Virginia Sole-Smith, author of the Eating Instinct and contributing editor for Parents Magazine is the author of both of our recommended reads for January!

The Eating Instinct:

Virginia Sole-Smith recently published her book, The Eating Instinct, where she talks about the focus on food in our society and how food often feels dangerous when it should feel safe. Virginia shares the story of her daughter learning to eat and how this helped her come to the realization that adults also struggle to feel safe around food. Virginia meets with different specialists, families, and parents to discuss how they feel around food and what their family mealtimes may look like. She also reviews why it is so hard for adults to feel “safe” around food in today’s society and how this focus has caused a fear of food. With the constant labels and focus on the bad parts of food, it is difficult for our bodies to identify what we want to eat and what we enjoy eating.

Jennifer Berry, owner, and Heidi Moreland, the clinical coordinator of the Thrive Tube Weaning Program, were both featured in Sole-Smith’s book discussing the importance of responsive feeding and building a healthy relationship with food. Throughout The Eating Instinct Sole-Smith discusses why it is crucial for adults to model a healthy relationship with food to their child and how focusing on the comfort within food can help raise a happy and healthy eater!

Parents Magazine: January 2019: Make Peace with Kid Food

Virginia Sole-Smith discusses why it is so important to shift the focus from restricting junk food to allowing your child to have “comfort foods”.  In this article, Sole-Smith looks at how the obsession over food in today’s society, specifically the nutrients in food, has an impact on our children’s relationship with food. With today’s diet culture the focus has shifted away from allowing children to enjoy their comfort foods and learning to love food to focusing on the amount of carbs in a serving of mac and cheese or the high amount of sugar in a cookie.

The founder of the Thrive by Spectrum Pediatrics Tube Weaning Program, Jennifer Berry, was also featured in this article. Jennifer discusses carrier foods and how carbs do provide an important amount of nutrition, but also provide a way to link preferred foods with new foods. Sole-Smith reviews how comfort food helps with family mealtimes, teaches moderation, and inspires adventurous eating. 
 

To learn more about Virginia Sole-Smith or read more of her blog posts, articles, or books, check out her website here!