#47: Why is it not always so intuitive to raise an intuitive eater?

with Laura Thomas, PhD, RNutr

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In this episode we discuss…

  • what brought Laura to her work studying behavior around food and supporting intuitive eating

  • why it isn’t always so intuitive to take the steps needed to raise intuitive eaters

  • how parents can forget that children are relatively inexperienced with food and hold them to unrealistic expectations

  • the impact of pressuring and bribing kids around food

  • creating hierarchies around food and how children are susceptible to black-and-white thinking

  • implementing the division of responsibility in different development stages (infancy, weaning, toddlerhood, and older childhood)

  • how children are able to feed themselves competently when given the right structure

  • the dor in feeding and eating: parents are responsible for what, where, and when, and children are responsible for whether and how much

  • handling picky and fussy eating

  • low pressure food exposure - creative examples, and pitfalls parents can look out for

  • reframing expectations for kid’s eating by considering our own food histories

  • using a wider lens to consider your child’s eating outside of single days or meals

  • the evolutionary perspective on picky eating

  • assessing your own relationship with food

  • handling kids’ eating in secret or sneaking food

  • the role of restriction (even unintentional) in reinforcing a scarcity mindset and sneaking food

  • challenges and advice for the period of reintroducing off-limits foods

  • building back trust that food will be available with the structure of the DOR

  • laura’s answer to the million dollar question

  • a debrief between leslie and zoë about their journeys raising intuitive eaters

Dr. Laura Thomas, founder of the London Center for Intuitive Eating, joins us for a discussion about the trials and tribulations of raising children to be intuitive eaters. She speaks to parents experiencing challenges like picky eating, food sneaking, and struggling with your own relationship to food. We also dig into the “division of responsibility” model for feeding, what makes raising an intuitive eater surprisingly un-intuitive at times, and our own recent successes and setbacks on this journey.

Get our guide to body-positive parenting.

 

Laura Thomas, PhD, RNutr established the London Center for Intuitive Eating in 2017 to help support clients who have a difficult relationship with food and their body. She has a passion for delivering inclusive, trauma informed, and person-centred care for all bodies. She draws upon different therapeutic and counselling skills to support her clients in their recovery from disordered eating, chronic dieting, and body dissatisfaction. She also incorporates different health care frameworks into her work, such as Health and Every Size Ⓡ, Intuitive Eating, and Body Image Healing. Much of her work focusses on advocacy and reducing weight-based discrimination within the nutrition profession. Laura takes a collaborative approach to working with clients, recognising that they are the experts of their own bodies and experiences. Her advice and recommendations are not didactic, rather she helps guide and support clients to reconnect with their bodies. In January 2019, Laura published her 1st book with Bluebird Books: Just Eat It: How Intuitive Eating Can Help You Get Your Shit Together Around Food.

Connect with Laura on her website, podcast, Twitter, and Instagram.

Resources mentioned:

Jordan Best