161. When to Offer Candy to Kids

Veggies & Virtue: Feeding Help for Faith-Based Families

We made it through Halloween! Now, begins one of the best times to begin neutralizing sweets and treats in our homes. While our kids already have candy top of mind, take the opportunity to role model an intuitive eating approach through regular opportunities to enjoy candy, including having it as dessert with dinner. By reinforcing food freedom over arbitrary food rules, we learn to better trust our children’s ability to self-regulate and in doing so, encourage them to do the same. In today's episode, we chat about:

1. Why, as parents, we assume dessert should be served after dinner
2. Why research shows offering dessert with dinner can be a more effective approach for raising kids who have healthy relationships with all foods
3. How to begin offering dessert with dinner (and how to counter your own rigid food rules as you practice normalizing this new routine)