying. Exactly. I say this all the time. There are a lot of foods that are sold in the US that are literally not legally allowed to be sold in other countries.

That's insane. It's insane. It's crazy making. It is crazy making. Exactly. It is crazy making. And what's even more crazy making is that these corporations that aren't allowed to sell their American products in other countries are reformulating their products for other countries. But they're not selling them here.

I mean, a perfect example that I bring up all the time is Kraft macaroni and cheese, because in the UK, they're not allowed to have food dyes. They color their mac and cheese with like turmeric and paprika, I think. And then here in the US, we have the food dyes. Right. And it's perfectly fine. And a huge seller. I know, right? I mean, you could just, your head could spin with all that goes on. I mean, you could just, your head could spin with all, with all that, that goes on. I mean, you really, it really could. Yeah. And it's just so infuriating. Cause I think of all the moms that are just trying their best to feed their kids with what they can and the knowledge that they have. And, and this information is also not widely known. And so just makes me so, it makes me so mad

because we owe our kids so much better. Yeah. Yeah. It's, I also, I wanted to say something when we were talking about the Halloween candy. So this is maybe a hot trick that you could use this year. Uh, someone on Instagram, I can't remember why. Oh, I, I did like a healthy, um, Halloween candy swap on my Instagram recently and kind of said, you know, if you, yeah, if you want like candy corn, get these organic ones instead. And there's like Skittles, there's all these different swaps that you can do. And this girl wrote me on Instagram and she said, you know what I do with my kid every year, I let him trick or treat as normal. And then we go home and she's like, I buy all the

organic versions of it. So like the organic candy bars and you know, and there's, if you go to my Instagram, I have it all laid out. There's like candy corn, there's like a Skittles version, there's gummy worms, there's Reese's peanut butter cups, like they basically make healthier versions of all of these, you know, conventional candies now. And she said what she does is she buys a bunch of those. And then she trades her kids. So he'll be like, Oh, I really like I love these Skittles. I'll trade you for like the healthier Skittles. And then she trades her kid. So he'll be like, Oh, I really like, I love these Skittles. I'll trade you for like the healthier Skittles. And she said that he loves it. It also teaches him kind of, you know, like bargaining for what he wants. And then she gets to take all of the like trash conventional candy and replace it with all these like healthy organic ones that don't

have all the dyes and don't have the pesticides and all the crap. That's really, that's brilliant. I love that because yet there is, I mean, I shop a lot at Sprouts and they always have healthier, I'll say, alternatives to some of the more conventional candies. And again, why not? I mean, you're not going to, you can't shelter your kids from sweets. You just can't, you know, but if you can provide even a little healthier option, that's a win. That's the small wins. You know, you're not always going to win the huge battles of this, but you know, you can't, unless you literally pack everything, even for your kids to go to birthday party, but that's just not realistic. And we're, we're busy moms. Like that's, that's just, it's hard to, that's really hard to do. Um, but if we

can do little tricks like that, it's such a, it's such a win, such a win. It is. And then you allow your kid to still have the candy, but then you feel better knowing that they're not getting these dyes that are going to cause behavioral issues and all this stuff. And this actually leads me into something that I know you and I both feel pretty strongly about. So there's a lot of conversation going on right now about not labeling foods good or bad, you know, and saying like, oh, like not to say that this is unhealthy and this is unhealthy because they say that it's going to create kind of like a disordered thinking in a child's mind.

I want to hear your thoughts on this. I think you and I are very aligned in this and I personally don't agree with it. I definitely do not agree with it. I, I, yeah, I definitely do not agree with that. I, I published an article about that, that speaks just specifically about that. And I, and I disagree with that because there are very unhealthy foods out there. And again, it's not that you don't allow your children to ever have them, but they need to learn. And they're very smart and they are watching and listening to us all the time. And so it's your, I feel in my opinion that you're doing them a very big disservice to not teach them. This is what in our house, we say junky

