54. Start Solids Confidently with Nita Sharda
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Join Surabhi Veitch as she chats with Nita Sharda, a registered dietician located in Winnipeg, Manitoba, to explore how to alleviate the stress of mealtime by incorporating fun and how to start your baby on solids with ease. We discuss transitioning from breastfeeding to solids, baby-led weaning, and go-to meals to try!
We discuss:
When to start solids
How to tell if baby is ready for solids
First solid food options for your baby
Baby-led weaning
Introducing finger foods
Transitioning from breastfeeding
How to have fun at mealtime
Go-to meals to try
Happy Healthy Eaters course
Nita Sharda Bio
Nita Sharda is a mom of two boys, a Registered Dietitian and co owner of Happy Healthy Eaters which is an online community dedicated to helping parents feeding their child. She's really passionate about recipe development and helping people relax around food so that mealtime can be a little less stressful and a lot of fun.
Connect with Nita & Important Links:
—Follow Nita of Happy Healthy Eaters on Instagram @happyhealthyeaters
—Shop Start Solids Confidently https://happyhealthyeaters.com/?ref=6864 15% Discount - with code surabhi15
Connect with Surabhi:
Website: https://www.thepassionatephysio.ca
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Please note that the timestamps are slightly off as the podcast teaser and intro music occur before the start of the episode. Episode starts at 00:01:07.
Surabhi: [00:00:00] hi everyone and welcome back to another episode of Moms Strength. I'm Surabhi your host and I'm so excited to have on today Nita Sharda. And so Nita and I connected on social media where everyone meets these days, right? So Nita is a mom of two boys.
And she's a registered dietician and she's the co-owner of Happy Healthy Eaters, which is an online community dedicated to helping parents feed their child. She's really passionate about recipe development and helping people relax around food so that mealtime can be a little less stressful and a lot of fun.
I need your help because recipe development, there is no recipe skills on this end here. And I do feel like it's so easy to get into this like rut or like confusion about like what to feed your kids. So welcome Nita. I'm so excited to have you on here today.
Nita: Thank you so much for having me. I'm so pumped and it's, so great to connect with other folks that are in the prenatal, postpartum, sphere of life that also are South Asian.
So, this feels really [00:01:00] good for me and feels like home.
Surabhi: I know, me too. It's especially, I don't know, you grew up in Winnipeg, am I right?
Nita: Yeah,
Surabhi: so I born and raised and like, I don't know, I've heard Ashley Winnipeg is decently multicultural, but. You know, I came from India, so like I moved here when I was 10, and it was a huge culture shock because while it is multicultural, there's still this dominance of whiteness and white culture being like the standard.
I actually shared a recent example that when I moved to Canada, the principal of the school gave me the Canada food guide, gave my parents the Canada Food Guide, and told us that I needed to start drinking three to. Glasses of milk a day because I was too small. And so like, there's so much wrong here and the wrong people giving advice about nutrition and food.
Mm-hmm. And again, it's a very, uh, it lasts cultural context of like what kind of foods is innate to that person's culture and, you know, lifestyle. So tell me a little bit about your own experience and like how did you become a dietician and fall [00:02:00] into teaching, um, solids, teaching families how. Yeah.
Nita: Yeah. I don't know how much time we have, but it's a bit of a long-winded story.
I'll make it short. But growing up, when my parents immigrated to Canada, they entered into entrepreneurship. So they always had some type of a grocery store that they owned. And the last, um, several years, maybe three decades, like they've always had a grocery store in Winnipeg's core area where folks are often on.
You know, assistance for financial reasons or, you know, we, we have a lot of housing complexes near us. And so it was really interesting because at a very young age I got to sort of understand that people have different barriers that prevent them from buying certain foods. And so I started to develop a bit of a curiosity.
And then when I was 16, I just remember seeing this woman and her title was registered Dietician, and she was talking a lot about. Diabetes and food choices and how it was impacting certain communities more than others. [00:03:00] In particular, those that have been like systematically oppressed here in Canada.
And so, that got me started and I started to pay more attention when I would volunteer for my parents at the grocery store. Begging
Surabhi: Yeah.
Nita: And everything. And I was like, man, like if someone could just educate people.
Surabhi: Yes.
Nita: Do you think that it would change like consumer. Purchases.
Surabhi: Yeah.
Nita: And obviously like at 16, I didn't really realize like how much, um, how much more there is to being able to purchase food.
Yeah. And so that got me started right away in university. I knew like, I wanna end up as a dietician.
Surabhi: That's so cool. Also, I feel like that's a very mature teenager, you know, like to be able to understand that.
Nita: Yeah.
Surabhi: Um, I don't know what I was doing at 16, but like That's awesome. I think that's really cool.
Nita: Yeah, so by 22 I was a registered dietician.
Like I had kind of like,
Surabhi: oh wow.
Nita: Finished, and went ahead. And then, um, I did a lot of practice in, um, like diabetes, uh, long-term care for a [00:04:00] really long time home care as well. And then, Eventually, like had my, my first son in 2017 went to public health gathering that was about starting solids.
And I was like, man, this is like, so boring. Like this is, I'm a, I'm a foodie. So the information was really like flat to me. And I still felt lost because a lot of it was about like, you know, starting different purees and using meats and maybe infant cereals, which are all great.
But, but I was like, okay, but what about roti and Tandoori chicken? And like, when can I offer dahl and choles? So, yeah. Like, you know, I'm just gonna make my own e-course and learn a little bit more about infants and their specific needs. So I started teaching in the community. I would actually just teach here, like at my home, um,
Surabhi: amazing.
Nita: And have like, women gather tickets would sell really well. And then I had my second son, Lach, and my friend Jessica, who's also my business partner for Happy Healthy Eaters, she came to [00:05:00] visit and she'd already started this Instagram Happy, healthy Eaters and it wasn't particularly active and I asked her about it.
And then, you know, we left our visit that day and then she texted me that evening saying like, listen, like. You've got the network, you've created a bit of a course. I'm really great with backend website course creation. Let's like try to create an online course and see what happens, you know? Um, so we started doing that in 2019 and then,
wow.
