Be curious. This is the first step to being smarter. You can always be smarter than you were yesterday if you are curious enough to learn something new today.

1. Ask questions - my daughter asks about 200 questions a day (she is 3) because she is learning and taking in new experiences every minute of every day. We would be wise to learn from this practice. She asks my favorite questions too:

• Why? - when you ask why you can get people to open up. For example, you learn a friend is moving, ask why.
• What's that? ("It is better to look uninformed than to be uninformed").

Questions lead to better ideas.
​2. Read a lot - read as much as you can. Listen to audiobooks. Forever be a student of whatever interests you. 

If you do these two simple things you are on your way to growing smarter every day. #learnsomethingneweveryday 

​What are your tips for getting smarter? I would love to read them in the comments.
​

What do I feed my picky toddler? My baby daddy asked me the other day what vegetables our kids eat... The answer is pretty much potatoes (all forms) and tomatoes (cherry only). Even as a nutritionist that cooks a ton my daughter still has not picked up my good eating habits.... yet!

I found these kids protein bars that she really likes while visiting family in California. When I got back to Idaho I searched around and when I found them at Target I bought every box they had on the shelf. My food scientist colleague took one look at the ingredients and nutrition and said that he would rather eat a Snickers. This got me thinking. I have looked at the glycemic index of Snickers versus bananas, white bread, rice, etc. So from a blood sugar impact stand point it seemed like it could be a valid argument.

Then yesterday my daughter was having an epic melt down because she hadn't eaten enough (among other things that are frustrating as a three year old); I told Thean (baby daddy) to get her a fun size Snickers, He pushed back that she is addicted to sugar enough as it is. All this is what prompted me to take a quick look at the macros of what my kids eat every day and compare them to some of our favorite treats.

The verdict is that my food scientist colleague should stick to food science and I will stick to my intuition on what I am feeding my toddler. Candy is okay as a treat but yogurts, protein bars, and flax muffins will remain daily diet staples.