The Healthy Family Podcast (Maryann Jacobsen: Registered Dietitian, Family Nutrition & Health Expert, Independent Author)

When over 18,000 registered dietitians were asked about intuitive eating, they got a majority of the questions right (71 percent). And those who work in weight management reported using nonrestrictive/intuitive eating more often than traditional/restrictive practices. In short, this is the how of eating: Sitting and paying attention during mealtime, honoring feelings of hunger and fullness, and saying goodbye to restrictive rules and diet practices.

In Episode 17 of The Healthy Podcast, I detail what's behind my latest op-ed piece about the direction the majority of dietitians are going when it comes to eating, and why it's different from the general public. 

From the moment we are born food and emotions are intertwined. We get fed milk while being held and enjoy connection at the family table. But as time marches on, food can all too easily be used as a way to distract us from difficult emotions or fill an emotional void. This results in dysregulated eating -- eating too much or too little, and spending way too much time thinking about food and weight.

The problem is our quick-fix culture searches for answers by making up food rules, tightly controlling goodies, or to simply “thinking positive.” Our expert today says it takes both a mindful eating approach and tuning in to our emotions to get back to what she calls "normal eating."

On episode 18 of The Healthy Family Podcast we have on Karen R. Koenig, LCSW, M.Ed., licensed psychotherapist specializing in the field of compulsive, emotional and restrictive eating. She is co-founder of the Greater Boston Collaborative for Body Image and Eating Disorders and a former member of the Professional Advisory Committee of the Multi-service Eating Disorder Association of Massachusetts. She is author of several books including The Rules of "Normal" Eating, Outsmarting Overeating and The Food and Feelings Workbook.

She will forever change the way you see food and emotions, and that’s a good thing.

Welcome to the first episode of The Healthy Family Podcast! In this short-10-minute episode, I explain my vision for the podcast and what listeners can expect.

The Healthy Family Podcast isn’t focused just kids or adults, but families. It asks the tough questions like how to do influence those we love to take action? How do we create desire to be healthy in children? How do we grow old being as healthy, happy and strong as we can be? It demands health and happiness at all ages and stages.

Each episode will include a leading expert in a different area that affects health and well being (nutrition, exercise, self-care, stress management etc.). We will spend most of the show discussing the science, tips, and key information that support optimal ways of approaching health. My hope is that you leave each show saying “I never thought of X that way before.”

But the key for every episode no matter what its topic is taking an “inside approach” -- getting to the root cause of health-related behaviors. This is different from treating symptoms or giving advice about what to do. You will leave with a good understanding of the why, which is what is needed to move you from struggle to solution. This is true whether we are talking about picky eating, sleep, emotional problems or exercise.

Over 50% of families reporting picky eating problems at home. Not knowing what to do, parents may bribe, force and pressure their child to eat. The connection between parent and child can go south, eating often gets worse, and tension at the table grows. And it’s not just children but older teens and adults who struggle with picky eating.

One thing is for sure, we all need to know how to respond to picky eating and remove the shame associated with it. Only then can we see real progress.

To dig into this topic we have two featured experts: Katja Rowell, MD, and Jenny McGlothlin, MS, SLP. Katja is a medical doctor with expertise in relational and responsive feeding, and Jenny is a Speech Language Pathologist whose responsive feeding program at the UT Dallas Callier Center combines oral-motor and sensory treatments with parent education. Together they wrote Helping Your Child with Extreme Picky Eating and their recently released book, Conquer Picky Eating for Teens and Adults.

The show starts from the very beginning (infancy) and touches on every stage including adulthood. You will discover the best way to respond and support the picky eater in your life, even if the picky eater is you!

But it’s not just about some annoying symptoms. Compromised vaginal health has many health implications for women including painful intercourse, poor quality of life, recurrent UTIs, incontinence, and more.

In the world of social media, the work of Shirley Weir caught my eye. I couldn’t help but notice how she encouraged women to moisturize their vaginas. She brings midlife women’s issues like vaginal health front and center because doesn't want women to suffer needlessly.

“77 percent of women have questions about their health,” she said. “And 80% of women tell me they don’t have anyone to talk to about these questions pertaining to perimenopause, menopause, and post-menopause. So, there’s a lot of work to do.”

Shirley is the founder of Menopause Chicks, a private community for women going through perimenopause and menopause. Menopause Chicks provides tips and guidance to women with the aim to crack open the conversation around midlife health. She is also the author of Mokita: How to Navigate Perimenopause with Comfort and Ease.

We have a frank conversation about what every woman midlife needs to know about vaginal health along with a few other midlife topics sprinkled in.

Eat well, exercise, and sleep is all we seem to hear about. But there is another important yet underrated factor for health: breathing exercises.

