Parenting Tips: Young Dad Podcast · Jey Young

255: Working WITH Picky Eaters- Jessica S.

·54 min·5 clips

The host opens with a casual welcome and sets the show inside the familiar chaos of dad life. Jessica is introduced as a leading voice in eating disorder care and nutritional psychology, and the conversation quickly turns to how childhood experiences shape a relationship with food. The host says dads do not talk about picky eating and this subject enough, especially dads with daughters. That sets the tone for the rest of the interview. Jessica and the host talk about how parents can model a calmer relationship with food without pretending to be perfect. When things go sideways, repairing what went wrong is something to role model. The conversation keeps circling back to that idea. Jessica explains that eating disorders are real psychological disorders, not made-up behavior. The host grounds that point in his own mental health and developmental psychology background and asks where the common disorders start to show up. Anorexia and bulimia come up first, with puberty often being the period when they appear. ARFID gets a longer look because it can begin in younger childhood and can look like extreme picky eating while carrying something closer to fear. Jessica is careful not to collapse every hard eating habit into a diagnosis. She keeps separating impaired behavior from formal disorder and points to the stress-plus-restriction pattern that can trigger bigger problems. That keeps the episode practical instead of abstract. The host keeps translating her points back into family language, which fits the show's loose, conversational style. Instead of sounding clinical, the talk stays rooted in fatherhood and connection. There is a steady return to the idea that kids absorb what they hear as much as what they eat. The closing stretch lands on kindness, curiosity, and a less anxious way to think about feeding both children and yourself. Jessica's work is pointed listeners toward at the end, along with the site name. The whole thing feels like a real conversation between people trying to make meals less loaded.

As heard by us

A steady listen for dads thinking about food, repair, and picky eating.

Young Dad Podcast uses this episode to think through picky eating as part of family life, not just a mealtime headache. Jessica keeps pulling the conversation back to how dads talk about food, how old childhood food stories linger, and where ordinary resistance starts to look…

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

You want a calmer way to handle picky-eater battles at home.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

Listen to the show on

Apple Podcasts Spotify

Play clips from this episode More from Parenting Tips: Young Dad Podcast