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[FlyNavyWife]

in my experience (I'm a nanny / sitter for multiple families), children LOVE real food (which paleo/Primal is) versus processed junk. I wouldn't worry about catering to their "needs" as children - they will like anything that tastes good.

Today I got a kick out of something at work. 2 year old boy's mom had set aside some chicken and tater tots for his lunch, so I warmed that up for him. I also got out some cheese for his baby sister (9 months) to try eating. Boy wanted the cheese too, so I told him if he ate some chicken I would give him cheese. He ate all of his chicken, a bunch of cheese, and ignored his tater tots. Score!


One day last week I had made myself some baked cheese to take to work as a snack. Different 2 year old boy that day - but he was very interested in my snacks. He had been asking for potato chips, but when I shared my baked cheese with him he forgot all about the potato chips and kept asking for more baked cheese.


(I know they're both cheese examples, but... it's what comes to mind.)


Oh also, letting kids help you cook is a great idea - especially if they can make choices. Sometimes when I'm cooking with the kids, I'll choose a couple different spices/seasonings that would be good in/on what I'm making, then I open the bottles and let the kid smell each choice (and I tell them what the spice/herb is so they can learn the names of them) and ask them which one I should use on the food. It gives them a sense of ownership in the process and makes them more excited to eat it, whatever it is.


My website is http://www.joyfulabode.com/

and my primal recipes are at http://www.joyfulabode.com/category/primal-recipes/

Hope you find something you like there. You can subscribe to my blog via RSS or email on the right side of the page if you want to know about updates.


Also note - your grocery bills will go down when you start eating the same things your husband does (I say when because I know we'll "convert" you in no time - it is an awesome way to live), and your pantry will be mysteriously bare - leaving more room for kitchen tools and the like (fewer boxes/bags/cans). So the kitchen frustration should go away too.


I've been primal (mostly - I do slip up more than some people here, but nothing big...) since June of 09 and I am NEVER going back. I mean EVER. The benefits have just been too many and too great to ignore. And it's not like I needed to lose a ton of weight or like I wanted to get down to 6% body fat or anything crazy like that... but my body/mind/spirit all feel so much more natural now. By which I mean that I don't feel like I'm fighting to walk into the wind or something... feels like I'm going with nature. It's nice.

[FlyNavyWife]

also for your kids, you can get some muffin tins and fill them with primal snacks and put it on the bottom shelf of your fridge for them to be able to grab things if they are hungry- things you could put in the cups include:

jerky or cut up leftover meat/rotisserie chicken/whatever

grapes / strawberries / blueberries / cherries / other small fruit

almond butter for dipping fruit in

carrot sticks / celery sticks / slices of radish/ sliced bell peppers / other veggies

homemade sour cream-based veggie dip

sunflower seeds / pumpkin seeds / cashews / almonds / macadamia nuts

cubes of various cheeses

etc.


That way if they get home from school and they're hungry they have something quick to grab (and it's exciting because maybe the tray will have different things in it each day!) - makes it easier to avoid falling into the routine/rut of pizza rolls, gogurt, granola bars, fruit gushers, and other non-food snacks.


http://everydaypaleo.com/2010/01/31/...fast-and-more/ - this blog entry is also really awesome, full of good ideas for lunch/snacks for kids.

[hippie_mama]

Thanks FlyNavyWife; your blog was actually one of the first i really dug into--lots of good stuff there


We gave up most processed foods years ago (we're down to convenience items such as dry pasta, cereals, crackers, and occasionally granola bars), but i was raised on practically carbs alone, and before my husband started this diet, we only ate meat a few times a week. I thought i was doing really great with the whole grains, homemade potato items, and brown rice routine, so it's hard to wrap my mind around the fact that, that stuff is bad too. I mean, a lesser of many evils, obviously, but the idea of giving them up makes me a grouchy hippie! For one thing, i need to learn to cook all over again. And to be honest, i don't think i'm completely over our attempt at South Beach a few years ago, lol. Those were dark times indeed...


