How to Feed a Family in Real Life | Ep. 209

Knowing what’s healthy is one thing—living it out is another. This conversation makes that shift feel doable.

Transcript

Chloe 0:00

Feeding your family is a win.

Speaker 0:04

Most of us really do care about feeding our families well, that's not the question. It's just that somewhere between all the advice and a normal busy day. It stops feeling very clear what that actually even looks like. And in the middle of it, you're not trying to overhaul everything, you're just trying to make the next decision. And get something on the table that works. So that's where we're going today, right into real life. Talking about what actually holds up for your family.

Cheryl 1:00

So we are in here again with Chloe Singleton, my friend,

Carol 1:04

She Was in here previously. She is a. Nutritionist, is that what you call yourself?

Chloe 1:09

That, or registered dietician? Nutritionist.

Cheryl 1:12

Registered dietician. so tell everybody the name of your company

Chloe 1:16

The company that I work for is called Everwell Nutrition. It's a virtual private practice, nutrition counseling company. And I work with moms and families on food and nutrition.

Cheryl 1:29

And so we had Chloe come in to begin talking with us about this very important subject. And so Chloe, what I'd like to talk about is more of the practical things, like, so what does this really look like and how could we do it? Because, um, I don't believe I've really known a parent that said, no, nutrition's stupid. We don't want to eat well, we want to eat poorly, but then the rubber has to meet the road. How do we really do it? Christie you had a good question earlier. Like philosophy oh yeah. Was that you wanted to ask?

Christie 2:05

Yeah, I just would love to hear, you know, like we said, there's so many voices out there, whole social media accounts built on to eat meat, to not eat meat, eat the grains, don't eat the grains. All the things I'd love to hear, just kind of a summary of your nutritional school of thought, uh, philosophy that you're coming from.

Chloe 2:26

Amazing. Well, the biggest thing I'm thinking of is variety. We really do. Thrive off variety, uhhuh, um, and our kids do as well. And think about variety in our macronutrients. That's macro big. The things we eat the most of those are proteins, carbohydrates, and fats. Kids need all three of those, I believe. Adults need all three of those as well. It depends on the proportion of each, but uhhuh that variety of those macronutrients and then micronutrients, those smaller things that we need in smaller amounts, but are still really important. I'm talking about minerals like calcium, magnesium, sodium, potassium, uh, vitamins, B vitamins, vitamin D, through a varied diet, I really think. We have a better, um, a better likelihood of getting all of these nutrients that we need. Um, I'm thinking about milk. Dairy, calcium, huge calcium rich food, greens, leafy greens, great source of B vitamins, folate, you know, our meat proteins or beans, you know, they give us those great amino acids mm-hmm. That we break down and, and utilize for like neurotransmitters and help with our mood. And so I do believe we need all a variety. Um, and then finding out where you are in your stage of life, um, what those necessary like macronutrients look like of do we need this many carbs or this amount of fat? Um, are we a postpartum mom that just had, um, a big download to baby and we probably need some more, um, focus on nutrients, micronutrients, macronutrients. Are we a kiddo? Um, that really thrives off of carbs? Kids need carbs, newsflash, and they, they need more of them than we do. Um, so just is thinking about that, the age and stage of the person. Um, but a varied diet. I love that.

Cheryl 4:17

Yes. Um, it just sounds really balanced.

Chloe 4:20

Mm-hmm.

Cheryl 4:21

One of the things over the years particularly. Different schools of thought. You mentioned micronutrients, you've talked about zinc, you've all of that. Do you think we need to supplement? Are we gonna get it from eating this balanced variety or do you think No, we have to also supplement significantly.

Chloe 4:43

Great question. So I think. Uh, maybe 50 years ago, a hundred years ago, we could have gotten enough from our food. Um, but we're finding out that our soil's quite depleted. Yes. Um, especially in those minerals. Um, even our water source, which are the water that we're drinking, hopefully we're drinking purified, you know, filtered water that filters out. The bad stuff that we don't want, say, chlorine, but it also filters out beneficial minerals that we used to get in, like natural spring water. So I would say I'm food forward. I wanna try to get the most from food, but sometimes there's this a time and a place where our body's saying, Hey, I need, I'm, I have this symptom showing up and I really need some support. And that would come from, um, the supplement most likely.

Cheryl 5:28

Oh wow.

Christie 5:30

So you're saying. Not necessarily across the board. Everyone needs to supplement everything. Mm-hmm. But looking at some labs and symptoms that you would be able to tell, okay, yes. This is something that they're not taking in naturally in their diet. We probably need to beef that up.