Surabhi: So before the pandemic.
Nita: Yes. And the product was done during the pandemic, like the spring. And so actually the, that whole nature of having to stay home and now learning from home worked to our benefit in terms of, accelerating the business and, and being able to, have users purchase the e-course.
Surabhi: Cause yeah, people who are kind of ready to. Online. Right. Because that's a big, that probably was a big barrier before where people were looking for in-person community gatherings and mom groups to [00:06:00] learn this information. Oh, that is awesome. So I'm like, impressed.
Nita: Yeah. So that's, that was it. And, on the actual e-course that you can purchase and it's self-paced, there's a whole section I created for like desi folks.
So, you know, like it teaches you like what to do with your masala or how, when you should offer roti and like, what should the priorities be. So I was really proud of that little, little piece.
Surabhi: This is something that I think every, like South Asian mom probably needs. And yeah, because the first foods that, like, we're South Indian, right?
So the first foods is usually, usually which is Al Rice. Yeah. And it's not like powdered rice cereal and, you know.
Nita: Mm-hmm.
Surabhi: And the, the advice given by the pediatricians, they don't know your food. They can't really coach you on that. Right. So tell me about what does an infant actually need. When they start solids, when do they start solids, you know, what's the current information, evidence, research, and what do you, what's your opinion around all that?
When to start infants on solids
Nita: [00:07:00] Yeah, yeah. I mean, in, in general, like the current guidelines state that children can start solids around that four to six month mark, you know in practice I rarely meet babies that are ready at four months. I think that that is a little bit on the earlier side. I mean, if you've got a kiddo that was born at 42 weeks gestation,
Surabhi: yeah.
Nita: I mean they're a couple weeks ahead, right? Yes. So you never really know. Um, and then there can be some medical reasons why we might wanna start a baby a little bit earlier, maybe history of allergies or some issues around growth that we're just trying to problem solve. But typically, like I tell parents, that sweet spot is six months.
How to tell if your baby is ready for solids
Nita: I usually recommend that as a, as a, as a time, but really, parents should, should, like, look at their baby and assess for those developmental signs of readiness and appreciate that, you know, even if you have a best friend or a cousin who had a baby down the same time, don't compare, like, hone in on your baby.
So what you wanna look for is, [00:08:00] Can my baby sit up with fairly minimal support? It's all good if you have to have your like, hand around the, their back a little bit. But if they can sit up and they're not totally leaning over,
Surabhi: flopped over, yeah.
Nita: Yeah. That's appropriate. Just from a safety perspective. Um, you wanna assess to see can my baby move their head from side to side?
And that's really important for communication. So they can tell you no, like, I don't want anymore And done.
Surabhi: Yeah. Turn their heads away. Right. You're trying to feed them. It's a clear sign. Yeah,
Nita: yeah. Interest in food, grabbing toys, bringing them to their mouth is also a sign. Or if they're watching you, like some babies will prey on their moms when they're eating a banana or even like,
Surabhi: this is my daughter. Literally at two months I remember I'd put her down on the, on the rug and I'd be eating, she'd be looking over licking her lips like this. Like from two months on, she'd been watching me this, and then when she was introduced to solids, like it was the most amazing experience for me as a mother. Because there was no [00:09:00] issues and she just loved everything, was like an expert eater right off the bat.
And so as a mom, you think you did something right? You're like, I did this. And then I had my second and it was totally different. And so you realize how like each child has their own unique skillset around like everything.
Nita: Yeah, no, a hundred percent. The the last thing that I usually encourage parents to look for, and it's a little more tricky, but it's called a diminished extrusion reflex or tongue thrust.
You know, if you are starting solids at four months or five months and your baby is constantly sticking out their tongue and pushing the food out, I would say stop. Give it a break, come back to it next week. Right. Your baby just might not be ready. That reflex tends to diminish around, um, six to seven months.
Surabhi: Oh, okay.
Nita: Um, but we also don't wanna not feed baby too far away from six months because that iron need is so, so, so high.
Surabhi: And so I remember the first foods, like they, they had recommended something [00:10:00] IronRidge. So what are some options for people who are introducing, um, their first foods to their baby?
First solid food options for your baby
Nita: Mm-hmm.
I mean, infant cereal is a great option and I think for a lot of these folks that happen to be vegetarian or vegan, it's gonna be pretty tough to meet those iron requirements without something like infant cereal. Uh, but there's tons of fun ways to use it. So I would. Um, bake with it. I would like use it to thicken dahl or something else.
Surabhi: Oh,
Nita: infant cereal is a great option and use a variety. Like now there's buck wheat. Oat Millet like so many different different Grains.
Surabhi: Grains.
Nita: And despite what you might hear on the internet, Um, they're not overly processed. And, and in Canada, I, I can speak for the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, they are rigorously monitored.
But otherwise, if you wanna use like a whole food first approach, then like So . Um, Al like any, any dahl really is a great first food, um, [00:11:00] kit, which is, I think similar to what you mentioned, like a combination of rice and dahl.
Surabhi: Yeah. It's like each culture has their own version of that, that dish. Right. And it's, yeah.
Nita: That's a great first food, tofu, um, or edamame beans. And then if you are a family that is eating animals, so then eggs would be a great source of iron And um, and your meats as well. Fish, seafood, uh, will offer you iron as well. And surprisingly like quinoa has, has a really good source of iron as well.
Surabhi: And so, like when you're saying that, Give so many options, it's not restricting, right? Mm-hmm. Think a lot of parents feel like they're restricted to like one option, and if their kid hates the cereal, then they're like, oh, I, you know, I'm stuck. But just even combining, I never would've thought to put the cereal in dahl, or like mix it with something else.
Nita: Yeah. Cuz
Surabhi: That was brilliant,
Nita: so runny and then, and then my son couldn't manage, so I was like, oh, like I need to thicken this up. And so I, [00:12:00] I just would add infant cereal to it and, It's like a lot easier than like mashing a potato in there or doing something else. Like it was convenient, which I appreciated.
