S2EP13-Christine Jackson-Snack Attack: How to Keep Your Kids Healthy Without Losing Your Mind!

Herb: 00:00:19

Today, I have the pleasure of introducing Christine Jackson.

Christine is a certified nutrition coach dedicated to helping busy millennial moms lose weight, sustainably, boost energy, and feel confident in their bodies without restrictive diets or unrealistic plans. She knows that as a mom, you want to feel good in your skin and set a healthy example for your kids, and she's here to make that happen.

Her mission is to help moms break free from their cycle of dieting and build habits that fit into their busy lives, inspiring their families to grow up with a positive relationship with food. Together, they focus on simple, lasting changes that make them feel the best, while showing their kids what healthy really looks like.

Welcome, Christine. It is a pleasure to have you here. This is such an important topic.

We have covered it several times and we always love to get to get new points of view and new ways to help people. So thank you for being here today.

Christine: 00:01:15

Thank you for having me on. I think since I met Kristina, I've taken a deep dive into your podcast and I have loved it.

I have learned so much myself for raising my two kids, and I definitely recommend it to a lot of my friends. There's so much information that you present in such a way that you can take it and you can use it and you can run with it.

So I am so happy to be here and honored to be a guest on your podcast.

Kristina: 00:01:49

Well, thank you so very, very much. That is amazing.

I am glad that this is helpful because of course, that is the whole goal of this podcast, is giving parents bite sized bits that they can take, they can put into effect, and then maybe even reach out to those pros that are talking with us that will help their family move in the future. So thank you for that compliment. Thank you for the feedback here. Wow, that's amazing.

Herb: 00:02:09

Yeah, that. That made my heart smile. Thank you. Yes.

Christine: 00:02:13

Oh, well, thank you guys for putting together this podcast for us parents out here.

Kristina: 00:02:17

You are very welcome. So one of the questions that we'd love to kind of start out with is why this passion? Why this demographic? Why these moms? The kids, the families?

Of course, you know, we're very family centered. We want the best for our kids and we know that they can't learn very well if their nutrition. Other things are not in line as well.

But what caused you to go down this path and decide to help these moms and families grow and be better around nutrition?

Christine: 00:02:42

Oh, it's a. It's a long story, but I'm going to try and keep it as short to the point as possible.

Growing up, I had pretty much like my parents had a pretty good relationship with food. But there were little things that I remember growing up that I heard even grandparents saying me, oh, like don't eat the bread, you'll get fat.

Oh, you're so trim. I came back from a trip and I had a family member tell me that I looked really puffy. Just little things like that that slowly got into my head.

And when I actually started as a geologist in corporate and I found it very stressful. I have general anxiety disorder that was not diagnosed.

And all of these little things that kept in my brain that I had heard growing up really started to manifest themselves. And I found myself with a raging eating disorder. It was one thing I felt like I could control was the shape of my body.

tantly bombarded in the early: 2000

But it was very hard to receive all these compliments at the same time. It's like, oh, you look great. I wish I could lose weight like you did, blah, blah, blah. And that just kind of fed into it.

It's like, oh, I'm actually doing something and I'm doing it well. So fast forward a few years. I met my husband, who's my husband now, and eventually we wanted to start a family.

At that point, I couldn't because my body had shut down its reproductive cycle. I had no menstrual cycle for years. And we were talking with an endocrinologist about doing running tests on me. And really it just came down to that.

I wasn't eating enough food to support myself. So through a lot of self work and relearning, I brought myself back into health again and everything started working as it should.

We now have two beautiful girls. So here's where I started really focusing in on becoming a nutrition coach.

Was hearing a lot of other moms saying, oh, I can't eat this or I'm going to try intermittent fasting. Or they look at my kids lunches and be like, oh, like they eat so well. I wear my kids had that kind of lunch and I want to lose some weight.

And they're saying this kind of in front of their kids too.

d by this diet culture in the: 2000

But the moms and parents don't know how to eat themselves to show their kids, hey, this is how you eat to lead a really vibrant life, and this is how you move your body in such a way that it's healthy and is making you strong. We're always so focused on becoming smaller when really it's becoming stronger and feeding your body these foods that lift you up.

So that is kind of my long winded story of how I got here and my realization that we, I mean, diet culture has persisted for generations. But I feel like we're at a place right now where we can really make an inroad into destroying it once and for all.

