What Your Kids Learn From Watching You Eat featuring Abbey Sharp

Abbey Sharp has built an audience of over 2.5 million people calling out nutrition misinformation as a registered dietitian, and in this conversation she and Larry cut through some of the biggest confusion facing dads right now: the seed oil panic, the rise of "looks maxing" and muscularity-focused disordered eating in men, and how to feed a house full of picky kids without turning dinner into a nightly battle. Larry gets unusually candid about his own relationship with fitness and body image, and Abbey offers a grounded, non-restrictive framework for approaching food that she built out of her own recovery from an eating disorder.

The conversation also covers modeling healthy body image for kids, a practical division-of-responsibility approach to family meals, and Abbey's honest take on GLP-1 medications. If you've ever felt confused by conflicting nutrition advice online, or wondered whether your own relationship with fitness has quietly become more about fear than health, this episode offers real, evidence-based clarity.

 

Timeline Summary

[1:02] The seed oil debate: what the actual research says versus the online panic

[6:15] Ranking cooking oils by nutrient profile, and why canola oil gets undeserved hate

[16:09] Introducing Abbey Sharp: registered dietitian, author, and "the internet's no BS dietitian"

[17:45] Diet culture's impact on men, reframed as "optimization" and "looks maxing"

[19:02] How male-focused disordered eating often centers on muscularity rather than thinness

[21:42] Explaining "looks maxing" and its darker corners online

[23:23] Larry shares his own history: childhood bullying, a significant weight loss at 17, and fear of regaining it

[27:23] Finding balance: caring for your body without making it a referendum on your worth

[29:31] Why kids absorb body image messaging from watching their parents, long before anyone tells them directly

[34:00] Abbey shares her own teenage experience with orthorexia and how it shaped her career

[36:07] Introducing the Hunger Crushing Combo: protein, fiber, and healthy fats instead of restriction

[42:44] Abbey's take on GLP-1 medications: real benefits, real risks, and real social side effects

[47:07] Building a high protein, high fiber breakfast for kids without restricting carbs

[53:32] The Division of Responsibility approach to feeding picky kids without nightly battles

[58:24] Larry shares a childhood memory of being forced to eat spinach, and why pressure backfires

[59:40] Where to find Abbey: her podcast, YouTube channel, and family nutrition webinar

 

Five Key Takeaways

1. Not all cooking oils are created equal, and the sweeping "seed oils are toxic" narrative doesn't hold up under real research. The bigger issue is the ultra-processed foods most seed oils show up in, not the oil itself.

2. Disordered eating in men is often disguised as discipline. Framed as "optimization" or "looks maxing," compulsive protein tracking, fear of fat, and obsessive exercise get praised rather than questioned, which makes it harder to recognize as a real problem.

3. A helpful litmus test for a healthy relationship with fitness is whether it still lets you live your life: can you skip a workout, eat at a birthday party, or go out with friends without guilt? If self-care starts shrinking your life instead of adding to it, that's worth examining.

4. Kids absorb body image messaging by watching their parents, not just from what's said directly to them. Comments about needing to "earn" food through exercise or fearing weight gain teach kids that their body is a project long before anyone tells them so outright.

5. The Division of Responsibility approach to feeding kids means parents decide what, when, and where meals happen, while kids decide how much they eat. Keeping one safe, familiar food on the table for picky eaters reduces mealtime battles far more effectively than pressure or bribery.

 

Links & Resources

• Bite Back with Abbey Sharp: https://www.abbeyskitchen.com
• The Hunger Crushing Combo Method by Abbey Sharp, RD: https://www.abbeyskitchen.com/hunger-crushing-combo
• The Board Room Mastermind: Guest Session: http://thedadedge.com/guest 
• Roommates to Soulmates: http://thedadedge.com/soulmates 
• Episode shownotes: http://thedadedge.com/1527

 

Closing

If any part of this conversation, especially the parts about food noise, fear of weight gain, or the pressure to always be optimizing, hit closer to home than you expected, you're not alone, and it's worth talking to someone. If you or someone you know is struggling with disordered eating, the National Alliance for Eating Disorders helpline is available for support and can help you find the right next step. Beyond that, the whole spirit of this conversation is permission: permission to eat the pizza, permission to miss a workout, permission to let your kids grow up without inheriting a fear of their own bodies. Go out and live legendary.