Parents: Changing your kids eating to Primal - what changes did you notice page

[mommyrunmommy]

I have been working on making my kids eating more primal for a while. It's been hard because my husband isn't Primal, and doesn't 'agree' that Primal is the right way to eat (totally different post).

Anyway, I have been able to convince him to let me test making their food 100% Primal for 2 weeks. I think that making their food choices Primal will help my son's temper tantrums and help both my kids with their irritability. I know when I'm eating totally Primal I am more calm and patient. My kids are 3 and 4 years old.

I was wondering for parents that have been successful in making this change with their kids, what changes did you notice (if any) in their attitude and behavior? Also, how long were they primal before you noticed these changes?

I appreciate your comments! Thanks!

[Danielle5690]

My son eats mostly what I do, but we have teenagers in the house who are not my kids, and they eat bread and pasta and the like... so at the moment he eats maybe 60% primal. I haven't noticed alot of changes but he's always been extremely healthy. He seems to get fewer colds and sleep more deeply these days.

I do have a friend whose daughter's behavior is night-and-day different when she has sugar vs when she has absolutely no sugar. I've heard that added sugar and some types of dye can make a big difference in children's behavior - so you may very well notice a difference.

I'm so glad I have my fiance's support, even if he doesn't totally follow along with me. I can't imagine doing it completely on my own. You have my sympathy.

[lssanjose]

My son eats mostly what I do, but we have teenagers in the house who are not my kids, and they eat bread and pasta and the like... so at the moment he eats maybe 60% primal. I haven't noticed alot of changes but he's always been extremely healthy. He seems to get fewer colds and sleep more deeply these days.

I do have a friend whose daughter's behavior is night-and-day different when she has sugar vs when she has absolutely no sugar. I've heard that added sugar and some types of dye can make a big difference in children's behavior - so you may very well notice a difference.

I'm so glad I have my fiance's support, even if he doesn't totally follow along with me. I can't imagine doing it completely on my own. You have my sympathy.

I feel for this family I befriended, recently. Their son has autism, but they sometimes let him have sugar-laden goods. They even admitted a gluten-free eating strategy would be most beneficial for him, too.

[MidwestPaleo]

My daughter eats what I eat. However, a couple of days a week she's at both her grandparents houses, where sweets, pastas, chips, etc are all given to her. I notice she is much more whiney when she comes back home those evenings.

[longing2bfit]

My 4 year old granddaughter moved in with us a few weeks ago and we immediately switched her diet. At first the little thing was very sad and missed her nuggets, mcdonalds, sodas and icecream. So I taught her to make fruit pops with berries (she loves them) and we make her homemade nuggets and she loves grammas meatballs cause she helps me make them. I also made up a simple rice flour pancake recipe and she eats them every morning with my homemade berry syrup that I sweeten with a little honey. I also use the faux pancakes as her bread and can make grilled cheese and almond butter/jam sands.. I keep them in the freezer for easy meals . She snacks on fruit and cheese mostly.She went from being whiny and always tired to a 4 year old that can keep up with the adults on 5-8 mile hikes!! She hopes, skips and sings and overall is the best natured child. Yesterday my DH took her to the park and overheard her telling a little boy and his mother, "My gramma makes me healfy snacks." LOVE it!!

I noticed a difference in her in the first week as far as mood, sleeping better, more energy, calmness. And she tells me everyday that she feels good. I am so excited to be able to do this for her.Keep at it. It is worth it to keep these little ones healthy!!

[PaleoMom]

Primal kids = very happy and perfectly behaved children in my experience. It took 12 weeks to see the difference. It has now been several years and I would never go back. Everywhere I go I get complements of my children's behavior and attention spans. It's all in the food!

[jkr]

My daughter has better skin and gets sick much less. My friends with little boys experience MUCH less anger and explosiveness.

You may need a little more time to see some changes but positive behavior changes will likely happen in the two weeks.

[lil_earthmomma]

I had very little trouble transitioning my kiddos to primal. We make smoothies, smoothie popsicles, and they dip their chicken in salsa or homemade ranch type dip. They love bacon so that helps lol, and we pretty much just involve them in food choices and prep. Sometimes they ask for foods they get at Grandma's house, and I just say "Oh, those are treat foods, not foods that make us strong. We don't eat them everyday, just once in a while." That seems to be fine with them. I don't want them to be food phobic, or little primal fundamentalists, so we don't stress it if they go to a play date and have candy or mac and cheese. Here, they eat good food.

Some of their current faves are:

Lunch:
Snack platters: a platter piled with fresh veg, fruit, cold chicken, hard boiled eggs, nuts and cheeses.
Roll ups (Thinly sliced ham rolled up with grated cheese, lettuce, chopped tomato...)
Canned tuna mixed up with a bit of homemade mayo scooped into bell pepper quarters
soups (we eat a lot of homemade soup)

Dinner:
Steak and veg
chicken fingers (dipped in egg and crushed porkrind mixed with parmesan cheese baked)
primal meatballs in marinara (recipe off MDA)
spaghetti squash lasagna
chili
stew

For sides they love broccoli or cauliflower with my primal cheese sauce, or sauteed in butter. Broccoli is their favorite actually! lol and sweet potato anything.

Basically, in the beginning I would offer lots of options and selections of primal food, and not stress if there are some tantrums. They'll get over it.

[mommyrunmommy]

Thank you all for your feedback. Yes, this is going to be challenging without D on board 100%. He doesn't agree 100%, but since our youngest has such bad behavior right now, he's willing to try. The biggest thing he's worried about is them not having enough options. So my biggest challenge is going to be fitting plenty of primal options in to our limited food budget. Junk is cheap and easy, so I will just need to be creative with my meal planning.

The thing that worries me the most is daycare. My husband and I both work full-time, and have to, so they are at daycare most of the day M-F. My daycare will not make them special food, and I can't really afford to send extra food with them right now. I am hoping that changing the food at home will make a difference, and then in a couple weeks I will be able to afford to make extra for daycare because my husband is starting a new job.

I'm going to come up with a menu tonight, and start cooking some snacks. My son's favorite snack is banana bread, so I'm going to search today for a primal banana bread recipe. There are several primal things that they already like, so I will be sure to have those worked in to the menu frequently.

[windypasswheeler]

Anyone know of a book written for kids regarding sugar and wheat? I know my daughter would give more credibility to what I'm trying to teach her if she could read about it in an entertaining, informative way. She's very into health and enjoys the primal food I make for her. Her diet is already so much better with my diet improving, but she gets so much sugar at school. Drives me nuts.