Learning, relearning how to eat again and move our bodies.

Kristina: 00:07:02

Absolutely amazing, that perspective. I mean, because the thing that popped out there for me was that we are our children's role models. Right. Good. And unfortunately, the bad.

So like you said, when these parents, these moms were talking in front of their children about that, like you said when you were younger, those things are getting into their brain and those are the things that they're hearing. And then you don't know how later they might take that and maybe go down a bad path with it, kind of like you did.

So, yeah, this is so important that this positive, good message around all of that is really out there in front of those parents.

Herb: 00:07:37

Yeah. So here goes. Out of the box we talk about this.

So what I heard in that is it's not just the mom saying that in the United States, we actually have like 350 some food additives in our food that are illegal in most other parts of the world. Our food pyramid is so screwed up.

It was written by the people who actually were trying to sell food, not people who are actually looking for healthy families. And then we have all of these advertisements and the drug companies that are making a profit off of, hey, lose weight, but then eat this.

And so it's, it's, it's this money cycle in, in corporatism.

Christine: 00:08:18

Yeah.

Herb: 00:08:19

Is. Is compounding. So, you know, some of it is greed, some of it is stupidity, some of it is actually probably even evil intention.

But you know, they say don't, don't attribute evil where stupidity fits. And so, and one thing that I heard growing up is if you don't eat your food like it's medicine, you'll be eating your medicine like it's food.

And we see that a lot nowadays. So Coming back to a healthier way.

I know a lot of people are kind of scared about what's happening politically in a lot of places, but I'm, like, thrilled with rfk talking about healthy nutrition, about getting out of the pharmaceutical rat race, about bringing back healthier foods and. And talking about nutrition.

So there are some really, really hopeful things on the horizon right now with what's going on and getting out of this cycle.

Kristina: 00:09:15

And then we have people like Christine.

Herb: 00:09:16

Who are there, and we have people like Christine who. Who, even before all of these big changes started, are working at a level with the individuals because she figured it out.

Kristina: 00:09:26

Yeah.

Herb: 00:09:27

And now she's moving forward. So what is. What is. How. How did you get started? So we. You talked about why you got started, but how did you get started in this?

So once you got healthy, how did you turn this into something that's working for you?

Christine: 00:09:42

So the one thing that I saw is like a kind of a big flag that got me thinking I could make this in to something where I really help people was that every single time I heard somebody talking about making a change, it was a huge change. It was, I'm going to cut out processed foods. I'm going to stop eating sugar. I'm going to go to the gym five days a week.

I'm going to, I don't know, make every meal from scratch from now on. And I was like, wait a second, That's. That's not going to work. That is great.

That is a great intention, but you are biting off way more than you can chew.

And because life happens and it's not always going to go your way, you're going to be building upon little failures when your kids get sick and you're not doing your. You're not getting your workout in, you're relying on some takeout food. And you're like, I failed.

And I fed my kid granola bars for their snack because I just didn't have time to get around to make the banana bread.

I failed where I was like, well, what if I was able to teach people how to make tiny changes that they can 100% do and build on these little wins to slowly shift them towards where they want to be rather than making these changes, giant leaps, missing the bar and crashing hard again and showing them this. I've had so many clients have these aha moments where they're like, wait, I get it now. Like, I need to focus on the things where I'm winning.

And I say, yeah, that's exactly what you need to do. And then you can use that in so many aspects of your life. Not just nutrition, not just fitness.

I mean, you could use it with your career or helping your kids grow. And it's just really blossomed from there. Just helping these parents make these small changes to get the big win.

Kristina: 00:12:07

being recorded in January of: 2025

And instead of taking a little bit at a time, like you're saying, you jump in and then what are the stats? Most people by the mid February have just like left their goal in the sand, right?

Christine: 00:12:35

Yeah, yeah. So it's kind of just relearning that you don't have to do these huge goals, whether it's in health or family or life.

It's little things that really add up over time that make the change wonderful.

Kristina: 00:12:53

So let's start in right there.

Can you give a tip or two for our families who are listening of one of those or two of those small changes that does make a bigger impact down the road that they can get started with?

Christine: 00:13:04

Oh, let's see. I have so many centered.

Herb: 00:14:46

One, let me, let me start you with one. How do you get people to start cutting sugar out of their diet? Because sugar is one of the most addictive substances on earth.

