We, The Fragoso Family, live a paleo lifestyle; therefore avoiding grains, dairy, legumes, and sugars. We also happen to live in an extremely non-paleo world. However, as a family we have overcome some serious and some minor health issues; all thanks to cutting out large portions of the food pyramid from our diets. Yes, the food pyramid, that thing that hangs in all of the classrooms across our great nation.
As a family; our lives are obviously and vastly different than our neighbors, friends, teachers, and family members. And yet, everyday we stay strong, healthy, active, and vibrant in a world that is waiting at every corner with food that used to makes us sick, weak, and trapped in our lives. Our lives that we considered to be “normal.”
Now my kids are getting older and we are almost half way to the five year mark of our paleo journey, or pardon me, or LIFE journey, or our REALLY LIVING journey, and let me tell you; kids are really really smart and insightful and not at all blind to what’s happening in our society.
My oldest son Coby, the light of my life, my hero really, will be entering his Junior year of high school next year and we are talking about exciting stuff like which colleges he would like to apply to, what direction he wants to head in career wise, what his friends want to do, where he might want to live. All that normal almost done with high school stuff BUT my son has some serious questions and some serious concerns.
He feels really good eating paleo and has made a concious decision to keep it up, all on his own, no nagging from the Everyday Paleo lady which happens to be his mom. But he rightfully want to know; why? Why is our food supply riddled with foods that are making people so darn sick. Why? Why does HE HAVE to be so careful with every food choice when not at home to avoid being doubled over with abdominal pains. WHO would want to do this to him? WHY don’t I – as his MOTHER – have those answers for him?
Why would the people who are supposed to be taking care of us; those who are supposed to guide us; the folks who are in charge; my son would like to know: why don’t these people care about where our food is coming from, why is our FOOD making people sick, and why do some of his teenage friends have to rely on things like pharmaceuticals to stay healthy when HE knows at sixteen that all it really takes is REAL FOOD?
Does this not make you want to scream? Does this not make you want to grab your children and run for the hills? My bags are half way packed and my kids are already loaded in the car. That’s how it makes me feel. Do I have all of the answers? No. Do I have the power to change or solve all of these gigantic questions that my son has? Not on a global level; but I have the power to create change in my own little world, in my own home and on this blog. Hopefully we all can someday realize our own small influence can make a huge impact and that my friends is the one thing that keeps me from packing it all up and pulling out of the driveway to go get lost on a deserted island somewhere.
And what about my littler boys? My eight year old Jaden, my four year old Rowan. I tear up just typing their names. They trust their mom and dad. They feel good. They are happy. They don’t want their friends to be sick. They are also sometimes scared. “Why does “insert family member name here” eat gluten mom?” “Why don’t you tell them how bad it is for them?”
Just the other day on an innocent trip to Target to pick up toilet paper; Rowan asked me in the store after noticing for the first time a bag of gold fish crackers, “Mom, why do they make “gluten cheese fish” for kids?” He KNEW if was for kids because of the damn packaging. So yes, someone please explain to my four year old WHY?? Why is this happening???
This blog post unfortunately is not filled with answers; obviously it’s filled with questions. Questions that my own insightful, hopeful, dream-filled, lovely, sweet precious boys would like to have answered and it chokes me up that this is just how it is but I’m filled with hope that they are asking! It makes me march with resilience to the GRUB farm every Tuesday to show my boys where OUR food comes from. It makes me hold my head up high when people ask me in a snarky sort of way, “How are those book sales going, are people still really interested in the whole cave man thing?” It makes me proud when I’m in my garage with little Rowan teaching him how to do pushups and he asks me to race him one more time around the block when not so very long ago it was all I could do to get up off the couch. It makes me angry that I have to work so hard to keep on keeping on but that anger is backed by the joy of knowing that we won’t quit. I’ll say it again simply because it feels good, we won’t quit!
I want every family to ask these questions that my kids are asking me. I want EVERY kid to look up at mom or dad and ask, “Why are they making gluten cheese fish for kids??”
