My Courses – Melanie Potock

May 23

🤦🏼‍♀️A lot of misunderstandings about Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID)!

🩷Hi, I’m Melanie, and feeding specialist who educates health professionals and parents worldwide on how to help kids with extreme selective eating, or ARFID. Let’s chat about it…

👉🏼”SLPs don’t treat ARFID” We need to be careful not to overgeneralize like this, or kids won’t get the help they need. That’s like saying “Psychologists don’t treat pediatric feeding disorder” as if they are never involved in PFD treatment. Interdisciplinary treatment is ideal for every child, and just like SLPs need to have a clear understanding of how to support an OT’s goals of improving sensory integration (etc.) it is our responsibility to be very clear on the role of anxiety in kids with ARFID, and our essential role supporting their journey to finding joy in food.

👉🏼”ARFID is an anxiety disorder.” No, it’s not. It’s an eating or feeding disturbance fueled by anxiety.

👉🏼”Nobody cares, just eat it.” (I can’t really respond appropriately I’m so mad when I hear that) - We DO care. Enough said about that.

👉🏼”Just keep offering…and eventually they will eat it.” No, not true. Kids with ARFID are skilled at avoidance, because anxiety FEEDS on avoidance. The more we help them avoid, the stronger their anxiety becomes. Offering is great, but a skilled clinician known just how much to nudge to help them interact with the food, and eventually, find foods they love.

✨To learn more about ARFID, comment ARFID and I’ll send you a link to all my courses, plus a discount code for the on-demand offerings! My LAST ARFID MASTERCLASS of the year is coming soon, so be sure to comment “ARFID” to get the info.

🥰Melanie
#melaniepotock #pickyeaters #feedingtherapy #arfidawareness #ARFID ...

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May 22

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“If only my picky eater would drink a nutritious smoothie!” I hear that often from parents.

🍯It’s tempting to add sweeteners like honey or maple syrup (yum!) but try adding a sweetener that also contains IRON, like @sunsweetgrowersinc prunes! My friend & RDN @laurenlovesnutrition tells me that prunes are not only a source of fiber but are a terrific source of IRON – and so many kids are not getting enough iron.

💩PLUS, constipation often contributes to picky eating - that`s a fact. And if you don`t know about prunes and their benefits for GI health...well, call me. I`ll fill you in.😉

💕I especially love prunes in chocolate smoothies, have you tried that? Prunes are an important source of nutrition for adults too!

🤔What’s your take on prunes in smoothies? I think you’ll be surprised at the added sweetness PLUS the added health benefits too!

🥰Melanie
#notanad #melaniepotock
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May 20

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🧂What’s up with picky eaters who enjoy salty foods, no matter what their age?

👋🏼Hi! I’m Melanie, author of 6 books on how to help you raise a healthy, happy eater! 🧂When I was in Hawaii last week, there were so many types of salt to enjoy! That got me thinking…why does salt make food taste better?

🧂”Salt imparts more than just a salt taste to overall food flavor. In work with a variety of foods (soups, rice, eggs, and potato chips), salt was found to improve the perception of product thickness, enhance sweetness, mask metallic or chemical off-notes, and round out overall flavor while improving flavor intensity (Gillette, 1985).”*

🤔AND, salt suppresses bitter tastes. Since babies are predisposed to liking sweet tastes at birth (breast milk is sweet for a reason!) isn’t it fascinating that salt makes bitter foods taste LESS bitter, and thus, closer to the taste of “sweet”.

❓Tell me, does your child prefer foods that are already salty, like frozen chicken nuggets or processed foods? Could it be that the salt plays a role in some way?

Hmmm…could be!

💕If you’d like to learn more about picky eating, comment COURSE for a direct link to my on-demand course library, with ten courses to help you! Oh, and I’ll send you a discount code too!

🥰Melanie

*More resources here: Institute of Medicine (US) Committee on Strategies to Reduce Sodium Intake; Henney JE, Taylor CL, Boon CS, editors. Strategies to Reduce Sodium Intake in the United States. Washington (DC): National Academies Press (US); 2010. 3, Taste and Flavor Roles of Sodium in Foods: A Unique Challenge to Reducing Sodium Intake. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK50958/

#melaniepotock #slpfeeding #feedingtherapy #feedinglittles #ashaigers #pickyeaters #arfidawareness ...

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