Episode 283: Natalie Peltro | From Picky Eater to Plate Adventurer — Helping Kids (and Adults) Fall in Love with Real Food

Episode 283: Natalie Peltro | From Picky Eater to Plate Adventurer — Helping Kids (and Adults) Fall in Love with Real Food

From Food Junkies Podcast by Clarissa Kennedy

May 28, 2026 · 54 min

About this episode

Natalie Peltro shares her journey from dealing with her son's picky eating to helping families embrace real food through compassionate strategies.

What do you do when your child will only eat three foods — and none of them are vegetables? For Natalie Peltro, certified nutritional therapist and lifestyle medicine expert, that was her reality. Her son was diagnosed with severe nonverbal autism at 18 months, and the journey to help him heal through food became the foundation of her entire career. In this episode, Natalie shares the framework she's used with hundreds of families to overcome picky eating — not through force, pressure, or sneaky tricks that backfire — but through biology, nervous system awareness, and what she calls the Four E's. Whether you're navigating picky eating in your household, supporting clients who struggle with ultra-processed food habits from childhood, or just trying to understand why your kid will eat mac and cheese but nothing green, this conversation is full of practical, compassionate strategies you can start using today. In this episode, we cover: How Natalie's son went from eating only 3 foods (nonverbal, severely autistic) to graduating mainstream school with honors Why "fed is best" may be an outdated framework in today's ultra-processed food environment The biology of picky eating — zinc…

People in this episode

Host: Clarissa Kennedy

Guest: Natalie Peltro

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