Yep, the way we breathe can have a tremendous impact on our health in either direction–especially the duration and quality of sleep. This is vital as we age, making midlife the perfect time to invest in your breathing.

My latest podcast guest is sharing his experience and all that he has learned about the benefits of breathing.

Nick Heath is a PhD, type 1 diabetic, and certified instructor of the Oxygen Advantage. He was astounded to discover how targeted breathing exercises not only enhanced his energy levels but his diabetes management.

This led to the development of his site The Breathing Diabetic, which showcases his three key breathing principles along with supportive research.

In episode 38 of the Healthy Family Podcast, I sit down with Nick to find all that he has learned and get the details on his principles to maximize breathing.

Over the last two decades anxiety in children has been on the rise. According to the CDC, 7.1% of children aged 3-17 years (approximately 4.4 million) have been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder. In many ways, the modern world is the perfect storm for anxiety, so it’s important parents understand how best to respond to anxious kids.

In episode 27 of The Healthy Family Podcast, we have Dawn Huebner, Ph.D., a Clinical Psychologist, and Parent Coach specializing in anxiety. She is the author of 9 books for children including the perennial bestseller, What to Do When You Worry Too Much and more recent, Outsmarting Worry. Dr. Huebner’s newest book, Something Bad Happened provides support for children learning about ‘bad things’ happening in the world.

In this episode, Dr. Huebner explains why anxiety is on the rise, what is really going on inside an anxious child’s brain, and how parents can help support their child in overcoming anxiety.

With over 60 studies to support it, intuitive eating is emerging as a positive approach to eating, getting the right amount of food for your body type, and enhancing health and well being. It’s also an excellent way to raise kids in terms of food, body appreciation and decreasing eating-disorder risk.

In today’s show we have Intuitive Eating expert Elyse Resch. Elyse has been in private practice in Beverly Hills as a Nutrition Therapist for 34 years, specializing in eating disorders, Intuitive Eating, and preventative nutrition. She is the co-author of Intuitive Eating and the soon-to-be published Intuitive Eating Workbook. She has published journal articles and is nationally known for her work in helping patients break free from the diet mentality through the "Intuitive Eating" process.

In this episode, Elyse Resch shares her wisdom and the history of Intuitive Eating. She explains why it is so important to question your long-held assumptions about food, eating and weight. She details how we are all born intuitive eaters, and how easy it is to get off track. A firm believer of the Health at Every Size (HAES) movement, she shares how society’s weight and diet focus compromises health rather than heals it, and how Intuitive Eating can be the antidote. 

Highlights from the Show:

• How Elyse got into Intuitive Eating, which led to its first publication in 1995
• Elyse’s definition of Intuitive Eating -- what it is and why it’s beneficial
• The false assumptions people make about food and eating that hold them back, and keep them stuck in the “diet mentality”
• The role dichotomous thinking (food is all good or all bad) plays in food choices, and makes eating well more difficult
• The vital role autonomy plays in food choices and well being, and why individuals rebel when being told what to eat
• The surprising reason people emotionally eat, and the easy way to stop
• Why unconditional permission to eat and a no-judgment attitude are vital components of Intuitive Eating
• The importance of divorcing weight and body shape from eating choices and other healthy habits
• How to raise intuitive eaters starting with responsive feeding in infancy

Intuitive Eating Mindset Quote

"When you challenge those assumptions and really look at the truth, look at the science, look at people’s history, you are able to sit back and go Whoa, wait a minute, I’ve been working off this assumption and it’s not working for me!”

We all have to deal with the stresses of modern life, and so do our kids. We have more choices, distractions, and unknowns than ever before. Stress is a major health issue in the modern world linked to the increased risk of many chronic diseases. It’s normal to want to try and find an escape, but this only makes things worse.

Mindfulness has become a buzz word when talking about stress and the challenges of modern life. Today’s guest helps us understand what mindfulness actually is and how it can help families buffer daily stressors and in turn live happier and healthier lives.

Stefanie Goldstein, Ph.D. is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist who works with adolescents, adults, couples, and families. She specializes in integrating mindfulness when working with stress, anxiety, depression, addiction, and trauma. Dr. Goldstein is a trauma specialist and has worked with traumatized teens and their families. She has also been trained in Cognitive Behavioral Intervention for Trauma in Schools (CBITS), Critical Incident Stress Debriefing (CISD), Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT), and is a Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) Teacher. She is co-creator of CALM (Connecting Adolescents to Learning Mindfulness) and teaches classes in Los Angeles.

In episode 16 of the Healthy Family Podcast, Dr. Goldstein shares her knowledge, experience, and tips for becoming a more mindful family.

After a short stint off from podcasting, I’m back. And I’ll be talking a lot about what it really takes to create a healthy family.

