Getting your family (your children!!) on board

As you know I've been "doing this" for about 5 months now. I've become a happier, skinnier, healthier person in the process, and my family loves the new "me". My husband climbed on board pretty much right away, and with the exception of his beloved beer he is living the paleo way along with me.

Things were a little tougher with my children. I'm proud to raise them as critical freethinkers. They question just about everything I do, and it's sometimes a struggle. I found myself talking to a wall, when I introduced this new way of life and tried to reason with them about the benefits of living like this. After all, to them this meant that everything they loved (cookies, pancakes, rice, pasta, bread etc etc) would go away. Sure, the almond flour pancakes were quickly adopted instead of the "real thing". But this didn't mean, that they would buy into the paleo lifestyle altogether.

Granted, they ate all the meals I cooked without complaints. And if I packed the right snacks for on the road (fruit salad, bars, nuts etc) they would be happy. But over the course of a couple of months I found myself having daily discussions about why sugar is bad, why fat is good, and why I wanted them to become paleo kids.


I am not one to push things on my children. Okay, so I gently nudge...
I did, however, get pretty frustrated with the resistance around here. Let me just confirm that this was not about meat or no meat, or vegetables vs no vegetables. This has never been an issue, and I am proud to say that my children eat almost anything. No, this issue was solely about breakfast (paleo breakfasts can consist of things that especially my daughter will not touch for breakfast) and snacks. After all, the world is full of sugary, floury deliciousness. And well, yes, it's great that mom is feeling so much better these days. Hooray for her. But please, leave us kids alone with this paleo stuff.

And then something happened. Actually, a conversation happened. I ranted to my friends about how difficult it was, how I had daily discussions about our food, and about just how sick of it I was. I was given a simple piece of advice. Give them more control in the matter.

More control! Of course! Why didn't I think of that? My children are very much used to being involved in the decision making process around here. Why not about the food too? It was a no-brainer.

The next day I sat down with my daughter (who was a lot more critical than my son) and told her about my plan to include her and her brother in the decision making process of what foods we eat around here. This includes main meals and snacks... and of course the most important breakfast. My daughter agreed to eating eggs twice a week. In return she gets to decide on her own breakfasts the rest of the week. Generally this will be almond flour pancakes, fruit salad (with a big scoop of almond butter), shakes (coconut milk, almond butter, and fruits), homemade nuts-and-seeds-granola and such. Of course neither of my children ever turn town a couple of strips of bacon.

Yesterday we made brownies with coconut flour, unsweetened cocoa powder, honey and eggs. Today I made a chocolate/hazelnut bread spread which they can eat on the coconut flour bread I bake... or with apple slices... or just a spoonful at a time.

And so, my children are (mostly) on board. Why mostly? Well, again, I'm not one to push and punish. When they are out and about, eating at a friend's house or just have to have that gluten-y treat from the bake sale... so be it.

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If you don't like reading about poop, stop here. :)

My son, after eating the paleo way for a few days, came out of the bathroom one morning, announcing that his poop was green. And that, in his opinion, was just sick and wrong. I told him, it was actually quite normal, as he transitioned into this new way of eating. He was a little weirded out at first but took my word for it. :) Good boy.