Don't Salt My Game | With Laura Thomas, PhD

This is part 1 of a 2 part conversation with Emiko Davies, Australian-Japanese food writer, photographer and cook-book author.

• Follow Laura on Instagram | Twitter
• Follow Emiko on Instagram
• Follow Don't Salt My Game on Instagram
• Laura's Website
• Check out Emiko's blog
• Buy a copy of Just Eat It | How to Just Eat It
• Sign up for a Learn with LCIE Course
• Buy an Intuitive Eating friendly guide to managing different health concerns
• Edited by Joeli Kelly

Our very first guest on the Can I Have Another Snack? pod is artist Laxmi Hussain whose stunning work depicts the softness of bodies and the tenderness of early motherhood. We talk about her postpartum experience, and how, even as a mother of three, her instincts were undermined and gaslit. We talk about how new mothers (especially pandemic mums) are repeatedly let down and dismissed. Laxmi shares her experiences of sharing her studio with a toddler and how he has become part of her process. We then go on to discuss her family's food culture and her own relationship to food and appetite. Lastly, we consider all the ways that our kids are told there is something fundamentally wrong with them, and how we as parents can give them the tools to develop resilience to these messages. Also, just a heads up that this will be the final episode coming through the DSMG feed, so make sure to subscribe to the new Can I Have Another Snack? pod to catch all the new episodes!

Find out more about Laxmi here

Follow her work on Instagram here

Buy her art here (and buy one for me while you're at it!)

Follow Laura on Instagram here

Check out the Can I Have Another Snack? pod here.

Subscribe to the Can I Have Another Snack? Substack here.

Hey Team! You may have noticed that I've had a few things in the works lately, and I'm excited to *finally* share my new project with you all. Today I'm sharing the trailer for my brand new podcast - also called Can I Have Another Snack? - inspired, I know. Each week I'm asking my guests two questions - who or what are you nourishing right now? And who or what is nourishing you? Upcoming guests include Laxmi Hussain, Naureen Hunani, Christy Harrison, Clara Nosek, and Julia MF Turshen (!!!!!!). We explore topics around postpartum bodies, food, sanctimommy culture, neurodiversity, diet-culture, kids, capitalism, anti-fat bias, and so much more.

Check out the preview above and catch the first full episode when it drops on Friday! And don't forget - you are listening to this in the Don't Salt My Game feed so just remember to head over to the Can I Have Another Snack? feed in your podcast player and hit subscribe there - that way you won't miss an episode. Go do it right now.

You can also subscribe to my brand new Substack, also called Can I have Another Snack? - a newsletter, podcast, and community centred around bodies, identity and appetite. Head on over and introduce yourself (everyone is super cool and welcoming, I promise!). See you all there!

Heyo - welcome to the LAST EVER episode of Don't Salt My Game 🥺 (dw - I have something else very cool in the works and I'll share details in this podcast feed when it's ready at the end of summer).

Our final guest is Kelly Fullerton - a nutritionist and primary school teacher from Melbourne, Australia - who is challenging conventional and dogmatic approaches to how we teach kids about food. In this episode we break down:

• Why traditional nutrition education isn't developmentally appropriate

• The unintended consequences of teaching things like grams of fat in cheese or number of sugar cubes in drinks

• We break down why 'sometimes' food and 'everyday' foods are just a version of 'good/bad'
• We talk about how kids actually learn about food and how teachers can engage kids' natural curiosity, their culture, and the broader context that kids eat

This was a fun episode to go out on - I hope you'll share it with parents and teachers in your life! And I'm excited to share lots of cool new things with you soon.

Show Notes:

• Follow Laura on Instagram | Twitter
• Follow Kelly on Instagram
• Kelly's Website
• Follow Don't Salt My Game on Instagram
• Laura's Website
• Sign up for the Let's Talk About Snacks, Baby Workshop
• Book in for a complimentary 15-minute Discovery Call with Laura
• Buy an Intuitive Eating friendly guide to managing different health concerns
• Sign up for a Learn with LCIE Course
• Buy a copy of Just Eat It | How to Just Eat It
• Edited by Joeli Kelly

Okay team, this week we're moving away from the world of child feeding for a hot minute and diving into the world of body confidence and style. And before you start rolling your eyes at the impending "love yourself" mantra, don't worry, that's not where we're heading.

