Food Psych Podcast with Christy Harrison · Christy Harrison, MPH, RD, CEDS

How to Feed Picky Eaters (Without Diet Culture) ft. Katja Rowell, M.D.

·31 min·2 clips

Rowell says weight worry is one of the “top three reasons” families develop dysfunctional feeding patterns.

Christy Harrison introduces the conversation as a cross-post and sets a careful anti-diet frame. She points listeners to the show notes for the guest’s bio and links, then moves into the question of how families can feed children without sliding into diet culture. The conversation starts with feeding challenges, but it quickly opens up beyond any single label. The guest describes responsive feeding as staying in relationship with the child rather than enforcing one rule. She sets that against the classic division-of-responsibility model, where the kitchen is closed between meals and snacks. She says that structure works well in many homes. She also makes room for the fact that some families need more flexibility. Sensory differences change what is possible. So do parental constraints, support gaps, and the pressure of daily life. The word responsive keeps coming up because it captures an active back-and-forth between parent and child. The conversation treats that back-and-forth as central, not decorative. It argues that children are generally born with the ability to regulate their intake. When adults support that ability in a steady way, it is more likely to stay visible. The episode also leaves space for nuance around harder cases. The guest does not act as if every child can eat in exactly the same way. She points to clinicians and organizations that support responsive feeding, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, the World Health Organization, and UNICEF. That gives the discussion structure without flattening the human side of feeding. As the episode goes on, Christy returns to the pressure parents feel from providers and family members. The broader culture around child body size adds another layer of stress. The episode also touches on current anxieties about putting kids on GLP-1s and other medicalized weight-loss responses. Through all of that, the conversation stays focused on what families are actually trying to do at mealtimes. It asks how to reduce conflict without turning food into a moral performance. The tone stays measured, but the stakes are clear. Parents are trying to make room for a child’s cues while still dealing with fear, confusion, and outside judgment. The result is a careful, values-explicit guide to feeding that stays close to real life.

As heard by us

An anti-diet take on responsive feeding that still leaves room for family complications.

Food Psych treats feeding kids as a matter of responsiveness rather than control, and that is where the discussion is most persuasive. Christy Harrison and her guest move through responsive feeding, the older division-of-responsibility model, and the need for more flexibility…

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Why you'd press play

You want a steadier way to handle feeding stress without drifting into diet culture.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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