It's only been in the, in the Western culture as it is now, for like the last 60 or 70 years. And there are so many bad, bad side effects to, to the way we put sugar and everything. So how do we start weaning people?

Christine: 00:15:14

Yes. Slowly, slowly. So perhaps it's pop or soda. I'm in Canada. It's pop. US Soda. Yep.

If you're having a can a day, it's like, okay, let's change that to a can of maybe Diet Coke. Yes. Not the best, but we're weaning you off the sugar. So you're getting off the diet, off the Coke to a Diet Coke. Okay.

And then we're saying, okay, you've done that for two weeks. Let's make another change. Let's change it to half water, half juice.

Herb: 00:15:59

Okay.

Christine: 00:16:00

And then that went right for two weeks. Cool. Let's start a course. Quarter juice and water. That's feeling good. Okay.

Let's just do some fruit or lemon or cucumber water so you're still getting that flavor in it. And slowly you make these steps to cutting out sugar. And as you do it as well you get to a point where your, your taste buds will change as well.

And you're like, I don't need all this sugar anymore because I have totally adjusted to having less sugar in my diet. The same can go for pasta sauces. I know there's a lot of hidden sugars and pasta sauce.

So you can go to the grocery store and say, okay, you know what? I'm going to look at the ingredient list. Here's one with sugar. Here's one without.

I'm just going to go for the one without again, going for granola bars. We have here chewy granola bars, which are just like the Quaker.

Kristina: 00:17:01

Yeah.

Christine: 00:17:02

Granola bar. Let's move then to. I don't know if you have this brand or not.

Made Good still has sugar, but it also has, like, vegetable extracts and some vitamins and minerals. Still not the best, but it's better than the chewy. And then I was like, okay, like, this is good.

I'm gonna try making my own where I can control what's going into it. Maybe I'll. Instead of sugars, it'll be maple syrup or honey or something with some little bit of added nutrients. So it's not, let's cut out sugar.

It's like, how can we make our choices a bit better with a bit less sugar? A little bit at a time? And eventually you're going to change your taste buds.

Your kids are slowly going to be introduced to this as well, so they won't be kicking and screaming as much as you would. If you're like, no, you're not having a fruit roll up. You're having an apple. Like, let's slowly make the transition to, oh, yeah, you know, a yogurt.

Vanilla yogurt with apple, or plain yogurt with some honey. And apple is now taking the place of fruit snacks.

Herb: 00:18:11

Yeah. And even the yogurt, you got to check the sugar and yogurts. Some yogurts are, like, more sugar than actual milk, so.

Christine: 00:18:18

Exactly.

Herb: 00:18:19

Reading the ingredients label. So eventually, you know, we got to the point where it's like, I, I, I had to give up sugar for, for health reasons.

And it's like if, if there was sugar in, like, the top five ingredients in whatever was, then I couldn't have it. But if it was, like, way down the list, then. And also the lists were all things that I could actually read. Not, not weird chemical names.

But if sugar was, like, way down at the end bottom of the list, then then I might be able to have it. But yeah, sugar was like a no, no, for me.

Christine: 00:18:48

For.

Herb: 00:18:49

For quite a few years.

Christine: 00:18:50

And it's one of those things. If you have a medical diagnosis and your doctor's saying, no, no sugar, your healthcare professional saying, no sugar, that's one thing.

Because you're like, you're scared. You're like, okay, I really can't do this because bad things are going to happen.

Or as if it's like you're saying, tell yourself, like, january, no sugar. It's like, yeah, you don't have this motivation, the drive, and really to stick with it. So after a week, it's like me.

okay, by the end of January,: 2026

I mean, it's better than some options like those yogurt tubes or whatever. There's probably more protein in the Greek yolk flavored Greek yogurt, but let's wean you off that as well.

So you take your flavored yogurt and then you mix it with a plain yogurt, and then you add a little bit less flavored yogurt, more plain yogurt, and eventually you're like, hey, this is fine. I can have the plain yogurt with some fruit and maybe some honey. Yeah.

Kristina: 00:20:10

And I love those alternatives that you're saying, because a lot of people like, okay, well, I still like the sweet or I still crave the sweet.

And you're giving alternatives, the honey, the agave, or the, the whatever it is, that's a more natural, sweeter sweetener of the maple syrup, you know, then more sugar, so.

Christine: 00:20:26

Exactly.

