Food Saved Me Institute

Food Saved Me Institute Contact information, map and directions, contact form, opening hours, services, ratings, photos, videos and announcements from Food Saved Me Institute, Nonprofit Organization, 516 E Byron Nelson Boulevard #2071, Roanoke, TX.

Food Saved Me Institute is an approved 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization whose mission is to bridge the gap in nutrition science & disease prevention by teaching others healthy eating habits through local nutrition and cooking classes.

Your child won't eat anything but five foods. Every new food on the plate ends in tears or gagging. People keep calling ...
05/30/2026

Your child won't eat anything but five foods. Every new food on the plate ends in tears or gagging. People keep calling it picky eating.

But you know it is more than that.

For many neurodivergent kids, what looks like picky eating is actually something called ARFID.
Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder.

It means their nervous system is not saying, "I don't like this." It is saying "this is a threat." And when the brain perceives a threat, eating shuts down completely.

Pushing through it does not work. In fact, research shows pressure and exposure strategies used too early can actually increase anxiety and food avoidance.

The most helpful thing you can do right now is protect the foods your child already eats. Stop trying to expand the list. Reduce pressure at mealtimes. Safety and trust have to come before anything else.

That is where real progress starts.

Take the free quiz at quiz.fsminstitute.org to see where nutrition may be playing a role in your child's focus, mood, and big emotions.

05/21/2026

A lot of parents of children with autism worry that their child is not getting enough protein.

And while protein is important, especially for growing children, I think many families have been taught to focus almost entirely on the amount instead of the quality.

Protein does much more than support muscle.

The amino acids in protein help build neurotransmitters connected to focus, mood, sleep, and emotional regulation, which is part of why it matters so much for brain development in children on the spectrum.

But protein sources affect the body differently.

Some come packaged with fiber, antioxidants, and nutrients that support gut and brain health. Others can be highly processed or lower in the nutrients that help support those systems.

And for many children with autism, sensory sensitivities can make this even more challenging. Texture, smell, color, and consistency can all influence which foods feel safe enough to eat, which is why flexibility and gradual changes matter.

That’s why I encourage parents to focus less on chasing huge protein numbers and more on incorporating balanced, whole food protein sources throughout the day.

Things like beans, lentils, nuts, seeds, quinoa, and other plant foods can be a great place to start.

And for some children with sensory sensitivities or limited diets, a clean, high-quality protein powder may also help fill in nutritional gaps when needed.

You do not have to overhaul everything overnight. Small shifts made consistently can make a meaningful difference over time.

👉 If you want to learn more, check out this blog all about Autism and Protein: https://vist.ly/542eu

05/13/2026

Turns out the dinner table might be the most underrated tool in your parenting toolkit.

Katherine Lawrence gave a TEDx Talk showing how plant-rich meals can shift mood, focus, and behavior in neurodivergent kids — and her challenge to parents is surprisingly simple: start with just one meal.

One. Like a Mexican quinoa casserole. Or a hearty potato pear stew (blended smooth if your kid has texture stuff going on).
Small changes at the table. Real shifts in how your child shows up every day.

That's the idea behind the Food Save Me Institute — taking complex nutrition science and turning it into practical, doable steps for real families.

🍽️ Want to try the Mexican Quinoa Casserole Katherine mentioned?

Grab the recipe:
👉 https://kids.fsminstitute.org/mexican-quinoa-casserole-recipe

🎤 Watch the full TEDx Talk here:
👉 https://youtu.be/tsTnl-2KkNg?si=jzdi_cEbkGWJMSFu

05/09/2026

Most people think of protein as a "gym thing."

But for kids with autism and other neurodivergent conditions, protein is one of the building blocks the body uses for focus, mood, immune support, and even sleep quality.

It's not the whole picture. But it's a bigger piece than most parents realize.

If your child struggles with attention, meltdowns, or just seems to run on empty, it's worth taking a closer look at what they're eating and whether they're getting enough of the right kind of protein.

We just published a full article on how protein fits into the bigger picture of supporting kids with autism and other neurodivergent conditions. Read it below

👉 https://vist.ly/53mag

04/28/2026

What if your child's eating struggles aren't just picky eating?

There's a clinically recognized feeding disorder called ARFID (Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder) and it may be more common in neurodivergent children than many parents realize.

With ARFID, a child's brain may experience food as genuinely unsafe, physically, neurologically, or emotionally. Not a preference. Not defiance. A nervous system response.

Only a qualified provider can determine whether ARFID may be part of your child's picture. But understanding what it is and how it differs from selective eating can be a powerful first step in getting the right support.