This week, I'm joined by Abby Russell, a curve model, fashion content creator and personal stylist who's MO is to inspire her followers to live authentically, celebrating who they are through personal style. We dive into some of the challenges of figuring out your style after having a baby or becoming a parent. In this episode, we touch on things like;

• The sneaky and not so sneaky ways that diet culture can show up in so-called fashion rules
• Where to begin when you're thinking about putting your wardrobe together post-partum
• How Abby approaches defining your own personal style and how to fun and get playful with it
• Answering some listener questions on things like bras for big boobs, when to get rid of clothes that no longer fit, the stress of shopping as a plus-size person in a straight-size world and weirdly aggressive reviewers on vinted

I really hope you take something great from this episode, and with Abby's contagious energy I'm sure you all will!

Show Notes:

• Follow Laura on Instagram | Twitter
• Follow Abby on Instagram
• Follow Don't Salt My Game on Instagram
• Laura's Website
• Sign up for the Let's Talk About Snacks, Baby Workshop
• Book in for a complimentary 15-minute Discovery Call with Laura
• Check out this article by Kelsey Miller
• Buy an Intuitive Eating friendly guide to managing different health concerns
• Sign up for a Learn with LCIE Course
• Buy a copy of Just Eat It | How to Just Eat It
• Edited by Joeli Kelly

We're back with a brand new guest this week on Don't Salt My Game - the lovely Oona Hanson. Oona spent 25 years in education and now helps parents and guardians raise kids who have a healthy relationship with food and their body. As well as her private practice as a parent coach, she also works as a family mentor at Equip and holds a master's degree in educational psychology and a master's degree in English. Her work has been featured widely including on CNN, USA Today, Good Morning America, US News and World Report Today, People and Parents Magazine.

In this episode, we cover some really big and important topics like;

• The challenges of feeding teens
• Some of the nuances of using the Division of Responsibility with older kids and teens and why Oona actually doesn't use it at all with her own family
• Why language like "hollow legs" and "bottomless pit" are really problematic when talking about bodies and appetites, especially for teenagers
• Who is allowed to own their appetite and who isn't
• Red flags for eating disorders and disordered eating
• The parallels between bodies changing in teenagers, as well as body's changing in midlife amongst parents
• How we can create a safe environment for normalising body changes.

I really love talking to Oona and really appreciate her work. I know that so many of you are going to resonate with this episode and find it super helpful, and if you do then please share the love and share it with friends and family, and hit subscribe to stay in the loop with new episodes dropping weekly.

Show Notes:

• Follow Laura on Instagram | Twitter
• Follow Oona on Instagram
• Follow Don't Salt My Game on Instagram
• Laura's Website
• Oona's Website
• Sign up for the Let's Talk About Snacks, Baby Workshop
• Book in for a complimentary 15-minute Discovery Call with Laura
• Check out this piece Oona wrote about why Division of Responsibility might not be suitable to use with eating disorders
• Listen to the Don't Salt My Game episode with Scott Griffiths talking about muscle dysmorphic disorder
• Buy an Intuitive Eating friendly guide to managing different health concerns
• Sign up for a Learn with LCIE Course
• Buy a copy of Just Eat It | How to Just Eat It
• Edited by Joeli Kelly

Hey team! We're changing things up a little this week on the pod with a solo episode - just with me, and I'm going to be answering questions about feeding your kiddos and anti-diet parenting that were sent in on Instagram. I'm going to touch on things like:

• The systemic fear of fatness that trickles into our parenting.
• Genetically determined set point weight.
• Why your toddler might seem to be eating more foods at the childminder than at home.
• When "fussy" eating might actually be a feeding disorder and where to find support with this.

I hope you found this episode helpful! You can expect some more of this type of 'sode popping up every now and then, so let me know what you think of this format or drop an email to [email protected] if you have any questions you'd like answered in the next AMA! Next week we will be back with a brand new guest, so hit subscribe now to stay in the loop!

Show Notes:

• Follow Laura on Instagram | Twitter
• Follow Don't Salt My Game on Instagram
• Laura's Website
• Sign up for the Let's Talk About Snacks, Baby Workshop
• Book in for a complimentary 15-minute Discovery Call with Laura
• Check out the DSMG episode w/ Kristen Scher about what to do if you're feeling stuck with feeding your kids
• Check out the episode with Dr. Katja Rowell about when you should worry about your kid's "fussy" eating
• Check out my IG post on the red flags to look out for that might indicate you're dealing with a feeding disorder
• Buy an Intuitive Eating friendly guide to managing different health concerns
• Sign up for a Learn with LCIE Course
• Buy a copy of Just Eat It | How to Just Eat It
• Edited by Joeli Kelly

It's that time of the week again folks! This week, I'm bringing back one of my all-time favourite episodes with one of my equally favourite people, Nicola Haggett. We recorded this episode back in January 2021 alongside the launch of my second book, How To Just Eat It. If you haven't already heard this episode, then I think it will have a lot to offer you. And even if you have already listened, I bet you'll get something new and different listening to it a second or even a third time around.