Chloe 5:46

Yes. I mean, 75% of us are deficient in magnesium. We're probably gonna need some magnesium. Huh? Probably gonna need some sodium salt, your food, all good things.

Cheryl 5:56

Yeah, okay. Let me ask you a specific, with salt, do we need to do pink Himalayan salt? Do we need to do sea salt? I'm just gonna ask you, with all your expertise and studies, do we just do whatever range of pours. So

Chloe 6:13

what would you say? The girl with the dress and the umbrella? Yes. Um, I do not personally use iodized salt. Um, it, iodized salt is quite, um, processed. They do add that one mineral back iodine. Um, but we're not even sure how much iodine is in there'cause a lot can be, vaporized, in the processing of that salt. So I'm more along the thread of let's get some good sea salt. Some, you know, Redmond real salt. Some, some mineral dense salt, and let's make sure we get seafoods to get that iodine need.

Christie 6:45

Is that including like the pink himalayans salt? Sure. Mm-hmm. I see that and I just think, are they all the same? Are they different? Because it just seems like it's just pink salt, but

Chloe 6:57

yeah. You're

Christie 6:57

saying it's actually good.

Chloe 6:58

Yeah.

Christie 7:00

What we're getting through like sea salt or like

7:02

a

Chloe 7:02

mineral salt? Himalayan Redmond, uh, real salt is a. Full spectrum of trace minerals. Okay. Um, in there that,

Cheryl 7:09

oh,

Chloe 7:10

is most beneficial.

Cheryl 7:11

Those trace mm-hmm. Things. Alright. So you, you mentioned variety as should be top priority. Can you give us two or three other high impact changes? If someone's listening, they go, oh yes, I really want to do something different. I know we're not eating the way we should. Can you give me what are maybe two, possibly three high impact things?

Chloe 7:34

I would say get your kids involved in the shopping process. Um, take them to the store with you. If the store is your happy place, definitely take your moments that you need to. Target at 9:00 PM is my happy place for sure by myself. Um, but I would say take your kids with you. Let them explore some different variety of foods. Like what is this? A dragon fruit? I wonder what that tastes like. Mm. Do you want to like pick that up so we can try it out? Hey, that's a food exposure. That's great. So I'd say bringing them along in the preparation, the, the cooking process. Um, because those are those exposures that

Cheryl 8:10

Yes,

Chloe 8:10

are gonna help them accept foods more readily, as is age appropriate, you know, um, using like, uh, the plastic knives and, cutting boards, allowing them to cut up some fruit or vegetables for the meal or allowing them to. Set the table or put the place mats out or, um, even bringing in some fun of some routine of like, before we eat, we blow bubbles and that's our routine. Or we wash our hands with a special soap. Um, just creating more of that, like fun and playfulness. Kids really usually learn things through play. So like allowing that beforehand and even during the meal. Let them play with them, with their food. If they so choose to, dip the, the carrots in the, in the ranch, make a face with the dips maybe on their plate, or maybe use some, uh, cookie cutters and make star shaped cucumbers. Um, and just I would encourage bringing in that playfulness. And then. Also that autonomy as best you can of like, what do you want on your plate as is age appropriate and you can have this conversation with them as they're old enough. And I would say having that family aspect of we eat together, food comes on the table, and then you allow the child to put the food that they want onto their plate, so that they can have that autonomy, of what's on their plate.

Cheryl 9:34

You know, I'm just listening to you and, and we can watch her too. The joy that Chloe, you bring to this,

Carol 9:42

it's not really Talked about. Emphasized the joy that eating should be, and let's make it fun and let's do something different. And I know everybody's situation precludes that you can't do this all the time.

Christie 9:57

Right.

Cheryl 9:57

But that we bring it up as a priority to incorporate when we can. For example, you know, there've been numerous studies about the value of families eating together.

Christie 10:06

Mm-hmm.

Cheryl 10:07

And so that sounded like the old Norman Rockwell. We all have to sit. Down and have an hour meal every night, which would be nice, but it's not necessarily realistic for everybody. But the studies have shown,. Eating together in the car, on the way to soccer practice, we're eating together.

Chloe 10:27

Mm-hmm.

Cheryl 10:27

And let's talk and eat and laugh together that that makes communal meal, even if it's in transportation.

Chloe 10:35

Mm-hmm. And I would say. It does not have to look like that picture. Perfect family. A family is child and one caretaker. That's a family.