Time off has a way of generating ideas and I had many this summer. But one, in particular, stood out. I got to thinking about how darn hard it is to raise healthy children -- and be truly healthy ourselves -- in today’s complicated world. It’s mind-boggling how the world has changed in a short period of time.

The speed of changing technology is a key driver in all of this. The way we receive information, move (or don’t), connect with others, grocery shop and eat, and the type of jobs available is completely different. Yet, despite all this change many of us use are left with old, outdated parenting and health practices. I believe there’s a mismatch between the tools we have and the times in which we live -- and this is what makes parenting hard.

The good news is that with the right tools, robust health is more achievable than ever. Today on the Healthy Family Podcast I’m discussing the 5 habits of the healthiest families and how I’ll be addressing each of these in upcoming podcast episodes.

Why are we our own worst enemy when it comes to doing what is important? Whether it’s planning meals, starting that project, or calling an old friend, the list can seem never ending. Our mind tells things don’t get done because we have no time but that’s not true. When we get down to the real reason why -- something we always do on this podcast -- it boils down to procrastination.

On today’s show we have on Timothy A. Pychyl, Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology and Director of the Centre for Initiatives in Education at Carleton University in Canada. He studies why and how people sabotage their best intentions with needless delay. He writes the Don’t Delay column at Psychology Today, is author of Solving the Procrastination Puzzle and runs the Iprocrastinate Podcast. He is a leading thought leader and researcher in the area of procrastination, what he calls an “emotional management problem.” If you are human and live in modern times, you will relate and learn the steps for ending this bad habit for good.

Intuitive eating is needed more than ever during midlife. That’s because it helps redefine a woman’s relationship with food in ways that create sustainable change.

Whether it’s listening to your body, avoiding all or nothing thinking about food, or denouncing diet culture, as my guest says: “it’s really something that needs to come together for most women.”

I found Jenn Salib Huber on Instagram as I started navigating midlife health and nutrition. She’s a dietitian, naturopathic doctor, and intuitive eating coach. After her own experience with early perimenopause, she learned about intuitive eating and became well-versed in midlife health. Soon she realized this was how she wanted to help women.

Jenn has a large presence on Instagram, runs online classes for women, and recently started up The Midlife Feast, a podcast for women hungry for more.

We talk about both her personal and professional experience with midlife, what to expect at perimenopause, nutrition, common body changes and challenges, and how intuitive eating fits in it all.

A woman’s body changes at midlife as does her feelings about her body. Many women become unhappy with these changes while others find them freeing. Either way, how women choose to live in their bodies as they age is important to their health and well-being.

Body image is important because it lays the groundwork for both physical and emotional self-care women need at this time. If a woman fights her body, it can be harder to give it what it needs. And bodies speak up a lot during midlife demanding attention whether we women like it or not.

To help me find answers, I interviewed Hillary McBride who holds a Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from the University of British Columbia, as well as a Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology. She works as a therapist and has advanced training in trauma, eating disorders, body image, and marriage and relationship therapy. She is the author of Mothers, Daughters and Body image, Embodiment and Eating Disorders, and the upcoming book This is My Body.

We talk about her book, the many facets of body image, and what this all means at midlife.

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Subscribe: ITunes/Sticher/RSS I believe everyone needs to find the right fit when it comes to cooking and preparing food for themselves and their family. And choosing the right mindset is a good place to start. In today’s show, we have Katie Morford, a registered dietitian, writer, recipe developer and mom to three girls. She writes the blog Mom’s Kitchen Handbook and is the author of Best Lunch Box Ever: Ideas and Recipes for School Lunches Kids Will Love. Her second book, Rise and Shine: Better Breakfasts for Busy Mornings, was published in August of last year. Katie and I discuss The Cooking Mindset -- how the outlook we have about cooking effects everything we do (or don’t do) in the kitchen. Katie shares her beliefs about cooking from the perspective of someone who grew up in a family of cooks. She says cooking and a love of food is in her family’s gene pool. I’m hoping some of that rubs off on me!

Highlights from the Show:

• Katie reveals the mindset she believes holds people back in the kitchen, and the one that makes cooking flourish
• How expectations of what meals “should” look like keep people from experimenting and having fun in the kitchen
• How to take dinner from complicated to easy
• Myths about cooking professionals like herself (hint: they don’t always want to cook either!)
• How she approaches cooking, meal planning, and meals with her own three children
• The best place inexperienced cooks can start to learn about cooking
• Katie’s go-to meals and the new kitchen gadget she says is a miracle worker

The Cooking Mindset According to Katie

I want to do something creative and delicious as opposed to I have do this thing I don’t want to do and now I have to go do it.

