The Intentional Table

Nicole Cruz, MS, RDN
  • 5.0 (11)
  • Parenting

Feeding kids isn’t just about what’s on the plate - it’s about raising them to feel confident, capable, and at peace with food and their bodies. The Intentional Table Podcast is here to help you break the cycles of guilt, shame,  and mealtime stress so you can raise kids who eat well and feel good about it. Hosted by Nicole Cruz, a registered dietitian and mom of three who has coached thousands of parents, this podcast gives you the tools, structure, and mindset shifts to create a positive, empowered eating environment at home. With guidance, compassion, and strategies that really work, you’ll feel more confident and less stressed while supporting your kids through 'picky' eating, 'overeating', struggles with sweets, and everything in between.

  1. 3d ago

    The One Word I Teach Every Parent

    When your kid asks, "Is pizza unhealthy?" Or you want to tell them, "No more cookies," but you're not sure how to hold the boundary or talk about food without making it seem bad or restrictive. We can feel stuck in that moment, stumbling over our words, or questioning if we said the "right" thing.  And while different scenarios might call for different language, there's one word I always come back to. I share it with every parent, as the basis for how we can talk about food, think about food, and hold boundaries around food. In this episode, we talk about: Why variety is my favorite word for feeding kids, and how it's different from balanceWhat to say when your child asks, "Is this healthy?"How to explain nutrition without making any food the villainA simple way to hold a boundary ("no cookies today") without a power struggleSimple scripts and examples for talking to your child about nutritionI'm breaking it all down and showing you how this one word is the number one word to rely on! For more language and how to teach your child about nutrition, grab my class 👇 ✅ How to Talk to Your Child About Nutrition... without creating guilt, shame, or bigger eating issues Want to connect? Send us a text! CONNECT with Nicole: FREE Training: Raise a Balanced Eater AND Protect Their Relationship With Food - Instagram: @nicolecruzRD SUBSCRIBE & REVIEW: If you loved this episode, it would mean so much for you to follow, subscribe, share, or leave a review. Your support helps us reach more conscious and loving parents who need these insight! Thank you for tuning in and see you next week!

  2. Oct 8

    Act Like You Don't Care What Your Kid Eats

    You made a meal the whole family would eat. So you thought. You even put something on the table you know your kid likes. And they take one look and say, "Gross, I'm not eating that." It's so frustrating, especially when you're really trying. And it's so easy to end up saying "just try one bite" or giving your partner the side eye across the table. But instead, I want to give you one simple thing to do in that moment. In this episode, we talk about: What to do in the moment when your kid refuses the meal you worked hard onHow to respond when your kid is excited they ate their vegetablesWhy our reactions, even the shrug and the sigh, can feel like pressure to kidsWhy praise can backfire too, and what to say insteadA fun challenge for your next mealIf you've ever caught yourself watching every bite your kid takes, this episode will give you something else to do with your attention. ✅ Episode 4: All Food Is Not Equal Want to connect? Send us a text! CONNECT with Nicole: FREE Training: Raise a Balanced Eater AND Protect Their Relationship With Food - Instagram: @nicolecruzRD SUBSCRIBE & REVIEW: If you loved this episode, it would mean so much for you to follow, subscribe, share, or leave a review. Your support helps us reach more conscious and loving parents who need these insight! Thank you for tuning in and see you next week!

  3. Oct 1

    What's Actually Making Kids More Anxious with Kristen McNeely

    Worry and anxiety often feel like something is wrong. Like there's something we need to fix. But what if it's a normal human response to have these emotions? And what if we can teach our kids that they're completely capable of getting through them? On this week's episode, we have Kristen McNeely, a marriage and family therapist who specializes in helping kids and families work through anxiety, without ever sending kids to therapy. She works with parents to actually decrease the time it takes to see results, and believes that kids should be more focused on playing and just being kids. Kristen and I talk about: Why kids seem more anxious right now, and the reasons that go beyond screensThe biological reason anxiety shows up in the body, and why it's not your child being dramaticThe difference between validating your child's fear and accidentally making it worseA tool Kristen uses with her own son to help him feel braver, with food and beyondThe exact language to use when your child is scared or overwhelmedWhy anxiety is one of the most treatable things a child can experience, even when it doesn't feel that wayIf your child runs a little anxious, or a lot anxious, or you're just looking for another tool to help them feel braver at the table and beyond, this episode is for you. RESOURCES MENTIONED: ✅ Instagram: @childhood.empowered ✅ Website: kristenmcneally.com ✅ School Capable: schoolcapable.com Want to connect? Send us a text! CONNECT with Nicole: FREE Training: Raise a Balanced Eater AND Protect Their Relationship With Food - Instagram: @nicolecruzRD SUBSCRIBE & REVIEW: If you loved this episode, it would mean so much for you to follow, subscribe, share, or leave a review. Your support helps us reach more conscious and loving parents who need these insight! Thank you for tuning in and see you next week!

