Understand Your Child’s Eating Style To Resolve Picky Eating

Episode Transcript

Dr. Nicole Beurkens: 

Hi everyone, welcome to the show, I am Dr. Nicole, and on today’s episode, we’re going to talk about raising kids who are empowered to be healthy in many ways, including the ways that they eat. We’re going to delve into a unique way of thinking about eating styles in kids, and why it’s important to understand each child’s specific needs around eating, including how things like their personality and activity level and much more play a role in that. Helping kids be healthier eaters goes way beyond just focusing on what they will or won’t eat. So to share her experiences as a mom and a nutritionist around these issues with kids, I’ve invited Mary Voogt on the show today. Let me tell you a little bit about her. 

She is a Nutritional Therapy Practitioner, feeding expert, wife, and a homeschooling mom to four used to be selective eaters. She is the founder of Just Take a Bite and creator of The Mouth Mind Movement Minerals Method to get kids to say “Mmm!” to nourishing food everyday. She uses a combination of nutritional therapy, eating styles profiling, EFT and hair tissue mineral analysis to assess kids and get to the root cause of feeding challenges and create a personalized plan to overcome them. She blogs about her passion for nourishing food and empowering kids to take ownership of their health. And when she’s not in the kitchen, teaching her kids or working with clients, Mary enjoys reading, walking, yoga and spending time with her family on their 10 acre hobby farm and orchard, which is not that far away from where I live. Mary is fairly local to me, so that’s a wonderful thing to have her in the area. Mary it’s so great to have you today, welcome!

Mary Voogt:

Thank you, glad to be here.

Dr. Nicole Beurkens: 

So we’re going to delve into all things eating styles. You’ve got this really unique way of profiling kids and thinking about that, but let’s start with the big picture of how you even got into this world of picky eating and feeding challenges to begin with, because this wasn’t something that you grew up thinking that you were going to do, right? 

Mary Voogt: 

Right. So let me start with a little story. A few days ago, my 6 year old came to me after dinner with a big smile on her face, and she declared: “Mom, dinner was awesome!” She had just cleared her plate with seconds of short ribs, buttered rice and roasted Brussel sprouts. Yes, Brussel sprouts. No meal time drama, no interference from me, just a happy kid with a belly full of nourishing food. And that sounds like every parent’s dream, right? That’s pretty much my reality these days, but it definitely did not start that way. So when the same child, my daughter — she’s six now, when she was little, she was basically born with feeding issues. So from day one, she had latching issues, food reactions, blood in her stool, she had a tongue tie, she had it clipped twice, kind of failure to thrive. She was a daily stress for both of us. I was in tears almost daily, she cried daily, just trying to get her to eat. Around 9 months, we went on vacation, and I still say that that was the worst week of my life because we were away from home, and she started reacting to even more food. Everything. She wouldn’t nurse, she wouldn’t eat, it was left and right. I was terrified, like what do I do? I took her to the doctor and he just looked at her and said “She looks fine to me”, and pushed us out the door. So I was kind of on my own. She didn’t gain weight for at least a year, she could go all day without a diaper change, she was dehydrated. So around one year old, it was our breaking point. I was like, either something needs to turn around, or I need to take you to the hospital because I can’t keep doing this. 

As a last ditch effort, I made her a smoothie. And it’s like the grossest smoothie I had ever made, but she hardly ate any foods that she could eat. It was squash, desiccated liver, olive oil, maple syrup and water, I think. I said a prayer and thought maybe she’ll get a few sips down. To my amazement, she drank the whole thing. And it was this aha moment of “We can do this. I can get her nourished.” I started with some of the smoothies and nourishing drinks, just with the foods that she could eat. It was often one step forward, two steps back. It was a daily struggle for years. Any time she had a reaction, we were back to square one of not eating. She didn’t reach 30 pounds until she was 5 years old. We actually had a little celebration at home, “You reached 30 pounds!”. We don’t like to focus on weight, but it was a big milestone for her, so it was a long journey, but now she is 6 and a half, she weighs over 40 pounds, she is an amazing eater, she loves to help in the kitchen. There are some meals where she even out-eats me, so it turned around. This is just one example, this is just one of my kids. I actually have four kids, and they all had different feeding challenges, and they were all different. Every time I went through a challenge with one of them, I thought, “Okay, I got this, I can do this!”, and then the next kid would surprise me. “Nope, here’s something new!”, so I’ve kind of been through the whole gamut of everything with my kids. I lived through it and I’ve worked with other parents too. It made me want to bridge this gap for parents between these feeding challenges and thriving, carefree kids. So that’s kind of what led me to become a Nutritional Therapy Practitioner, so I can help moms do that.  