Pertinent Show Links

Mom’s Kitchen Handbook Katie's books: Best Lunch Box Ever and Rise and Shine: Better Breakfasts for Busy Mornings Katie's recommended "starter" cookbook: Katie's favorite kitchen tool: Instant Pot Recipes mentioned in the podcast: Lemon Tahini Dressing Genius Butternut Squash Soup Thai Salmon Curry Fresh Summer Vegetable Pasta

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We learn a lot about what it takes to be healthy throughout a lifetime. But strangely when it comes to our brain we know very little. We have these complicated machines that are talking to us constantly. And they don’t always make life easy. They tell us we can’t do this, or that we don’t have time for that. That’s because the mind’s goal isn’t to make us happier or more peaceful. It only wants to keep us alive which is why it creates so much darn resistance.

Today’s’ guest is Dr. Shawn Smith author The User’s Guide to the Human Mind: Why Our Brains Makes Us Unhappy, Anxious, and Neurotic and What We Can Do About It. He is a licensed psychologist in Denver, Colorado working mainly in the area of anxiety treatment and relationship repair. He is a mindfulness-based psychologist specializing in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. He has been in private practices since 2006.

In episode 15 of The Healthy Family Podcast, Dr. Shawn Smith helps us understand our mind so we don’t fall into the modern-day traps that make us unwell and unhappy.

Nutrition has been a hot topic for decades now. But over the past several years extreme quests for health have become more commonplace. There are books about people who haven’t had sugar for an entire year. Eating regimens that eschew entire food groups are the norm. And more and more people are involved in extreme fitness whether it’s boot camps, spending hours at the gym, or running ultra-long distances.

As a chiropractor, Dr. Steve Pretence was not only in active pursuit of the perfect diet, weight loss, and exercise regimes, he was recommending them to his clients.  Then he noticed a recurrent theme for himself and those he was trying to help: “The more people did to get themselves to the next level, the upper echelon of health and wellness, the worse they ended up.” Not only did he stop his quest for health perfection, he wrote a book about it entitled Wrecked: Why Your Quest for Health and Weight Loss Has Failed and What You Can Do About It. In episode 13 of The Healthy Family Podcast, he’s sharing his story and what he thinks is behind it all.

Sleep is vital to health and well being. But like any healthy habit, knowing and doing are often at odds with each other. Not only do we need to teach our kids to sleep, we need to stay rested ourselves. It’s a tall order but very doable according to our featured expert.

On today’s show we have Kim West, also known as The Sleep Lady. Kim’s a Licensed Clinical Social Worker who has been a practicing child and family therapist for more than 21 years. She is author of The Sleep Lady’s Good Night, Sleep Tight: Gentle Proven Solutions to Help Your Child Sleep Well and Wake Up Happy and The Good Night Sleep Tight Workbook. Her sleep method, The Sleep Lady Shuffle, is a gentle, and customizable program for families. Kim believes good sleep habits and gentle sleep coaching build a positive parent-child attachment and encourage a strong bond.

Kim walks us through important sleep principles and what parents can do at each stage of development to teach their child (and themselves) key sleep skills. We touch on key challenges-- night waking, nightmares, busy schedules -- and refreshing ways of approaching them. As Kim says, “no problem is unfixable.” She reminds us to stay open minded, and to be kinder and gentler with ourselves, as we work towards our goal of a well-rested family.

Does it really take 66 days to build a healthy habit? Will there be a time we gain enough self-control or willpower to always eat nutritiously and exercise?

My podcast guest turns everything we thought we knew about healthy behavior change on its head. Not only that, but she also has the research to support it. And a new book.

Michelle Segar, PhD, is an award-winning, NIH-funded researcher at the University of Michigan with almost thirty years studying how to help people adopt healthy behaviors in ways that can survive the complexity and unpredictability of the real world.

Her new book, The Joy Choice: How to Finally Achieve Lasting Changes in Eating and Exercise, helps people make the mindset change they need to build and maintain healthy behaviors.

“The way we’ve been taught to approach dietary change and exercise is you do it right or you don’t do it at all,” she said during our interview. And this sets us up for failure because life always has other plans.

Her process is based on the emerging research on executive function along with decades of research showing what really motivates us to engage in healthy behaviors.

It’s about all those “choice points” and learning to make the perfect, imperfect decision that allows you do something instead of nothing. And most importantly, keep you moving forward instead of feeling defeated.

We live in a crazy world where food and weight are concerned. On the one hand, we hear about an obesity epidemic that researchers predict will only get worse. On the other hand, making weight the focus only exacerbates the issue. This leaves many parents confused and unsure about what to do.

Today’s guest Dianne Neumark-Sztainer, Ph.D., MPH, RD, has been studying the formation of eating habits in adolescents and young adults for many years. As principal investigator of Project EAT (Eating and Activity in Teens and Young Adults), her insights help us understand what we can do to help our child navigate their environment with success. Dianne Neumark-Sztainer is a professor in the School of Public Health's Division of Epidemiology and Community Health at the University of Minnesota. Her research focuses on adolescent health, nutrition, obesity and eating disorder prevention, and she is the author of “I’m, Like, SO Fat!”: Helping Your Teen Make Healthy Choices about Eating and Exercise in a Weight-Obsessed World.