and healthy. This is a junky snack. This is a healthy snack. And it's okay to have quote junkie snacks, but you need to know they're junk. They're going to provide no energy. They're not going to help build your muscles or help you grow strong and tall. They're junkie, but they taste good and that's okay. But I think that you absolutely need to teach your kids young about healthy versus junkie. Like my four-year-old absolutely knows, mommy, can I have a snack? Sure, baby. What do you want? Well, can I have healthy or junky? Like this kid knows. And he knows when I say something healthy, he knows exactly what his options are for a healthy snack,

a piece of fruit or a piece of organic string cheese or a yogurt, but not like Yoplait, you know, one that has little sugar. And, you know, he knows, he absolutely knows he's only four. And my girls were the same way, like three or four, they were asking, and they definitely knew the difference. And I think it's important. And I think that you don't want to, I understand how you can, how, you know, having a poor relationship with food by labeling it one way that I can see how that could become unhealthy. But it's our job as parents to say, it's okay to have a junkie snack. It's okay to eat junk food, but you have to know that it is junk food and it does not do anything to make your body healthier or grow or any of those things, but it's okay

to have it, but you always offset it with a healthy thing and here's healthy options. And then I don't think that, I don't think you get a, an unhealthy relationship to food because you're, you're not saying, no, you can never have that. That's bad, bad, bad, bad, bad. You're just saying you need to know the difference so that you can make healthy options for you or not and know what the consequences might be if you are always choosing unhealthy. Exactly. Well, and I think the problem is here is that what we, what we really need to be focusing on is we shouldn't be assigning emotions to these foods, right? Like I think there's, it's one thing to say, this food is going to be really good for you. And this food is junky and it's not going

to provide any energy or nutrition for your body. But if you choose this unhealthy food, it doesn't mean anything about you. It doesn't mean you're a bad person. It doesn't mean that, um, you know, it's going to derail everything and it means nothing about you. And I think that's where we need to differentiate it. It's not about the saying good or bad. I think it's that we just need to not assign emotion to it, you know, and say like, you know what, that's okay. You want this junkie snack. Great. Mom wants junkie snacks all the time too. It doesn't mean anything about you. It doesn't mean you're bad or anything like that. It just means that you're craving something junky and that's human, you know? Absolutely. I think

that's such a, such an important point because when you assign the motions to any food or you, or you reward with food or you console with food, you're creating unhealthy food relationships, no matter what, even with, even with the best intentions. So yeah, taking emotion out of it in general, I think is a really, uh, a healthy relationship and a viewpoint to have a food and a teacher kids for sure. Absolutely. Because I would argue this other way of just, if we just tell kids like nothing is bad, you can eat anything to the amount of, you know, to your heart's desire, any quantity. I actually believe that that's super damaging and can lead to disordered eating because then your kid's going to wake up one day and, you know, hopefully not, but maybe be overweight or have all

these gut issues or have eczema or have asthma or have this phlegm in the back of their throat. Like there's so many different things. And then they're going to spend their life trying to figure out what it is that like, why they have that ailment. But if we can teach them early on, like, Hey, these foods provide health and these don't. And you can decide one day that you don't really care about eating healthy and you just want to, you know, lean into your cravings. And then there are other days that you want to eat healthy. And I think we're doing kids a disservice by saying you can just eat whatever you want and nothing is bad because unfortunately that is not, that's not living in reality. The reality is, is that

we have a horrible food landscape. Unfortunately, it's just the reality of it. And we have to work harder in this country because they make it really hard for us to eat healthy. We have to be educated and work hard to be healthy and eat healthy. And that requires education at a young age to differentiate between what is going to serve our body and what's not. Absolutely. I mean, even, you know, you'll hear, you know, if you talk to like older generations, they'll say, well, you know, we used to always eat bread and never affected us. Now everyone's gluten free and gluten intolerance and it'll kind of mock it. But the reality is just like you were saying is that our, our food is completely different than it was even 30 years ago, 40 years ago, definitely 50, 60, 70 years ago.