Kristina: 00:20:27

Or a chemical.

Christine: 00:20:28

Yes, or a chemical. It's just a slow, slow and steady progress to get to the top of your mountain.

Kristina: 00:20:38

I love that. Absolutely. And you know, the kids will absolutely agree with you probably as well.

The slower stepping away from is easier than just the, oh, no, you can't have it anymore.

Herb: 00:20:50

I can't have it anymore. And it was kind of rough, but once I got through it, it actually was pretty amazing.

And the hardest, the hardest, even harder for me than sugar was, was bread, because I had to give up bread as well.

Christine: 00:21:04

Oh, that's tough. Yeah.

Kristina: 00:21:05

Right.

Herb: 00:21:06

Well, because, you know, our weed is, is ultra processed and the. And it gets so fine that it creates Leaky gut syndrome. And then your food's getting into your bloodstream instead of the nutrients of your food.

So it's like, I learned a lot about my.

Kristina: 00:21:21

He had a naturopath that really locked him down. A lot of this.

Herb: 00:21:24

So I learned a lot. But I also. Yeah, I also had to give up wheat and gluten. Not so much because I'm allergic to it, but I am. I am sensitive.

Christine: 00:21:34

Yeah.

Herb: 00:21:35

But so, yeah, now. Now if I eat something with bread in it, it feels like someone hit me, like, 10 minutes ago. It's not like the immediate like, oh, someone hit me.

It's like, wow, wow, that guy hit me really hard a while ago and it still hurts kind of a thing.

Christine: 00:21:49

Yeah, it's a trial and error thing for eliminating what is causing you inflammation or just not feeling right.

Herb: 00:22:02

And one of the amazing things is once you do clean yourself up and you do, like, get down that road, and then you have a fallout day, and suddenly it's like, you realize how bad all that stuff is for you, because it's like, wow, I remember I used to like this, and now I feel miserable. Was I eating this stuff all of the time?

Christine: 00:22:22

Isn't that amazing how you go through life thinking, yeah, this is normal, this is fine, and you make a change and something else becomes your new normal, something better. And you have one day of falling off the wagon or whatever. You're like, oh, yeah, this does not make me feel good.

Kristina: 00:22:43

Yeah. So a lot of parents are going to say, okay, wait a second. But our kids are surrounded with all of this stuff.

They go to somebody else's house, they go to birthday parties, they go wherever, and they go to school. Oh, my gosh.

Herb: 00:22:57

The diet at school. Let's. We'll talk about that.

Kristina: 00:23:01

But, you know, they're surrounded with this, all. All this stuff. And so then my kids are feeling left out because I've told them that they can't have it or whatever. What do you do about that?

How do you help parents kind of navigate that with the kids?

Christine: 00:23:13

Here's the thing. I am really about balance.

So for an example, today my kids had a fruit roll up in their lunch, but they also had vegetables, they had cheese, they have a source of protein, and they had some carbohydrates in whole grain. Very few ingredient cracker. Yeah. So they are exposed to these foods that their friends have, so they're not feeling left out.

But this does not make up the majority of our diet. This is a one thing. Once a day you can have this.

And the Rest of the time when you're at home, it's homemade muffins, it's meatballs, it's food that I have mostly made myself or is very few ingredients. Peanut butter, apples or some butter and apples are more of like the snacks we lean towards.

But I do include some of the fun foods in their snack boxes so that they don't feel left out because it can also create a problem if they're not learning how to have these foods in moderation as well, that when they do find themselves around these foods, they can't control themselves. It's oh, I can have this now. And they eat until they're sick.

But if we're exposing to them, to them and saying, yeah, you can have this, but you can all, you also have the healthy food alongside it. It takes away that, oh, they get it. I don't, I mean we still have that in our house with say Fruit Loops or Lucky Charm cereal.

And I'm not gonna let they get it at my parents, but they do not get it at our house. That is, we have like one or two of these boxed snacks that I'm like, it's fine, it's fine. But that's not the majority of their diet.

The majority of their diet are whole foods that I make myself.

Herb: 00:25:23

So does your school have a school lunch program? No. So all Canada doesn't. Okay.

So that's a lot different because the, the, our, our schools have like cafeterias and lunch programs and all the kids go through and here the food they serve is loaded with sugar, loaded with carbs. I mean tremendously. So they do have some fruits and vegetables, but the children get to decide whether they take them or not or not or not.

