Growing Pains

You grew up on ’90s diet culture. And now you are the one setting the tone at your own dinner table. Black plastic? Non-stick pans? Superfoods? On this episode of Growing Pains, we speak with accredited nutritionist Charlotte Mei, who says you can have your laksa and eat it. And she’ll tell you how. Charlotte has spent over a decade in nutrition, and she will tell you exactly what she thinks. Her take: most of what scares us in the kitchen needs more nuance, not panic. Also on the table: weight loss medication and why it keeps turning up at dinner parties, a food safety habit that splits families down the middle, and a story from her teenage years she has never told in public. If you want your kids to reach for food with joy instead of guilt, press play. About the Guest Charlotte Mei is an accredited nutritionist who helps people build a guilt-free relationship with food and their bodies. She is a TEDx speaker, a former radio talk-show presenter and the producer of the nutrition podcast In A Bite. She has run over 250 nutrition literacy workshops, turning nutrition science into everyday tools. Instagram: @thecharlottemei YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWpBI-E-LPyphVdLJeiiiPg Podcast (In A Bite): https://open.spotify.com/show/3oIJLgAEKavIDMQcUJuRUT Services: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/628340695eb0bf7547dd84f6/t/6a632b800309546ad9320142/1784884916031/Charlotte+Mei+-+Media+Kit+-+2026.pdf What You’ll Take Away The one word Charlotte wants retired from every dinner table (and what to say instead) Why a nutritionist hid snacks in her bedroom at 15 The vitamin a standard blood test leaves out (and why sunny Singapore did not save her) The two questions to ask before anyone starts weight loss medication Why the people who need these drugs are scared of them, and the people who don’t are asking for them The kitchen habit half of Singapore swears by, and the nutritionist who begs you to stop What to say to a best friend who tells you she is starting next week IN THIS EPISODE: 00:00 Teaser: Have We Made Healthy Eating Too Complicated? 01:01 Meet Charlotte Mei: The Nutritionist Who Still Eats Cookies 02:18 How Charlotte Turned Food Curiosity Into a Career 04:00 The Childhood That Shaped Her Relationship With Food 05:45 “Give Me 10 Years”: Why She Chose Nutrition 09:08 When Food Became an Act of Rebellion 12:10 Why We Still Want a Snack When We’re Already Full 16:18 How ’90s Diet Culture Messed With Our Relationship With Food 18:17 The “Superfood” Marketing Myth 21:28 Protein Maxing, Supplements & Wellness FOMO 25:29 The Nutrition Advice That Actually Moves the Needle 29:28 Weight Loss Medication: What Nobody Is Saying Out Loud 34:22 Who Gets Access to Weight Loss Drugs — and Who Doesn’t? 37:37 Is Taking Weight Loss Medication “Cheating”? 39:54 How to Raise Kids Without Food Guilt 41:20 Can Food Be Comfort Without Becoming a Problem? 43:47 Is Your “Low-Tox” Kitchen Making You Anxious? 46:21 The Food Safety Mistakes Hiding in Your Kitchen 49:48 Rapid Fire: Milo, Kiwi Skin & Food Rules 50:51 Faz’s Top Three Takeaways Connect with Growing Pains Growing Pains is HoneyKids Asia’s podcast for the conversations you want to have after the kids go to bed. YouTube: @growingpains.honeykids Instagram: @honeykidsasia Website: honeykidsasia.com Hit subscribe so you don’t miss an episode. If this one resonated, share it with a parent who needs it. Growing Pains is produced in partnership with Poddster, Singapore’s podcast studio.

Her wedding portrait appeared on an outdoor stage in Singapore, faces cut out, as a Hari Raya decoration. She never agreed to it. She spoke up, and it became a national story. Most people saw the headlines. They did not see what came after: the harassment, the smear campaign, the friends who disappeared. Sarah Bagharib has never told that part in full until now. She has spent her whole life being told which box she belongs in. She grew up wanting to be Malay. On paper, she is filed under “Others.” So what do you do when no box fits? She decided to build her own. Now a mother of two, she is raising a daughter who asks questions most adults avoid. Some parents have opinions on how Sarah answers them. Press play for the version of the story the news never ran. It will stay with you long after bedtime. About the Guest Sarah Bagharib is a storyteller, TEDx speaker, emcee and coach. She is the founder of women’s platform Crazy Cat and host of the podcast Nusantara Women Conversations. She calls herself a minority within a minority (Arab, Javanese and Minangkabau roots in a Malay-majority community), and she now teaches women to own their stories before anyone else writes them. Links: Instagram: @sarahbagharib Crazy Cat: @hellocrazycat Nusantara Women Conversations: YouTube, Spotify What You’ll Take Away What a wedding portrait has to do with Hari Raya, and why the answer is the whole problem Why the use of her wedding portrait was not the part that hurt most The police report she wanted to make, and the reason she never filed it What choosing a co-founder for Crazy Cat revealed about what she had absorbed without realising The word she would ban from every introduction of her What happens to family dinner plans when a seven-year-old runs the “boycott police” The question people should stop asking minority women (and what to do instead) IN THIS EPISODE: 00:00 Teaser 01:01 Meet Sarah Bagharib: Storytelling, Identity & Belonging 02:33 What It Means to Be a Minority Within a Minority 02:58 Growing Up Desperate to Belong 03:52 Heritage, Identity & Being Put in the “Others” Box 05:47 Why Do Minorities Get the Qualified Compliment? 07:13 The Wedding Photo That Changed Everything 10:41 What Happened After Sarah Spoke Up 19:01 Building Crazy Cat & Refusing to Stay in One Box 22:12 Why So Many Women Think Their Stories Don’t Matter 23:25 Finding Belonging Through the Nusantara Podcast 27:07 Faith, Palestine & Choosing to Speak Up 31:00 How Sarah Talks to Her Kids About the World 34:19 Motherhood, People-Pleasing & Healing Through Her Daughter 38:25 Rapid Fire: Identity, Labels & What People Should Stop Asking 40:07 Faz’s Top Three Takeaways Connect with Growing Pains Growing Pains is HoneyKids Asia’s podcast for the conversations you want to have after the kids go to bed. YouTube: @growingpains.honeykids Instagram: @honeykidsasia Website: honeykidsasia.com Hit subscribe so you don’t miss an episode. If this one resonated, share it with a parent who needs it. Growing Pains is produced in partnership with Poddster, Singapore’s podcast studio.