Even though I don’t have all the answers I believe that the answers lie in all of us continuing to ask these important questions also and finding the answers that work for US! Shopping local, demanding meat that is from animals that are raised how they are intended to be raised. Teaching our children WHY we eat the way we do. Making paleo a lifestyle and not just another way to attempt to fit into that elusive pair of jeans because honestly, if this world is crumbling around us and our kids have questions too big for us to answer, who really cares how our jeans fit anyway??
And now I’m off to hug my children. The only people who’s lives I am truly responsible for. The biggest reason why I keep on keeping on. The big brown eyes that hopefully will someday not have to answer the same questions from their own children that I am faced with. They are reason that I am writing this to all of you. Please folks, let’s look at the bigger picture through they eyes of our children.
Great post. Thanks for your honesty….Keep on keeping on! 🙂
Ditto! I have 4 boys, the youngest now 21. I am constantly amazed with all the foods with gluten, artificial ingredients and toxins heavily marketed to kids. I do find more and more people are doing a paradigm shift to healthier products.
Keep writing. I run into people all the time as well, asking if I am still setting people up in business to market a brand of products with absolutely no chemicals or artificial anything. 17 years and going strong enabling me to put my family first.
Great post. Great questions. Keep up the good work. Know you do what you do because it’s the right thing, the smart thing…don’t let those ‘snarky’ comments about
‘that caveman thing’ ever get under your skin, just feel sorry for them. 😉
Sarah,
I have no idea if this is even remotely possible for your family, but I would LOVE to encourage Coby to take a year off before college and go live in the developing world somewhere — Latin America, Africa, like that. Given the questions he is asking, and how he is asking them, I think experience like that will really expose him to very different ways of doing things in a way that he might be inspired to return and come up with answers and solutions to the questions he has.
Having spent most of the last 6 years in Africa and even spending the last 2 months in the south of England, it is very enlightening — sometimes in great ways, sometimes in terrible ways — to see other ways of interacting with food and the food supply, locally, regionally and nationally.
Anyway, I just wanted to make that suggestion!
Believe it or not Tracy, it’s something we are working on. We as a family are working towards simplifying down our lives enough to do some serious traveling together. : ) Thanks so much for your comment.
I just wanna say this article reached me in a very personal way. I’m 23, not married, no kids. I just started the paleo lifestyle about a month ago. Since then I’ve already lost 18 lbs, my skin is clearing up, my acid reflux is completely gone, my skin has more color, and when I wake up in the morning, after I do finally get out from under the blankets, I’m wide awake with no coffe, tea, or anything!!
Recently I’ve been thinking about what I’m going to do when I get married and have kids. How will I keep my whole family motivated and healthy? What if I have a child that refuses vegetables, etc? The whole thing worries me, especially with a McDonalds, Taco Bell, [Poison Hut of Choice] is at every corner. How will I keep my future fictional family safe? I think I have just as many questions as you, and there don’t seem to be any answers in sight. Should we jump off the sinking ship and swim away as fast as we can? Or should we stay on the boat, dumping water out one bucket at a time while our friends and family are holding their heads under the water?
America, hell the world, needs help! We’re all killing ourselves from the time we’re born and our mother’s decide to start us out on forumal, or worse yet, soy formula! O_O
I just want to thank you for this website and all of the inspiring words you put out there for the world to see! Keep up the good work, you’re converting Americans into real people 🙂
Hi Cam,
I’m in the same boat as you and have the exact same thoughts. I’m single with no dependents and constantly think how I’m going to convince my future partner and/or kids to eat the way I do. I have my fingers crossed that I meet someone to share my life with at my CrossFit box so that maybe I’m halfway there to having them realise just how wonderful life can be eating and living the paleo lifestyle 🙂
I want to reiterate how great it is to log on here (only a newbie to this site) and read the inspiring, honest and humble blogs and to feel part of a community. Sarah is not only converting American’s but also us Aussies across the pacific 🙂
God thank you for this!!! I am the same, i keep asking myself how can this happen!!! My partner still eats gluten so when my son is older what will i tell him???? I don’t want to scare him into thinking his dad damages himself but yet want him to keep up with paleo..
its all scary!