And so yeah, they wind these kids up on sugar and then have them sit in classrooms in little rows and expect them to sit still and be quiet after they just fill them up with, with yucky food. So. But you don't have that in Canada. So I guess I don't necessarily get to, to, no, exactly go there with this.

Christine: 00:26:12

At the same time though, I have, I am very heavily involved in my kids school. I'm on the field trips, I'm the chair of the parent council. I am on top of this stuff.

I've been seeing what's going on and I see these kids lunches that have been packed for them that they have brought from home and it's a white bread and jelly sandwich with a granola bar and a fruit snack. Yeah, or one kid, it was after Halloween and he had a granola bar and candy.

Kristina: 00:26:48

So he might have packed his own lunch.

Christine: 00:26:50

He might have packed his own lunch. But like grade three, you know, somebody needs to be number one.

He obviously has not been taught because if my kids are making their lunch or helping making their lunch, they know they need a protein, they need a healthy source of fat, they need carbohydrates and they need a vegetable. Yeah. It's just the way it is.

But these kids are obviously, if they're packing their lunches and it's looking like that they are, they haven't been taught because their parents don't know.

And you can see the effect on these kids after just having like, basically there's no fiber, there's no protein, it's basically turns into pure sugar and they're just.

Kristina: 00:27:32

Yeah, exactly. Yeah, yeah.

My, when I was in the classroom because I was a teacher for 27 years, my parents didn't like me, but liked me at the same time because I literally laid down the rules and said, guys, I know Halloween was yesterday, but if you bring candy for snack and candy for lunch, you will not be able to eat it all in my classroom because I have a limit. You may have one piece of candy a day, so make a wise choice. Right.

And so the parents are like, well, wait a minute, you can't really control what they bring. It's like, yeah, but I can control what they eat in my classroom because if they don't have a healthy snack, guess what?

I've got crackers in the cupboard that I will replace that snack with. You know, I was trying to really teach the kids, but really, you know, talking with them and talking, teaching them, think about this.

What is this doing to your body if you do bring all that sugar? Well, how are you really going to feel kind of thing? Right?

So it wasn't just the rules, it was the explanation and the talking about it and why would we want to make a different choice kind of thing.

Christine: 00:28:32

Yes. And the problem is too, it doesn't get talked about much at all in schools. And what does get talked about like?

Well, it doesn't, it's not very kid friendly. Like kids, they don't understand a pyramid and they don't know what that looks like. It's just a very. Yeah, it's a topic that is so important.

Like health is number one. It comes above everything.

I even tell my clients, like, the health of mostly moms is your top priority because if you're not healthy, you can't take care of your family. And you like, you're the role model for your family.

And if your kids aren't seeing you taking care of yourself, then they're not going to take care of themselves either. And it's just, yeah, we need to talk. It needs to be talked about. It needs to be taught in school.

Kristina: 00:29:28

Awesome. Let's jump back into another tip for our family. So we know that we're graduating away from the box snacks and the sugary snacks and things like that.

But that means you preparing more things at home. How do you do that when you're working full time or you're on the go with sports or you're this or that or whatever?

What tips do you give your parents, your families about how to do this in maybe a more time efficient way or some things that are quick and easy.

Christine: 00:29:55

I love batch cooking. I love it. If you're making spaghetti sauce, triple the recipe and utilize your freezer.

Meatballs, banana breads, like even rotisserie chicken that can all be frozen and pulled out when you need it. I know I have a chicken stir fry. Like I've marinated the meat, it's all ready to go. It's in my freezer so I can just pop it out, throw in some.

And I love frozen vegetables are great, great thing to utilize if you're short on time. Frozen fruits, even like the pre chopped vegetables like the pre washed carrots and snap peas.

And really when you're doing one thing, think about how you can save time for your future self.

So if I was chopping up vegetables to put into my kids lunchbox or to make a salad, it's like, well I could chop up one pepper or I could just chop up two and throw one into a tupperware container. I have it in the fridge, I can just grab and grab it and go. Breakfasts. How can I make one breakfast but turn it into a week of breakfast?

If I'm making pancakes on a weekend, I will double it again. They freeze so well. Food freezes so well.

And once you get into making more, of course than you're going to eat in one sitting, then you can freeze that and have meals when you're feeling very rushed.