Our food is completely different. How it's made, how it's produced, what pesticides are on it, it's completely different. And it's causing serious havoc in our bodies. I mean, there's no question why there's so many autoimmune and diseases and things, even cancers. Like there's no question. A lot of it is what we are consuming. And so why not give our kids this beautiful gift at a young age of educating them so that they can make healthy choices, hopefully, when they're older. Yeah, I agree. And I know I was just sitting here thinking too, that, you know, I, when we have

sometimes not as much as I used to, but sometimes when I have conversations like this, you know, I'll have people, um, come at me and get mad, you know, and I just, all like, all I think is don't be mad at the messenger, be mad that our government and our FDA allows this to happen. We allowed food companies to have so much power and so much money that they lobby in Washington and allow them to spray our foods, which should otherwise be healthy with glyphosate. I was thinking about this earlier with the Cheerios. Cheerios were tested recently for levels of glyphosate and they are through the roof. Glyphosate is an herbicide that is known to cause cancer.

The company that started it, Roundup, Bayer now owns them, are in litigation right now because of the amount of cancers that people are getting from this. And this is where I get really passionate and I get upset because I'm like, we should be mad, but not of the people that are talking about this. We should be mad that our government and our country allows us, allows our citizens to eat this junk. Like cancer, like literally eating cancer and they're not protecting us. They're, we're not protected. And that's, that's the sad reality of where that, you know, there's a lot of amazing things. There's lots of amazing things about living in America, of course. And we're not protected, especially when it comes to our food. And that's where it's up to us to become the investigators and to dig a little deeper or listen to podcasts of people like you

who are speaking the truth and getting that word out there. Because it's not like people want to have their head in the sand. They just don't know what they don't know. Exactly. And we're always learning new things every day. And it's a scary truth. But once we know that that's happening, it's up to us to really take our food and our health into our own hands. Because it's not going to happen in the medical field or in politics. It's not going to happen in the medical field or in, you know, in politics. It's not going to happen. It's just not. Well, exactly. No one's coming to save us. We have to do it ourselves, you know? And the unfortunate reality is that no one is ever going to care about your health. No one's

ever going to care about your kid's health as much as you do. It's just the reality, you know? And it doesn't mean, this is not to say that your doctor doesn't care, but like they're so overloaded with patients and they're overworked and they're not, you know, they're connected to a certain extent because they care about human lives, but, but you, no one's ever going to care as much as you, because these are your own kids. And this is why, you know, the mama bear has to come out and you got to be protective and we have to educate ourselves. And like you said, become investigatory and look, it sucks. It sucks, but it's the reality. It's like a full-time job. I mean, it's literally like a full-time job, but it's worth it. I mean, what full-time, I mean, what other job is more important than nurturing and educating our

children and ourselves also, you know, not just our kids, but ourselves as well, so that we can be here so that when our kids are older and that we're alive and healthy and thriving and not decrepit or riddled with diseases because we didn't take our health in our own hands. You know, it's like the time is now and it's never too late. That's the other thing I want to say is that if you are a mom that's listening and your kids are a little bit older, you know, maybe they're not babies anymore. It's not too late. It is not too late. You can start incorporating small things, you know, into your kids' diets to start making small changes that then can become bigger changes. So it's not like, oh, well, I missed my time,

so that's it. No, it's never too late. And it's also never too late for us as adults. I mean, you can heal so much of your gut and inflammation in your body with food. You can, it's, I mean, it's proven there's, there's so many studies and so many studies. Um, but it starts with taking that knowledge and applying it in our lives and with our kids. Yeah, absolutely. You know, Dr. Mark Hyman talks about this a lot. People think that, that it takes a really long time and look, sometimes it does. Everyone's different. It's totally dependent on where your health is at. But the majority of people, he has said that he has seen blood sugar go down, um, diabetes go away. Like so many ailments, inflammation go down in as little time as 28 days. Absolutely. When you change your diet around. So it's not, you know,

I'm so glad that you brought this up because for anyone listening, maybe that's feeling discouraged. Yes, you can absolutely turn the ship around and it doesn't even take that long if you really are focused on eating organic whole real foods. And you know, cause look, our bodies run on what we feed it, you know, our cells, everything is run on what we feed it. And if we are feeding it organic, nutritious, whole real foods, it's going to function better. It's just like if you have a Ferrari, you're not going to put the low-grade fuel in there. You know, like you're going to put the high-grade. So we've got to act like we're all Ferraris. Yeah, exactly.

