Lift the Shame: The Podcast - Mothering Free From Diet Culture, Food Guilt, and Body Shame · Crystal Karges, MS, RDN, IBCLC

5 Mistakes I Made With My Picky Eater and How You Can Avoid Them

·35 min·2 clips

Telling her “carrots are so good for our eyes” made Crystal’s daughter say, “I’m scared my eyes are going to be bad.”

Crystal opens by welcoming listeners back and noting the podcast’s one-year anniversary. She thanks the audience for being part of the community and asks for feedback so she can serve listeners better. Then she returns to the show’s picky-eating mini-series. The episode centers on the mistakes she made with her own daughter. One of those mistakes was trying to create subtle food interactions. She describes asking her daughter to touch foods, putting things on her tray in hopes she would touch them, and later asking her to scoop food on her plate or her daughter’s plate. Those efforts were meant to help. Instead, they sometimes made food feel more tense and upsetting. Crystal says that forced interaction can hide an agenda. Children often pick up on the anxiety or stress underneath the adult’s intention. She points to research suggesting that pressuring children to play with or touch feared foods can increase negative feelings and resistance. From there, she makes a practical point. Mealtimes do not need to become games, stories, or interactive performances just to coax eating. The real goal should be connection, not control. She keeps returning to the value of respecting autonomy. She also emphasizes gradual exposure without pressure. Children can explore foods, whether new foods or foods they are learning to eat, at their own pace. The episode then turns toward a second mistake. Crystal says she tried using health and nutrition information as leverage. She begins to explain why that approach can miss the deeper issue. Her larger message is that feeding struggles are shaped by more than the food itself and by the unspoken messages adults and children carry into meals. Throughout, she stays reassuring. She reminds listeners that they are not alone and that we are all doing the best we can. She closes by previewing next week’s conversation about why picky eating can feel so triggering and what that distress can bring up in parents.

As heard by us

A calm, practical reset for parents who want less pressure and more trust at mealtimes.

Crystal focuses the episode on the mistakes she made with her own daughter and what they taught her about pressure, hidden agendas, and trust around food.

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Why you'd press play

If picky eating has mealtimes feeling tense, start here.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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