I mean utilize the slow cookers or pressure cookers and take shortcuts when you need to ground beef, like a lean ground beef, a pasta sauce jarred from the store with the fewest ingredients possible and whole grain pasta or high fiber pasta and you have a great meal that you can throw together in literally 15 minutes. There are so many shortcuts and I think people get intimidated by all the Recipes they see either online or in magazines. I don't have time for that.

I don't have time. Yeah. And it's like, well that's, it's okay. Like this is a, the life we're leading right now.

The society that we have is not conducive to spending hours cooking.

So we need to sit down and figure out ways to make it possible for you by finding shortcuts, things that maybe you haven't thought about that you're like, oh, you know what, I can do that. So it's really about batch cooking.

I don't like to spend hours prepping, but if you're like chopping vegetables, chop it up for the week so that you just have some grab and go stuff. Same with fruits that are easy like cantaloupes and pineapples. Things that'll keep once it's chopped up and washed.

And yeah, utilizing the shortcuts of the pre washed veggies. Pre chopped veggies, frozen, frozen fruits and vegetables and rotisserie chickens.

Like there are, there are so many ways that you can make it possible.

Kristina: 00:33:11

A little bit more pre planning, pre thinking, you know, know that, oh, for the week of lunches I need this many vegetables or whatever. Right. And then just keep.

Christine: 00:33:19

Yeah.

Kristina: 00:33:19

Like you said, pre, do it or batch it.

Herb: 00:33:21

And also you can find organics now and better whole foods in, in the freezer section as well because you know, so many people are seeking those now that it's becoming, that it's becoming more, more out there because the, the stores know, hey, more people are looking for this. So finding the organic stuff, you, you can start to taste the flavor.

I actually grow some of my own vegetables now and once I started doing that, it's like buying, buying like just the store bought regular stuff that I always used to eat. It's like so bland and tasteless and the organic is a little bit better.

But growing yourself, it's like, oh, this is what food's supposed to taste like that we've forgotten. So. So yeah, that's a little more time consuming. But you know, and I don't do a lot of it. Just, just here and there a little bit.

Christine: 00:34:10

Yeah. Just dabble.

Herb: 00:34:11

Yeah, well, stuff that's gonna last. So I've got, I've still got a bunch of carrots out in, in the ground because I. You can pull them out all winter and keep going for them.

Christine: 00:34:19

Oh, I wish our ground is frozen solid.

Herb: 00:34:22

Yeah, well, I, I have had to go out with screwdrivers and break up the eyes to pull the carrots out. But you do have to make sure they're out before the spring because if they start growing again, they get really rubbery.

Christine: 00:34:33

Yeah. Not nice.

Herb: 00:34:34

So I've got like another month or two before I have to finish pulling all my carrots out of the ground. But you know, those carrots just taste so much better. And again, I just get to leave them out there. I don't have to go shopping for them.

When I want carrots, I just go out in my backyard into my garden box and pull a few.

Christine: 00:34:51

So, yeah. Oh, it's so lovely.

Herb: 00:34:53

We've done that with cucumbers, peas or like the snap peas that you were talking about. And it's also just really fun out in the summertime to just go out and be able to pick a warm one. And in just like right off the bush is like. Yeah.

So it's amazing again, once you get away from the sugar, it's amazing how sweet vegetables actually can be.

Christine: 00:35:18

Oh, it's so true. And how you can utilize like for adding sweetness to combat the, the acidity of like tomatoes and pasta sauces.

You can grate some carrot because there's the natural or the fructose in carrots, but you're also getting the fiber that goes along with that. So you're not just dumping white sugar into it.

You're using the naturally fructose from the vegetables to add to combat that acidity to make it a more pleasant experience. But you're also adding hidden veggies into there. Just using sweet, natural sweetnesses is fantastic.

Kristina: 00:35:56

All right, so last question I think here is how do you get your kids involved? Because yes, we're looking out for the moms, we're looking out for the nutrition.

But like you said, the kids have to get the messages and they also have to understand where this is coming. So how do you get the kids involved? How much do you let them either help in the kitchen or plan the food or whatever, whatever.

Christine: 00:36:16

This is one, it is such an important thing because I have so many moms come and say, well, it's all on me. It's all meal planning, the cooking, it's all on me. I'm like, why? Why is it all on you? It doesn't need to be.