Some children walk into a room full of toys and say they don't know how to play. Lovleen Walia hears it more than you would think. She is a certified Play Therapist in Singapore, using figurines, clay, art, sand trays instead of questions. She gives no instructions. She doesn't interpret, yet children tell her things they have told no one else, which is why friends call her Mary Poppins. (She does not own an umbrella.) At home, her two girls get close to zero screen time. She calls herself a strict mom. Her friends tell her to let the kids enjoy the movie. We talk about what she sees when your child plays and you don't, the $200 problem nobody has solved, and a conversation with her own mother that left the studio tearing up. The next time your child says they are bored, you will want to have heard this first. Hit play. What You'll Take Away What happens when a child walks into a room full of toys and asks what to do Why Lovleen never asks a child a single question What a child lining up toys in silence might be telling a play therapist What Lovleen's daughters say when the film ends (it is not what you would expect) The two rules behind a judgment-free play space at home The restaurant table game where anything can be anything The 10 minutes Lovleen asks every parent to hand over tonight IN THIS EPISODE: 00:00 | Teaser: What Are Screens Taking Away From Our Kids? 00:55 | Meet Lovleen Walia: The “Mary Poppins” of Play Therapy 02:17 | From Reality TV to Mumbai at 20 04:07 | Too Indian, Not Indian Enough: The Casting Struggle 05:17 | The Moment She Realised Children Needed More 06:35 | Play Therapy: When Toys Speak for Children 09:38 | Inside a Play Therapy Room 12:43 | Why Some Children No Longer Know How to Play 13:54 | Stop Entertaining Your Kids 19:31 | The Families Who Can’t Afford Therapy 22:15 | When a Teacher Says Something Is Wrong 25:16 | Strict Parenting Without Fear or Punishment 28:13 | Why She Refuses to Hit or Use Silent Treatment 30:55 | Raising Kids With Almost Zero Screen Time 32:37 | When Your Child Becomes the “Therapist” Friend 34:02 | Grandparents, Boundaries & Picking Your Battles 36:20 | What We Lose When a Mother Tongue Disappears 39:36 | Your Child Isn’t Giving You a Hard Time 41:21 | Faz’s Top Three Takeaways About the Guest Lovleen Walia is a certified play therapist in Singapore, one of very few practising a method that uses toys, sand trays and figurines instead of questions. Before therapy, she won Singapore's spot on India's first reality TV show, acted in Mumbai and taught drama to hundreds of children. She is a mother of two girls, teaches Punjabi, and is pushing for play therapy to reach schools and hospitals. Website: https://northstartheraplay.com/ Instagram: @northstar_theraplay Connect with Growing Pains Growing Pains is HoneyKids Asia's podcast for the conversations you want to have after the kids go to bed. YouTube: @growingpains.honeykids Instagram: @honeykidsasia Website: honeykidsasia.com Hit subscribe so you don't miss an episode. If this one resonated, share it with a parent who needs it. Growing Pains is produced in partnership with Poddster, Singapore's podcast studio.

