Comfort Food

Why do most men do so little at home — and especially in the kitchen? Why are women (still!) doing so much? Darcy Lockman, author of All the Rage: Mothers, Fathers and the Myth of Equal Partnership is on the podcast this week to talk about why mental load tasks like grocery list making and meal planning and prepping are still especially gendered — and what we can do, to find a better balance. Visit our show notes at comfortfoodpodcast.com for all the research and links discussed in this episode.

Do you worry whether you're spending the "right" amount of money on the food you buy for your family? We sure do... so we got some hard numbers on how much Americans spend on groceries and they may make you feel way better. We also talk about the cultural pressures that contribute to our anxiety about how much is too much to spend on food, and the social status issues involved in where you shop.  Visit our show notes at comfortfoodpodcast.com. Sponsor Spotlight: Bumkins

We realized we had A LOT more to say about moms and fitness (and why you don't need to get your "pre-baby body" back!). So we're talking in more detail about how we find our exercise motivation and fit stress-free, fun workouts into our lives, while avoiding common diet culture fitspo traps. We're also re-broadcasting the second half of Virginia's conversation on raising body positive kids with Rebecca Scritchfield of the Body Kindness Podcast.  Visit our show notes at comfortfoodpodcast.com.

It can be daunting to raise one or two healthy, happy eaters... so how about five?! This week, we chat with Melissa Griffiths of Bless This Mess about how she's raising her kids to honor their hunger and fullness cues, trust their bodies and love family meals... even when they don't love what's being served! We also get into her secrets for sharing the load and her snack drawer strategy. Check out our show notes at comfortfoodpodcast.com.

Whether you have a kiddo in a high weight percentile, or barely on the growth chart, chances are you’ve had at least one pediatrician visit where you left stressed out about growth curves. Today we’re discussing the limitations of the Body Mass Index, how to keep growth curve info in perspective and celebrate your kid at any size. Plus reviews of our favorite body positive online workouts! Visit comfortfoodpodcast.com for resources. Find us at comfortfoodpodcast@gmail.com @v_solesmith & @yummytoddler

Why do so many of our kids only want to eat "snacks?" Why can't you leave your house without a purse full of them? We're untangling some of the confusion about snacks: Why kids need them, how they can interfere with hunger and fullness cues, and how to neutralize their power — especially when it feels like your kids are encountering them everywhere they go.  Visit comfortfoodpodcast.com for our show notes, and follow us on social media: @v_solesmith & @yummytoddlerfood.

Welcome to the final episode of season 2! Whether you breastfeed or bottle feed, weaning your baby or toddler from their first milk over to a cup can be a fraught process. We’re exploring why our cultural expectations about moms, toddlers and feeding make it so much harder — and brainstorming ways to make it go more smoothly. (As Virginia gears up to bottle-wean her own toddler!) Plus, fan favorite Nicki Sizemore of From Scratch Fast is back with some family-friendly ways to cook summer veggies. 

This week, we're taking a break from our usual family-focused fare to chat with Caroline Dooner, author of The F*ck It Diet, a radical new book that just might help you rethink your whole relationship with dieting, food guilt, and body image angst. Don't worry; The F*ck It Diet is not a diet — it's a set of tools to help you reevaluate the role diet culture plays in your life, and at your dinner table. Because as mamas, we can't feed everyone else, if we're not well-nourished ourselves. 

In a lot of kitchens, dads need to be doing more. Period. The end. Except...it's also true that moms make the project of feeding our families harder than it needs to be when we buy into too many unrealistic cultural expectations about what we should be eating and how much work we need to put into making those meals. This week we're examining when we've fallen into the expectations trap and offering strategies for digging yourself out — by doing less, and enabling your partner to do more. 

This week, we're teaming up with Rebecca Scritchfield's Body Kindness Podcast for a very special cross-over episode on how to handle unwelcome comments about our kids' bodies or food choices, what to do when they say "fat," and how to model body positivity. Listen here, then check out episode 116 of Body Kindness for the other half of this important conversation.  Join the conversation on social media: @v_solesmith @yummytoddlerfood & @rebeccascritchfield and use the hashtag #comfortkindnessepisode.

There's the American ideal of Perfect Family Dinners... and then there's what actually happens. Jenny Rosenstrach, author of three cookbooks and founding editor of the blog Dinner: A Love Story has devoted her career to helping us "fight the good fight" of feeding our families, every night. (Or most nights, if you're Virginia.) Email @comfortfoodpodcast@gmail.com or find us on social: @v_solesmith, @yummytoddlerfood & @dinneralovestory. And don't forget to visit our show notes at comfortfoodpodcast.com

Eating out can be one of the easiest ways to give yourself a break from the daily chore of feeding your family, but what to do when it just feels like a looming disaster? We talk through some common challenges, and solutions, to taking kids to restaurants. Sponsor Spotlight: Bumkins Baby Bumkins makes reusable Snack Bags, suction plates, baby utensils, bibs, and more— and we're huge fans of their products come meal time. Use the code YUMMYTODDLERFOOD for 18% off all products at www.bumkins.com.

In which Virginia realizes that her reluctance to meal planning is really a one woman protest against yet more emotional labor — that essential work of caring and keeping our families that so disproportionately falls onto moms. We talk about why meal planning is requires so much mental load work, and ask: How can we even things out and make it work better in our homes?  Email us at comfortfoodpodcast@gmail.com. And check out our show notes at comfortfoodpodcast.com. 

Dinner. It has to happen every night, no matter whether you meal planned, or went to the store, or are now staring down some hard 5pm truths about the state of your fridge. We asked Nicki Sizemore, of From Scratch Fast, to share some family-tested ideas for quick, easy dinners that you can make more or less out of thin air. Find links to all of Nicki's recipes at comfortfoodpodcast.com. Send us your best dinner ideas: comfortfoodpodcast@gmail.com or @v_solesmith, @yummytoddlerfood & @fromscratchfast. 

You may have heard the phrase “intuitive eating” (we sure say it a lot!) but maybe you aren’t sure what it means. And maybe you’ve heard it’s a good weight loss strategy. Today we’re talking with Evelyn Tribole, RDN, the original Intuitive Eating Pro, about how you can put intuitive eating into practice, what it can mean for your kids—and why it isn’t a diet. Email us at comfortfoodpodcast@gmail.com or find us on social: @v_solesmith & @yummytoddlerfood. Show notes at comfortfoodpodcast.