Order Up! A Conversation with Natalie K., the Creator of Wholesome Nat, Mom of Three, and Recipe Developer
Picky Eating Is Normal, and Other Things Natalie Kotesova Wants Tired Parents to Hear
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Helping Moms Serve Nourishing Meals: Natalie Kotesova on Pressure-Free Feeding
When Natalie was diagnosed with hypothyroidism, her doctors told her there was nothing to be done. She’s a self-described research junkie, though, so she went looking anyway. Food was what changed things. “I have never in my life felt this good,” she says.
That’s the story underneath her recipes. Natalie shares the meals her three boys actually eat, and she cooks from a place a lot of parents will recognize: wanting the best for your kids without turning every dinner into a fight. You can find her recipes on her Instagram @wholesome_nat and in her recipe book (in Español and English). She has real opinions, like rethinking the sweets you reach for instead of fearing them, and being honest about how much of a mom’s stress around toddler eating is her own instead of her child’s.
Her boys are almost eight, five, and two, and the food at their table pulls from her Mexican roots, her husband’s Russian side, and the Japanese meals the kids fell for on their own. Running through all of it is one steady belief: picky eating is normal, taste buds keep changing, and the job is to keep offering without the pressure.
In our conversation she gets into the sweet peppers her oldest swears he hates (and now adds as a pizza topping himself), why she never makes separate meals, and the green smoothie that starts most mornings. It reads less like a set of rules than a way of paying attention: to what kids like, to how food makes them feel, and to the difference between a hard day and a real problem.
A Conversation with Natalie Kotesova, digital creator behind Wholesome Nat
Introduce Yourself: I’m Natalie Kotesova. I’m the content creator behind Wholesome Nat, and I share recipes my kids love to eat. I have three boys, and feeding little ones is basically what started this whole passion. They’re about to turn eight, five, and two.
What’s a favorite food memory from growing up?
I grew up at my grandparents’ house. My grandma had nine kids, so she was in the kitchen all day. Watching her cook is where my love of food started. It wasn’t the same style I cook now. She was feeding as many people as fast as she could, and I’m more mindful about every ingredient. But that’s where it began, just watching her go.
Is there a family recipe you’re holding onto?
There’s this orange pound cake. Every time you smelled it in the oven, it got everybody excited. When I started my wellness journey, that was the first flavor I wanted to capture again. Growing up, I thought it was the best thing you could ever eat. So I worked on that recipe until it felt right.
You’ve said the meals your kids love most are the simple ones. Was that always your instinct?
It started when I got more aware of what I was putting in my own body. It made no sense to feed myself the best food I could think of and not do the same for them. So it really started with my first son. New parents tend to overthink everything with the first one anyway.
Now that they’re older, I’m learning to work in their own preferences. They’re vocal about what they like, especially when they see other kids eating something. But for me it’s about giving them the basics so they can make their own decisions later. When I go back to the standard American diet on a trip, I don’t feel as good, and I always come back to how I eat now. That’s what I want for them, to notice how food makes them feel.
Was there a specific moment that turned you toward eating this way?
I have an autoimmune disease, hypothyroidism. When I was first diagnosed, they basically told me there was nothing I could do about it. But I’m a research junkie. My husband says I overdo it. I started digging for ways to feel better, and food helped. It was a transformation. I’ve never felt this good in my life. That’s what pushed me to look deeper into nutrition and pay attention to what we all eat.
A lot of parents struggle to get kids to eat the healthy stuff. You say picky eating is normal. How do you encourage other parents?
My number one thing is that I don’t love every vegetable or every fruit myself. So I can’t expect my kids to love everything either. I try not to pressure them into liking something. Even as adults our taste buds change all the time, so of course theirs are still evolving. You put a plate down, and sometimes they like it and sometimes they don’t. Some days you’re just not in the mood for soup.
I lean on gentle encouragement and a few boundaries. I’ll say, this is what mama made, and it’s okay if you don’t like it, but this is what we have unless you want to grab a banana. Usually they’ll go grab the banana, then come back to the soup, because something just shifted. You don’t have to force it, and you don’t have to give up on it either. A little “oh, it’s so crunchy, you’re going to love it” is often enough to get them to try it. They don’t have to love it. They just have to try.
Can you think of a recent moment where one of your older kids dug in?