  4. Sep 24

    Weight and Health Aren't Synonyms with Dr. Lisa Folden

    Most of us grew up believing that being smaller means being healthier. That if the number on the scale went up, something was going wrong. And if it went down, we were doing something right. It's such a deep belief that we rarely stop to question it. But what if weight and health were never actually the same thing? Dr. Lisa Folden is a licensed physical therapist and body image coach who works with people living in larger bodies and folks in recovery from disordered eating. She came to this work through her own story, after years of believing (and teaching) that weight and health were one and the same, until she started pulling that belief apart and couldn't unsee what was underneath it. This conversation goes a lot of places. We get into our own bodies as parents, and we get into what happens when it's our kids' bodies that are changing and we start to panic. In this episode, we talk about: Why weight and health aren't the same thing, and the markers that actually tell us something about our healthThe one kind of weight change that's a true medical red flag (and it's not gaining)Why kids' bodies are supposed to change, especially through puberty, and what happens when we try to stop itWhat to do when a growing body makes movement harder, without making it about getting smallerHow dieting early in life sets kids up for the very thing we're trying to protect them fromWhat "joyful movement" really means, even on the days you don't love the workoutIf you've ever looked at your own changing body, or your child's, and felt that flicker of worry that something must be wrong, this episode is for you. RESOURCES MENTIONED: ✅ Instagram: @healthyphit ✅ Website: healthyphit.com ✅ Body Respect Journal (available on Amazon) Want to connect? Send us a text! CONNECT with Nicole: FREE Training: Raise a Balanced Eater AND Protect Their Relationship With Food - Instagram: @nicolecruzRD SUBSCRIBE & REVIEW: If you loved this episode, it would mean so much for you to follow, subscribe, share, or leave a review. Your support helps us reach more conscious and loving parents who need these insight! Thank you for tuning in and see you next week!

  5. Sep 17

    I Don't Tell My Kids Broccoli Is Healthy

    We can probably all agree that broccoli is healthy. It has vitamins, minerals, fiber. So when your kid asks if it's healthy and you say yes, that seems harmless enough. And it mostly is. But most of us never stop to ask what we actually mean when we call a food "healthy." And once you do, the whole idea gets a lot harder to pin down than it seems. I break down the four reasons why I don't label food as "healthy" with my own kids, and why the way we talk about food matters if we want our kids to eat in a balanced way. In this episode, I talk about: Why labeling one food "healthy" inherently labels other foods "unhealthy"Why "healthy" is so much harder to pin down than it seemsHow the very same food can be exactly what our body needs in one moment, and not in anotherWhat these labels can do to the way our kids feel about food, and about themselvesWhat to focus on instead of healthy and unhealthyIf you want your child to have a healthy relationship with food and feel good about all types of foods, listen in! Want to connect? Send us a text! CONNECT with Nicole: FREE Training: Raise a Balanced Eater AND Protect Their Relationship With Food - Instagram: @nicolecruzRD SUBSCRIBE & REVIEW: If you loved this episode, it would mean so much for you to follow, subscribe, share, or leave a review. Your support helps us reach more conscious and loving parents who need these insight! Thank you for tuning in and see you next week!

  6. Sep 10

    It's Not the Sugar, It's the Shame with Crystal Haitsma

    We think our reactions to how our kids eat are about the food. The sugar, the snacking, the fourth piece of pizza that makes us snap... "That's enough."  But it's rarely (if ever) truly about the food. Crystal Haitsma is a life coach whose entire practice centers on shame, and how shame is basically at the root of all of our reactions. As a parenting coach, she kept noticing that parents already knew how they wanted to respond. That wasn't the problem. It was that they often couldn't do it.  There's a trigger that fires before we can even think. In this conversation, we get into what that looks like around food and parenting, and what our reactions are really signalling. We can have all the logical information, but it doesn't mean that's what we'll necessarily rely on. In this episode, we talk about: The difference between guilt and shame, and why Crystal doesn't even know if guilt is really a thingWhy staying calm on the outside isn't enough, and what your kids pick up on even when you don't say a wordWhat's actually happening in the moment your kid's eating triggers youHow to hold a boundary around food from a grounded place instead of a reactive oneWhy the work isn't about controlling your kid's eating, it's about what comes up in youIf you've ever known exactly how you wanted to respond around food and found yourself reacting anyway, this episode is for you. RESOURCES MENTIONED: ✅ Podcast: The Art of Shame Free Living ✅ Instagram: @its.crystal.Noelle Want to connect? Send us a text! CONNECT with Nicole: FREE Training: Raise a Balanced Eater AND Protect Their Relationship With Food - Instagram: @nicolecruzRD SUBSCRIBE & REVIEW: If you loved this episode, it would mean so much for you to follow, subscribe, share, or leave a review. Your support helps us reach more conscious and loving parents who need these insight! Thank you for tuning in and see you next week!

