Dr. Yami (vegan): Intuitive Eating for Families, Part 1 of 3

Today we are honored to feature Dr. Yami Cazorla-Lancaster, who goes by Dr. Yami. She is a board-certified pediatrician and a certified Lifestyle Medicine Physician, a national board-certified health and wellness coach and a professional speaker. Dr. Yami founded the website VeggieFitKids.com where she shares information on plant-based diets, recipes and lifestyle tips. Dr. Yami is also the author of “A Parent’s Guide to Intuitive Eating: How to Raise Kids Who Love to Eat Healthy,” that provides a unique approach to establishing positive eating habits for children that will last a lifetime.

One common concern for parents considering changing their children’s diet to a plant-based one is whether it provides enough nutrition. “And so, I feel like my experience has taught me that not only is it possible, but you can raise children that are happy, responsible, loving, compassionate people in this world when they're eating a plant-based diet.”

“The majority of children do not enjoy meat, and parents stress out about that and I tell them, don't worry. Intuitive eating means that you are tuning into your body, honoring your hunger and your satiety. And you are tuning into how your body feels after you eat. And so that way it gives you information to make your food choices. It was originally coined by 2 dieticians, Evelyn Tribole, and Elyse Resch and they started learning about intuitive eating in the 1980s. They wrote their book in 1995, and it consists of 10 principles, and this is evidence-based.”

“And what I want parents to know and to realize is that children are born intuitive eaters. They know when they're hungry; they know when to stop. So, I encourage parents to trust that, to realize that under the age of 5, most children have the ability to tell when they're hungry and [when] they’re full, and so whenever we trust that, we are more likely to support continuing that intuition and then staying in our lane as far as what are the responsibilities we have as parents, which is to make the choices for the food that we want to provide, prepare the food and offer the food, and then it is up to the child to decide if and how much they want to eat.”