Motherhood is busy and it's challenging and tiring.
Surabhi: Yeah. You don't wanna be cooking for like three hours a day. Um, which I try to do. I try to keep up with, cuz this is the other question I have for you is, There's this stigma against feeding your kids processed foods, right? Mm-hmm. But at the same time, motherhood is busy and it is full on.
And so how do you feed your kids in a way that you're giving them all the nutrient needs without feeling that like you have to make everything from scratch.
How tomake nutritious and easy meals
Nita: Yeah, I think it's unrealistic, really, um, to expect that we can make everything from scratch. Especially if you're in a household where perhaps you're a single parent or you've got two working parents.
That's really challenging. But I would say to parents, like, you know, think about, think about like, [00:13:00] These convenient foods as just things that help to supplement and, um, add to the quality of your life. And sometimes, yes, like we're not really assessing for a nutrition, but there's lots of things that you can add in that will offer that nutrition.
So like a bagged salad, a rotisserie chicken, um, a really well-rounded can of soup, you know, past like noodles, like these are all foods that you can easily add in that offer a great, uh, nutritional value, but are easy. You know, they're, they're simple and they're easy.
Surabhi: Yeah. And even, even just like, there's so many times we've done like eggs for dinner, pasta for dinner, um, cereal, right?
Like just something that has some nutrients, but it's also convenient and kind of taking that guilt away from.
Nita: Yeah, like a hot tip is your, your kids are a little bit younger, but um, in the summer it, we're so busy and I wanna be outside with the kids, so we often just do smoothies and I make a really balanced smoothie [00:14:00] and popcorn and that's dinner and we'll just take it to the park.
Like that's awesome. A whole grain. I've got veggies, fruit in there, like some type of fat in the smoothie. Um, I guess you could do popcorn twists with your little guy, but, um,
Surabhi: um, he could probably start eating it. Yeah, just
Nita: everyone has to kind of assess for choking, but that's a really easy, yeah. It's like I call my husband, I'm like, what's for dinner?
Smoothies and popcorn.
Surabhi: I would like that too. And sometimes you, we are looking for quick meals ourselves too, as adults, right?
Nita: Yeah, yeah. But also the kids love it. Like they love it.
Surabhi: The first time my daughter had popcorn, she was just like, her eyes lit up and she was like, ah, this is so delicious. And yeah, I was so worried about choking, but she an expert eater, and chewer early on.
Nita: Yeah.
Surabhi: And in contrast, like with my son, it did take longer. So I haven't introduced him to as many of those, like
Nita: higher risk,
Surabhi: higher risk foods. Um, and just letting him guide the, [00:15:00] guide the process. Right? Mm-hmm. Um, tell me about, Baby led, weaning and spoonfeeding because I did baby led weaning solely with my first, and then with my second I had to, to use kind of a combo like, this isn't gonna work.
No. Cause he just didn't know what to do with it and was kinda like that. I remember that tongue thrust. I didn't know what it was called, but I do remember him just not knowing how to chew. And I was like, I had thought because of my first experience that he should just know. Yeah. Um, and he, it took him probably another good month to be ready
Baby-led weaning
Nita: yeah, well, fun fact is like kids don't master chewing until closer to age four. So what, yeah, four. A long time. Uh, so I mean, in terms of, Puree and baby led weaning I find in the online community there's a really big like dichotomy and sometimes it's almost like all or none, and it doesn't have to be that way.
Puree feeding is really great and culturally speaking, there's like communities all around the world where this is. This is [00:16:00] the way of Of starting solids. Yeah. And so foods are often like a very homogenous, like smooth consistency. And then gradually as your baby is mastering that you just alter the texture to something that's more lumpy, chunky, minced, and then finger foods.
And then in baby-led weaning at the heart of baby led weaning is this idea that parents are not putting food in the child's mouth and that it's entirely child guided. So they could be picking up, um, food or a preloaded spoon, like a spoon that had dahl or porridge on it, and they're self feeding, right? Um, and so that's the, the big difference.
And it doesn't mean that in maybe like, meaning you don't do purees at all. It just means that it's preloaded. I find in families thrive and do best with a mixed approach because I think then as a caregiver you learn to feed responsibly, um, and you're kind of like getting food into your child. And then your kid gets to explore and [00:17:00] experiment a little bit with those handheld foods, um, experience gagging and practice mapping up food in their mouth.
And so that's the, the big difference. And, and I find most families are doing a mix of the two.
Surabhi: That's what we, yeah, that's what we ended up doing with our second, and it was, you're right. It was like just to get food in his mouth. Cuz otherwise if we just left him to his own devices, like he literally would not eat anything because he just had trouble doing it.
And so when we started offering pureed foods while he was playing around with the other food, we found that he was actually eating a little bit better. Got it. Yeah. Um, and the mess, right? Like I think both types of feeding are messy in their own ways, but. If the child really doesn't know how to like bring it to their mouth and like eat it can be really messy.
And then you end up wasting all this food and time spent cleaning. And I know messes can be very triggering for new moms too, who are like trying to seek control over their lives. So [00:18:00] sometimes it's okay to just choose what's easier for you too, right? Uh,
Nita: no, a hundred percent. Yeah, I think that it, like, I feel really bad for the parents who really wanna do baby led meaning, but their kids, like you could put non-interest in a drumstick in front of 'em.
They're not gonna pick it up, right? Yeah. So then this child needs help. We need to, we can come into it similar to having a birth plan with our own agenda, but it's important to hone in on what's happening and how do I make this a positive experience? How do I make it an enriching experience and just pivot.
And conversely, like some moms are, I think that P P D P P A can manifest in like a major fear of choking or that my child's gonna die when I start solids. So I think that some parents do better if we're like, listen, like I'm gonna take, I'm gonna make this decision for you. We're gonna do purees and let's.