Dr. Nicole Beurkens: 

It’s so great, your story. I think so many of our listeners can relate to that, the emotions of that, right? Of feeling like you can’t feed your kid, feeling like your child is not growing, not being nourished and not being dismissed when you bring them in to have them looked at and feeling really alone, and you’re trying to figure that out. And it is scary. Those of you who are listening who have had a child who either has a ton of reactions to foods and has very scary experiences around food because of that or just can’t or won’t eat for a variety of reasons, it is scary. There is a lot of anxiety, as you said, on the part of the child as well as the parents. I’ve always said one of the things about feeding issues that really makes them dominate our lives is we feed kids all day long. Feeding is something, every 24 hours, we’re back at it multiple times, especially with young kids, and so when there are challenges around that, it really can take over a family’s life, can’t it?

Mary Voogt: 

Yeah, for sure. I didn’t even realize until much later, the emotional toll that I think it took on both of us, that it even — to the extent that when my next child was born, he had feeding issues from day one, and I feel like some of it was almost because of that. When I was pregnant, these fears in my mind of what if it happens again, what if it happens again? And to have that come true, it was like, “Ugh.”

Dr. Nicole Beurkens: 

Yeah, I think there is very much a component of PTSD for parents around this in a lot of ways, including subsequent kids. So we’ve done several episodes of the show around different aspects of feeding challenges and feeding issue, but what I love about your approach, first of all, you pull a lot of pieces into your thinking about what’s going on with a kid when there are eating challenges, but you also have these really unique eating styles that you categorize kids in, and I always find it so interesting, and I read posts that you do even around your own kids or kids that you work with. So I’d love for you to share what those eating styles are. Let’s describe each of them. 

Mary Voogt: 

Yeah. So I had this Mouth Mind Movement Minerals Method and the Mouth component is, I help parents figure out if the mouth is functioning, and send them to somebody if it’s not, because if that’s not working, you can’t eat. Then there’s the mindset, and this I feel like is a component that so many people miss. They jump right to the food, they’re like “Well, they need nutrients. Let’s get to the food.” That’s the last part. So I love to focus on this mindset, and as I observe my own kids and observe other kids that I was working with, I saw they started to fall into these kinds of categories and all these similarities of how they eat. So I came up with these 4 eating styles, and I kind of call it your food language, kind of like your love language. Kind of how your child speaks to their food. So the first one is the Intuitive Eater, and I call this the true picky eater. This is the one you might have seen me highlighting lately. This is my 6 year old, the one that had the biggest feeding challenges. They are slow, emotional and connected. So this is your kid that if they’re stressed or worried or scared or upset in any way, they can’t eat. And they need that connection, they need to be with mom and dad or family. So many things can impact how they eat or if they’ll even eat. The second one is the Analytical Eater, and this is a very logical child. They’re still structured and bold. Everything is kind of black and white, either I love it or I hate it. They tend to like the same foods all the time. This is my routine. They’re very structured, very routined, and I’ll eat the same food all the time. There’s no black and white there. It’s just yes and no. Then there’s the Adventurous Eater, and this child is happy, animated and curious. My oldest and my youngest are actually Adventurous Eaters. I always say this is usually the easiest child to get to eat certain foods, they love to try new things, but it’s hard to get them to focus on eating. This is the kid that is so curious and just loves doing things… 

Dr. Nicole Beurkens: 

All over the place!

Mary Voogt: 

Yes! So my oldest, she’s 13, and I still go “Okay. Let’s stay here and eat. Finish the meal”, my 3 years old is the same. Two bites, and then “I want to play”, you know, because eating is boring. They love food, but eating is just too boring. Then the last one is the Active Eater. This kid is fast, loud and intense. They are just go, go, go, everything is full-on. They might like spicy foods or anything they can eat super quickly. This is a kid that’s going to inhale their food and not chew, and they might have stomach aches because of it, but they’re just go, go, high intensity.  

 Dr. Nicole Beurkens: 

Everything is like 0-100, super big, super — yeah. 

