Podcast with Elsa Anka
"At home, they call me Granny Herbs"
🎧 Introducing the Naranja Amarga Podcast (Juan Llorca and Nutrikids), with the support of Feroz 👣
🍊 In this episode, we discuss, with humor and reflection, how children's nutrition has changed over the generations. 👶✨
🎙️ Elsa Anka shares her experience as a mother and grandmother, highlighting the importance of good habits, family example 👩👧👦, and balance when it comes to sugar 🍬 and ultra-processed foods 🥤, all from an approachable and realistic perspective 💬💛
If you prefer to read the content, here is a brief summarized outline with key phrases from the conversation:
Context and protagonists
- Podcast: Naranja Amarga (children's nutrition).
- Guest: Elsa Anka (journalist/model/actress and recent grandmother).
- Hosts: Melisa Gómez and Juan Llorca.
Motherhood, grandmotherhood, and bonding
Central idea: parental love is immense and brings constant worry.
- “It’s the most wonderful thing that can happen to you, but love is proportional to suffering.”
- “Your happiness now depends 100% on that of your children.”
- “I love my granddaughter as much as my children.”
Grandmother's role: enjoyment vs. boundaries
A more playful role, conscious of not encroaching on the parents' role.
- “You get the more playful part: having fun and being well.”
- “If she doesn’t want to eat… that’s for the parents.”
- “At my daughter’s house, I’m a bit of the herb grandma.”
Generational changes in nutrition
Before: tricks and beliefs without evidence; now: child's signals and science.
- “The pacifier and spoon trick… it worked, but I wouldn’t do it today.”
- “It made me uncomfortable to be forced to eat.”
- “We can't judge the past: they did the best they knew how.”
Sugar, ultra-processed foods, and social normalization
Critique of current exposure and the "normalcy" of sweets.
- “Seriously, if it’s not with sweets, the child won’t be happy?”
- “It’s not just once; often it’s almost every day.”
- “A 5-year-old today has consumed more sugar than a 100-year-old in their entire life.”
- “What you eat, they will eat.”
Strategies and habits that work
Modeling, varied offerings, respecting satiety, fruit/yogurt for snacks.
- “I put it on the table: no forcing, trying a small scoop and then more.”
- “With my granddaughter, natural yogurt with cut fruit… she eats it very well.”
- “If salad doesn't come first, I'll have a bit of apple cider vinegar.”
Health > aesthetics, and critical view without fatphobia
Priority: functional capacity and long-term well-being.
- “I want to be 85 and be able to tie my shoes.”
- “Fatphobia is the insult; asking ‘are you well?, do you need help?’ is not.”
Advertising, environment, and group
The environment pushes for worse eating; the group can also push for better eating.
- “Before it was TV and magazines; today there’s advertising everywhere.”
- “If his group eats salad, he also eats salad.”
Illustrative anecdotes
“Compulsory” chocolate milk, cologne for nausea, bread with dark chocolate, kombucha vs. lollipops.
- “I question giving her kombucha… but we accept a lollipop. Are we crazy?”
“Feroz Question” and children’s footwear
Wear shoes when they can already walk and for protection from the environment; otherwise, barefoot is better.
- “The child, barefoot all day, if possible.”
👉 Don't miss the other episodes 🎙️
Recorded at Ferozland