Let's table finger foods and come back to it in two weeks. But at the end of the day, all babies by their first birthday, we wanna see them essentially have bite-sized pieces of food that's modified that the rest of the family [00:19:00] is enjoying. So whether you start with puree or baby-led weening,
that's the goal,
Surabhi: right. So that they feel like they're not always doing something separate. They're still together with the family eating kind of similar foods. And I do hear that a lot. A fear of risk of choking, and I love that you brought up the. Anxiety or depression postpartum because it is an, you know, sometimes a heightened or an abnormal, not abnormal, but like a greater than
Nita: Yeah.
Surabhi: Average amount of fear of the baby choking. And I've seen this in moms who have older kids too. Yeah. Who are beyond that one year mark. And so it can be, you know, it can be something to seek mental health support for too, to really kind of hone in on what the actual, uh, fears and issues are.
Nita: Yeah.
Surabhi: And then I is, there're a high risk of choking with, uh baby-led weaning?
Nita: No, between the two. There's no difference in, in the studies. I mean, these studies are also difficult to, to conduct
Surabhi: perform. Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
Nita: You know this one, in one particular study that that was really [00:20:00] great. There was no difference between in, in terms of choking incidents, but what they did notice is that the babies that started with baby-led weaning had a diminished gag reflex.
Whereas the babies that were now transitioning from puree to finger food, they were gagging a lot more, which makes sense. Makes sense, makes sense. New now, but in terms of choking, no, and, and I think the other thing is like our kids are like way more mobile at 6, 7, 8 months, so they could. You know, there's like so many household objects that they could also put in their mouth and, and parents really need to be empowered to get training and know how to assist their baby, toddler or child, right. Um, and, and offer that first aid. You know,
Surabhi: take a first aid course. That's what we did. I remember learning all these things and I remember them saying, People always think it's food they're gonna choke on. And sometimes, like you said, it's like batteries, like really dangerous things that you're not even thinking of.
Coins. Yeah. Um, and you know, the door, the doorstop that's occurred, like that's [00:21:00] behind doors, how it's, there's like a white cap that comes off of it and apparently babies often choke on that. And so we went in, changed all of ours to those hard plastic ones. It's like subtle little things. So, um, thank you for sharing that.
I didn't know, I thought there'd be a high risk of choking with baby-led weaning
Nita: no. And, and like in some ways, like babies, um, this is their first time eating, so we would think that they're, it, it's like high risk when, when they're eating, but they also have a lot of mechanisms and reflexes in their mouth to protect them.
Yeah.
And I always think like we've been, as humans, as mammals, we've evolved to like be able to eat and be able to do these things. So, um, sometimes there's just like an innate like trust that your baby will figure it out and you just have to kind of support them. Right? Mm-hmm. Um, tell me about, if you start with purees, when would you then introduce solids?
Would you, or not solids, uh, finger foods or like sticks or matchstick foods? Would you do it [00:22:00] a month later? How, when would you start kind of transition?
Introducing finger foods
Nita: Yeah, I'd say somewhere between the eight and nine month mark is great, but preferably not later than 10 months, simply because, um, there's this window of opportunity that is been cited in the, in the literature and, and it tends to close around that time.
So we wanna try to get babies like onto more finger foods, um, before 10 months preferably.
Surabhi: Good to know. Good to know. Mm-hmm. Uh, so you're not spoonfeeding them until they're like eight. Yeah, totally. Um, and
Transitioning from breastfeeding
Surabhi: tell me about like if you're breastfeeding formula feeding, do you continue with that? Because I vaguely remember that I. I was breastfeeding both of them while feeding. But I think with my first, I would feed her milk before every solids, like before every time giving her solids. So she wasn't like ravenous when she was eating the food. But with my second, it didn't quite work that way because if we, if I [00:23:00] gave him milk, then he would just not be interested in eating at all.
Um, is there, is there one that's preferable? What, what do you suggest?
Nita: I think it just really varies. Yeah. And what did you notice with your kiddo?
Surabhi: With my first, yeah. Or second. With my first, I would give her a milk feed and then we'd put her down in the highchair and she would just eat up, eat solids, no problem.
Yeah. Yeah. With my second, if I did that, he would not be hungry. And with my first, if even if she's full, she'll still eat. She could eat no problem. Whereas with my son, literally one bite too much, he will spit it out of his mouth. Even now, like he will not overeat, um, or not even eat more than he actually wants.
No. So they're just different.
Nita: Yeah, and I think it's like an ebb and flow and it depends on the parent in prac, in practice. I see most parents are doing what you did with your first, where they'll like nurse or bottle feed and then offer solids about 45 minutes later. I know for me, I. I really struggled with nursing and [00:24:00] establishing that, so I really wanted to protect it.
I wasn't, I was like, I hope, like you don't love solids so much that you don't want this anymore because I wasn't ready for it. So I always found it helpful to nurse first. Yeah. But you're right, some babies, um, can't build up an appetite, um, quick enough. So it's better to start with solids with them, um, and other babies that live with GERD. Uh, that reflux, like you kind of have to space it out even more. I think at the end of the day, there's no right way. There's no wrong way. You just have to find a rhythm that's gonna work for you and for your baby, and it, and we want it to be positive.
Surabhi: And I love that you come back to that. It's like baby, it's baby led in the sense that it's really listening to what your baby needs versus like following a rule book or a guidebook.
So that says, do this at this week. And I think sometimes parents are looking for that because they think it's gonna be simpler or easier, but, Always going back to like that intuition of like knowing your child and seeing what they need in front [00:25:00] of you. And we see this with physio too. People will be like, what, what age should they roll?
And I'm like, there's no shoulds here. It's just,
Nita: it's a range.
Surabhi: It's a range. It's, it's like, I think it's something like two for like walking for example, it's like six months. 18 months or 20 months or something. Like, there's a massive range of normal. Yeah. And often the average, the mid, the midpoint, the mean is rated as, oh, people start walking around.
Oh, babies start walking around this. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But it's a huge range, so I love that. That's similar with solids too. Um, can you tell me about how to include more fun into food time and mealtime? Because I find that dinners especially can be stressful cuz you pick them up from, you know, childcare, school, whatever it is, and then you're trying, you have like an hour.