Mary Voogt: 

Yes. So these are the four styles, and I have a little quiz on my site that you can take. It’s just a few multiple choice questions, and you can figure out your child’s eating style. It’s justtakeabite.com/eatingstylesquiz, and it’s just neat to kind of pinpoint where your child falls, and it gives you that new perspective on — you kind of put yourself in their shoes. So when you see things the way they see them, it just makes sense, instead of being like “Well, I think you should eat spinach, it’s good for you.” In their eyes, it might be “That’s really slimy” or “I can’t get that down my throat” or “That scares me” or whatever. When you can understand that, you’re just so much more sympathetic. That changes the way you do things. I always say, with my 6 year old, when she was little, I say had I known that she was an Intuitive Eater, it wouldn’t have changed the fact that she had feeding challenges, but it definitely would have changed my mindset, how I approached it, how I handled it. It could have saved us both a lot of stress. 

Dr. Nicole Beurkens: 

Absolutely. And I love what you’re saying about understanding those categories, or which style they fall into. It does help us to take their perspective, because as the parent, we may have a very different style. We tend to, in all things with our kids, make the mistake of assuming that our perception of things is the same way that they’re perceiving things, and they can be really different from us. But I also really love how you incorporate, in thinking about those styles, things beyond just what happens at the table or with food. Like you said with the Intuitive Eater. These are kids who are easily overwhelmed by big feelings. These are kids who what is going on in the background of their minds and their life shows up to the table with them and impacts their eating. And I think we don’t pay enough attention to that. We tend to just divide kids into “You’re a good eater” or “You’re a picky eater” or even another category, maybe, “You have a feeding disorder”, which is like a really big picky eater. And we don’t think about — so we tend to just focus on what’s going on with the eating or the food preferences. And I really love what you’re saying, like with the Active Eater. These are kids who are go, go, go, these are high intensity kids. How does that personality style, that drive to a lot of intensity and activity, how does that show up at the table with them, right? These Adventurous Eaters who have all kinds of curious ideas and things going on in their head that have nothing to do with food or dinner, but how does that show up at the table? And I think that’s something that really, a lot of parents can relate to as they’re thinking about it like “Oh, yeah. So maybe it isn’t just about whatever I’ve prepared for lunch.” There are a lot of other things showing up to the table with our kids that we need to be thinking about. 

Mary Voogt:

Absolutely. I mean if before a meal, I’ve had a little bit of 1 on 1 time with my Intuitive Eater and she feels a connection with me and she’s calm, it doesn’t matter what I’m serving, she’s probably going to eat okay, because if she’s been fighting with her brother and haven’t had attention, and even if I make her favorite food, she might not eat it. Then as a parent, your initial — “But that’s your favorite food. You love it. You always eat that”, but it’s not about the food. That’s why I say I do food last because it’s often not even about the food at all. 

Dr. Nicole Beurkens: 

You’re talking about that relationship component that’s so important for all kids, but especially what you said about if I really just spend a little bit of 1 on 1 time with her  — which maybe even could be in the context of cooking or preparing something, right? You’re doing your meal prep, she’s there with you, that relational connection soothes her nervous system so that she can come to the table feeling like she can handle whatever is going to be there, as compared to a kid who comes all stressed out or overwhelmed or dysregulated, the food thing is not going to go so well. Especially not if it’s something new, right? 

Mary Voogt: 

Absolutely. Yesterday, before dinner, we were outside, playing for a little bit, so my daughter was having a lot of fun. And then it was time to come in and eat, and we had soup for dinner, and she is kind of hit and miss with soup. Intuitive eaters don’t always like things mixed, they can be picky about textures. And she scarfed down her bowl of soup and she went and got seconds. She was the only one that got seconds. I think a lot of it relates to that we were outside, enjoying the sun, having fun together. There was no stress before the meal. No just getting home from something or “You need to pick up your toys” or “Get this done”. It was just having fun, and it made such a world of difference. She was so happy at dinner and ate so well. 

Dr. Nicole Beurkens: 

That’s so great, and I’m thinking that probably applies, as we think about practically how we can use some things to help these different kinds of kids, I’m thinking for an active kid too, probably spending a bunch of time outside, running around before a meal, and just burning some of that energy off and getting that stimulation is probably helpful to a kid like that too, as they come to the dinner table. 

