Born to Eat

Book excerpt: Eating is an innate skill that marketing schemes and diet culture have overcomplicated. In recent decades, we have begun overthinking our food, which has led to chronic dieting, disordered eating, body distrust, and epidemic levels of confusion about the best way to feed ourselves and our families. We can raise kids with confidence in their food and bodies from baby’s first bite! We are all Born to Eat, and it seems only natural for us to start at the beginning—with our babies. When babies show signs of readiness for solid foods, they can eat almost everything the family eats and become competent, happy eaters. By honoring self-regulation and using a family food foundation, we can support an intuitive eating approach for everyone around the table. With a focus on self-feeding and a baby-led weaning approach, nutritionists and wellness experts Leslie Schilling and Wendy Jo Peterson provide age-based advice, step-by-step instructions, self-care help for parents, and easy recipes to ensure that your infant is introduced to solid, tasty food as early as possible. It’s time to kick diet culture out of our homes!