Christie 10:44

That's good. Yeah. I love just the, um, freedom that you're giving. Yes. In that conversation, I'd love to hear if you have any suggestions for. The ultra busy parents. Yes. Because we all are so much busier than we really should be. Um, how can parents come into this conversation in the midst of soccer practice and work and daycare pickup and all the things? Do you have any tips for how to make nutritious eating a little less time consuming?

Cheryl 11:15

Yeah. Maybe even, how do I. Simplify and remain nutritious because all of us sitting around and somebody spending two hours preparing mm-hmm. This gorgeous meal is just not a reality in our lives. So how could I simplify without sacrificing good nutrition?

Chloe 11:33

Yes. And I feel for moms out there who are making. Three different meals, uh, short order cook feeling like yeah, for their family. And that is not the goal. Um, the goal is to cook, have something that everybody can have at least a part of, can eat something in that meal. Um, and that. You enjoy eating. Maybe all family members don't have each component that you're making, but there something that they can eat from and they're still getting that exposure of maybe having those other foods around and they might surprise you and, and choose to eat that food. Um, but I would say the main thing is to eat, eating it sounds simple, but to eat and, that may not look perfect. this is,, maybe a, a meal that we make and then just like letting it go, moving on and reconvening next time. So the main thing is to eat. Um, but. Uh, oftentimes I am, helping moms, um, figure out what they can do with the time limit that they have. Yeah, maybe it's picking up a rotisserie chicken and we choose the microwave rice and the microwave, um, like. Uh, broccoli that we can make really quickly or have those things in our freezer, the chicken nuggets that are a good quality brand that we can bring out and have that as our protein. We can have a fruit, some sort of color on the plate and then some sort of starch as well with that of like pasta, rice, or bread or potatoes. I would just say if we can have those components of. We got a protein, we got a carbohydrate,

Cheryl 13:09

That's great. What I like about this. Is we're living out our values to our children because parenting is not an expertise. Life is not expertise. We're just trying to live out our values as well as we can and to love others and see you're even taking it into nutrition because then as someone who. Really values nutrition and would love to have more time to spend and more finances to spend,

Carol 13:39

on Highly nutritious, well done, prepared.

Chloe 13:43

Mm-hmm.

Cheryl 13:44

Food. And they're in a situation where they cannot do all of that. And I love this grace, this freedom to say mm-hmm. It just doesn't matter over the long haul. You wanna try and be as nutritious as you can, but it's okay. You know, mac and cheese out of the box tonight, loving each other. It just doesn't matter,

Christie 14:04

right? There's grace there. And I also think, I've realized in my own life some things don't take as much time as we think they will. I remember one day I was in a hurry and thought, oh, I'll just grab. Some egg bites at Starbucks. And that took forever in the line. Yes. Took so long. By then, I was like, I could have scrambled my own eggs by now. You know, and, and I think that's true of finances too, sometimes we think that eating healthy is a lot more expensive than it really is. Like you said, you know, just some chicken, a couple of veggies, that's a pretty simple, inexpensive meal that doesn't take as much time. It doesn't have to be this huge, elaborate all day. Preparation.

Chloe 14:44

Yes. Yes. Doing the best you can to say, Hey, what's my protein here? What's my fruit or vegetable? And do I have a starch carbohydrate and call it good?

Christie 14:54

Yeah. So we've been talking a lot about feeding little kids and I'm remembering when my kids started approaching those teen years, there were some things that I had to let go of as they were away from me more and making their own choices. Any tips on letting teens start owning their own nutrition and their own meal choices?

Chloe 15:16

Yes, yes. That's a difficult season. Um. I would say similar as the younger kiddos, we are always trying to, to say the why. We like to know the why behind things. Mm-hmm. That's age appropriate. So if you have a, um, 3-year-old, you might say, this protein rich food, this chicken, um, is going to help you. Run faster, help you run for longer amounts of time., So I'm thinking as an older teen kind of bringing in more of that language as well, like, oh, this food here probably will give you a lot of energy for your game today. Or you'll feel more energized throughout the game today if you eat this meal of we've got some protein, we've got some carbohydrate starches for energy that's gonna fuel your body well. Um, and some good healthy fats that'll help your brain function. You know, I love that. Love from avocado. I love that.

Christie 16:12

Giving them the cause and effect of it. Mm-hmm.

Chloe 16:14

Yeah. Uh, it's helping explain the why, um, behind why you would recommend something to them, um, and then allowing them to choose and then what the experience that they have

Christie 16:26

is uhhuh. Even if they don't admit later on that they Yeah, didn't feel so great after their choice, they'll know that you gave them the input and they might refer to that another time.