Mary Voogt:

Absolutely. Yesterday, before lunch, we took a walk up the street, and my Active Eater, my 10 year old, he was pulling the wagon with his siblings, and he got to walk next to me and talk with me, and we got some good exercise, and then when we came to lunch, he was in a great mood, and he still scarfed down his food like usual, but in a happy way. 

Dr. Nicole Beurkens: 

Yeah. Kind of get some of that regulation in before coming to the table. How about for the Adventurous — so we’ve touched on that, that sort of for the Intuitive Eater, some of that 1 on 1, or that just being intentional about soothing relational connection before coming to the table, that’s helpful for our active eaters, giving them some sensory input, some regulatory kind of physical activity. How about for the Adventurous Eaters who you said are sort of the “My mind is everywhere and I am thinking about all these things, and now like oh, food!”, what’s a tip or a tool for those kinds of kiddos? 

Mary Voogt:

So one thing you can do before a meal is to let them be exploring and stuff. So give them that time to maybe do something new, get out a new toy, try a little experiment with something, let them discover something so they’ve kind of fed that curiosity. The other thing that both of my Adventurous Eaters love is reading at a meal. I know some people aren’t always a fan of distracted eating, but that’s enough for them to keep their mind focused at the table, because otherwise, they’re gone. So if I read them a book, they will happily eat. They’re not picky or anything, they’ll happily eat. It just keeps them at the table long enough to eat. 

Dr. Nicole Beurkens:

Got it. Great tip. And then which one am I missing? Intuitive, Active, Adventurous… 

Mary Voogt:

The Analytical. 

Dr. Nicole Beurkens:

Analytical. Alright, tell us a tip or something for our Analytical friends.

Mary Voogt:

This one is a little trickier for me because none of my kids are Analytical, but I am. 

Dr. Nicole Beurkens:

Self analysis, right? 

Mary Voogt:

Yes! So that’s what’s been tricky with me feeding my kids before I understood that, it’s because I eat so differently from all of them, but I’m the one that fed them. So when I learned that, I was like, “Oh, none of them eat the way I do”. So for them, they have a challenge with trying new things, stepping outside of their comfort zone, so a good thing to do is, one: To keep their routine. They’re very structured and routine. So don’t be like oh we’re going to eat lunch at 11 today, then we’re going to eat lunch at 1 o’clock tomorrow, in the spur of the moment, sporadic stuff. That can be very stressful. Another thing that you can try is actually letting them eat alone. They prefer the really calm, still, quiet. It helps them relax. For me, I get up early in the morning so that I can eat breakfast alone. It’s the only meal of the day that I truly get to relax, I don’t have four kids hollering and stuff. So they really like that peace and quiet. So if you can either make your eating environment calmer, or sometimes let them even eat alone, they might enjoy that. Then if you’re going to try new foods, keep everything the same, except for maybe one thing, so it’s not this overwhelming… 

Dr. Nicole Beurkens:

That makes perfect sense. And I’m thinking the cafeteria environment in a school is probably an analytical eater’s worst nightmare. Right. I mean it is for all kids, I’m just so not a proponent of kids being forced to eat in the cafeteria for a lot of reasons, but as you were describing that, it’s like “Oh, that makes sense”, because really, as I’m hearing you talk about these 4 different styles, what we’re really talking about is how to help a child regulate their unique nervous system so that they come to the experience of eating in a place where they can actually be open to the food, to the eating experience, and of course that is going to support the physiology of eating too in terms of not only how they’re eating it, but also their body’s ability to make use of the food. 

Mary Voogt:

Absolutely. You were talking about the cafeteria, and I was just thinking of myself, when I am at a party or a restaurant. I can’t eat right. I eat, but I can’t feel fullness or hunger. My stomach is just tensed up, and I can’t. I know I’m not digesting my food because there is no.. My body just can’t relax in that setting. Yeah, it impacts the whole rest of the process. 

Dr. Nicole Beurkens:

Totally. So you’ve really come to some unique understandings of this through your experience with your own 4 kids, I mean talk about trial by fire, right? For any of us, you have kids, you have no idea what that’s going to be like. We like to think we know, but then actually, we discover that we don’t, and they throw us challenges that we have to problem-solve and figure out, and you’ve done such a beautiful job with that. I’m curious then for you to talk a little bit about — did your own childhood experience set you up for understanding these things? Is the way that you are thinking about and raising your children similar to how you were raised? Or is it quite different from your growing up experience?

