Nicole Cruz RD

Nicole Cruz RD Diet-free family nutrition. Helping you & your child have a healthy relationship with food đŸ„‘đŸ§đŸ’

So many parents come to me after limiting sweets with their child, or handling sugar in a negative way, and say they wer...
10/17/2025

So many parents come to me after limiting sweets with their child, or handling sugar in a negative way, and say they were trying to help them not have the same issues as them.⁠
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I totally get this! We really want to end the cycles of food ‘issues’. We don’t want our kids to go through the same things we went through, especially when it comes to feeling out of control with food or sweets. ⁠
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And what I also hear again and again is how parents wish they could undo the restriction and negativity, because now their child is even more ‘obsessed’. ⁠
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This is completely normal and not uncommon at all. So if you’re in the same boat, and you want your child to have a healthy relationship with sweets, but you’ve gone down a road that made sweets feel bad or off-limits, it’s ok. You were doing what you knew to do to best support your child with the information you had. ⁠
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And if you want to do it a different way, the first step is to remove the sense of restriction, deprivation, and negativity about sugar. ⁠
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This also doesn’t mean it’s a complete free-for-all and you need to give unlimited access. What we really want to do is allow sweets regularly, within a structured environment, and use neutral and positive language. ⁠
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If you’re wondering where to start, grab my free guide: My Kid Has a Sweet Tooth - comment here or DM me the word: CUPCAKE to download it!

What a child believes about food shapes how they eat.⁠⁠When they believe they’re safe, they can trust themselves, all fo...
10/15/2025

What a child believes about food shapes how they eat.⁠
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When they believe they’re safe, they can trust themselves, all foods fit, there’s no “good” or “bad,” and they’re in charge of what goes in their body
 they’re more likely to eat a variety, listen to their body and eat the amount they need, and build a healthy relationship with food - for life!

The language we use when talking about food and bodies is powerful. ⁠⁠The messages we send to our kids become their inte...
10/13/2025

The language we use when talking about food and bodies is powerful. ⁠
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The messages we send to our kids become their internal dialogue. ⁠
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The things we say inform the way they eat and how they feel about food and themselves. ⁠
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Overall, I think we need a little less judgment and a lot more love, trust, and compassion ❀

Labeling foods with judgment or negativity isn’t helpful and can even be harmful.⁠⁠These labels create rules, guilt, and...
10/10/2025

Labeling foods with judgment or negativity isn’t helpful and can even be harmful.⁠
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These labels create rules, guilt, and confusion around eating. They teach kids that some foods are “good” and others are “bad” - and while you might want to do that so they eat ‘better’, it actually creates more harm and even greater unbalanced eating. ⁠
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They start to judge themselves for what they choose to eat and this can lead to anxiety, restriction, secret eating, or even disordered eating.⁠
These negative labels either create guilt and fear or they can even make kids want those foods more - like the forbidden fruit. And then they end up seeking them out or even acting obsessive about them. ⁠
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But neutrality with food, and just calling it what it is: chips are chips, candy is candy - gives kids a better opportunity to explore new foods, listen to their body, notice their satisfaction and eat without guilt and shame.⁠
That’s the best thing we can do - just call food what it is. Food = Food.

I know sometimes it’s hard to not fall into pressure, bribes, coercion of any kind
 especially when you want your child ...
10/08/2025

I know sometimes it’s hard to not fall into pressure, bribes, coercion of any kind
 especially when you want your child to eat or are concerned about their eating habits or what they actually eat.⁠
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And a lot of times it feels like bribing or pressuring them to eat, works! I get it! Because sometimes it does. ⁠
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When it does, it’s usually because your child wants to please you
 be a people pleaser OR because they really want the reward that’s being offered: dessert, getting up from the table, a treat, or to not get into trouble.⁠
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For other kids, pressure often leads to rebellion. This is the kid that will put up a fight and have a stand-off at the table.⁠
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In other words, when children feel pressured around food, they often respond by rebelling or appeasing. But the issue is that both reactions hinder their ability to listen to their own body cues and instead, have them eating or not eating based on external pressure, rules, etc..⁠
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Even if they comply in the moment, long term it doesn’t tend to help them attune to their cues.⁠
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Instead, we want to create an environment free of pressure that supports them to eat in a balanced way and have an overall healthy relationship with food.⁠
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If you’re struggling to help your child eat in a balanced way without pressure or bribes, I would love to chat about what it might be like to work together. ⁠
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Comment here or DM me the word ALIGN to sign up for a free Eating Alignment Call. ⁠
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We’ll talk about your current situation and see if we might be a good fit to support you so you can help your child have a healthy relationship with food, eat a greater variety, and get the nutrients they need 💛

So many of us grew up learning that we can’t trust ourselves with food. ⁠⁠We were told:⁠Take two more bites⁠Finish your ...
10/06/2025

So many of us grew up learning that we can’t trust ourselves with food. ⁠
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We were told:⁠
Take two more bites⁠
Finish your dinner⁠
You’ve already had enough⁠
You need to eat some vegetables⁠
Eat your dinner if you want dessert⁠
Sit down and eat!⁠
That’s all junk⁠
You shouldn’t have too much sugar⁠
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And while these are all well meaning - parents want their kids to be healthy, have energy, and feel good in their bodies - they also plant the seeds for us to disconnect from our own internal cues of hunger, fullness, and satisfaction.⁠
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They teach us that we don’t really know what or how to eat - that someone else knows better.⁠
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They teach us there’s a good or bad, right or wrong way to eat.⁠
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They plant the seeds for food related guilt and shame.⁠
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And I get it! Parenting is hard work! It’s hard to know the best thing to say or how to help our children get the nutrients they need to grow and thrive.⁠
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But what many of us don’t know - because it was never modeled for us - is that we can support our children to eat a variety of foods, eat the amount they need, and feel good in their bodies while instilling food and body trust. ⁠
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This is exactly what I teach my clients to do in our work together.⁠
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If this is something you want to learn more about, DM me ALIGN so we can set up a time to chat đŸ©”

10/04/2025

When we interfere with what or how much our kids are eating, we create what I call REACTIVE eating.

Our kids start reacting to us (often rebelling) and avoiding the foods we want them to eat, and trying to eat more of the foods we don’t really want them to eat.

Or if they feel cut off, or restricted, they’ll try and eat more food in general. Parents often tell me, “It seems like they don’t have an off switch with food.”

But the more that we try to stop them from eating too much, the more they’ll actually try to eat.

We need to give our kids autonomy and allow them to eat the amount they need.

That doesn’t mean food should be a free-for-all and they can eat whatever, whenever.

They do need support with food, but not for us to interfere and manage bites- telling them to eat more (like “take 2 more bites”) or that they’ve had enough.

For more on how to raise your child to eat well and have a healthy relationship with food - listen to The Intentional Table Podcast.

Search on Apple or Spotify.

✹or comment INTENTIONAL and I’ll send you the link to listen 🎧

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