Veggies & Virtue

Latest Episodes:

12. Healthy Travel Snack Ideas for Kids: easy, safe, portable, packaged (and some perishable!) snack ideas plus tips every snack coordinator needs to know before your family’s next trip! Mar 30, 2022

Show notes

Whether you have already had spring break (like us here in Texas) or are getting packed up and ready to go, this episode is a must listen! You will hear about the top SIX things to consider when it comes to safe, easy, and healthy snacking for kids on vacation, plus how to plan healthy travel snacks that align with:

Your Child's Safety (and where snacks are offered)
Your Structure/Daily Routines While on Vacation (and when snacks are offered)
Non-Perishable and Perishable Go-To Snack Ideas (and what snacks to offer)
Your Feeding Strategy (including who else is offering snacks when other friends or family is travelling with you and may have a different approach to snacking than you and your family)
Having a Limited Snack Supply (and the difference between letting your child decide if/whether and how much to eat when there are only so many snacks packed)
Food Allergies & Sensitivities (your own child's and those of children around you)

Consistent with the feeding roles I talk about each week, you will walk away from listening with a clear understanding of how each of these considerations impacts the next and how together, these play a big part in helping your family have a well-fueled and fun-filled trip… wherever you might be off to!

11. When your toddler whines, ”I want to sit in YOUR lap!” The tension and trouble with letting your kid get down-and-up-again at meals Mar 23, 2022

Show notes

Are you struggling with your child asking to come sit in your lap (after they have already gotten down from the table)?

This can be a perpetual problem that really pulls on a mom's heart strings. Because although we want to connect with our child and feel like the most loving thing to do might be to allow them up to sit with us, boundaries can quickly get crossed and meal time expectations quickly take a turn for the worse. We may assume our child will eat better if we let them back up also, but Ashley outlines how this isn't actually an effective approach for eating competence.

That's why in this episode, Ashley outlines how to discern if how you are responding is showing love or setting limits. Through three different value-based considerations, Ashley helps you walk through how to handle the season you are in with compassion and yet clear boundaries so that everyone is able to eat and enjoy the meal.

10. My child literally won’t sit for 5 minutes...HELP! How to help your kids GET S.E.A.T.E.D. (so that they will actually eat before they get up from the table next time!) Mar 16, 2022

Show notes

Struggling with getting your kid to stay seated at meal times?

This listener submitted question asked how she could get her kids to stay at the table and engage in the family meal. To help with both the listener's 18 month old and four year old, Ashley shares how to GET S.E.A.T.E.D.!

This episode defines each of the steps in GET S.E.A.T.E.D. so that you:

know exactly what to do to bring your child to the table
set appropriate boundaries and expectations around meal times
offer your child(ren) the social, emotional, and developmental support they need to not just survive but thrive at meal times

Have a question you want to Ask Ashley? Record it here, and she will answer it live on an upcoming episode!

9. To order off the kids menu or to NOT order off the kids menu? Hear how this dietitian mom answers the question and handles eating out with her own little kids Mar 09, 2022

Show notes

Wondering how Ashley feeds her kids when her family goes out to a restaurant?

Tune in to this episode for real-life dietitian mom advice and encouragement on:

How to handle ordering out for our kids (or letting them choose!)
Important considerations that you as the parent can control (even if/when your child doesn’t eat what they ordered)
Keeping a big picture perspective of navigating nutrition during an occasional meal away from home or when on an extended vacation

For all of your families who need a night off from cooking or are packing for spring break, this is an episode you will definitely want to make sure to tuck in the diaper bag to take with you!

8. Wonder how to keep Family Dinner intentional when busy hits? Get these rhythms and routines from the toddler through the teen years [an INTERVIEW with Jennifer Zumbiel of Togather Moments] Mar 02, 2022

Show notes

Do you feel like it is a struggle just to wrangle your toddlers (or teens!) for family meals? If so, Jennifer Zumbiel can relate. Jennifer has a Bachelor's in Business Administration Marketing from the University of Kentucky and a Master's in Secondary Education from Xavier University. She is the creator and owner of Togather Moments LLC, Togather™ conversation sticker games/tools, and the host of The Families That Stick Togather Podcast.

As a mother of four and a wife of 18 years, she understands how everyday distractions can impact face-to-face communication and threaten the strength of our relationships. She has found a way to help us all to gather with easy meaningful, and fun communication in real-life in the small moments we already have. The mission of Togather™ is to protect the strength of communication within families so that we can protect the strength of the Family the way God intended.

