How to raise a "real world' Primal toddler? page

[jesslikesstuff]

I have a 2-year-old. I would like to ever so slowly transition her to primal-style eating as I have done for myself and my partner. This is my concern: When she's, say, seven, and she's in kindergarden and there's a pizza day and she eats the pizza. When she's over at a friends' house at age four and they feed her some PB&J on whole wheat bread. I'm concerned that her body will react and she'll end up uncomfortable/in pain/with diarrhea...I'm worried that I'll be 'healthy-ing' her out of a normal childhood.

I know how agonizing it is for me when I eat some bread now (before, when I didn't know the dangers of bread, it just contributed to my arthritis and to the normal, icky state of my digestion, but didn't throw me into any sort of sudden pain or agony) but NOW if I eat it I instantly need the bathroom and feel like crap for days. I guess that's because i got it out of my system.

I want my daughter to reap all the BENEFITS of primal by getting her to a place where she's eating that way 99% of the time, but I worry that at this young age it will lead her to difficulties. Does this make sense?

So how do I take all the garbage out of my daughter's system while still keeping her body in a place where she CAN eat at a friends' house, enjoy pizza day, eat birthday cake, have ice cream in the summer, etc.??? Would leaving SOME non-primal stuff in her diet do the trick (like giving her bread one meal per day type thing) or would that defeat the whole purpose of going primal for her?

Thanks for your input.

[Diana Renata]

Hmm... it's tough.

I don't have kids, yet. I do plan on having them and I'm pretty sure I won't be allowing pizza and cake. That's just my preference. On one hand maybe it is "mean" to have them grow up unable to eat certain foods, but I believe in the long run, and for their health, it's the better choice. Again, my preference.

I suppose if you wanted your child able to eat pizza and cake, it's something you'll have to allow somewhat regularly, which in my opinion does sorta defeat the purpose of going primal. It's something you either do or don't do, are or aren't.

Just my 2 cents.

[jesslikesstuff]

Hmm... it's tough.

I don't have kids, yet. I do plan on having them and I'm pretty sure I won't be allowing pizza and cake. That's just my preference. On one hand maybe it is "mean" to have them grow up unable to eat certain foods, but I believe in the long run, and for their health, it's the better choice. Again, my preference.

I suppose if you wanted your child able to eat pizza and cake, it's something you'll have to allow somewhat regularly, which in my opinion does sorta defeat the purpose of going primal. It's something you either do or don't do, are or aren't.

Just my 2 cents.

I know. It's hard. I could NEVER tell my daughter that, for example, at her friend's birthday party she can't eat the cake. or that while all of her friends eat pizza on the once-a-month pizza day she has to eat her chicken and veggies. I had a (extremely minor) weight problem growing up and my dad used to try to restrict what I ate and all it did was make me feel like an outsider....especially since looking back at pictures I wasn't actally overweight, he was just overcompensating for the fact that HE was overweight...but anyways, that's separate baggage for a different forum haha! I guess I'm just saying that I want my daughter to be able to do the stuff the other kids do but I want her health to be top notch too. Maybe it's impossible??

[Melody]

My kids are allergic to gluten, blue food dye, caramel color, chocolate, and xylitol. Pretty much any "kid" food isnot an option for them. We bring our own treats to bday parties, although many of our friends are gluten intolerant and I'll let a piece of gluten free cake slide as long as their is no artificial color. We homeschool and food allergies are one of the many reasons. I really don't givea poo about a "normal" childhood, everywhere I go I see overweight, stressed, manic children who ate nutritionally deprived and medicated. Normal shmormal.

[Melody]

And really other kids don't notice and my kids don't either. They understand that certain foods harm their bodies and would rather not feel like crap from a sandwich.

[Torrtrefireto]

I just listened to an hour long interview from Kurt Harris where he basically said that those who start eating paleo-e or grain free really do not typically have a real physical reaction from eating grains again, that it is in his scientific opinion mostly mental. So maybe as long as you don't tell her it will be an issue, maybe it never will if its only a now-and-then sort of thing

But if you are worried about chronic issues from eating grains constantly, I guess you just have to make bacon and eggs sound more appetizing than toast

[nomorefatandfrumpy]

I am in a similar spot with a two-year old and an eight-year old. For my eight-year old's sake I try not make it a big deal. I was too obsessed with food and dieting my whole life and I don't want to pass that on to her. We changed our diet months ago and we did it all at once. When we are at home we eat Primal when we go to a friend's house my kids eat what is served, usually pizza, etc. At first my kids always opted for the junk, but now I notice that they prefer the fresher foods if they are available. My daughter's (8 yo) palate is definitely changing. She will still eat a slice of pizza or cake at a party, but has not had any adverse reactions to it. However, over the past few months we have discovered that milk makes her very nauseous. She avoids milk with a passion because she doesn't like being sick at her stomach. She chooses water. So, I allow my kids to eat the pizza or the cake on occasion and so far I see no adverse reaction to it. And my daughter is willing to go without if it's something that really bothers her.

[Digby]

Kids are pretty resilient. What you do for your child day in and day out is by far the most important. I made the mistake when my daughter was young in the 70s, and I was then in a big vegetarian phase, of not allowing the occasional "kid" food (like a Happy Meal), and it took until the 2001 when my twin granddaughters were born for her to begin to want healthy foods. Obviously, if children have health issues, most people are respectful of the child's dietary needs, but that still requires a considerable amount of parental monitoring. If your precious one is healthy, doesn't have any allergies, etc, the occasional PBJ or Oreo is not going to have much of an impact. As someone once said: It's not what you do 15 days of the year, but what you do the other 350.

[Supsurf]

I have a 2 1/2 year old boy and he really likes brocoli and meat, he eats mostly primal but once in a while we allow the "other" stuff.

Many times he will opt for the healthy (for us) food at kids party.

On another note, Some people look offended when we tell then "no" if they ask us if its ok to give him sweets...

[Dr. Bork Bork]

Implement the 80-20 rule. Primal 80% of the time, 20% at parties