Girls are having a rough go of it. A recent CDC report found 57% of teen girls felt persistently sad and hopeless in 2021, compared to 36% in 2011. Not only that, but a report last year found girls going to the ER for eating disorders nearly doubled during the pandemic.

There’s never been a more important time to help support our daughters, both emotionally and physically. Today’s guest is full of strategies to help keep our girls out of dieting and body image pitfalls that often go hand in hand with mental health issues.

Amelia Sherry is a New York-based dietitian with a master’s in public health who counsels women and families. She is founder of the NourshHer, a site providing content that helps protect girls from disordered eating. Sherry compiles her best tips and advice in her new book, Diet Proof Your Daughter.

We have a candid talk about her new book, ways to help girls, and what drives her to help parents raise girls to have a healthy relationship with food.

Does this sound familiar? You try to add a new habit and for a while, it goes well....until life gets in the way. The new exercise routine gets pushed aside when work gets busy. Your vow to keep the house clean slowly goes down the (messy) toilet. Having your child read/do chores/cook/ over the summer goes nowhere because he is so darn resistant.

On today's show, we have a leading expert who shows us that building new habits doesn’t need to be hard. No, it can actually be easy, rewarding, and even fun (his words). We’re just going about it the wrong way.

BJ Fogg is director of the Persuasive Technology Lab at Stanford University, focusing on methods for creating habits and behavior change. He spends half his time in industry and the other half teaching at Stanford. He got his start focusing on how to change behavior utilizing mobile phones and over the years, improving health has become a theme. In December of 2011, Fogg created the Tiny Habits method. His Tiny Habits program has helped over 40,000 people create sustainable and lasting habits. He shares his wisdom and after listening to this episode you'll never look at behavior change the same way again.

Highlights from the Show:

• The three components of behavior that must occur for that behavior to become a habit.
• The best way to stop a bad behavior and add a positive one, and why adding new behaviors is a better approach.
• How to add new behaviors using the Tiny Habits Method, and why it is incredibly useful for helping children form positive habits.
• Top misconceptions about behavior change that hold people back (and why it’s easier to create habits than people think).
• Why it’s so hard to create a habit abound something you don’t want or see as painful.
• The most important question to ask: “where does this new behavior fit naturally in my day?”
• How our culture misleads us into believing transformational change is better than incremental change when clearly it’s the other way around.
• Why effective behavior change is like growing a plant and has nothing to do with willpower.

We’ve all seen the article or social media post declaring the “proven” benefits of intermittent fasting.

Cellular repair. Improved insulin sensitivity. A longer life with reduced risk of chronic disease. Increased metabolism and fat burning. 

Because of these strong claims, I’ve been wanting to do a deep dive on intermittent fasting for years now. So, in preparation for my latest book for midlife women, I finally did it.

And it revealed that the benefits of intermittent fasting are anything but a slam dunk.

So in this podcast episode I review all the details of my latest post about intermittent fasting.

Whether people realize it or not, the pandemic has shed a very bright light on nutrition. And this light tells us that an overwhelming number of Americans have comprised nutritional status putting them at higher risk of severe disease from Covid-19. Even more disturbing is that we are doing very little about it.

In episode 34 of The Healthy Family Podcast, I provide segments of my interview with Jeffrey B. Blumberg of Tufts University along with behind-the-scenes content on what went into my most recent post: “Why Isn’t Anyone Talking About the Nutrition Crisis the Pandemic Unmasked.”

Addiction has become a big buzz word. You hear about it from media reports, books, and friends. And it’s no longer just about drugs and alcohol, but food, the internet, gambling, and even healthy activities like exercise.

Is addiction simply a brain disease that leaves people powerless or is there something else going on?

Today we have on science writer Maia Szalavitz, author of The New York Time Bestseller Unbroken Brain: A Revolutionary New Way of Understanding Addiction. She not only has a personal history of addiction, she has spent years researching its underpinnings. Maia argues that addiction isn’t a disease but rather a learning disorder more similar to autism, ADHD and dyslexia. Using her story as a backdrop -- and citing the latest research -- she helps readers see how addiction risk begins in childhood and either withers or grows throughout life. She also recommends better, research-based treatments for people who have already become addicted.

Anyone who has experienced the heart-wrenching reality of addiction knows that we need to do more and learn more about how to make it stop.

Five years ago Jill Castle and I turned in the manuscript for Fearless Feeding: How to Raise Healthy Eaters from High Chair to High School. It was the first book for both of us and it took about three years from inception to completion.