Anyway, i'm warming up to it, at least on a part-time basis, and i'm being forced to read labels much more diligently than i ever have, just so i know what the husband can have and what he can't, and that's never a bad thing (goodness, corn syrup is in just about everything). It's causing slow changes here, but i am notoriously stubborn. Should be interesting.

[FlyNavyWife]

aww I'm glad you've already "dug in." Good to hear.


And your history sounds a lot like mine... I grew up eating a LOT of pasta and rice, and in college and at the beginning of my marriage I still used those things as staples. Meat meals were a special occurrence, not because I was anti-meat at all, but because it just didn't occur to me. I made a LOT of meals that were "pasta with veggies and a sauce" or "rice with stir-fried veggies" or "rice with veggies and cheese mixed in it" ...


When I tried to get us to be healthier, I switched to whole-grain stuff, brown rice, wheat pasta, started making my own bread from scratch at home (with wheat flour of course), etc. Of course I made us go down to fat-free versions of a lot of things - skim milk or at the most 1%, fat free sour cream, that neufchatel cheese instead of cream cheese, stuff like that. I would steam veggies and then spray them with I can't believe it's not butter, or toss them with a carefully-measured teaspoon of olive oil...


Cooking is a lot more free now... at the same time it's easier (which was a surprise to me, since i hadn't grown up really cooking much meat myself...) and more exciting (there are SO MANY flavor combinations that are opened up when you start using more meat and expanding your "line" of veggies and especially FATS... )


Please do spend some time on the forum - especially reading other ladies' blogs (mine, maba's, hannahc, lil_em, diana renata's, and lots more) to give you a perspective of how this way of eating can "go down" and how it might make you feel - do be warned though, a lot of us are pregnant right now so there might be some hormones floating around. haha. Seems the primal way of eating increases both libido and fertility, so watch out if you aren't looking for another baby right now!!!!


So glad you joined - you are going to love it here.

[Dagny]

Thanks for the suggestion about the muffin tins, my best friends 2 and 3 year old visit from time to time, and since I don't have kids yet, I never have a very kid-friendly fridge. When they visit next weekend, I'll totally have the muffin tins out with snacks for them!

[FlyNavyWife]

You're welcome Dagny! Let me know how they like them. You can also do kid lunches that way (obviously not to pack to take to school) - if you have those 6-muffin tins (12 would be a LOT of food - haha). Have a couple proteins, 1 fruit, 3 veggies. yum yum.

[hannahc]

hippie_mama I don't have kids (and I'm not pregnant either...one of the few it seems , but my 1.5 year old niece was visiting just last month. She LOVED spaghetti squash with meatballs and marinara. I mean loved it. We couldn't believe how much she ate of it! Then, my brother (her dad) made the same meal for her again at home, and once again she ate EVERYTHING he gave her


Roasted veggies go over really well also, she was a big fan of roasted sweet potatoes. Surprisingly, she also really enjoyed avocado, and ate quite a bit of banana with peanut butter as well...not all primal/paleo, but it was all real food and I make everything from scratch at least

[Katt]

*waves* Greetings!

[Scout]

I just wanted to add that I often fix something that can be served over rice - so the Primals eat just the meat, but others can eat the meat w/ sauce over rice or noodles.


We also do things like Tacos, and some of us just eat our "tacos" without a tortilla.

[hippie_mama]

LOL i did notice there were a lot of pregnancy journals posted around here--sheesh ladies! I'm more than a little intrigued by this 'increased libido' rumor though--hubby brought it up jokingly when he started the diet, but it doesn't really seem to be happening for him. I want to know how common it is, and if i should give him a hard time about it or not :P


Anyway, i'm going to give this thing a shot, so i can at least say i did. I don't want to make any grand commitments yet, but i'll go in one meal at a time and see where it takes me.