Jennifer has been in the trenches of just trying to get dinner made to now making sure her whole family can find a time to all eat together (amidst afterschool sports and activities). And although her challenges have changed, Jennifer opens up about how she made small yet intentional moments happen in the early years to set her and her family up for the teen years.

With thought-provoking conversation starters your kids can literally peel and stick, Jennifer gives busy moms the ideas we need for becoming more intentional around the table. Plus, Jennifer shares some thoughts on how to incorporate rhythms and routines around the table, like saying grace. So for the mamas who have asked me, "How do we start praying together as a family before a meal," I know this episode hitting on Ash Wednesday is going to be particularly helpful to you.
Helpful Links: Visit Togather Moments Listen to The Families That Stick Togather Podcast Shop Togather Products Get Togather Freebies (perfect conversation starters for spring break coming up!) Connect with Jennifer on Facebook and on Instagram

7. How to meal prep for the week in under 15 minutes? Reclaim your weekend with this hack to get food ready when you don’t want to spend a bunch of time meal planning or meal prepping before Monday Feb 23, 2022

Show notes

Oh hey there, mom who loathes meal prepping on the weekend and doesn't want to feel guilty about spending nap time on Sunday doing something else. Boy, does Ashley have a dietitian mom hack for you here.

In this episode, Ashley shares her go-to solution for moms who don't plan on nor want to do a bunch of meal prep on the weekend, but who do need easy dinner ideas that are doable day after day. This system works without requiring a bunch of extra ingredients or energy (because who wants to make a last minute run to the store for something they forgot...NO MOM DOES!). Instead, this episode walks you through how to go about gathering all the goods so that when you are ready to cook (or assemble) dinner, you have everything ready in one simple, straight-forward swoop.

Learn how you too can decrease food waste, use up random ingredients you otherwise might not know what to do with, and make your family's dinner meal ideas that much more straight-forward and simple come 6:00 pm (or whenever you do dinner).

6. My 5-step meal planning framework revealed! Figure out how to CUT BACK on food waste, time lost, and meals that never get made Feb 16, 2022

Show notes

Ashley's strategy for meal planning has changed again, and again, and again over the years. What worked for her as a dietitian mom of one, two, and later three kids has continued to evolve and adapt to the areas of highest importance in her life. And while yes, the nutrition of this meal plan is important and part of the reason she meal plans to begin with, Ashley knows the need for a sustainable system to getting easy dinner ideas executed night after night.

So join Ashley in an episode where she introduces the five pillars for meal planning. Even amidst all of the systems she has used and shared over the years, they all come back to these five pillars. Applying these to your life, you will find how to come up with a practical plan that fits your unique family. Ashley also gives a little dose of dietitian mom advice for how to pivot when life happens and plans change. Hint: it doesn't have to derail all of your dinner ideas!

5. What is a BALANCED diet? This is why having the same “healthy” foods every day isn’t healthy and what you can do to begin covering your kiddo’s nutritional bases better Feb 09, 2022

Show notes

In this episode, Ashley defines what a "balanced diet" even is (for those who are confused about it!) and frees you from the pressures of planning a perfectly balanced diet each and every day. Instead, she shares an illustration for keeping a big picture view of your child's diet, how to build a balanced plate, and how to leverage those ideas to ensure all areas of their diet is covered.

4. Are weekdays a hot mess with meals and snacks? Get an easy win any day of the week with these 5 clues to structure, routine, and ending the constant request for a snack! Feb 02, 2022

Show notes

Wondering how to order your day so there are clear meals and snacks without the endless grazing, complaints about being hungry, and uncertainty around if and when to feed your child again?
Well tune in for this episode as we breakdown the five C's to setting up a meal and snack schedule. These aren't rules to follow but rather a routine that will help your family build trust, minimize food fussiness, boost confidence, and promote healthy habits.

3. Is your anxiety making your child’s eating habits worse? Listen up... Jan 26, 2022

Show notes

In today's episode, we take a deep dive into discussing some of the more personal aspects of feeding and:

How filling in the blank is holding you back, "I have my own stuff, but for my kid I just want _______________."
The unaddressed insecurities you may face in your own relationship with food (and how they may be impacting your child)
The anxieties about feeding you feel, your child experiences, and the ineffective interplay you may be experiencing when worry and anxiety impact appetite
What you can do to move forward (without getting ahead of yourself)

This isn't the easiest episode to listen to nor apply, but tuning in with your head and your heart can be one of the biggest impetus to change if you're ready to go there with Ashley in this episode.

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