Mary Voogt:

Yeah, so actually, it’s like the complete opposite. So my childhood was riddled with fear and anxiety. When I was very young, I had digestive issues, I had an overactive bladder that caused me a lot of anxiety, I had ear infections every year, on antibiotics. I’m sure my gut health was a disaster. And over time, these issues turned into anxiety, but I felt like I had no voice to talk about them. I kind of suffered in silence, whenever I would say something like, we’re on a car trip and I had to use the bathroom, I had this communal “Ugh, Mary has to use the bathroom.” I was just trying to speak up and have my needs met and everybody was mad at me, or that’s how it felt, like I’m wrong for feeling this way, or my body doing these things. So over time, I just kind of stopped speaking up, I felt like I had no voice, and I had no power, if you will. Like my body was kind of broken. And over time, that turned into anxiety, and as I got a little bit older, disordered eating, and a little older, it turned into Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, and even into adulthood, even when I had my first couple of kids, I was still dealing with some of these psychological issues and a lot of the physical issues as well that I carried throughout my life. When I was 8 years old, my mom had a nervous breakdown and she was an inpatient in a mental health facility. So when she came back home, it kind of made it even worse that I felt like I couldn’t be a burden to her. So beyond that, when these other things started compounding, I felt like I couldn’t speak up about it. Like I didn’t want to add stress to her and make it worse again. So growing up, I was the opposite of an empowered child. I felt like I had no voice, and I just shut down. I was so quiet that even kids in school would, literally to my face, say “Why don’t you ever talk.” And I didn’t even have an answer, I couldn’t even speak. 

So now, having my own kids and seeing some of their health issues and working so hard to overcome them, it’s like the complete opposite. I think part of that is because of how I grew up. I didn’t want my kids to ever experience that. I wanted them to have that carefree childhood that I longed for but I didn’t have. So that has kind of become my mission, to empower kids to speak up and have that voice, that they can feel good, that they can feel like healthy kids and they don’t have to have all these childhood diseases that there are these days. That doesn’t have to be their destiny. And even if their parents don’t get it all, I want kids to be empowered because that’s just so important for them to start that at an early age. 

 Dr. Nicole Beurkens:

Thank you for sharing that. I think so often, our personal stories are so connected with the work that we end up doing, and your story is a really beautiful example of that. That commitment that you have to reflect on your growing up years and what that experience was like in saying “I want this to be different for my kids”, but even more broadly now, as a professional mission, “I want this to be different for all kids”. I’m curious, it sounds like to me then, the nutrition piece of things, the healthy eating, the knowledge or awareness of how food impacts brain function, physical, it doesn’t sound like that was something that you grew up having embedded in you. That’s something that you’ve discovered and learned then, as you’ve done your own healing work in working with your kids, right? 

Mary Voogt:

Absolutely, yeah. I guess that even when I had my first child, I still didn’t understand anything about nutrition, and we went through fertility treatment. My body was just so dysfunctional at that point. It wasn’t until I was trying to get pregnant a second time, and we went through 7 rounds of IVF, and I was like “There has to be something different because this can’t be all there is”, but the doctors don’t give you anything else. I started searching and that kind of catapulted things.   

Dr. Nicole Beurkens:

I so appreciate you sharing that because I think so many of the moms listening can relate to that, and I think the sharing of our stories, there’s power in that. there’s power in the sharing, in giving that story a voice. But there’s also power in the community around that, right? Like so many moms who are listening right now going “Man, I feel that deeply. That was my story. Boy, I had those fertility issues.” And to open people’s awareness to maybe some options or some ideas that they weren’t aware of before, I think it’s such a powerful mission. So thank you for being open about that. I think that’s important. 

Mary Voogt: 

Yeah, and I do want to share with people — if people are struggling with fertility. Like I said, from the time I was 13, cycles were not normal, and I was diagnosed at some point with a form of PCOS, and like I said, we did 7 rounds of IVF for our first two kids, but through psychological work and physical work, our last two were conceived naturally. 

Dr. Nicole Beurkens:

That’s awesome. What a testament to that, that’s great. I want to just spend a few minutes here talking about the Minerals piece of this, because I think that is so important and so often overlooked.