Mm-hmm. Until like bathtime and bedtime. Everything just feels very rushed. What are some simple ways to incorporate more fun and ease into that?
How to have fun at mealtime
Nita: Yeah, and I, I think a lot of these can be adapted for at any age. But in [00:26:00] particular for toddlers, I always like encourage parents, you know, now that it's getting darker here in Canada, like sooner so, so early.
We do like a candle at dinner, so we have like candles. So I'll like turn, dim down the lights and like, we'll get these candles going. Um, you can also encourage your kids to dress up if you don't have like a lot of opportunities to wear. They see clothes. Get everyone to dress up and that's fun. The table.
Um, you can also ask your kids to bring a friend to the table and you need to set some boundaries cuz some kids will bring everyone, but they could bring like a favorite character, like a little Paw Patrol figurine or like a dinosaur that they bring. And what I find happens is my, my youngest will like start to feed the diet Yes.
And then like feed himself some of the foods that he is, um, still learning to. Yeah, you can get them to wear capes as well, or go to the dahlar store and bring um, like a reindeer or bunny [00:27:00] ears or like, everyone wears something silly on their head. And the idea behind, behind this is that it takes the pressure off of meal times.
Right? Right. And it's just fun because kids could. Really could care less about what you've served. It's just about connection, connection, relationship for them. Um, but it also, I find helps parents relax and stop like micro focusing on like what their kid did or didn't eat. Um, and then another strategy for even older kids is a conversation starter.
So in a mason jar, you could write down, If I could have a superhero, uh, superpower, what would it be? Or like, if I could travel anywhere in the world, where would I go? Which planet would I choose to go to? Um, and then, and everyone picks something and then you have to answer it and create conversation. So that can be great too, because sometimes like, it's like the hustle and bustle of feeding and you just wanna wrap it up and like get to bath, but.
Like you go through the [00:28:00] motion without enjoying it. Right? Yeah.
Surabhi: Well, and that's actually, I love that you, you mentioned those ideas because it's true. You feel, and I was asking myself the other day, I'm like, what am I rushing to? There's no rush to get somewhere, but we, we in our head are like, oh, it's this time.
I gotta get to this part of the night and this part of the routine. And just, it takes away the connection when you're rushing, right? It takes away, and then the, the kids can sense that, and so they, they kind of act up more when they're feeling disconnected with their parents. So I love. Reminder to, you know, be silly, get down to their level.
Just enjoy the, enjoy it. Um, and you know, some of, I mean, you said you're a foodie. I, I won't say I'm a foodie, but like, I kind of am. I'm very, like, I really want a good food experience and especially as someone who's a vegetarian and hasn't had that opp opportunity in many situations where there's no foods that I.
So I'm eating like a green salad while everyone else is eating like a fancy meal. So I [00:29:00] really make the effort now to make sure that at least my kids have a really good time eating so that they learn cuz they're vegetarian too and none of the kids in their daycares are so, they're the ones eating the different meals.
So I want them to have a positive experience around that too. I love that idea. I'm going to, we have so many costumes and like little things too and like all the desi clothes is true. Cause I'm always like, I need to be invited to a wedding so I can wear this stuff. Yeah. Um, but the candle lit dinner, so we celebrated Diwali like a month ago.
We still have all our Diaz and everything out and we bought those little l e d candles. They're all, they've all run out now, but my kids loved running to the dining table and getting to turn them on. Yeah. And so it was something that I think they looked forward to. So maybe even just restocking on those and
Nita: Yeah. Do it.
Surabhi: Having them. Having them enjoy that all all year. Yeah. Why not? I mean, it's so dark. So I'm always looking for ways to just like brighten the place up. That's why I was like, I'm leaving these decorations [00:30:00] until like we decide whether we're putting up Christmas decorations, cuz we need all the like cheer and light and joy this time of year when it's getting dark.
Right. Just people who are not in Canada or like not in the northern or hemisphere won't get it. But um, it makes a difference in mood when you have this type of. Kind of brightness around. Totally. So tell me your, go-to like three dinners that you love doing with the kids or meals.
Go-to meals to try
Nita: Um, okay. So like, they really like burgi, like under burgi, so like egg scramble, like, and it's easy and it's quick.
Surabhi: So good. Yeah.
Nita: Um, my son also loves like bhnidi, like okra with. dahl and do roti. So like I try not to waste my dahl cuz it always makes a big batch. So I'll use it for the dough and make, um, do roti. Oh, have you ever heard of this?
Surabhi: No.
Nita: It's a Punjabi thing. So basically like you take your leftover dahl, like yeah.
With a masala and everything, and it's cold. [00:31:00] And then you add in like your flour and fresh chopped onion, cilantro, and extra ginger salt.
Surabhi: What?
Nita: And you mix it and you get this beautiful dough.
Surabhi: It's almost like Parata, right? Like
Nita: yeah. Yeah. And then I, and then like I make that and roll it, so I like it because then I know, oh, like they're getting in like protein.
Surabhi: Protein, yeah.
Nita: Fiber and iron. I do that every time I make dahl, like no dahl gets wasted. I have a little highlighting case anyone's interested on happy, healthy Eaters, and I think it says like, dahl roti. In case you wanna see like a step-by-step. And it's my mom, but it's so cute.
Surabhi: That's so cute. Okay. I'm definitely gonna make that because I, we, we don't do that in like South Indian.
I've nev, maybe I gotta ask my mom, maybe she knows about it, but it's a Punjabi thing. That makes sense cuz we wouldn't know it. Mm-hmm. Um, yeah and my kids, honestly, they'll eat everything my mom puts in front of them. Cause I. Mom's style cooking, like she's like, you know, next level. So it's just recreating and sometimes I think they also really [00:32:00] like it.
It's, it's not even the novelty cuz they eat it all the time, but my mom will. Make it a fun experience for them. So I think there is a bit of that experience around eating too. Oh
Nita: yeah. Yeah. And then pizza, like, like we eat pizza at least once a week here. Yeah. Whether it's homemade or we live really like close to really great pizza spots.