Especially with the parents and families I work with. Their kids are school aged. I'm not talking about like toddlers or babies.

But you need to get them involved because of course it's going to take time to teach them and show them what to do. But once they can do that task that's another thing off of your plate that they can now do. And it's a skill that they've learned.

So I always, like assign age appropriate tasks. So for younger kids, my 6 year old right now, she's really big into chopping.

So first we have a lot of salads because she just loves to chop vegetables. She has the kids safe knives. And she just goes to town with cucumbers and tomatoes and the spinach and lettuce. And she loves to make these salads.

I mean, they're turned out a little bit wet and kind of soupy, but that's okay in there. And she loves to help with that. My oldest, she is really getting into baking. She loves to help me bake, like banana breads and cookies.

The one thing that they've also been helping with recently is taste testing. Okay.

So, I mean, we don't have time for it all the time, but when we're in the kitchen together and we're making dinner and I say, oh, you know, we're gonna eat soon, Everybody, like, try. Last night I made a ramen soup and I was like, okay, try this. What do you think? Does it need more salt? Does it need more pepper?

Like, what do you think of the flavors? And they're like, they love to add their opinion. Oh, no, that's great, mom. No, I think it needs more onion. Oh, I think it needs more salt.

And they start to really think, and that's like, oh, can I try it again? And especially with what I made last night, if I know, if I didn't have them, number one, they were helping make it, stirring it.

I watched them like a hawk with the stove and the hot stove.

Kristina: 00:38:24

Oh, yeah.

Christine: 00:38:25

But I feel confident that they know what they're doing with supervision. And I know this is something they would not have tasted or tried if they hadn't been helping make it.

And they feel that pride that, yeah, I helped help to make this.

Kristina: 00:38:44

That's a great hack. Get them involved because then they're more willing to try. They're not just being given something brand new.

It's like, oh, wait, help me out with this. Yeah, I love it.

Herb: 00:38:53

And I, I. What I like is, is you're letting your six year old play with knives and you're letting your little one a little bit older play with fire.

And you play with the knives and you're playing with the fire. You're having fun. You're touching the food.

We've had people talk about playing with your food and how that actually helps you get used to the energies of the food and then playing with it and then tasting it and then eventually eating it. So, you know, all of that, all of that just kind of works together. So. Yeah, let it. Letting 6 year olds play with sharp objects.

And then the other ones.

Christine: 00:39:23

These are plastic knives. These are.

Kristina: 00:39:25

Watches are like a hawk.

Christine: 00:39:26

I know. These are plastic knives I found on Amazon.

Herb: 00:39:30

So.

Christine: 00:39:30

No, no chopped off fingers, right? Yeah. And it's great to see them see, they have. They see the meal at the end, but they also see what it was that made that meal.

So the, the raw chicken. Like, I know there's so many kids out there, they've never seen raw meat. They don't know how to handle raw meat.

It's like, you can't eat the raw meat. It'll make you sick. You have to wash your hands. But they only see it cooked.

Kristina: 00:39:57

Yeah.

Christine: 00:39:57

They don't see the in between part where it's actually happening. It becomes familiar. Then it's like, this isn't just a strange food that they see at mealtime.

It's like, oh, I've seen how it has transformed through the whole process and I feel a little bit more comfortable with it.

And even when they're sitting at the counter, if they're doing homework or they're reading and I'm chopping up carrots or peppers, they're always like, can I, can I have a carrot? Can I have a pepper? It's not, go eat your pepper, Go eat your vegetables.

They're asking for it because they're watching it happen and they're being involved and they're like, oh, I want to try some of that. Can I try some of that?

And if they're not seeing what's going on and watching you make make or being involved in making, then they're really missing out on some valuable life skills and learning. Yeah.

Herb: 00:40:52

So now, now we also are homeschool coaches. And so for the homeschooling aspect of it, you also get your chemistry in there. It's like you get to see how things change.

You get your mathematics in there, you get your fractions, you get your additions, you get, you get along with the chemistry is like, okay, what do I need to add? Does this need more salt? And they get to see how adding a little bit makes a big change.

So there are so many learning opportunities in that as well as just the, the nutritional aspect of it. You're. You are teaching your children valuable life skills and, and working together.

I mean, there's so much good stuff just that happens in the kitchen. It's amazing hearing you talk about it like that.