Cheryl 16:36

Yes. Yeah. I can endorse that because I. Nutrition was important to me, and I did teach my kids this is why we do this, and this is what B vitamins do, and this is protein. All of that. And then I thought, and now they're eating Cocoa puffs, you know? Yeah. 32 ounce Cokes. But waiting it out. It was so interesting I was wise, not saying anything about it, believe it or not. And then they would come back later and say, you know, mom, you're really right. I felt so yucky when I kept eating like that. I don't want to do that anymore. But they would come back and affirm sometimes. And then they would start making their own choices in their own time. So actually it's a success story to what you just said.

Chloe 17:20

Awesome. That's good. And then having the tools available for them to pick up.

Christie 17:24

Sure.

Chloe 17:25

Having the fruit around, um, those easy to grab, like. Yeah. Protein sources.

Christie 17:30

Yeah.

Chloe 17:31

Available to them. I think.

Christie 17:32

And going back to what you were saying earlier, the modeling. If they've seen us navigate our own busy lives and making choices, you know, then they're gonna be able to refer back to our example.

Chloe 17:44

Absolutely.

Cheryl 17:45

Okay. And I'm thinking limited budgets. Okay. And I'm thinking particularly. Single moms or single dads. And like right now in our country, food

Carol 17:57

prices continue To climb. I forget what I saw the number percentage of how much food has gone up. It was even more than what's happening with gasoline this year. Mm-hmm. So if you were helping someone figure out their. Grocery list, uh, on a tight budget and they have several children, how could you help them? Like, here's how I would prioritize this, this, this, and this. Because there's only so much money to go around, what would you say?

Chloe 18:26

Absolutely. Um, I would. Allow them to kind of release the, the pressure of perfection of I have to buy organic foods or I have to buy organic meats. All foods that are around the perimeter of the store are going to be more nutritious foods. Um, you know, those are your produce, those are the meats, the dairy, the eggs. So. Doesn't necessarily have to be perfect, to be good. And you know, there's some things you can follow, like Dirty Dozen is like more, um, pesticide, so tell

Cheryl 18:56

em what you mean.

Chloe 18:57

Dirty Dozen is something put out by the environmental working group each year and they test, um, various. Different produce items and those that contain the most, like pesticides or, um, have the, are most heavily sprayed, um, non-organic foods, they'll let us know what those are. And so if you do have a more limited budget, you could just make sure and, and buy organic in those foods, or just. Try to choose a different food. They have something called the Clean 15, which are, um, less heavily sprayed or pesticide laden, non-organic foods. Usually things that have a thick skin like avocados, bananas, it's not as vital to get that organic. Um,

Cheryl 19:41

So y'all just remember EWG and go look at it.

Chloe 19:43

Yes. Yes. Um, and I would say. Perimeter of the store, and trying to, eat as. Minimally processed more whole foods as best you can. Um, beans are really cheap, especially if you, make them yourself. I know Cheryl, you're a pressure cooker lover like I am. You can make a ton of beans at once, super cheap. Um, you can even freeze them and bring them out, for later. Those can be added to like burrito bowls or maybe your kiddo likes quesadilla with some, black beans inside of it. Great high fiver protein source, but rice. And those things like that,

Cheryl 20:17

and if you can have a pressure cooker or insta pot,, that's another way of shortening all your time if you learn how to use it. Uh, I just made something for our family this weekend and it was a quesadillas that had sweet potatoes and black beans and I did'em all in Instapot and so love

Christie 20:34

it. So good.

Cheryl 20:35

It's, I love saving time. And then like you're saying, I do have

Carol 20:40

beans Frozen in my freezer.

Christie 20:42

Okay, on time, vegetables, frozen, canned, fresh. Is there a difference? Is it worth the sacrifice if I don't have time to chop a bunch of vegetables of yes. What are my options there?

