By Kristin Feiler<\/p>\n
Contributing Columnist<\/p>\n
No matter how your family celebrates the holidays, this season is a wonderful chance to share meals and create memories.<\/p>\n
Blending my experience as a parent and as a registered dietitian at CHOC, now part of Rady Children\u2019s Health, I\u2019ve gathered insights that help bring ease and joy back to family mealtimes.<\/p>\n
The following ideas are meant to cultivate joy, connection and mindfulness around eating \u2013 all of which are core values of CHOC\u2019s Culinary Medicine program.<\/p>\n
I hope these suggestions help bring extra cheer to all during this special time of year.<\/p>\n
Fuel early for success<\/p>\n
Providing structured mealtimes that consist of balanced meals and snacks earlier in the day allows children to arrive at the special meal calm and nourished rather than overly hungry.<\/p>\n
Provide a quality protein, whole grain, healthy fats and a fruit or vegetable to support stable energy and mood.<\/p>\n
Support fussy eaters with familiarity and choice<\/p>\n
Include at least one familiar food your child already enjoys at the meal.\u202fOffer child-sized portions and let them decide whether to try something new. Encourage a \u201ctry-it bite\u201d that emphasizes curiosity instead of manners (\u201cLet\u2019s take a try-it bite together\u201d) rather than requiring a full serving.<\/p>\n
And, keep hydration top of mind.<\/p>\n
Encourage water instead of juice throughout the day, especially before large meals, to support digestion and prevent fatigue.\u202fIf your child is seeking flavor, try fruit-infused water.<\/p>\n
Rethink dessert dynamics<\/p>\n
Normalize dessert by offering it alongside the meal instead of as a reward afterward, which encourages self-regulation and positive food relationships.<\/p>\n
And practice mindful eating together.<\/p>\n
Teach kids to slow down and engage their senses. Ask: \u201cWhat colors and smells do you notice on your plate?\u201d Or play a \u201ctexture detective\u201d game: describe foods as crunchy, soft, smooth or chewy.<\/p>\n
Prioritize connection over perfection<\/p>\n
Make mealtime about togetherness, not control. Model curiosity instead of judgment: say, \u201cI wonder what\u2019s in this dish?\u201d not \u201cYou have to eat that.\u201d<\/p>\n
And cook and create together. Involve children in simple, age-appropriate kitchen tasks to increase buy-in and curiosity about new foods.<\/p>\n
Examples:<\/p>\n
Toddlers: rinse produce, mix batter or tear lettuce.<\/p>\n
School-age kids: measure ingredients, mash potatoes or spread toppings.<\/p>\n
Teens: help chop veggies, cook pasta or plate food.<\/p>\n
When kids help prepare dishes like homemade mashed potatoes, fruit salad or holiday muffins, they\u2019re more likely to taste them.<\/p>\n
Emphasize gratitude and joy<\/p>\n
Encourage families to make mealtimes about connection, conversation and appreciation, not perfection.<\/p>\n
Ask kids to share their favorite flavor or food memory from the day.<\/p>\n
Kristin Feiler, RDN, LDN and chef, is the culinary medicine dietician in the GI Integrative Health and Culinary Medicine department at Children\u2019s Hospital of Orange County, part of Rady Children\u2019s Health.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Kristin Feiler Contributing Columnist No matter how your family celebrates the holidays, this season is a wonderful…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":89305,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,165,164,7,36652,1570,100,611,77],"class_list":["post-89304","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-anaheim","tag-anaheim","tag-anaheim-headlines","tag-anaheim-news","tag-california","tag-choc","tag-health","tag-news","tag-orange-county","tag-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89304","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89304"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89304\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/89305"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89304"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89304"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89304"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}