Oct 5, 2026 · 41 min · 13 segments
Picky eating doesn't just affect kids. It can shape your meals, your mental load, and even the way you and your spouse relate to each other. In this episode, I'm joined by Katie Kimball, author of…
Lindsay CavanaghHost
One of the things that I love that you talk about is why we shouldn't use even the term picky eater.
that I ended up titling my book, The Picky Eater Playbook, because I apologize in the book for using the phrase picky eater.
And I just say, your child formerly known as a picky eater is just so many characters, so many syllables.
But what happens if your child overhears you saying that to another adult or you say right to them, sometimes, you know, in frustration or sometimes you think it's actually helpful to say, oh, why are you so picky? Or geez, you know, you're being really picky.
When we give our kids a label, whatever it is, positive or negative, they're going to integrate that label into their identity.
So if we say, wow, you're a good reader at age four or five or six, guess what? That child really believes that he or she is a good reader.
But if we say, oh, you're being so picky, the child will say I'm a picky eater.
If they feel they are a picky eater and that's part of their identity, what reason would they have to try new foods? It's so true.
I'm going to talk about my dad a lot in this one, I think, because I have that exact example of I went home.
I stayed with him for a week and I do smoothies every day in the morning for breakfast and I was splitting it with him.
And he would say he actually said to me on like the second to last day that I was there, he's like, wow, these smoothies are really good.
One of the things that I love that you talk about is why we shouldn't use even the term picky eater.
that I ended up titling my book, The Picky Eater Playbook, because I apologize in the book for using the phrase picky eater.
And I just say, your child formerly known as a picky eater is just so many characters, so many syllables.
But what happens if your child overhears you saying that to another adult or you say right to them, sometimes, you know, in frustration or sometimes you think it's actually helpful to say, oh, why are you so picky? Or geez, you know, you're being really picky.
When we give our kids a label, whatever it is, positive or negative, they're going to integrate that label into their identity.
So if we say, wow, you're a good reader at age four or five or six, guess what? That child really believes that he or she is a good reader.
But if we say, oh, you're being so picky, the child will say I'm a picky eater.
If they feel they are a picky eater and that's part of their identity, what reason would they have to try new foods? It's so true.
I'm going to talk about my dad a lot in this one, I think, because I have that exact example of I went home.
I stayed with him for a week and I do smoothies every day in the morning for breakfast and I was splitting it with him.
And he would say he actually said to me on like the second to last day that I was there, he's like, wow, these smoothies are really good.
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