Nikki is body liberationist coach and mentor, professionally trained and experienced life coach, certified Body Trust provider and Open Heart Project meditation instructor. Nikki is also a mid-large, fat human whose lived experiences navigating the world as a fat person are a super important part of her work. In this episode, we dive into the world of embodiment, covering things like:

• How writing our body story can be an act of reclaiming the narratives of our bodies
• What exactly embodiment is and how we can find examples of it in our lives (babies, kids, cats!)
• The difference between embodiment and more 'performative' or 'hustle' self-care
• How embodiment can help us to feel connected to our bodies without necessarily 'loving' or feeling 'positive' about them
• Reclaiming pleasure, appetite, autonomy and more
• Finding spaces that feel safe to reconnect with your body

As always, if you like this conversation, please share the love - give the episode a like on socials or share it with your family and friends, and hit subscribe to stay up to date on new episodes dropping weekly.

Show notes:

• Follow Laura on Instagram | Twitter
• Follow Nikki on Instagram
• Follow Don't Salt My Game on Instagram
• Laura's Website
• Nikki's Website
• Sign up for the Raising Intuitive Eaters Workshop
• Book in for a complimentary 15-minute Discovery Call with Laura
• Buy an Intuitive Eating friendly guide to managing different health concerns
• Sign up for a Learn with LCIE Course
• Buy a copy of Just Eat It | How to Just Eat It
• Edited by Joeli Kelly

I'm SUPER excited about this week's episode because I am speaking to the G.O.A.T of the child feeding world, Dr. Katja Rowell. Katja is an author and child feeding specialist with a passion for supporting parents in helping their children to do their best with eating and to relate to their bodies in positive ways. In this episode, we cover topics like;

• The difference between regular old picky eating and look at some red flags for when kids or families maybe need a little more support with eating
• How if you feel like there's a problem and you could do with support and reassurance then that in and of itself is enough of a red flag that you should reach out for help
• Whether or not it's helpful to pursue a diagnosis around eating difficulties
• Problems associated with some more conventional feeding therapies or programmes and why Katja and I prefer to work in a way that is less prescriptive and more responsive
• Values of responsive feeding therapy and talk about what they look like in action
• Some of the pitfalls perhaps in teaching kids to listen to their tummies, if our agenda is to get kids to eat less.
• Felt safety, what that means and how we can foster it at mealtimes.

Show Notes:

• Follow Laura on Instagram | Twitter
• Follow Katja on Instagram
• Follow Don't Salt My Game on Instagram
• Laura's Website
• Katja's Website
• Sign up for the Raising Intuitive Eaters Workshop
• Book in for a complimentary 15-minute Discovery Call with Laura
• Check out Laura's IG post on how to know if your kiddo needs support with their eating
• Buy an Intuitive Eating friendly guide to managing different health concerns
• Sign up for a Learn with LCIE Course
• Buy a copy of Just Eat It | How to Just Eat It
• Check out the White Paper on the values of Responsive Feeding
• Get a copy of Helping Your Child with Extreme Picky Eating book
• Get a copy of Love Me, Feed Me book
• Check out the Saved By The Bell Hooks Instagram account
• Click here for help in choosing the right support
• Edited by Joeli Kelly

Ready for more? Because part 2 is here people!

Last week, I shared the first part of my conversation with Emiko Davies, Australian-Japanese food writer, photographer and cook-book author, so if you missed that then go back and have a listen before you jump into this one. This week I'm bringing you the second part of that conversation. This time, we talked about;

• Emiko's experience of parenting a child in a bigger body.
• Emiko's experience of having a bigger body as a child.
• What the science really says about sugar and why we all need to chill out about giving sugar to kids

This was such a great conversation – Emiko is a dream. If you enjoy this episode then please don't forget to share and keep the conversation going over on our socials!

• Follow Laura on Instagram | Twitter
• Follow Emiko on Instagram
• Follow Don't Salt My Game on Instagram
• Laura's Website
• Check out Emiko's blog
• Buy a copy of Just Eat It | How to Just Eat It
• Sign up for a Learn with LCIE Course
• Buy an Intuitive Eating friendly guide to managing different health concerns
• Edited by Joeli Kelly