And treat ourselves that way. It's like, you know, yeah, we will. We'll buy an awesome car and spend like bajillion dollars on the highest quality gas, but yet we'll feed ourselves crap. You know, it's like, no, we can't, we have to turn that around. And I know people will say, oh, organic is so expensive. And, and, but there's even tricks with that. Like not everything, you know, if you can get things that can peel off, that's not as bad. You know, that's something that you could skimp out on doing not organic. I mean, I like to have organic pretty much everything, but I understand that not everyone, you know, that, that food budgets are

real and it is in our home too. We have a lot of mouths to feed. Um, but really knowing like, what is the most essential things that you need to buy organic need to like not like well i should know like you absolutely need to otherwise you might as well not even eat that food because that's how toxic it is period and there are you know you hear the dirty dozen with fruits and there are foods out there that absolutely you might as well just not eat them like save your money just don't even buy them if you can't afford to buy them organic. And then there's other things that you can, you can find little loop, not, you know, loopholes, so to speak, where if you're like, okay, I can't buy every single thing organic. Well, what, what, what do you absolutely have to, anything that grows close

to the ground that can be, you know, seeped up by pesticides, a hundred percent hacked by organic period, just period, you know? And if that means having one less Starbucks a week, because you're buying that, I think it's worth it. In my opinion, it is, it is well. And you know, so many people now are, um, buying things out or eating out a lot, ordering Postmates, driving through the drive-thru. I did a cool experiment on this podcast with my producer. We were going through the drive-thru and getting meals from like McDonald's, Taco Bell, and then we were remaking them. So we did this with the cheesy gordita crunch recently with Taco Bell. We went to the grocery store and we went to just like a, I think it was like a Ralph's or something, which is, you know, you can find them kind of everywhere. So this wasn't even like a

whole food situation. We bought every single ingredient organic and made them at home. And it was cheaper for us to buy it organic and make it at home with all organic ingredients than it was to go through the drive-thru line. Wow. That's amazing. Yeah, it was really cool. That is cool. And I have to say we I was I was even shocked. Like I was a little bit like, okay, we're gonna we're gonna test this out. We're gonna see if we can make it cheaper. But I was like, I don't know, I don't think we can beat fast food prices, you know. And so it's a little things like that, like you, it may require some rearranging in the beginning and, and doing a little bit of digging and researching, you know,

like when I was, when I was younger, and I was the brokest I've ever been, and I was in school and I was also working full time and like barely had a budget for food. Even then, like I was finding a way to buy organic because what I would do is I would go to like Costco or, um, you know, I would bounce around and I'd go to Trader Joe's and then I'd get stuff at like Target. And because thankfully there's a lot of places now that carry organic food and you can get the name brand stuff for pretty cheap. Oh yeah. That's a, I mean, that's the, I think the beauty in all of this is that there are so many options now for cheaper organic, for gluten-free options, for different types of

flour to cook with. I mean, you can bake a chocolate chip cookie that is so much healthier and it's so accessible now. It doesn't have to mean that you have to go to Whole Foods and spend, you know, $500 for two bags. I mean, and that's the reality of Whole Foods. And I love Whole Foods, but I don't shop there that much. But there's options out there now and they're so much more reasonable.