Chloe 20:54

So good. Uh, various nutrients in all of them. So I would say variety. There even is important of like fresh foods. Okay. We've got more vitamin C in fresh produce. Mm-hmm. But we're actually finding out that cooked vegetables have more minerals in them. Why? And they, they're a little bit more broken down and easier to digest. So don't shy away from the cooked veggies. I would say. Even they could be more supportive for your child to accept because they bring out the sweetness a little bit more, say like cooked, um, squashes cooked sweet potato, cooked carrots. So cooked is totally fine and beneficial. Raws quick and easy to grab and go. And frozen's really supportive too'cause they freeze it right after they pick it. So it, it does maintain a lot of nutrition., And I would say with canned things, if you can try to find it like. Packed in water, packed in a hundred percent fruit juice versus, the fillers that they add in there. Sure. With canned,

Cheryl 21:50

I just love the grace that there is on this. Mm-hmm. I mean, even me thinking, oh, okay, then I can have the frozen when I have to suddenly pull it out and fix food for somebody instead of thinking. Oh, now I have to bring it all out and chop it and do it. And ta ta. There's just such grace mm-hmm. In what you're saying.

Chloe 22:08

Absolutely. Absolutely. Feeding your family is a win.

Christie 22:12

That's so good. That's so good.

Cheryl 22:14

Chloe, this is so much fun. We've talked about so many different aspects. Is there anything that you would bring in that we forgot to talk about?

Chloe 22:23

I would say one other thing. Sunlight and

Cheryl 22:27

ah,

Chloe 22:27

uh, that is really beneficial to help our bodies know. Uh, it's a big input of like. Where we are in space and time and how can we produce the adequate, like hunger hormones, really blood sugar hormones to help regulate our blood sugar. Um, we get vitamin D from adequate sunlight. Um, so I would say just, that's not even necessarily related to food, but. Getting your kids outside, maybe eating outside. Just helping them kind of regulate that circadian rhythm, um, will really be beneficial for their, for their bodies as well, for, being able to digest those foods more appropriately.

Cheryl 23:07

I never saw those things connected.

Christie 23:09

I know. As people may or may not know, but I'm the redhead in the room. Let me ask you about sunscreen. I know that, you know, we wanna make sure we're protecting our kids' skin, but that's important to have some exposure as well.

Chloe 23:24

Yes, yes. I would think, if we can get outside, like morning sunlight, evening sunlight, where we don't have as, harsh rays like coming from the sun. Mm-hmm. We likely don't need to sunscreen up, lather up, and experience that risk of like burning skin. Probably biggest thing would be covering skin, like wearing hats or like, being able to cover the skin if you're out and you didn't wanna use sunscreen, or like a mineral base wearing zi. Okay. Zinc oxide. Yeah. Something that's not going to penetrate the skin, right. It's just gonna provide a barrier. And

Christie 23:56

the sun. Is entering through our eyes mostly. Right? That's where we're absorbing the benefits.

Chloe 24:01

We actually have sensors all over our body, so our eyes and our skin. Mm-hmm. Um, even if, um, say we. Are like using screens at night or using artificial light at night? Yeah. And our eyes are closed. Our skin can still kind of get those rays from the light at night. So all over.

Christie 24:20

Okay.

Chloe 24:21

You can, it doesn't matter. Eyes, skin, whatever you can get outside.

Christie 24:24

Okay. That's good to know.

Cheryl 24:26

Wow, this is fascinating.

Chloe 24:28

Interesting enough. Sunlight on the abdomen's. Really great for gut health and helping heal, really heal leaky gut. It really is.

Cheryl 24:35

This is amazing.

Christie 24:36

So fascinating.

Cheryl 24:37

Chloe. Thank you so much. I am walking away with so much from this, and I know it's gonna be a blessing to our audience because what you've done is you've brought wisdom, information, and grace in a package that had to do with nutrition. You're amazing.

Chloe 24:57

Can I say one more thing?

Cheryl 24:58

Sure.

Chloe 24:59

I just wanna encourage all families and moms out there that. A quote I love to, to say with clients, and it's that momentum drives motivation. So momentum in changes, making changes in one area, drives continued motivation for other changes. That's

Cheryl 25:15

excellent.

Chloe 25:16

So it all counts in every step. That's,

Christie 25:17

that's a great encouragement.

Cheryl 25:18

It sure is. Oh, thank you so much.

Chloe 25:21

Thanks for having me. It was a blast.

Cheryl 25:23

Okay, parents. So remember, hang in there. Keep loving, keep persevering because it's worth it.

Speaker 2 25:30

I think what I'm walking away with is this. It doesn't have to be perfect to be good when it comes to food. Most of us are just trying to take care of our families in the middle of real life and that counts. So maybe this week you don't try to change everything. Just pick one thing, add something. Simplify something. Sit down together when you can and let that be enough to start moving things in a good direction. And if you can enjoy it a little more along the way, if you wanna reach out, you can find us on social or at contact@theparentingpodcast.com. Glad you were here for this one.