Life's too short to count almonds Meg & Susan

We're really pleased to announce doors are open to Lifeguards : The Non-Diet Way for Parent's of Teens. Use the code LGPOD for 20% of the course price. You can find more information and sign up here https://www.megandsusan.co/lifeguards

Today we dive into the troubling but seemingly growing phenomenon of teenage students not eating at school. There can be lots of reasons for this, they're not always disordered. These can range from genuinely feeling too busy to stop to eat, poor appetite due to medication or sensory and strong preference concerns (lukewarm yoghurt anyone?). In these cases we would be wise to get to the bottom and troubleshoot to ensure some nutrition is taken on but they may not be the 'red flag' emergency of an emerging eating disorder.

So we chat about some ways we can get to the bottom of it and some strategies that can be tried if parents or teachers are concerned that it is wrapped up in an eating disorder, or if they suspect there's a culture of not eating within a year group emerging. This could put teens at risk of developing an eating disorder and make recovery a lot harder for those already experiencing one. 

Today we chat about the stories we can tell ourselves about our food behaviour, and how food and body comments, especially about appetite,  can get sticky and create harmful beliefs and stories, especially for kids.

We share some examples of times we have heard things come out of our own mouths that on reflection could potentially be unhelpful for our kids. We invite you to be curious about your own food stories and to be careful with any food any body commentary. 

This is the Maggie Beer recipe that was Meg's favourite thing this week. 

Parent of a teen? Check out our 'Helping Your Teen Eat Well in a Food Confused Culture' for more tips on helping your kids eat well. Sign up for our weekly email here.

We're back after a little school holiday break.

Today we chat mostly about the food we enjoyed over the break and then dig into a bit of how we mange food once the evening sport activities are back and the change from summer to winter.

We also chat about our 'Instant Pots' and what we have used them for so far. 

Today we chat about our day today when we headed to the University of Wollongong to run a 2 hour workshop on the non-diet approach and weight inclusive care.

We also address a couple of articles recently criticising or critiquing the non-diet movement despite clearly not understanding the approach at all. You can check out Fiona Sutherland's (The Mindful Dietitian) instagram post about the Australian article on her page and a great response to the Washington Post Article here. We're very tired and a bit incoherent but we hope you get something out of this chat!

We're taking a 2 week break over the school holidays and will be back week 1 of term 2 ready to jump in and launch Lifeguards : The non-diet way for parents of teens. Join the waitlist here to be the first to know.

Meg's favourite thing was the Gochuang chicken skewers from Gami Korean Fried Chicken.

Off the back of Meg's interview on The Happy Families Podcast we dive into some of the nuances of how we see weight inclusive care 'working' in the real world. There was a good question and some discussion on Justin's facebook page that we thought worth exploring.

It was a question about a child in a larger body with low strength and fitness.

Few resources we mention - The Emerging Minds online course (free, targeted at teachers & health professionals but helpful for parents too).

The Size Inclusive Health Promotion resource we mention is here. 

The Love, Food Podcast Episode "Fat Like Me"

Sign up for our weekly updates here or get on the waitlist for our upcoming program for parents of teenagers 'Lifeguards : The non-diet way for parents of teens'.

Recipe for our favourite thing is here - this is not the one but the only online one I could find and is very close. 

We got a fantastic listener question this week.

"Hi Meg & Susan, I really enjoyed your perspective on Ultra Processed Foods. It did make me reflect how our family is eating and I was surprised at how high the proportion of these foods is. I'm not worried about them but would like to reduce them but unsure how to do it without feeling restricted or making the kids feel restricted. Do you have any advice?"

So we jump into this topic, and hope you find it helpful.

Meg's favourite thing this week was the Recipetin Eats cookbook Vietnamese shaking beef and it was blade steak, not chuck! And this is the cucumber salad.

Parent of teen? Check out our 'Helping Your Teen Eat Well in a Food Confused Culture' for more tips on helping your kids eat well. Sign up for our weekly email here.