We can do an entire episode just on the mineral components of eating, but again, in the vein of just raising people’s awareness, you talked about the mouth piece of making sure that the child’s oral structure is working properly. Do we have a tongue tie, is the oral motor strength where it needs to be, all of that. Then we really spend a good amount of time talking about the mindset and understanding those styles, but let’s just touch on the minerals piece. How did it first come on your radar? And probably it was with your own kids, the mineral connection with that. 

Mary Voogt:

So it was actually when my Intuitive Eater was a year old, and she was nursing. So whatever, she couldn’t eat, I couldn’t eat. And I was like, I know we’re both so malnourished, I was having heart palpitations everyday from anxiety. I was just a mess. I was like I need something, and I had heard about a practitioner, and NTP that does Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis, and so I went to her and I was like “We need help.” So I did a hair test on myself, and she had some great pointers. Simple things that I could do because I couldn’t even take supplements or anything because my daughter reacted to everything. 

Dr. Nicole Beurkens:

Let’s pause just for a second. For people who aren’t familiar, they might be thinking “Okay, wait a second. Trying to process: You did a hair test for minerals.” Let’s just let people know real quick what that is, why it is that we use hair analysis for minerals in particular.

Mary Voogt:

Yeah, you take a little hair sample. The minerals in your hair, it’s like looking at a three month window of what’s going on in your body, whereas blood is in that moment. Your body will do anything it can to keep blood levels stable, that’s like life or death. So you can have normal blood work, but if you look at the hair, that shows what’s going on at a cellular, tissue level and really  gives you a good picture of minerals and heavy metals. 

Dr. Nicole Beurkens:

Yeah, so when we’re talking about minerals, just for those of you — to make sure we’re all up to speed, we’re talking about things like magnesium, like zinc, like iron. Minerals, things that are found in the earth that are parts of our foods that we need that really play an incredibly important role in so many bodily functions, but also so many brain functions. So I just thought that was worth touching on, people going “Wait a second. What do you mean? You tested your hair to find out something?” Because a lot of people are unaware of that, right? So you did the hair test, you discovered some targets for yourself.

Mary Voogt:

Yeah, I was in extreme slow oxidation state. My tissue calcium was off the chart. Calcium is what you use to harden concrete. It literally turns your body to concrete. I was so slowed down. My adrenals were so worn down. So then we could target things and try to help me get back in balance. And it was hard because like I said, we didn’t know what we could do, but there were some key things that really made a difference, and then a couple of years later when my daughter was — maybe it wasn’t even a year later. When she was two, I tested her and I tested myself, and I tested my older daughter. It was just like, I knew we were all out of balance. I knew there were things going on, so I started this journey of doing it. I just kind of fell in love with HTMA and knew that as soon as I became a practitioner myself, that I wanted to be able to do that and offer that to parents because it gives such an in-depth — especially for kids, because it’s hard to assess them. I assess based on symptoms a lot of times, but it’s hard to get kids, especially little kids to really tell you what’s going on. So to have this concrete data, but you’re not drawing blood or anything, it just gives you such a good picture of what’s going on. 

Dr. Nicole Beurkens:

And the mineral stuff is so important, especially if we’re talking about kids who do have some eating and feeding challenges, zinc and iron are so connected to that. So it really is important to understand what’s going on there, even from the standpoint of the role that these nutrients, that these minerals play in things like driving our appetites, allowing us to be aware when we’re hungry and not hungry. So I think that’s such an important piece that is often overlooked, and that’s why I love the work that you’re doing of bringing the knowledge and the tools from the biochemical, from the nutritional realm along with the strategies that we might use from a parenting — or how we perceive these things, because I think it’s really the connection of those two things that is powerful. When you and I talked previously, we were talking about hydration in kids, and this ties into the minerals piece, we were talking about how kids are so often dehydrated and may not even realize that, but the minerals play an important role with that too, right? You talked about when you have your kids drink water, you have a mix that you have them do to keep their electrolytes well-balanced, to help them really allow themselves to absorb the hydration, to really be well-hydrated, because sometimes kids can be drinking a lot of water, and their hydration status still isn’t good, right?