Um, or I'll just buy like a shell and we put everything on the shell. Um, so I like, I like love pizza. And then I'm a suck for hotdogs too, to be honest. And, and my kids really enjoy hot dogs. And when it was like the pandemic, we would just like go outside in the winter and roast hotdogs and come back in cuz we needed something to do.
So has like nostalgia.
Surabhi: You're like get, get some fresh air. Yeah. Yeah. That's awesome. And I love that those are all things that you can actually do on a regular basis, not something that takes like three hours to make. Yeah. Yeah. We. Yeah, we do a lot of, we do pizza at least once a week or every 10 days or so. [00:33:00] And then burritos, we do a lot of burritos cuz the kids love that.
Nita: And, um, quesadillas,
Surabhi: quesadillas, soups. Soups are hit or miss. But, um, if we give them something to dip, like roti or naan, or like some kind of bread to mix with the soup, they'll, they'll eat it. It's like they need the, the carbs or the, like, the experience with it versus just like eating, eating out of a bowl, so.
Mm-hmm. Um, these are awesome tips. Is there anything else that I've missed asking you in terms of like tips for de-stressing, simplifying that process of starting solids?
More tips
Nita: Yeah, I think, um, for sure it's a, it's an, it's like a funny time because you're happy and excited, but you might be emotional that your baby is getting older.
And, um, I think, I think understanding that, That nutrition can pay, play a really big role in a baby's life. And, [00:34:00] and it is still one microcosm. I mean, we're, look, we're assessing development, you know, uh, using a bird's eye view. But definitely, um, learning a little bit more about nutrition can help make the process a little bit more seamless.
So, um, we do have a start solids confidently e-course that we developed and it's essentially. From A to Z, we map out everything that a parent might need to know about starting solids and we recently revamped it and
Surabhi: amazing,
Nita: we launched it in September, so, I'm biased, but I think it's like, I think it's super, um, exhaustive.
Like we tried to turn every page over and we have an entire troubleshooting section. And then a lot of parents also love watching other babies eat, and it gives them like some confidence. So we have a vault that we created. And people submitted videos of their babies eating at different ages and stages,
Surabhi: so cool.
Nita: Different foods. So you can go through that as well. Um, and like I mentioned, I, I took, you know, [00:35:00] really great care in creating a, a very small section of the course that's really, um, dedicated to desi folks. So that's a, that's a really special part about the e-course as well.
Surabhi: And I think also for people who aren't desi who maybe wanna introduce their kids to different cultural foods.
Yeah, that's huge because I always say like we, we try to introduce our kids early on to all cuisines so that they have a feel of it and they, they learn to a, you know, be exposed to it earlier on. Cuz yeah, those are, those are just so important. Your eCourse sounds amazing. Um, and I think it's something.
I remember researching Facebook groups, mom groups, right? You're a, you're looking online, it's like, ask the expert and find out for yourself. Like w kind of empower yourself with that knowledge so that when you do go to feed your baby, you're not as worried or, or as concerned. Um, yeah, I do remember there was a nurse maybe who came to our mom group, ones who spoke about starting solids, and it was [00:36:00] very much like you said, like a very.
White centric approach to eating. Yeah. And so I just felt like I, there was nothing in it that I could really get out of it that, that talk. And I think even from this conversation, I'm like, oh, I could have done that and I could still probably do some of those things. Now my son is two and um, although he's mostly, I don't think they really, they haven't done purees in a long time.
Yeah. Tell me about, um, I have a few questions for yourself. Hmm. Uh, about things you like to do. Yeah. So tell me about your favorite book or podcast or something that's been kind of life changing for you. Could be related to food, could be unrelated. Yeah.
Nita: Yeah. I, I thought about that. So, my favorite book is, is by Mitch album and it's called The Five People You Meet in Heaven.
Surabhi: Oh, I've heard of that book. I haven't read it.
Nita: It it like, yeah, it changed like my perspective and my life. I was introduced to Mitch Albom because in school we had to study Tuesdays with Mori, which is a [00:37:00] beautiful, and based on a true story, a book, um, and all his books are really great, but the five people you meet in heaven was really, really, really sweet.
Surabhi: I'll put it on my. On my list.
Nita: Yes. And it's an easy read. Like it'll take a weekend.
Surabhi: Oh, that's not bad. I have like a stack of books. I can't, I don't know if you can see It's Hidden By My, by Me,
Nita: but, oh, my Toxic Trait is starting like a book and then not finishing it.
Surabhi: We have the same trait. I started eight books last winter.
Literally eight different books at the same time. I was reading it different things cuz it depended on your mood, right? Mm-hmm. And then I just never finished them and I, now I'm like, I have to start over because I forget what I started and like read Uhhuh. Yeah, this is so funny. But I feel like a lot of books, the first couple chapters have like the best parts of the book sometimes.
Yeah, yeah. Right. So you get a lot out of just even starting.
Nita: Yeah, and I've been doing the audio books more, but now I don't, now that I work predominantly from home, I don't drive as often. So it's been tricky actually, even with the audio books.
Surabhi: Yeah. That's what I [00:38:00] find. I, I like it for like evenings if I wanna rest my eyes and not read, but. I don't drive anywhere. I'm working from home too, so it doesn't really make sense. Mm-hmm. Tell me about three things that you like to do for yourself every day for self-care rituals you like.
Nita: Yeah, I mean, I was thinking about that, about that too, and I, I did this even like, like day two of being a, a postpartum mom, um, is like, Applying lotion on my body.
I don't know what it is, but like a, I don't like being dry, but I think that it's like a really neat way for me to just like honor and maybe even recite some affirmations for myself. Um, something else that I like doing, but it's with my kids, is, will do like a bedtime buja, which I really appreciate. So. I taught them the guy three monthers, so, oh, you're not that great at it.
So sweet. Yeah. We do that together and it's just a way for us to connect. And then I think like either making my chai or [00:39:00] coffee, like I really, I mean it, it's not even so much that I like love coffee, but it's like the, like it's the act French press and like preparing it, right. And then even like watching my chai rise and then straining it, like, I don't know.