We came together to write Fearless Feeding to provide up-to-date feeding information to parents for kids of all ages. What we didn’t expect was how much health professionals would utilize the book. It is used as a textbook in colleges and internships around the country. The Fearless Feeding Philosophy includes the What (nutrition), How (feeding approach) and Why (how development relates to eating) at each stage of development.

On today’s show, my guest is my writing partner, Jill Castle, childhood nutrition expert and creator of The Nourished Child Blog and Podcast. In addition to Fearless Feeding, she is author of Eat Like a Champion and various e-books including The Smart Mom’s Guide to Starting Solids and Try New Food! She is a sought-after childhood nutrition speaker, develops online courses for parents and health professionals, and runs a part-time private practice.

Jill and I talk about what’s new in feeding since we turned in that manuscript for Fearless Feeding, and I get the chance to pick her brain about feeding older kids.

If there’s one theme I’ve heard repeatedly regarding moms, daughters, food, and body image, it’s this:

Mom has poor body image and food issues (to varying degrees). Despite this struggle, mom wants to keep her issues from infecting her daughter. She hides this part of herself, hoping her daughter never finds out the truth. She doesn’t share her unhappiness with her body, doesn’t restrict food at home, and never brings up the subject of weight.

Yet despite this cover-up, mom often watches her daughter walk the same painful path. What gives?

Today’s’ show we get right into why this happens. It’s not about helping only girls or only moms, it’s about healing both at the same time. The goal is to end the legacy of body dissatisfaction and food struggle that gets handed down from generation to generation.

Dietitian Karen Diaz shares insight from her experience working at an eating disorder clinic and helping moms and daughters over the last six years. Karen is certified in intuitive eating and uses her Signature Program Break Free to guide women in overcoming dysregulated eating and body image struggles. Her soon-to-be-published book Within is aimed at helping moms and daughters come to peace with their bodies and food so they can build a healthy and happy home.

A couple of years ago when I considered doing my first half marathon in years, I discovered Jeff Galloway’s book Running Until Your 100. In it, he advocates for people – especially those 45 years and older – to add walk breaks to their running. When done right, he claims that people of all ages can remain injury-free while obtaining the many benefits of running.

Galloway is an Olympian runner and coach that has made it his mission to improve people’s quality of life through running. He is the creator of the Galloway Run-Walk-Run Program and for 33 years he has coached over ½ million runners and answers an average of 100 emails a day.

Since the Coronavirus pandemic, I’ve seen many people and families taking walks. Of course, we all keep from each other but many of us relish the time spent outside. And this got me thinking about how this is the perfect time for people to try running with a much gentler and enjoyable strategy.

As people get older, they often think they can no longer run or that running is bad for them. In episode 29 of The Healthy Family Podcast, Jeff Galloway explains how his Run-Walk-Run program can help people at midlife and beyond enjoy running without getting injured. It's also a great way for anyone at any age to start running.

You’ve been there, haven’t you? Your child strikes out at a baseball game, bombs a test or messes up at her dance recital and acts like it’s the end of the world. It seems in today’s world, moving away from the limelight for even a second can stroke fear in kids.

The self-esteem movement took our culture by storm in the 1990s. Now experts realize this movement had some serious holes in it. We are finding out that striving to “be our best” 24/7 is not only exhausting but ultimately robs kids and adults of living authentic and healthy lives.

The antidote to the shortcomings of self-esteem is self-compassion. Like self-esteem, self-compassion generates a positive feeling about oneself but it has nothing to do with performance. It’s about being kind to yourself no matter what -- especially when things don’t go well. Teaching self-compassion is a must in today’s world of ultra comparison-itis and competition. Plus, research shows its really good for us. It’s one of those tools like gratitude, that boosts emotional health and well being.

On episode 19 of The Healthy Family Podcast Karen Bluth, Ph.D. explains the benefits of teaching self-compassion to adolescents. She is Assistant Professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a certified instructor of Mindful Self-Compassion. Karen has been a mindfulness practitioner for almost 40 years and frequently gives talks, conducts workshops, and teaches classes in self-compassion in educational settings and in the community. She is co-creator of the curriculum Making Friends with Yourself: A Mindful Self-Compassion Program for Teens, and author of the book The Self-Compassion Workbook for Teens: Mindfulness and Compassion Skills to Overcome Self-Criticism and Embrace Who You Are.

What happens when two dietitian-friends who are also writers go through menopause together? They write a book, of course.

Elizabeth Ward and Hillary Wright are coauthors of the new book The Menopause Diet Plan: A Natural Guide to Managing Hormones, Health, and Happiness. Their book highlights key research regarding nutrition and hormone changes at midlife, their own personal experience, and tasty and nutritious meal plans and recipes.

