[This episode is part of the Weight-Neutral Health Care In Aotearoa NZ Series]

This week I'm talking with Andrea Palmer, a Wellington-based dietitian, about weight-neutral family feeding — what it actually looks like and why that's harder than it sounds in a culture obsessed with kids' weight.

In this episode:

• What family-style feeding is, why the parent's job stops at what/when/where, and how removing the moral hierarchy between foods changes the whole dynamic at the table
• Why restricting a bigger kid's food usually backfires — and why pressuring a smaller kid to eat more does too
• How to handle a GP who suggests weight loss for your child, including a question that exposes the bias behind that advice
• Why yo-yo dieting costs kids and how never restricting a child sets them up for a steadier relationship with food for life

As Andrea put it: whether it's fear of weight gain, fear of sugar, or fear of "bad" food, fear has no place attached to something as basic as eating — and taking it off the table is the whole point.

About Andrea Palmer: Andrea has been a dietitian since 2007 and has practised from a weight-neutral perspective for most of her career. Based in Wellington, she supports families — including her own — in feeding their kids without making weight the focus, drawing on her own experience raising a selective eater.

Connect with Andrea: https://foodhabits.co.nz/

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Intuitive Eating by Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch: https://www.intuitiveeating.org/
• The Satter Division of Responsibility in Feeding by Ellyn Satter: https://www.ellynsatterinstitute.org/how-to-feed/division-of-responsibility/

Loved this episode? Subscribe to Wait.What? to stay in the loop: https://emmawright.co.nz/waitwhat/