It's just a neat experience for me.
Surabhi: Yeah, I, I feel that too postpartum. I would make a daily chocolate protein smoothie and sometimes I would make it and not even drink it, but it, I would feel calmer. Just the act of making it. And I think that we all need our daily rituals. Yeah. And coffee is that for a lot of people?
Chai, I mean, If I can have a cup of chai every day, my brother makes the best chai. So when I make it, I, it's not as good. I,
Nita: I perfected it like during my pregnancy, because I developed a coffee aversion, so I was like, well, what am I gonna drink now? So I would just make chai every day.
Surabhi: That sounds amazing.
And how, what do you put in your chai?
Nita: Um, so I do like clove, cardamon, ginger, and cinnamon. I'm not like into so, [00:40:00] and like
fan like no,
Surabhi: that's same as us, but we don't do cinnamon. I think cinnamon is more of a north Indian okay thing. And for us it's clove, cardamon, and ginger and clove. I could it's hit or miss for me sometimes it's like too much, but um, but now I'm mostly d dairy free, so we just do oat milk, um, right.
And I find that, cuz for a while I would drink chai and just feel kind of gross. And then I realized it was the dairy. Okay. Um, so yeah, oat milk awesome. Works as a great dairy substitute for those who wanna drink chai and can't drink milk. Well. Yeah, totally. Tell me about something that you are super passionate about right now.
Nita: Mm-hmm. Honestly, it's work like I. Like, I, like love my work. So outside of Happy, healthy Eaters, I also am a private practice dietician. So I see clients virtually and in an office space. And I love it. Like my, it's funny, like my schedule is like maxed, but I keep, like urgent consults keep coming up and I find ways to sneak [00:41:00] patients in.
Because I just love it so much. It makes, it makes it easy to do Right. When you love it.
Surabhi: When you love it, when you actually love what you do. And, uh, do you work with mostly pediatrics or do you work in,
Nita: uh, pediatrics for sure. And then I actually developed, um, like I took extra training in polycystic ovarian syndrome, so
Surabhi: Oh, that's good to know.
Nita: Yeah. Yeah. And, and I think for, with pelvic health Yeah. And resources, right? Yeah. Tend to tend to be, be together, but in a, I practice like in a wide variety of areas. But, but a lot of it boils down to food, food relationship. And at our clinic in particular we're, we take a strong stance, uh, against dieting.
We're very anti diet. Um, it's not a weight centric approach at all. And yeah, I, love. My private practice, it's like what I'm, I think, the most passionate about right now.
Surabhi: And are you, do you take clients across, um, Winnipeg, [00:42:00] Manitoba?
Nita: Yes. Manitoba.
Surabhi: You know, you know, I was like thinking, I'm like, what province is Winnipeg in?
Yeah. Um, yeah. Manitoba or do you take clients across Canada? How does that work?
Nita: Yeah, it's, uh, in Manitoba. Okay. I'm registered with the college here. Um, and then if folks are out of province and, Wanna connect with me, I'm happy to connect with you and then maybe refer you on to a colleague that might be a good fit for you in your
province.
Surabhi: Awesome. I will add the links to that cuz I think you shared your website and stuff too. Um, I have a few physio friends who are in Winnipeg actually.
Nita: Oh, cool.
Surabhi: Yeah, and I've heard the food is good there.
Nita: Yes, really good. I mean, it, it's like cold a lot of the year here. So one of the things that Winnipeg has gotten good at is like eating and, and cooking.
Surabhi: Yeah, fair enough. Tell me about if you could change one thing in the world, what would you
change?
Nita: I mean, I think, um, it's so complicated, [00:43:00] but, um, Like I really believe no child should ever be hungry, and it just like boggles my mind. There are, I mean, even at my son's school, there's like kids that don't have a lunch and it's just, yeah.
It's just really unfortunate. So I think maybe if I could change something, it would be a way to improve food systems or help to get rid of like food insecurity or the barriers that make it more challenging for people to access food. Like it makes No, it makes no sense that in a country like Canada that this is, I.
Like kids have no food. So with Happy, healthy Eaters, we every month donate to the Child Nutrition Council and the Child Nutrition Council, um, supports schools with breakfast programs, snack programs, really like whatever they need. And it's all cross Manitoba. So, um,
Surabhi: very cool.
Nita: Yeah, I, I think, I just don't understand why like almost 50% of the users of food banks are kids.
Surabhi: Like, I didn't know. [00:44:00]
Nita: Yeah, it's like 40. I think the last stat I read was like close over 40%
Surabhi: and food can be really like food prices are going up. So I think for a lot of families that's unfortunately the, one of the first things they cut down on is like, You know, okay, what do we actually need to eat?
We'll just stick with the, with that. And I remember coming here and going to school with kids in high school and there was a, one of our friends who didn't have breakfast or lunch, like her mom was a single parent, couldn't afford it, and. You know, you're expected to come and learn and participate without eating and it's then you, you know, then you're dealing with like school issues, but the actual issues the kid needs to eat and you know, the hunger.
So, um,
Nita: Yeah. And I think that like with food prices, for those of us that are privileged enough where it doesn't impact us as impact us as much, like really the folks that have been like app oppressed are gonna, [00:45:00] are gonna become even more marginalized. And, um, we can sit here and say that it's like, not our problem, but really like, if we're here to take care of each other, then I, yes.
I think it's everyone's problem.
Surabhi: It is. Yeah. There's a local, uh, community started. Called We love Willowdale in my, in my neighborhood and they started a food bank for, because the government's not doing anything. So they're like, we're gonna just start a food bank. And so, The food bank is for people in our community who are either homeless or who need food, like families who need food, and it is like a grocery store.
So it's just stocked with produce, stocked with items, and the person can come and pick what they need. Yeah. Versus like, oh, here's what you get. So gives them a little bit more agency over what they get to eat. And I'm like, I'm so one of my friends is who started this, and I'm so proud of her for doing this because.
