How to Diet-Proof Your Daughter with Amelia Sherry [Podcast]

Girls are having a rough go of it. A recent CDC report found 57% of teen girls felt persistently sad and hopeless in 2021, compared to 36% in 2011. Not only that, but a report last year found girls going to the ER for eating disorders nearly doubled during the pandemic.

There’s never been a more important time to help support our daughters, both emotionally and physically. Today’s guest is full of strategies to help keep our girls out of dieting and body image pitfalls that go hand in hand with emotional health issues.

Amelia Sherry is a New York-based dietitian with a master’s in public health who counsels women and families. She is founder of the NourshHer, a site dedicated to help parents raise children to have a healthy relationship with food and body. Sherry compiles her best tips and advice in her new book, Diet-Proof Your Daughter.

We have a candid talk about her book, ways to help girls, and what drives her to help families raise girls to have a healthy relationship with food.

Highlights from the Show

Why Amelia chose dietetics as a second career, focusing on pediatrics and how her desire to write a book came after counseling families for five years
Why she focuses on habits instead of body weight.
The biggest dilemma parents of girls face, and what they can do to get over it.
What to say (and not say) at the dinner table.
How the pandemic affected girls’ eating and risk of eating disorders.
How Sherry uses her Intentional Feeding Mindset framework in her book, which includes the 5 pillars that help families.
The importance of “influence” in how our children eat and teaching them how to be a conscious consumer with social media.
How to find out what’s underneath a girl’s drive to change her body.
How to teach nutrition in a positive, non-threatening way by including simple nutrition concepts.
How to communicate why skipping meals, dieting, and disordered eating behaviors is not the way to go.
How to respond when your daughter says she’s unhappy with her body and the importance of conveying family values.
When to seek professional help for eating and body image challenges.

It’s an opportunity to put your daughter on a positive path, but it’s also an opportunity to help you heal some of the things you may have been struggling with for decades. – Amelia Sherry