And I think that's the hope in all of this is that it is accessible and it's becoming even more accessible. I mean, the fact that you can go to Target and, you know, get a tank top and go get some organic, you know, coconut flour. Like, I think that's kind of amazing. Yeah. You know, but we have to know what to look for. And then does it take a little more time? Yeah, it does. I mean, we don't eat out very much because I prefer to cook our food at home. And, um, you know, of course we do once in a while, but for the most part, I prefer

to do that because I know what I'm putting in my food and what my kids are eating. And, um, you know, and we have, you know, my, like my kids love, um, like breads. And so I'll make like a zucchini chocolate chip bread, but I put a little more chocolate chips in there and they don't see the green and they love it. And they think it's like this junky thing. And literally do they know there's like, I think I sweetened it with a maple syrup or agave, a little bit of agave, and then it's zucchini and chocolate chips and some coconut flour. And it's like, have at it guys. And they think they are like, yeah, we are just eating junk. You know, we're just gorging our stuff. I'm like, go to town guys. Cause you're eating your vegetable and you're eating cacao. Yep. Go for it. So, um, yeah, the high end in,

in antioxidants from the cacao. That's amazing. I love that. Yeah. So good. Well, and the great thing about making stuff at home is that then you can control the sugar too. Like I think about whenever I make cookies or, you know, a bread or whatever it is, like I just actually this morning I made a pumpkin bread and I use favorite. Oh, it's so good. I actually used an organic monk fruit maple syrup. So there wasn't even any sugar in it. But yeah, you can also use 100% maple syrup. And that's the thing is you can control the amount of sugar. And I every time I make a recipe, if I'm like following something online, unless if it's like from someone that already know makes really healthy recipes, I will usually do the sugar in

half. Always what they ask for. Always. Oh, yeah, me too. or i'll or i'll substitute it with like maple syrup or i'll like to use a lot of local honey too because yeah then you're helping with local allergies if you're getting honey from local farms you're helping with allergens especially if you have family members that have allergies i mean it's like and you can use half of it because it is really sweet but it's not white sugar you know so i'm I'm with you. I do the same thing. Oh yeah. And I never, I don't even own white sugar. I always, anytime it asks for sugar, I always use either. I don't even really use coconut sugar anymore. I pretty much only use maple syrup, honey, or this, uh, or monk fruit. Yeah. I have white, I have a confession. I do have white sugar. Um, but that is for my hummingbird feeder actually. It's the only reason

why I have it. So I do have a confession, but we don't consume it ourselves. But hopefully I'm not giving our hummingbirds diabetes. Oh, yeah, I have no idea. I feel like hummingbirds, that's what they need. I don't know a thing about hummingbird nutrition. Me neither. So I'm going to stick with the white sugar on that. But they fly a lot. Yeah, exactly. They're burning it off. They need that sugar for energy. Yeah. Well, I'm trying to think if there's anything else that we haven't covered in regards to kids nutrition that maybe you feel like we need to talk about or you wanted to say. Well, I do. One thing I will say is that, um, one thing that's worked really well in our home

is having the kids have access. And this goes back to, I mean, age appropriate, I'll say. You know, like I said, my youngest is four and a half now. So he's, in my opinion, he's age appropriate to have this. But I have a snack drawer that's their height. And I also have, and again, I'm not saying to go out and buy a new fridge, but we have a four compartment fridge where the bottom two can either be both freezer sections or like one could be freezer and one could be fridge.

And so the bottom right section of our fridge is refrigerated and it has healthy refrigerated items for kids. And I feel like that, at least for my kids, I'll speak for them. They really like having that because they feel like they, at least for my kids, I'll speak for them. Um, they really like having that because they feel like they have control. Like they, you know, as the kids get older, they want that independence. They want to know that, you know, they don't have to just like go ask mommy all the time. Like they love having that independence. Um, and so I would recommend having areas in your home or kitchen that is accessible again, when, when they're old enough, um, that

they, cause again, it's all about empowering them to make healthy decisions for them as early as they possibly can. So make fruit, wash it first. Like I always do the little veggie wash and then I wash all the fruit so that it's right there ready. It's washed. They don't have to ask me to wash it. They can grab and go. And I think there's something really empowering about that for, at least for my kids that they, that they really like that. And so I would recommend doing that for, for any home. I think it's really important because again, it teaches those, that decision-making skills early on and then gives them access. So if they're telling me they're hungry after they just ate