  7. Sep 4

    Oreogate Isn't About the Oreos

    We all have reasons for the foods we choose for our kids. Maybe you'd rather they weren't eating Oreos every day, or don't want to buy Doritos. But then they start kindergarten, or go to a birthday party, or come home from a friend's house asking for the exact thing you don't keep around. And suddenly you're not sure exactly what to do. That's at the heart of Oreogate, the viral story of a mom asking the other parents in her kid's class to stop packing Oreos. If you've been anywhere near social media, you've probably heard something about it. It's easy to have an opinion about the mom, but also... what do you actually do when your kid wants the foods you didn't choose, in a world you can't fully control? In this episode, we talk about: → Why trying to control the foods around your kid tends to backfire, even when it works → The two extremes parents swing to, permissiveness and holding a hard line, and what each one does → Why "just teach them to walk past it" sounds empowering but sends a different message with food than something like alcohol → How restriction can turn a food into the forbidden fruit, and the consequences that follow → What it looks like to hold boundaries and also protect your child's relationship with food in these situations → How your kid's reaction tells you exactly how big a deal to make of it We don't live in a bubble, and if you've ever wondered how to deal with food you don't fully have control over, listen in! Want to connect? Send us a text! CONNECT with Nicole: FREE Training: Raise a Balanced Eater AND Protect Their Relationship With Food - Instagram: @nicolecruzRD SUBSCRIBE & REVIEW: If you loved this episode, it would mean so much for you to follow, subscribe, share, or leave a review. Your support helps us reach more conscious and loving parents who need these insight! Thank you for tuning in and see you next week!

  8. Aug 27

    When Your Kid Asks If a Food Is Healthy

    The other day my son asked me, "Mom, is my smoothie healthy?" And it would be so easy to just answer: Yes. No. Or, well, kind of, but it has a lot of sugar. But instead, I didn't answer him directly, because there isn't really a clean, absolute answer to that. Food is far more nuanced than yes or no, and that's also not how I want my child to think about food. So in this episode, I walk you through the actual conversation I had with him, and why asking a few questions did so much more to help him think about "healthy" or "unhealthy" and food in general. In this episode, I'm covering: → The real conversation I had with my son, question by question, that you can use with your kids → Why answering "yes" or "no" isn't accurate or helpful → How we can use this approach whether it's about a smoothie, cookie, or any food → How to talk to our kids about the different jobs that food does → What to do instead when your kid asks you a food question you don't have a clean answer to If you've ever frozen, unsure of what to say when your kid asks a question about food... or you're waiting for it to happen and want to be prepared, this episode is for you. Listen in! ✅ More on food neutrality - Episode 4, "All Food Is Not Equal" ✅ Related - Episode 42, "Unhealthy" Isn't a Fact (It's a Judgment) Want to connect? Send us a text! CONNECT with Nicole: FREE Training: Raise a Balanced Eater AND Protect Their Relationship With Food - Instagram: @nicolecruzRD SUBSCRIBE & REVIEW: If you loved this episode, it would mean so much for you to follow, subscribe, share, or leave a review. Your support helps us reach more conscious and loving parents who need these insight! Thank you for tuning in and see you next week!

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About

Feeding kids isn’t just about what’s on the plate - it’s about raising them to feel confident, capable, and at peace with food and their bodies. The Intentional Table Podcast is here to help you break the cycles of guilt, shame,  and mealtime stress so you can raise kids who eat well and feel good about it. Hosted by Nicole Cruz, a registered dietitian and mom of three who has coached thousands of parents, this podcast gives you the tools, structure, and mindset shifts to create a positive, empowered eating environment at home. With guidance, compassion, and strategies that really work, you’ll feel more confident and less stressed while supporting your kids through 'picky' eating, 'overeating', struggles with sweets, and everything in between.

Information

  • Creator
    Nicole Cruz, MS, RDN
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    51
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 The Intentional Table
  • Show Website
    The Intentional Table

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