No one wants to see the words “heavy metals” and “baby food” in the same sentence.  I totally get it, many of the headlines we’ve seen lately are alarming! There’s already so much to worry about and so much pressure with your baby. The last thing you want to worry about is something harmful lurking in their food. Let’s look at what the current research ACTUALLY says, beyond the exaggerated headlines. As a Registered Dietitian with a Master of Clinical Nutrition degree, and a kinda anxious mom, I never want parents to worry when they don’t need to! Baby Foods and Heavy Metals While I was r ..read more

Snack bars that look healthy aren’t always actually healthy. And ones that ARE healthy, don’t always taste good! But we all love the ease of throwing a pre-packaged food into a lunchbox or a backpack, right? In this post, I’ll review these bars: RXBAR Nature’s Bakery Fig Bars Yumi Bars GoMacro Kids Bars Bobo’s Oat Bars Skout Bars Dino Bars Happy Wolf Bars Cerebelly Smart Bars Related post: Looking for info on other bars? Check out this post to learn about Z Bar, Nutri-Grain, Clif Bar, Lara Bars, Chewy, and MadeGood bars. This post is part two — in my first post about snack bar nutrition I r ..read more

If you find yourself feeling guilty sitting in the drive-through line googling, “are chicken nuggets healthy?,” I want to offer you some good, solid, science-backed information. And a little bit of solace for the mom guilt.  No, I’m not about to tell you to go through the McDonald’s drive through 3x per week. Or to serve frozen chicken nuggets for every meal! But I’m also not going to make you feel bad for pressing the easy button when you NEED to feed your family. You simply don’t always have the option of whipping up a home-cooked meal your family is guaranteed to eat. It’s also just no ..read more

Snack bars seem healthier than cookies, but are they? At Mama Knows Nutrition, one of the most common questions that pops up is, “is snack x,y, or z healthy?” Today we’re looking at some of the popular snack bars you find at the grocery store. Are nature valley bars healthy? What about nutri-grain, Z bars, Clif bars, Chewy, Larabar, and Made Good bars? Our kids demand approximately 100 snacks per day. If you’re wondering if you’re choosing the ‘right’ snack foods, you’re in the right place. This post is part 1 of a series to evaluate kids snack bars. We will analyze the ingredients to see wha ..read more

The Trials and Tribulations of Mealtimes Do you ever feel like your kid is auditioning for a part in a comedy-drama during meal times? You’re not alone. Each of us, at some point, has faced the “you can’t make me eat that” standoff. We’ve tried to negotiate peace treaties with chicken nuggets, dangled the carrot of dessert to encourage just one more bite, and even attempted the art of distraction by handing them their iPad – all in the hope of keeping our kids at the table long enough just to simply try a bite of the dinner we spent the last hour making.  Feeding kids is a really tough gi ..read more

It would be amazing to be able to take a simple at-home food allergy test to discover what foods could be causing unwelcome symptoms. Unfortunately, it’s not that easy. Things get even trickier when you have to distinguish between food allergies and food intolerances. In this post you’ll learn the differences and how you might go about diagnosing them. The ultra convenient at-home food allergy testing kits have been growing in popularity. But can you actually trust them? Might they actually be doing more harm than good? This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon affiliate, I earn from q ..read more

Sodium gets a lot of press in the nutrition world. You’ve probably heard that in the typical Western diet, we consume too much sodium- and that’s true!  The 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines estimate that up to 90% of people over the age of 2 in America are overdoing it on sodium. So it is a nutrient that we need to be mindful of from the beginning with our eaters. Luckily, it’s also one that we have some pretty clear guidelines on. That can help us make informed choices when feeding our families! Just want to see the numbers? Click here to see sodium guidelines by age. First of all, sodium i ..read more

As parents we want our kids to eat healthy – and that means eating veggies, right? But what if your kid refuses to touch vegetables? Should you sneak veggies into your kids’ food?  Have you ever talked to a parent who said, “my goodness, my child just LOVES her vegetables! Beets, collards, turnips, anything green- you name it and she just licks up every last bite. Asks for seconds, thirds even. If only I could get her to try a cupcake!” Maybe they’re out there…but I haven’t met one yet. (Or maybe they’re not telling the *whole* truth.) The most common response I get when talking to other ..read more

Figuring out what to feed your picky eater can feel like a game of chess where THEY are the expert and you don’t even know the rules of the game. It’s stressful! But there is one thing my kids will never say no to: snacks. Surprisingly, what you serve at snack time can actually be a strategy in your picky eater playbook. And in this post you’ll get lots of ideas for getting in more nutrition for your picky eater. While I don’t wish the picky eating journey on anyone else, going through it with my own kids gave me a ton of compassion for picky eater parents. Simply put, it’s hard! First I’ll re ..read more

Ready to bypass the battles over broccoli and introduce your kids to the magic of intuitive eating? Raising an intuitive eater may actually be easier than you think. But you may not be 100% clear on what that actually means as it relates to feeding your child. How can a kid eat intuitively? Don’t we need to impose limits for their own good?  As a Registered Dietitian who specializes in kids nutrition, this is how I’m personally raising my own kids. I feel it’s the best approach for them to have a healthy relationship with food and their body. And that’s ultimately the best thing for them ..read more