My oldest swears he doesn’t like sweet peppers. Everything I make, he says he doesn’t like it. But lately I’ve been sneaking them into dishes where they’re not obvious. We made a big veggie pizza and I chopped the peppers really small. Then I made fajitas with super thin pepper strips. He built his tacos, piled on guacamole, and said it was the best taco ever. Same with the pizza, he said I’d added something so flavorful. My husband said, those peppers are so sweet, and my son goes, wait, there’s peppers? I said, yeah, so I guess you like them now, Noah. And he goes, oh no, absolutely not. But we didn’t make a big deal of it. The next week we made pizza again, and he was adding the peppers himself.
People say their kids don’t like salad, but little ones just don’t love chewing greens. That’s normal. My oldest started asking for greens around six, because he saw me eating my salads. Now he loves them. So I’m not rushing my two littles. They’ll ask eventually, probably sooner, because they want to be like their big brother.
Is there a feeding worry you see other moms trying to fix that doesn’t need fixing?
The fear of sweets. Kids crave sweet things, and honestly so do I. I just reach for the better sweets. I offer a lot of fruit. There’s this fear of fruit going around that I don’t understand. I’ve never felt better than when I’m eating plenty of fruit. If my kid reaches for strawberries over cucumbers, I don’t stress about it. We naturally lean toward sweeter tastes. You don’t need to fear the craving. You just need to rethink the sweets you’re reaching for.
How much of toddler eating struggle is really about the kid, and how much is the mom?
Oh, it’s high. I catch myself in it too. He barely ate today, something must be wrong, I need to pack more veggies into the smoothie. Then I step back and remember it’s one day. I don’t eat all my fruits and vegetables some days either. It’s hard not to overstress, because we want them to thrive. Unless the bad days outnumber the good ones consistently, it’s usually fine. Go back to your instinct. They see you eating it, they’ll reach for it. Set up the environment. If you don’t want them reaching for cookies, don’t buy the cookies. Relax, start small, and look at what’s around them.
You do a lot with repurposing leftovers. How did that start?
I really hate food waste. We’re a big family, so leftovers are usually just a little bit, and I try to use every bit. I keep a base of meals I know the boys will like. I start with a starch or grain, a potato or something. Then a veggie they love, like broccoli. Then a fun vegetable they’re not sure about, which they can pick out or try. After that I focus on fats, because their brains need fat to develop, so I add more for them than for me and my husband, usually in a sauce or a dip. And I always add a fruit for the vitamins and minerals.
I keep a handful of recipes memorized, so if I’ve got cauliflower in the fridge I know I can make tacos, cauliflower sandwiches, or cauliflower rice, then build the rest around it. That’s how it works in my brain.
What’s your favorite smoothie in the house?
My green smoothie. Start with frozen bananas for the best texture and flavor. Then frozen mango, a little pineapple, one or two stalks of celery, and a tiny piece of ginger if your kids can handle it, for flavor and for your gut. For greens, kale can be too bitter for little ones, so I go with spinach or something softer. You have your nourishing meal first thing, your belly’s prepped, and you feel energized. It’s the best way to start the morning.
You’ve written, “freedom is realizing you’re the parent and you can make the rules.” Is there a rule from your own upbringing you kept or let go of?
Home cooked is best. There’s so much out there labeled wholesome and clean, and those standards aren’t always good ones. At home you can always control what goes into your food and your body. I grew up eating a lot of homemade meals, and that’s the one I kept.
Your food pulls from a few cultures. What are the influences?
I’m Mexican and my husband is Russian, so there’s already a mix. And my boys love Japanese food. It happened naturally. It was never, here’s Japanese food, you have to love it. It was more, mommy, I love this sushi, can we have more? So we do a lot of Japanese meals at home, some Mexican, and my husband loves potatoes. I also fold in the pizza and nuggets they see other kids eating, just not all the time.
You mentioned a recipe book. What’s in it?
It started because I had a bad habit of making something great and never writing it down, then forgetting what I did. So I started writing recipes for myself. It has ten breakfasts and ten easy lunch and dinner meals, plus sweets. It’s gluten-free, plant-based, and mostly soy-free, since that’s how I eat. Everything’s easy and approachable. The link’s in my Instagram bio.
What’s your advice for a tired mom whose kid is a picky eater and who’s out of dinner ideas?
Don’t make separate meals. Make one meal and customize it. I cook mostly oil-free and fat-free for myself, but for the boys I add their fats right on top, heavy on the sauce, a sprinkle of seeds, some avocado or coconut. Their pancakes are fat-free, then I drizzle almond butter on top, and they like them better that way. Layer it. Pancakes take toppings, tacos take fillings. Two separate meals just adds to the problem.
Is there a cooking skill you think every home cook should know?
Know how to cook your basics. Your own grains, your own beans, your own sauces. Once you have those down, you can build any meal from there.