Mary Voogt:

Yeah. So there’s a big push these days for kids to drink water. I always have mixed emotions about kids toting water bottles about, because I love kids who one, listen to their own thirst, listen to their bodies and not force water down, but two, sometimes kids over-hydrate because they’re drinking plain water, and if you drink too much, it’s just going to flush your minerals out and kind of backfire. So I have a list that I give my clients of hydrating drinks, different options, and it can be as simple as a little squeeze of honey and a pinch of real salt added to your water. With my 10 year old the other day, I did that to him, because he drinks a lot of water, he’s an Active Eater, and he tends to guzzle water. And I was like, “You know, you’re drinking a lot of water.” But he said he’s always thirsty. So I put some honey and salt in his drink, we hadn’t done that in a little while and he was like “Whoa!” He took two sips and he was like “I’m not thirsty anymore!”

Dr. Nicole Beurkens:

Getting those electrolytes balanced is so critical, and giving the things that the body needs to actually allow the water in and to do what it needs to do. So I love that. When you told me that, I was like that’s worth mentioning because you’re right, sometimes kids are just thirsty, thirsty, thirsty, and it’s like “Well you’re drinking enough water.” Right, but is it getting absorbed? Is hydration actually happening, and do we have the right balance of sodium, of potassium, of all of those things that are needed to be able to make use of that? So I love that tip. Also, a lot of kids don’t want to drink plain water. So putting a little bit of honey, a little bit of salt, like jazzing it up a little bit, not only is nutritionally helpful for them, but also maybe easier for them to get it down too. 

Mary Voogt:

Yeah, I like to add just a little splash of some organic juice and then some salt, and most kids like the little flavor in their water, and I do too. I don’t blame them. I don’t like to drink plain water myself. I get hydrated, but just having that little bit of flavor, you’re not spiking blood sugar or anything, but just that little bit makes such a difference. 

 

Dr. Nicole Beurkens:

Absolutely. This has been such a great conversation. You’ve shared so many awesome insights and practical things along with your story. I want to make sure that people know where they can find out more about the work that you’re doing. You’ve got a ton of great resources on your blog, on social media, so tell us where we can find you. 

Mary Voogt:

Yeah, so my blog is justtakeabite.com, I’m on Facebook, Just Take a Bite and on Instagram @justtakeabite. So that’s most of my social media, and then on my site, I have a few freebies if you need help with a dairy-free diet, because I have kids with food allergies, so I have a lot of recipes for food allergies, I have a mouth function guide, actually, so helping parents assess mouth function, since that’s the first step. I love to help parents get that direction, if you will, to just take that first step before they even work with me. 

Dr. Nicole Beurkens:

Then you’ve got the Eating Styles Assessment too, give the link to that again. We’ll put all these in the show notes too, but for people who are listening and want to go there on their phone right now, what’s the link to the eating styles assessment?

Mary Voogt:

So that’s justtakeabite.com/eatingstylesquiz. 

Dr. Nicole Beurkens:

Perfect. I think that’s so great and I really encourage everybody to go and do that. Again, just to have the insight and perspective. Maybe you know, maybe you’ve been listening to the episode and sort of placing your kids in categories based on what Mary is talking about, but I think go take the quiz, see if you’re right. And then I’m sure in the results that you give for that, you give some additional insight into that too, which again, whether your kids are really picky or not, or having eating issues or not, I think it’s just great. Any insights that we can have to better understand what makes our kids tick, just allows us to better relate to them and better structure things in a way that’s helpful. So I hope everybody goes and takes it. 

Mary Voogt:

Yeah, and I wanted to add that it’s great to do it with your kids, because I guess that I love empowering kids, so my kids all know their eating style and they all understand what kinds of foods they like and why, and what makes them tick. And they think it’s the coolest thing, and they try to figure out other people’s eating styles too! 

Dr. Nicole Beurkens:

I love it, that’s great! And what a wonderful, empowering thing to share with them, right. To embrace and to understand, “Oh, this is how I operate”, and then as they get older, take more control of that. I think that’s wonderful. And you also do work with people virtually. People can work with you wherever they are, if they feel this approach is a fit and you want some more guidance, you can work with Mary virtually, as well. It’s great. Thank you. Thank you again for spending the time with us. It’s been such a great conversation. I really appreciate you being here. 

Mary Voogt:

Yes, thanks for having me.

Dr. Nicole Beurkens:

And thanks to all of you, as always for listening. We will catch you back here next week for our next episode of The Better Behavior Show.