Christine: 00:41:35

Yeah, no, it's special. And not only are you teaching them these skills, but you're making these beautiful memories and that is so priceless.

Like my kids standing at the counter now, like making salad or their version of salad, or taste testing and getting excited, or, you know, mixing up some banana bread and just having a chat while we do it.

Herb: 00:42:01

And in the back of your mind thinking, ooh, there's one less thing I'm gonna have to do by myself all of the time. It's like, exactly. I get a little more free time here because they're gonna be taking over that.

Christine: 00:42:11

I'm like, you make the salad, that's one less thing I have to do. My six year old now can make salad. She knows how to do it, so I don't have to do that. I can take care of the main meal and she does the side bit.

Even getting them involved in making school lunches and snacks is so important to give them that little free reign and independence and making choices while you're there watching and making some, some suggestions when things aren't quite going to plan. It's like, oh, this looks like a good snack. It looks like a lot of things you like, but how's it going to make you feel?

Do you think you'll be satisfied after eating this or do you think you need to add something else in there? What is this missing? If I'm thinking about my main food groups? What is there something that's not in here that should be. Yeah. And just love it. Yeah.

Kristina: 00:43:11

Questions. Exactly. The thinking, the pro, the thought provoking.

Herb: 00:43:14

It might take a couple of years to get this all settled in, but after a couple of years, you're gonna get six or seven years where you don't have to do it all of the time.

Christine: 00:43:25

Raising these kids that will go off to college, university and be like, I can make a meal, I can feed myself.

Kristina: 00:43:33

Yeah.

Christine: 00:43:33

I don't need to rely on going out to eat or cafeteria. Like, I can, I can do this myself.

Kristina: 00:43:41

Yep, absolutely.

Herb: 00:43:43

Get a crock pot in the dorm room and.

Kristina: 00:43:45

Exactly.

Christine: 00:43:45

On a hot plate.

Kristina: 00:43:47

Oh, yeah, we, we did some of that kind of stuff, didn't we? Well, Christine, this has been an amazing, amazing conversation.

I love all the tips that you've given the audience and the just the genuine, you know, heartfelt like, you know, let's get our kids involved and make sure that you're taking care of you, taking care of them, being good role models. Thank you so very Very much. Would you tell our audience how to get a hold of you? If they're like, oh, wait a minute, I need to know more.

I need Christine to help me out here. Let them know how to find you and where they can get a hold of you.

Christine: 00:44:17

All right, well, I'm very active on Instagram right now, which is apropel nutrition coaching. They can check out my website, which is www.propelnutritioncoaching.com, or you can even send me an email, propelnutritioncoachingmail.com perfect.

Kristina: 00:44:34

And of course, all of that is down in the show notes, so don't worry about that. You can also go down there and click on it.

Is there anything that we haven't touched on that you were like, oh, I really want to make sure I mention this today.

Christine: 00:44:46

You know what? We covered so much.

Kristina: 00:44:47

We did.

Christine: 00:44:48

And I really feel like we hit on all of these main topics. And there was one thing at the end when you said it may take a couple of years for this to happen and to get some time back. And it will.

It takes time and we have to be okay with it not being an immediate gratification, immediate reward. This is a slow burner. It will take time to reap the rewards. But when you do, it's going to be so good.

Kristina: 00:45:17

So good, excellent. And those are wonderful words. Thank you for being on the show today.

Thank you for being you and making sure that our families and our children are learning to grow up healthy, happy and successful.

Herb: 00:45:30

And thank you for being here. Thank you for not just talking about the problem and say, hey, look at all these problems. Someone's got to solve it.

You're actually out there working on it. You're doing your part and you're making a change in the world. And we need more people like that.

We need more heroes out there who went out and fought the battle and came home to share the reward. So thank you for being here and thank you for doing what you do.

Christine: 00:45:51

Thank you for doing what you guys do.

This is so important and raising these families and these kids that are the next generation to have these skills and knowledge, growing up to be confident adults, to raise another generation of confident adults is as much as we can ask for.

Kristina: 00:46:09

Awesome. Thank you so much.

All right, audience, as we're wrapping up, as always, please make sure that you share share our show or share this show Share a show with a family who might find it useful for them.

Also, a like and review go a long way for those algorithms so that our show can be out there and find more people and give more help to all those families out there that we care so much about. So until next time. Bye for now.

Herb: 00:46:33

Bye for now.