Every clinic in Singapore has a TikTok now. Every influencer has an opinion on your pores. But there is one aesthetic doctor known less for what she sells and more for what she refuses to do. Dr. Rachel Ho built her name talking women off the ledge, literally saying no to procedures they were sure they wanted. This week she sits down to talk about the treatments millennial women can't stop asking for, the ones she won't touch, and the uncomfortable math behind flying to Seoul for a deal. We get into what it means when a child asks why mummy's face is bruised, why teenagers in some countries get plastic surgery as a graduation gift, and whether the beauty industry needs the insecurities it claims to fix. It's a conversation about faces. But really, it's about something else: what we're teaching the next generation to see when they look in the mirror. Press play before you book anything. IN THIS EPISODE: 00:00 | Teaser: Beauty, Aging & the Pressure to Keep Up 00:44 | Meet Dr. Rachel Ho: The Doctor Behind Skin Longevity 01:53 | Why She Left Surgery for Aesthetic Medicine 02:39 | Does the Beauty Industry Manufacture Insecurity? 04:38 | Sephora Kids, Teen Skincare & Plastic Surgery at 16 08:06 | The Biggest Skincare Trend of 2026 09:31 | Skin Longevity vs Anti-Aging: Is There Really a Difference? 12:02 | How Honest Content Built Trust in Aesthetic Medicine 14:11 | Motherhood, Invisibility & Finding Yourself Again 18:39 | Why She Opened a Clinic in a Saturated Market 19:23 | Medical Tourism: Cheap Treatments & Hidden Red Flags 21:46 | Skin Boosters & What’s Taking Off Across Asia 24:12 | What Every Woman Should Know Before Getting a Treatment 28:29 | Faz’s Top Three Takeaways What You'll Take Away Why the doctor known for treating faces is the one who says no The real cost of flying overseas for a "cheaper" treatment What Gen Alpha's skincare obsession is really about, and who's paying for it The line Dr. Ho won't cross with her own children, even at 16 What "skin longevity" means once you strip away the marketing The one thing a bruised face teaches a child, whether you explain it or not How to spot the red flag doctors say most people miss when booking treatments abroad About the guest Dr. Rachel Ho is an aesthetic doctor with more than 16 years of clinical experience and the founder of Skin Longevity Clinic. Originally trained in ENT and head and neck surgery, she brings a strong foundation in facial anatomy to an evidence based approach to skin longevity, facial harmony, and natural looking rejuvenation. She is also a long time skincare writer and content creator, known for making aesthetic medicine and skincare science easier to understand. Connect with Dr. Rachel Ho: Website: theskinlongevityclinic.com Instagram: @drrachelho Connect with Growing Pains Growing Pains is HoneyKids Asia's podcast for the conversations you want to have after the kids go to bed. YouTube: @growingpains.honeykids Instagram: @honeykidsasia Website: honeykidsasia.com Hit subscribe so you don't miss an episode. If this one resonated, share it with a parent who needs it. Growing Pains is produced in partnership with Poddster, Singapore's podcast studio.

At twenty-something, she promised her mother a private jet by the time she turned fifty. Instead, she walked away from a safe accounting career in Malaysia and got on a plane to London with no job, no plan, and a rattling old house by the sea to show for it. What came next took her through years of IVF, a husband who carried his own grief in silence, and a phone call on Valentine's Day that changed everything overnight. This week, we sit down with a community builder and COO of Every Child.sg, Aarathi, who has spent almost two decades in Singapore proving that belonging isn't something you're handed. It's something you fight for, cry over, and sometimes build from a single yes. She talks about the question people ask about her adopted son that she wishes she could ban forever, the one her husband never got asked, and what it actually took to stop feeling like an outsider in a place she now calls home. If you've ever wondered what it costs to build a family and a life from scratch, twice, this is the conversation. IN THIS EPISODE: 00:00 | Teaser 00:55 | Meet Arathi Arumugam 03:05 | Leaving the Safe Path: From Malaysia to London 08:11 | Finding Purpose and Community Through AWARE 11:48 | When Does a Place Become Home? 15:26 | The IVF Reality: Loss, Control and the Struggle Nobody Saw 26:51 | Choosing Adoption 38:22 | Every Child SG: Rethinking How We Educate and Raise Children 45:23 | The Questions Adoptive Parents Wish People Would Stop Asking What You’ll Take Away The private jet she promised her mother by fifty, and the corporate ladder she walked away from instead What it actually felt like to realize her "expat" circle could never really be her people The single IVF round that produced an unheard-of number of eggs, done the very week of her 35th birthday The moment she finally understood what her husband had been carrying in silence the whole time Why one phone call to a stranger, "just find me a baby," led somewhere months later, on Valentine's Day The black box exhibition asking parents to confront the exact words they use on their kids The one question about adoption she wishes people would stop asking, and the one they never do About the guest Aarathi Arumugam is a chartered accountant turned community builder, currently leading EveryChild.sg and serving as president of AWARE. She has lived and worked in Malaysia, the UK, and Singapore, and is the mother of two: a daughter born after multiple rounds of IVF and a son adopted from Malaysia. Connect with Aarathi: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aarathiarumugam/ Every Child SG: Website, Instagram Connect with Growing Pains Growing Pains is HoneyKids Asia's podcast for the conversations you want to have after the kids go to bed. YouTube: @growingpains.honeykids Instagram: @honeykidsasia Website: honeykidsasia.com Hit subscribe so you don't miss an episode. If this one resonated, share it with a parent who needs it. Growing Pains is produced in partnership with Poddster, Singapore's podcast studio.