Comfort Food

Welcome to the final episode of season 2! Whether you breastfeed or bottle feed, weaning your baby or toddler from their first milk over to a cup can be a fraught process. We're exploring why our cultural expectations about moms, toddlers and feeding make it so much harder — and brainstorming ways to make it go more smoothly. (As Virginia gears up to bottle-wean her own toddler!) Plus, fan favorite Nicki Sizemore of From Scratch Fast is back with some family-friendly ways to cook summer veggies.

We'll be back in mid-August with a whole new season of Comfort Food for you! In the meantime, check out our archives for episodes you may have missed, and tell us what you'd like to hear on the show: [email protected] or @v_solesmith & @yummytoddlerfood on Instagram.

And don't forget to visit our show notes at comfortfoodpodcast.com for all the links, recipes and other resources discussed in this episode.

This week, we're taking a break from our usual family-focused fare to chat with Caroline Dooner, author of The F*ck It Diet, a radical new book that just might help you rethink your whole relationship with dieting, food guilt, and body image angst. Don't worry; The F*ck It Diet is not a diet — it's a set of tools to help you reevaluate the role diet culture plays in your life, and at your dinner table. (And don't worry, the language on this episode is still G-rated!)

Plus, Amy and Virginia talk about some favorite new #feedyourselffirst food rituals. Because as mamas, we can't feed everyone else, if we're not well-nourished ourselves.

Let us know what you think of this episode! [email protected] or on social media: @YummyToddlerFood @v_solesmith.

In a lot of kitchens, dads need to be doing more to even out the mental load and division of emotional labor. Period. The end. Except...it's also true that moms make the project of feeding our families harder than it needs to be when we buy into too many unrealistic cultural expectations about meal planning, meal prepping, what we should be eating and how much work we need to put into making those meals. This week we're examining some times when we've fallen into the expectations trap and offering specific strategies for digging yourself out — by doing less, and enabling your partner to do more.

Plus: Jennifer Berry of the Tube To Table Podcast offers a surprising take on kids using screens in restaurants! (Check out Virginia's episode on Jeni's podcast here.)

Tell us how you're struggling with expectations around family meals by emailing [email protected] or finding us on social media: @v_solesmith & @yummytoddlerfood. And don't forget to visit our show notes at comfortfoodpodcast.com for links to everything discussed in this episode.

This week, we're teaming up with Rebecca Scritchfield's Body Kindness Podcast for a very special cross-over episode. Rebecca is a registered dietitian nutritionist, certified exercise physiologist and author of Body Kindness. She and Virginia decided to dive deep into how to handle unwelcome comments about our kids' bodies or food preferences, what to do when they first use the word "fat," and how we can model body positivity... even on days when we're not feeling totally positive about our own bodies. Listen here, then check out episode 116 of Body Kindness for the other half of this important conversation.

Join the conversation by email ([email protected]) or on social media: @v_solesmith @yummytoddlerfood & @rebeccascritchfield and use the hashtag #comfortkindnessepisode. And don't forget to visit our show notes for all links and resources discussed in this episode, at comfortfoodpodcast.com.

There's the American ideal of Perfect Family Dinners... and then there's what actually happens. Jenny Rosenstrach, author of three cookbooks and founding editor of the blog Dinner: A Love Story has devoted her career to helping us "fight the good fight" of feeding our families, every night. (Or most nights, if you're Virginia.) Plus a postpartum #feedyourselffirst update from Amy.

Questions or comments? Email @[email protected] or find us on social media: @v_solesmith, @yummytoddlerfood & @dinneralovestory. And don't forget to visit our show notes for links to our favorite Jenny Rosenstrach recipes and more at comfortfoodpodcast.com.

Eating out can be one of the easiest ways to give yourself a break from the daily chore of feeding your family, but what to do when it just feels like a looming disaster? We talk through some common challenges, and solutions, to taking kids to restaurants.

Send us your best kids in restaurant tips! [email protected]. And don't forget to visit our show notes at comfortfoodpodcast.com and follow us on social at @v_solesmith and @yummytoddlerfood.

In which Virginia realizes that her reluctance to meal planning is really a one woman protest against yet more emotional labor — that essential work of caring and keeping our families that so disproportionately falls onto moms. We talk about why meal planning is requires so much mental load work, and ask: How can we even things out and make it work better in our homes?

Struggling with your own meal planning mental load? Tell us your stories: [email protected] or @v_solesmith & @yummytoddlerfood on social media.

And check out our show notes for all the articles and other resources discussed in this episode at comfortfoodpodcast.com.

Dinner. It has to happen every night, no matter whether you meal planned, or went to the store, or are now staring down some hard 5pm truths about the state of your fridge. We asked Nicki Sizemore, of From Scratch Fast, to share some family-tested ideas for quick, easy dinners that you can make more or less out of thin air.

Find links to all of Nicki's recipes and other resources in our show notes at comfortfoodpodcast.com.

And send us your dinner ideas and questions: [email protected]. Or find us on social: @v_solesmith, @yummytoddlerfood and @fromscratchfast.

You may have heard the phrase "intuitive eating" (we sure say it a lot!) but maybe you aren't sure what it means. And maybe you've heard it's a good weight loss strategy. Today we're talking with Evelyn Tribole, RDN, the original Intuitive Eating Pro, about how you can put intuitive eating into practice, what it can mean for your kids—and why it isn't a diet.

Comments, questions? Send 'em to [email protected] or find us on social: @v_solesmith on Instagram & Twitter and @yummytoddlerfood on Instagram. And check out our show notes at comfortfoodpodcast.com.

There are lots of meals (especially dinner!) that kids just don't eat. And this can be frustrating and even alarming for parents—but most often, it's completely normal. We're chatting with Jennifer Berry, OT, a feeding therapist and owner of Thrive By Spectrum Pediatrics, about what can help and what might be making the situation worse.

Send us your family food questions! @v_solesmith and @yummytoddlerfood on social media or email [email protected]. And visit comfortfoodpodcast.com for our show notes.