Hi! I’m Ali.
Welcome to The Toddler Kitchen, I am so glad you are here! I am a registered dietitian with a master’s of science in health promotion, passionate recipe developer and mama. Feeding kids is hard. It can be stressful. The Toddler Kitchen is here to help make feeding your kids a little bit easier!
If you’ve been struggling with trying to figure out what to feed your kids, wondering if they are getting enough nutrition, dealing with picky eating preferences and various texture aversions – I see you! Here you will find support, encouragement, easy and nourishing recipes and evidenced-based information to help make feeding your kids more enjoyable.
My journey with introducing foods for my daughter was stressful and was so different from how I thought it was going to go. I was so excited to begin introducing foods to my daughter, but then became constantly worried about safe food sizes and textures, questioning if I was serving enough variety and fear of choking that I felt panicked every time we sat down to eat! Not to mention I was being inundated with various “feeding information” and it all felt so overwhelming. And then you add a child into the mix who has their own plans for how the feeding journey is going to go! All this to say it ended up being a challenging time. Luckily, working in the field of nutrition I sought out support from amazing colleagues and rounded up credible feeding research and information. My own confidence began to increase with feeding my daughter as did her confidence and curiosity towards food. We have come so far! Of course now we are navigating the toddler feeding phase which is a whole other ball game!
My approach
As a dietitian I am incredibly passionate about not only nutrition, but also the eating environment and cultivating a positive relationship with food. This is woven into all of the information and programs on this site. I follow The Division of Responsibility (sDOR) by Ellyn Satter to support kids in becoming competent eaters. You can learn more about the sDOR here.
I love supporting families with this exciting (and crazy) area of feeding kids! So feel free to check out some of my easy, toddler-approved recipes, read up on the latest learning posts, check out my family meal plans and mealtime visuals or if you are looking for a bit more support, I have my signature Nourished Mamas, Nourished Littles 4-week Guided Program! This program is an amazing opportunity to come together with other moms and transform mealtimes for our families! Let’s navigate this together 😊.
Educational Background
- BSc. Food, Nutrition and Health (majoring in dietetics) from the University of British Columbia
- MSc. Health Promotion from the University of Victoria
- Registered Dietitian with the College of Dietitians of BC
- Member of Dietitians of Canada
Work Experience
- Over ten years working in health promotion research with families at the Behavioural Medicine Lab at the University of Victoria
- 4 years as an oncology dietitian at InspireHealth Supportive Cancer Care
- 4 years working in private practice with families, parents and child nutrition