MOMables Podcast

Laura Fuentes hosts MOMables Podcast, and the advice comes from her own household. She gives her background plainly: she taught herself to cook when she became a mom, she has three kids, and she founded MOMables. Two seasons show how the show is built, each with a clear theme. Season five is about picky eating, from introducing new foods to objections over texture and color. It includes a story that stays with you: a mother offers to bring her son his favorite fast food at school and eat lunch with him, and Fuentes says it should not have gone that far. Her view is that children use these standoffs to win love, attention and the feeling of being special. She turns the lesson on herself, saying she is the one who can change and that she is a much better parent at dinnertime. Season six is about cleaner eating for the family, which she defines as cutting processed foods and added sugars and getting more vegetables and fruit into meals. She puts 'healthy' in air quotes, because it means something different to everyone, and mentions her own run through low carb, low fat and keto. Much of the value is in small tricks. Frozen vegetables come already washed and chopped, and they roast without trouble on a sheet pan. Vegetables are treated as interchangeable, so spinach can stand in for kale and butternut squash for sweet potato if the texture and shape do the same job. The slow cooker runs overnight. Kids' portions come up too: a bag of grapes is not one serving, and a child who fills up on fruit will not be hungry for dinner. With Paula asking the questions, Fuentes treats meal planning as a strategy session rather than a random pick of recipes. She says a tight budget is about more than choosing chicken breasts or thighs, because it decides how much variety a family can afford. The season also leaves the kitchen. One conversation turns on a confession she says everyone has made, putting on workout clothes and then never working out, and takes a detour to a friend who buys sports bras a size too small as a push to get the workout over with. Another ranks what a daily routine needs, sleep first and movement second, while granting that the early baby years are survival mode. The tone is candid: Fuentes says she needs to do better herself and that the goal is not a perfect day. Several episodes end by pointing to her own programs, including meal plans and a Family Kickstart program. For a picky eater, season five is the place to go; for cutting sugar without breaking the grocery budget, season six.