Read the full blog: https://vist.ly/427c9

04/24/2026

Autism is diagnosed on a spectrum.

It includes 3 different levels, and it can look very different from one child to another.

What I see happening a lot is that we still talk about it as if every diagnosis is the same, and that can make it harder to understand what’s really going on for an individual child.

In our case, we didn’t recognize it at first. We thought some of what we were seeing in our son was a behavior issue. We thought discipline could help. It took time to realize his brain was simply processing things differently.

That’s when nutrition started to come into the picture.
Not as a cure, and not as a replacement for support, but as something that can affect how the brain functions, especially during development.

We started noticing that certain foods made it harder for him to regulate, focus, and settle, and others seemed to support him.

There’s research behind this, but for a lot of families, it starts with just paying attention and connecting those dots.

It’s not usually the first place people are told to look.
If you’re trying to better understand what could be affecting your child’s brain and behavior, take the quiz to establish a baseline and get practical steps to meet them where they’re at:
👉 quiz.fsminstitute.org

Watch the full interview here: Link in Bio

💙

04/24/2026

Autism is diagnosed on a spectrum.

It includes 3 different levels, and it can look very different from one child to another.

What I see happening a lot is that we still talk about it as if every diagnosis is the same, and that can make it harder to understand what’s really going on for an individual child.

In our case, we didn’t recognize it at first. We thought some of what we were seeing in our son was a behavior issue. We thought discipline could help. It took time to realize his brain was simply processing things differently.

That’s when nutrition started to come into the picture.

Not as a cure, and not as a replacement for support, but as something that can affect how the brain functions, especially during development.

We started noticing that certain foods made it harder for him to regulate, focus, and settle, and others seemed to support him.

There’s research behind this, but for a lot of families, it starts with just paying attention and connecting those dots.

It’s not usually the first place people are told to look.

If you’re trying to better understand what could be affecting your child’s brain and behavior, take the quiz to establish a baseline and get practical steps to meet them where they're at:
👉 https://quiz.fsminstitute.org

Watch the full interview here: https://youtu.be/3EdEtekshWI?si=Jtm9D6EM3NN9OlMj

04/21/2026

If you don’t know where to start with nutrition, start here

When parents ask me where to begin,
they’re usually expecting something complicated.

But most of the time, I start with something simple.

🥝 Fiber.

Not a supplement.
Not a trend.

Just one of the most basic parts of how we fuel the body
that most kids aren’t getting enough of.

Fiber helps support the gut environment, and that plays a role in mood, focus, and regulation.

It’s not the only factor.
But it’s one of the most overlooked.

And for many families, it’s one of the easiest places to start.

If you want to understand why fiber matters for neurodivergent kids (kids with ADHD or Autism, for instance) and how to increase it without turning meals into a battle, we break it down here:

👉 https://fsminstitute.org/the-power-of-fiber-for-neurodivergent-kids-especially-for-autism-or-adhd/

04/18/2026

Why can’t my child focus?

You sit down for homework.
Five minutes later…

They’re distracted. Fidgeting. Frustrated.

It looks like a discipline problem.
But ADHD brains are incredibly sensitive to what they’re fueled with.

It's not about curing ADHD. It's about creating more calm and predictability.

Some foods support focus and behavior.
Some work against it.
And it’s not always obvious which is which.

Watch the full Exam Room Podcast episode from the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, hosted by Chuck Carroll, featuring Katherine Lawrence, Founder of FSMI: https://youtu.be/3EdEtekshWI?si=t7mDczPWg4C1FGwF

04/15/2026

I knew this wasn’t a discipline issue.

We had structure.
We had consistency.
We had clear expectations.

But something still wasn’t working.

That’s when I realized the hard moments weren’t simply a behavior problem to correct.

They were signs of a dysregulated brain.

What looked like defiance was often overwhelm.

And no amount of discipline can fix a brain that doesn’t have what it needs.

That shift changes everything.

Because you stop focusing only on stopping the behavior…
and start asking what is making regulation so hard in the first place.

And for us, one of the biggest missing pieces was nutrition.

Because when the brain isn’t getting what it needs,
regulation, focus, and mood all become harder.

But when you start supporting it properly,
you begin to see more calm, more focus, and fewer extreme swings.

It all starts with understanding and meeting them where they’re at and having simple ways to support them day to day.

That’s exactly what we share in our twice-monthly newsletter: practical nutrition strategies, real examples, and clear guidance you can use right away.

👉 Sign up here: https://go.fsminstitute.org/join-newsletter

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516 E Byron Nelson Boulevard #2071
Roanoke, TX
76262

Telephone

+18172698638

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