Elizabeth (Liz) is a registered dietitian, writer, recipe developer, and nutrition consultant specializing in nutrition communications. She is the author of several books including Expect the Best: Your Guide to Healthy Eating Before, During and After Pregnancy.

Hillary is the Director for Nutrition Counseling for the Domar Center for Mind/Body Health in Waltham, MA, where she specializes in nutrition and women’s health, and diabetes prevention. She is the author of two other books including The Prediabetes Diet Plan: How to Reverse Prediabetes and Prevent Diabetes through Healthy Eating and Exercise 

This was timely as I’m currently in the process of researching nutrition for my book for women in midlife. We sat down to talk about nutrition during menopause and why it matters.

Many parents plan to have “the talk” with their children about sex and sexual development at some point. In the movies, this is shown as a grand gesture that happens on one magical day (one parent ask the other “did you have the talk with him?”).

Today’s guest shows us why society has this one all wrong. There isn’t one perfect day we realize it’s time to set our child aside and enlighten her with information. It’s something that should be a natural part of conversations that starts early. After all, the body’s gradual transition from child to adult is completely normal, and younger kids need to learn to expect it while older ones need to understand what’s going on. It sounds easy, but without role models and some type of guide, it’s not.

In Episode 11 of The Healthy Family Podcast I speak with Elizabeth Trejos- Castillo, P.hD., associate professor of human development and family studies at Texas Tech University. She created Normalized Sexual Development, a curriculum for sixth-graders that explains all the changes that go along with puberty, including emotional, cognitive and relationship development. She is an adolescent and human development researcher, and author of two textbooks. She also is a leader in the Teen Straight Talk program in Lubbock and was associate editor of The Journal of Early Adolescence for seven years.

Feeding advice is everywhere. Eat together. Check. Expose children to nutritious foods. Check. Live happily ever after.

No way!

Here’s what no one talks about. Feeding kids is not always fun or easy. And not all kids respond the same way to the same strategies. There is a need to get real about expectations and what it really feels like to feed a family. Not a make-believe family but a real one.

On episode 25 of the Healthy Family Podcast, we have on Sally Kuzemchak. She is a registered dietitian and creator of the popular blog Real Mom Nutrition, named Best Blog for Parents by Health magazine in 2015. Sally is the author of the new book 101 of the Healthiest Food for Kids. She is also an award-winning reporter and writer specializing in nutrition who currently blogs for Parents magazine and WebMD. Sally shares with us her stories, advice, challenges, and triumphs in the feeding realm. She also outlines best practices for introducing nutritious foods kids which is what her new book is all about.

According to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, only 20% of adults and 6% of kids eat fish twice a week. That means many are falling short on the omega-3 fatty acids, DHA and EPA. In episode 33 of The Healthy Family Podcast, Maryann shares why these fatty acids are so important and why she decided to test her levels of omega-3 fatty acids.

Many don’t know that it’s easy to take an omega-3 index test to see if your intake is providing your body with adequate levels of fatty acids. According to the latest research, only 10% of people who eat fish twice a week have optimal omega-3 levels.

Don’t miss this podcast to help ensure that you and your family are getting the omega-3 fatty acids they need.

When a woman considers her health, she doesn't automatically think about her menstrual cycle. Yet a woman's menstrual cycle can tell a great deal about her health, well being, and what stage of reproduction she in. Understanding one's menstrual cycle helps during puberty, the reproductive years, and perimenopause.

As I experienced cycle changes in my forties, I looked around and found the work by Jerilynn Prior. Jerilynn C. Prior BA, MD, FRCPC (former ABIM, ABEM) is a Professor of Endocrinology and Metabolism at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, BC. She has spent her career studying menstrual cycles and the effects of the cycle’s changing estrogen and progesterone hormone levels on women’s health. She is the founder (2002) and Scientific Director of the Centre for Menstrual Cycle and Ovulation Research (CeMCOR). She is coauthor of The Estrogen Errors and author of Estrogen's Storm Season. CeMCOR acknowledges -- and defines -- “very early perimenopause,” symptoms that occur when cycles are regular but hormones begin to shift.

As part of my midlife ongoing series, I wanted to ask Dr. Prior some questions. So in this podcast interview, we talk about the menstrual cycle and health starting at puberty through menopause.

When a couple is expecting their first child, they’re inundated with information. But then that baby turns into a toddler that has tantrums and doesn’t like the word “no.” And all of a sudden, the well of information dries up.

So where do parents turn to for advice? And how do we know what to believe? After all, expert advice is constantly changing and everyone seems to have an opinion.

Today’s guest, Jen Lumanlan, had these same questions when she started a family. This led her to get a master’s in psychology with a focus on child development and another master's in education. She shares what she’s learned (and keeps learning) through Your Parenting Mojo Podcast. It's a reference guide for parents of toddlers and preschoolers based on scientific research and the principles of respectful parenting.