dinner, then they have access to, you know, something healthy, but they can just grab it and have it. And then that's it. So I, yeah, I love that. It's like a, like little, little tips, you know? Yeah, no, that's great. Any tips that you have, I feel like the moms are going to be so grateful for. Oh, actually I do have another question for you. How do you feel about making kids clear their plates? No, I'm not, I'm not a proponent of that. I believe that that creates overeating and that also in my view really quiets that internal knowing of when you're full. And that I think can become huge issues with food and obesity when kids are forced to silence their tummies. I do tell them that they always have to eat their vegetables. So that's a non-negotiable and that I always tell them, okay, well, you have

to eat your, let's say broccoli. You have to eat your chicken. Um, But if you don't want to eat your brown rice, that's fine. You don't have to eat that, but you do have to eat these two things because I know that they'll somehow find room to eat their rice. Or, you know, if I make like an Annie's mac and cheese, like they'll, they'll find room for that. So I just make sure they know my expectations of what they do need to eat and then what they can leave. But no, I think that that can be really damaging. I agree. I think this is really important.

I grew up in a generation where, yeah, my parents were always – I mean I remember to this day sitting at the table for hours while my parents were like getting ready for bed and me just being like, no, I don't want to finish this. And look, my parents were doing the best they could. This is not a dig on my parents or anything like that. But I have thought about this a lot and what I'm going to do when I have kids. And I think you, you put that so perfectly that we're by doing that, we're causing them to not listen to their intuition. And think about, think about a small child. If you're feeding them good, healthy food, they're, they, they already have this innate intuition to know when to stop eating, you know, like they're never going to starve. They're going to eat. But then, you know, I've, I've seen this often, like with the little kids that I nanny, they

would just hit a point where they're like, I'm just like, I'm full. Like I'm not hungry anymore. Yeah. You know? And so you want to, you want to cultivate that and make sure that they learn how to listen to that. So when they're older, they're not the person that's just clearing their plate because it's, it's almost like muscle memory, you know, where they were just, they've been doing it for so long and they train themselves to do that. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. And, and I think

too, you know, like if we, like last night we were celebrating a birthday and so they knew that we had cupcakes and so um you know what i will say before they even start eating is okay well just just know you guys know what you need to eat in order to be able to have a treat after so if you're telling me you're too full for this stuff on your plate that's. But know that I'll just say like, just know that kitchen's closed. So sorry that we're having, you know, and I, and I, and I mean it and that's, and it's happened. And so, and they, so they know, they know that if they're telling me they're too full, then they're too full for cupcakes or whatever, you know, um, popcorn, if we're going to have a movie night, like they just know that that's, that means kitchen's closed and they're done for the night. Um, and so again, giving them some choices as well to make the decision that's

if they're really too full or their tummy hurts, that's cool. But if your tummy hurts, you shouldn't be having anything else anyway, then. Yeah, exactly. My, my mom told me a story a couple of years ago that there was, so she said there was one time and this, she tells me that this is how she kind of kept me from being a super picky eater. You know, I mentioned earlier, my mom really, my mom was like you, like she was cooking everything from scratch. She was trying to get me introduced me to all these different foods. And she said that there was one time that I just absolutely refused to eat. I don't, I don't even know what it was, but I was just being so picky that I refused to eat. And she said that she put me to bed that night crying, having not eaten anything.

She kept giving me opportunities. I wouldn't do it. And she said it was literally, she was like, it was the hardest night of my life. I like cried myself to sleep. And she goes, but you never did it again. She was like, anytime I put, you know, and it was, it was within reason. It was always like, she was trying to introduce like healthy foods to me, but she was like, you never refused food again after that, you know, and you learned your lesson. So I think

some of, of being a parent is learning to do those hard things in the moment that, you know, we're going to serve your child later. Absolutely. Absolutely. I mean, we're their parents for a reason. We're not, you know, like I'll tell my stepkiddos cause they're older and they'll understand. I said, I'm, I'm not here to be your friend. I mean, as you're older and don't need as much parenting guidance, then sure. I'm, I hope we're awesome friends, but I'm not here to be your friend. I'm here to guide you and hopefully, you know, teach you some things along the way that will help, it will serve you in the future.