Wonderful post. Your family is an inspiration. My wife and I started pale 5 years ago but honestly it was a grind as we didn’t know how to cook or add variety to our meals. Everyday was grilled meat and steamed veggies. Your website/book really opened our eyes to just how delicious paleo could be. When we welcomed our son into the world a year ago we of course made sure he was paleo despite the advice and sometimes disdain of our doctors. He turned 1 2 weeks ago and has been developing at an amazing rate and to date has NEVER been sick. Thank you for all the work you do.
Here is a post I wrote on our experience with Paleo and our baby boy.
http://ryandambach.com/2012/03/30/paleo-baby-is-turning-1/#more-272
Awesome post! You’re doing a great job inspiring more people to live a healthy lifestyle….
Few typos in there, but you get what I was trying to say.
I just wanted to add that I just pre-ordered your cookbook on amazon 😀 Best $15 I’ve spent this month, I’m sure!
“Everyday Paleo Family Cookbook: Real Food for Real Life”
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1936608634
How many of the recipes in this book different than the ones in your previous book?
Thanks!
Sarah
Yes! I agree! Going paleo has strengthened my entire family, my husband and I have united in health expectations and my four year old Cole and one year old Mia are amazing on this lifestyle change. It’s a big step to give grace and teach grace with dietary choices, but I was a goldfish eater at one point in my life too. Showing my son that we have choices to make for our health and can thrive with that freedom. It is fun having his buddies over and making green foods good! It amazes me that parents will step in and say noooo “Johnny” won’t eat this or that. When we eat healthy as a family it reflects to those around us and shows them we all have control of our choices for our health. Thank you for your insight and support for paleo families!
Excellent post, I totally agree and wish I had answers as well. I am very saddened when I look at people and can see they are sick and are not living their lives to its fullest potential….my in-laws are at the top of that list. But like you say, I am working on the things that I can control and it starts here in my home with my children. God Bless you and your family…..and I love your book! Thank you!
THIS makes me angry:
“when people ask me in a snarky sort of way, ‘How are those book sales going, are people still really interested in the whole cave man thing?'”
I can hear the pain and passion in your voice…..I’m hopeful that a lot of what I do with the food for our family will take hold…a little seed is all it takes.
Amen Sista! I was just thinking today about how many health problems could be solved in children, not to even mention adults, if they ate paleo. Our schools are going crazy with kids that are failing and can’t focus, and the schools keep trying to get more help and spend more money to teach these kids, when I really think they just need a healthy paleo diet.
Thank you for this post! I am single with no kids, so I’m not currently worried about kiddos, but I have these same overwhelming feelings for my family, specifically my dad. He has advanced MS, and although I don’t follow a strict paleo diet, I have come to really understand the relation between the SAD and autoimmune disorders, and it’s heartbreaking to know food, good hearty American food like cereal, corn, and the “advances” in processed food might have played a huge part in his disease and continue to do so. His mother only did what she thought was right, as told by those in charge who are supposedly looking out for us, and now my dad is 60 and needs a 24/7 aide to help him. I don’t understand how this is allowed to continue. Especially since my dad is the type of person who would have been thrilled to eat nothing but steak, carrots, and berries for the rest of his life if he had known that was probably an excellent thing to do.
It’s disheartening to think about how backwards our thinking is today in this world we live in (this country in particular), but it’s wonderful to know there is a new generation who will hopefully have the capacity to do something about it!
Fantastic read, really enlightening. Awesome to see you look at the children’s point of view also!
I’d love to hear some of your thoughts on my blog as I recently over viewed why we are such an obese nation!
http://Www.jpshealthandfitness.com.au/blog
It is hard to get people to see anything ‘wrong’ with their diets, especially when they have always eaten that way. We are using the Everyday Paleo cookbook and have enjoyed every recipe we have tried, however it is still hard to get everyone on board with taking sugar out of the home. We all slip back into old habits, but are making progress! Keep encouraging and offering great recipes!
