e014 – The Part-Time Jungle Podcast: Positive Mealtimes For Busy Families with Ahuva Magder Hershkop

Ahuva Magder Hershkop, a mom of almost three year old twins, is a Registered Dietitian, specializing in pediatric nutrition, and is the owner of Arm Yourself Dietetics. Her focus is working with families to reduce mealtime stress, supporting positive family mealtimes and supporting mothers in reducing the mental load of feeding their families. Her mission is to empower parents to create mealtimes that are spent fostering positive relationships with food, instead of counting bites, with the understanding that there is no right way to feed your family - there is only the way that works for YOUR family.    In this episode: Mealtimes can be a time of family connection but they can also create stress and overwhelm.  “Good Enough” family mealtimes are about division of responsibility and are not about perfection.  Having a list of “Oh No” meals in our back pocket, for those days when we realize that we have nothing planned for dinner, can be a game changer.    Connect with Ahuva: * Website: https://armyourselfdietetics.com * Instagram: @ahuvard https://www.instagram.com/ahuvard/ * Facebook: @ahuvaARM https://www.facebook.com/ahuvaARM/ * Join Ahuva’s Facebook Group: “The Busy Moms Guide to Feeding Your Family” where you will get valuable information from Ahuva and an amazing community of support from over 2000 members! * https://www.facebook.com/groups/1683736265060869   On this episode of The Part-Time Jungle Podcast, I had a fantastic conversation with Ahuva about the wins and challenges of family meals, “Good Enough” family mealtimes, and how having a list of “Oh No” meals can be a tool to alleviate stress and overwhelm when we realize that it is dinner time and that we don’t have a plan!   If you prefer to listen, check out Episode 14 of The Part-Time Jungle Podcast.  Ahuva is so relatable and easy to talk to. She and I had a wonderful conversation! Ahuva recognizes that we need to do what works best for us. I love that she keeps things real in talking about the challenges that we can experience with family meals as part of our mom life and work life juggle. Ahuva has some practical and easy to implement strategies that can reduce the overwhelm that many of us face when we are trying to come up with meal ideas and trying to get meals on the table.  WHY CAN MEALTIME BE SO DIFFICULT FOR FAMILIES Ahuva talks about how families are busy. Oftentimes, there just aren’t big windows of time to prepare meals. As well, in the age of social media, there is information overload about the “right” way to feel our families and many images of perfection. When parents do put in the time to make what seems to be an amazing meal, sometimes the kids don’t like what has been prepared.    COVID-19 AND MEAL TIME With many parents now working from home, in some cases, meal times have been less hectic. Prior to COVID, one or both parents may have been working outside the home, or one parent may have worked long hours or travelled for work which meant that family dinners were limited to week-ends or even once a week or, in some cases, once a month. As well, with extracurricular activities on hold, families aren’t currently running around to dance classes, hockey practices, and music lessons. During this time, many families are having more family meals than they would have ot...