It's only because, you know, we're only doing this because we love them, you know, and, and sometimes kids are irrational. A lot of times they are. So sometimes we have to kind of rein that in a little bit. Yeah. Yeah. It's really important to remember. So before we go, I want to ask you what I like to ask all my guests, and this is

pertaining to you in particular. So for you, I know you're a mom, you're super busy. You have a lot on your plate, literally every day. What are the things that you do that are your health non-negotiables? Meaning no matter how busy you are, these are things that you do for yourself that you prioritize. And it could be food. It could be, you know, mental health related exercise, whatever it is, things that are your non-negotiables that you do no matter what every day, just to make sure you can show up for your kids and, and be healthy for yourself. Um, some of my non-negotiables, well, my biggest non-negotiable for me is getting up early in the morning. Um, my husband and I actually both get up together at five during the week, um, so that we're a Christian family, so we do devotions together in the morning

and we just set the tone for our day, like just being in the word and, you know, journaling and reading, just having quiet time before we wake the kids up. Because for me as a mom, as soon as they're awake, it is go, go, go. And sometimes I don't feel like I'm thinking about anything besides like what the afterschool sport is until I'm sitting down when they, when I put them to bed. And so if I don't start my day off really intentionally, then I noticed my whole day is completely different, completely different. So that's one thing that I do nutritionally. The other thing that I do every single morning is I start with lemon water every single morning, um, a big, before I have anything, cause that gets my digestion

going. It gets, you know, my salivary glands that wakes them up. Um, and so I always have a big glass of lemon water. Cause it also just helps you know when you wake up in the morning you're dehydrated so you're kind of playing catch up the rest of the day so I just start with that like 24 to 30 ounces of lemon water and it wakes me up and gets me going and then I'll have you know I don't drink caffeinated coffee anymore but I'll have a little bit of decaf or tea or something but that's's non-negotiable for sure. And then I jam as many vegetables as I can in a day. It doesn't always happen, but you know, because again, like the healthier I am for myself, that hopefully healthier I'll be for my kids and the longer I'll be here. And I want to be here as long as I can for them and,

and for myself too. And, and to be healthy as I get older, not, you know, older and going downhill. I want to be still going uphill. Exactly. Same. I love that so much. So for everyone listening, where can they find you? So you can find me on Instagram at Jamie Lee Matthews, and my name is spelled kind of goofy, my first and last name. So it'll be in the notes, I'm sure. And my website is thesweetlife.co. And I have a lot of, a lot of articles for moms, nutrition, how to be, you know, how to manage a lot, how to feed your kids how to do life a little differently with kids so i have a lot of articles on there and all the ones that are published on other sources are there as well um facebook is the sweet life co and then my book sunroofs and

shoe boxes is coming out in the next couple weeks so you can order pre-sale right now on amazon and that's a book all about gratitude so it's a a six month journey that I took a few years ago, um, of how to find gratitude in everyday little unexpected things. And, uh, it's a, it's a fun book and it's just, it, my hope is that it provides a lot of hope for people that might need a little more joy in their life or looking to see life in a little different lens. So you can get that on, on Amazon. Amazing. We will leave all of those links in the show notes so people can find you and hopefully they will order your book. It sounds amazing. Thank you so much. I really enjoyed this episode. Me too, Courtney. It was so fun. I love talking about nutrition. Yeah, me too.

Thank you. Thank you. Thanks for listening to today's episode of the real foodology podcast. If you liked this episode, please leave a review in your podcast app to let me know. This is a resident media production produced by Drake Peterson and edited by Chris McCone. The theme song is called heaven by the amazing singer Georgie spelled with a J. Love you guys so much. See you next week. The content of this show is for educational and informational purposes only. It is not a substitute for individual medical and mental health advice and doesn't constitute a provider patient relationship. I am a nutritionist, but I am not your nutritionist. As always, talk to your doctor or your health team first.