It's so easy to turn a blind eye and just say, oh, I don't see, I don't see what's happening. But [00:46:00] it's important that we take care of each other, and I love that. I would love to change that in the world too. Yeah. Um, and tell me, what would you say is your mom's strength? Hmm.
Nita: Honestly, I think it might be cooking.
You know, like I think I, I often think like, okay, I got two boys. Like, why did, why did God, why did the universe give two boys? It's because when they're teenagers, I'm gonna know how to prep for them
Surabhi: all that when they eat like the entire fridge one sitting.
Nita: Yeah, because you know what, it's a food skill and it's not something, it's not a strength that everyone has.
It's acquired and, and like, even for some of us that try to practice, like we're just not good at it. But I am, and so I'm excited to like, use it in like another 10 years when they're gonna be teenagers and they'll be growing like weed. So I, I'd say like, that's my, my,
Surabhi: everyone's gonna wanna come to your house cuz you're gonna have the good food.
Right.
Nita: I know, I know.
Like, I like Yeah, I know. Uh, I [00:47:00] definitely can Proudly, not proudly, but. Honestly say that I don't have that skill and I admire.
Yeah, and that's okay.
Surabhi: Yeah. Yeah. It's such a, I feel like it's one of the, my husband does most of the cooking and he's, he's really good at it. So it's one of those things that like, I feel like in every family you need a parent who at least enjoys it or is good at it because yeah, it makes the eating experience for the family so much better.
Um, and tell me about your. E course is called Happy Healthy Eaters. What is it called? Yeah.
Happy Healthy Eaters
Nita: The business is called Happy Healthy Eaters. The. Infant course that we have right now is called Start Solids confidently. So you can purchase the self-paced e-course, um, and it gives you one year access. You get a recipe, amazing book and tons of resources, and you can email us if you're, if you need help troubleshooting.
And then every month, month and a half, we also do a virtual workshop. Um, and so you can sign in. [00:48:00] And then me and Jess, we are like teaching you the course. Like in almost two hours. And then you still have the course to kind of go back to with modules. But we really love that online, like being able to connect, uh, live with folks as well and you get your a questions answered and we get to meet you, your babies.
So that's always really sweet.
Surabhi: Nice. Awesome. I will share the links to that. And I think that, uh, for those of you who are purchasing through my podcast, you will get a special coupon code as well that you can use towards the, the course. So I will add the link to that in my show notes. And Nita, where can people connect with you?
Are you on Instagram mostly? Do you hang out on Facebook? Where's the best place to reach? Yeah,
Nita: you know what? Instagram for sure. And it's just at Happy Healthy Eaters or Nita underscore Sharda. And then we've entered the wild, wild west world of TikTok, so, oh my gosh. There we're at Happy Healthy Eaters and [00:49:00] it's crazy on TikTok, but we had to like, we had to do it.
I mean, I think it's just the way that social media and the world is going.
Surabhi: I have an account, but I. I haven't gotten to posting. I posted like a year ago and then I just was like overwhelmed. And I'm like, okay. But I do thi I do see that more people are going there and I think too, Instagram is kind of, can be glitchy at times, you know?
And yeah.
Nita: Well I learned that TikTok is being, as a search engine is being used more than Google. It outranked it this year, so. Yes, like outrank Google. Like if people wanna know how to make a recipe or anything, they go on TikTok now and, and I, I didn't believe it then I looked it up and it's true.
Surabhi: I did not know that.
I didn't even know you could search that way cuz Instagram doesn't have the best search tool. Yeah, you can't,
Nita: yeah, like that explorer page ray like, and then you press search. But yeah, and we're there and we're very [00:50:00] active and we, we don't, we don't ignore dms either. So despite like having an account that's grown, like it's usually me, I check it every day and it's, I see me who responds
to.
Surabhi: That's awesome. I'm so excited for you and for the business that you have and the services that you're providing and the passion that you bring to it too. Um, I feel like it takes away some of the fear and stress around eating and eating is something we do every day. And so it's gotta be something that's not super stressful.
Yeah. Uh, and I know unfortunately it is for a lot of
people. Yeah. I'll leave you with this last fact, like. The ages of six months and 18 years, we will feed our children, about 20,000 meals. That doesn't even include snacks. So it's like we need to figure it out. Right. We need to figure out a system or a way or an approach that's really gonna work for the whole family.
Yeah.
20,000 meals. Wow. Not
including snacks. [00:51:00]
Yeah. Cuz you know, that's at least two snacks a day. Um, wow. That's, that puts it into perspective too, that. These are skills that we can develop and not just, I'm a bad cook, so I, I don't know how to do this. It's like you can actually learn and practice and get good, get better at it.
So, yeah. Thank you so much, Nita, for sharing your energy, your excitement, and all of the education that you shared with us around, uh, baby-led meetings, spoonfeeding, introducing solids and ways to make it as seamless and stress free as possible. Uh, My audience, if you enjoy this conversation, share it on Instagram and tag us.
Um, go check out their course, their e-course, uh, connect with them on TikTok. Cuz if you're on TikTok, I, you know what? I'm gonna come join you on TikTok. I'm gonna go follow you. Yes. See what's going on. Are you, are you getting pretty good engagement on TikTok too?
Slowly? Like, once we started it got better.
I'm just afraid of like, of [00:52:00] what people are gonna say. Like, we get a lot of trolls, you know, if everyone has an opinion about food, everyone thinks they're a dietician. So I'm just afraid because apparently like there's no, like, there's no like social, like, Conduct on TikTok.
So I've heard that too. And that's one of the reasons that I was like, eh, I remember posting things and I just left the comments off cuz I'm like, I could just share this education and no, no comments.
But then when you don't have comments on, you can't edu you can't interact with the person. So there you go. If you're listening, please behave and please uh, show some gratitude for folks who share their content cuz it does take a lot of energy and time and uh, we do it. We can better, you know, educate and share this amazing knowledge that we have.
So, hmm. Thank you everyone, and I hope you have a wonderful day.