In episode 24 of The Healthy Family Podcast, we tackle how to go about finding credible parenting information. Jen shares what she has learned on her science-based parenting journey.

I think most parents understand the importance of teaching their kids to cook. I believe what gets in the way are “invisible” barriers. And in order to get kids cooking, we need to tackle these barriers head-on.

That’s why on episode 23 of The Healthy Family Podcast we’re spelling out what really gets in the way of getting kids in the kitchen. Our guest Katie Kimball runs the online cooking class Kids Cook Real Food. She is the author of several cookbooks including Better Than a Box and Healthy Snacks to Go and is founding editor of Kitchen Stewardship. This mom of four and prior teacher provides insight on how to overcome common obstacles and quickly see a return on investment.

There are many ways parents discipline their children including timeouts, withholding devices or toys, and using rewards. Rewards and punishments do help shape behavior in the short-term but miss the mark when it comes to teaching kids how to deal with difficult emotions and learn problem-solving skills.

Episode 10 of The Healthy Family Podcast is all about a different way to discipline that connects us to our children, improves their emotional health, and actually encourages them to cooperate instead of just comply.

Today’s expert is Kelly Meier, Parent Effectiveness Training (P.E.T.) Instructor and blogger at Respectful Parent. Craving a connected relationship with her children, Kelly discovered R.I.E. (Resources for Infant Educarers) in their early years. With a group of other passionate moms, she started the Respectful Parent blog, which is now her baby. As her children grew, Kelly found Thomas Gordon’s Parent Effectiveness Training and liked it so much she became certified and now teaches classes in San Diego. She shares what she has learned about this journey including key communication tools from P.E.T.

You will leave this show with several simple strategies you can implement today, to build a better relationship with your child. If you want to learn more about P.E.T. classes, see the links in the show notes at MaryannJacobsen.com/podcast.

Estrogen plays an important role in a woman’s body. During very early perimenopause, levels fluctuate and can often be higher than normal. But as women approach menopause (about 2 years before their final period) estrogen starts to decline. By two years after the final period, estrogen levels are depleted.

This decline in estrogen brings on many symptoms women can feel such as hot flashes, night sweats, mood swings, fatigue, and memory problems. But it also brings symptoms they cannot feel like weakening bones and increased risk of heart disease.

The problem is that there are many misconceptions and unfounded fears about taking estrogen. Not only that, most doctors are not up on the latest research and have little experience giving hormones like estrogen when it’s needed. To clear up the confusion, we have Dr. Mache Seibel.

Dr. Mache Seibel is an international health expert and leading authority on women’s wellness and menopause. He is author of The Estrogen Fix and The Estrogen Window and founder of The Hot Years: My Menopause Magazine.

In episode 32 of The Healthy Family Podcast, host Maryann Jacobsen discusses her recent experience with iron deficiency anemia. This led her to research iron and what she could have done differently. She discovered this all could have been avoided if she simply tracked her ferritin. Yet no doctor every measured this until it was too late.

Taken from a detailed post on her blog, this podcast covers everything women need to know about ferritin. And why this simple test is so important.

Why do some people exercise through stressful times and others stop? Why does one mom put her self-care at the top of the priority list while another puts everyone’s else needs first?

For a quarter of a century, Michelle Segar has tried to crack the code on why some people lose motivation for healthy habits, and others don't. She’s not interested in helping people change their behavior. No, she wants to help people sustain health-oriented behaviors. In part 3 of our behavior series, we get into the psychology and science of motivation.

Michelle Segar, Ph.D., MPH is a behavioral sustainability scientist and author of No Sweat! How the Simple Science of Motivation Can Bring You a Lifetime of Fitness. She is Director of the Sport, Health, and Activity Research and Policy Center (SHARP) at the University of Michigan. Michelle has devoted her career to creating sustainable behavior change and she is a recognized pioneer in the field. For the last 25 years, she has been conducting research and coaching individuals in her three-part system.

Based on her extensive research, coaching, and personal experience, Michelle shares the secret ingredients for making healthy behaviors lasting.

Most people understand that eating plants are good for health. But knowing this may not be enough to make plant foods a regular and rewarding part of you and your family’s life.

Today we are talking about the key to eating more plant foods: falling in love with them. During October (vegetarian month), I spoke with Sharon Palmer, The Plant-Powered Dietitian. She shows us what “plant power” is all about and how these amazing foods make life better, more delicious, and healthier.

Sharon is a registered dietitian and accomplished writer on food and environmental issues. Her expertise is plant-based nutrition and she is author of The Plant-Powered Diet and Plant-Powered for Life. She is also the editor of the acclaimed health newsletter Environmental Nutrition, and nutrition editor for Today’s Dietitian. Sharon regularly appears in the media as a nutrition expert and presents on food and nutrition at national venues.