Aloha Sarah,
Great post and legitimate concerns we all have who are following the Paleo path. I spent 2.5 months in Florida recently and with the help of your cookbook, maintained Paleo for me and my granddaughter. I’m trying valiantly to bring my daughter on board, but she isn’t biting . . . . yet. Next week, I’m headed to California for a couple of months and because I’ll be living in an inn with only a microwave, I’ve been researching the best way to stay Paleo. I found a great delivery service I’m going to use called Pete’s Pre-made Paleo for the bulk of our food, rather than trying to figure out how to cook without a stovetop and oven. I also found a great deli I can’t wait to try called the “Good On Ya” deli in the San Diego area. I mention this because I think the page of their web site that talks about why they do what they do answers some of yours and our valid concerns. Sorr so lengthy, but here it is. http://www.goodonyadeli.com/about_goodonya.php
I look forward to learning Cross Fit on my trip, and taking my 2 yo granddaughter to her first Cross Fit Kids class. Thanks for your site and for so many inspiring posts!
Unfortunately, I think I know the answer to one of those questions. What is the cheapest crop to grow and sell? Grains. All the government wants is money, so they put grains as the biggest part of our food pyramid, saying that it’s good for you, but in the long run its a “food” that is cheap and easy to produce that the government can make a quick buck off of. It makes me sick.
You are correct, Coby. Good for realizing it so young. You and others like you have a tremendous power to be able to effect changes in our food system.
The other answer is: it’s simple and easy to let other people do the thinking and the research for you. By and large, people don’t want to think too hard about their food, because that would mean confronting lots of truths that are hard to swallow. Being disconnected from our sources of food is “easy.” Taking a pill is “easy.” Munching a vitamin pill rather than eating a salad is “easy.” McDonald’s is “easy.” But that doesn’t make it any easier to really be healthy.
If I may, I suggest you look at the way the federal government subsidizes agriculture, especially grain products. Food is cheap because the government uses tax dollars to make it so. Some easier sources to digest at the moment include several chapters out of Michael Pollan’s excellent book Omnivore’s Dilemma, if you’ve not yet read it. Also, check out Joel Salatin’s recent book Folks, This Ain’t Normal for further discussions on how our industrial-agricultural complex is damaging not just our food supply and our diets, but our entire culture at large. (Of course, this assumes you have the time to read and that Mom says it’s OK to read these books. There isn’t any objectionable content in them in terms of bad language, but Salatin doesn’t pull punches when he goes after certain topics).
Best of luck to you in your quest to answer the ever-present question: “Why?”
Wow I just had a proud mommy moment and I am not even your mom! Your parents should be so proud to have raised such an insightful, intelligent young man Coby. I pray my own son, who is fighting our paleo journey with everything he has at the moment, will someday see the world the way you see it.
Keep on keeping on, Sarah! You are making a difference in the lives on many people – like me and my husband and 3 year old son.
Wow, Sarah! An amazing post. Thanks!
Such a lovely, open and honest post, Sarah! I still continue to have people ask ‘why’ and have trouble explaining it without getting super political about our food system. I can imagine it’s even more difficult with children. You are doing an amazing job, though. Maybe Coby will act as a paleo branch and move in a direction that will be part of a widespread solution. 🙂
Thank you Sarah! I haven’t been successful with my family, only the 19 year old. She is going in the Air Force and needed to lose almost 20lbs..she did it with my help and eating Paleo. She went to do her medical check and went back to the SAD eating and realized she was not feeling good again like she was when eating Paleo. She has come back to it! I work in a surgical office and all I see all day long are overweight patients. It is another kick in my butt to change my ways because I didn’t want to be in my 60’s with debilitating diseases. One of the common surgeries my doctors do is gallbladder removal.
The other day I was doing vital signs on a patient and giving her the BMI lecture (because we are required too now). She said we are working on it, they are starting Paleo, that their son had lost 70lbs! I told them that I had lost 30 since the beginning of the year and some health problems I was having resolved. They are more inspired now and I gave them all of my Paleo websites, including of course this site!
Thank you for everything!
Thank you for your passion and for inspiring your children to see the world as it is and want to make a change.
Have Coby watch the documentary Food Fight. I’m about half way through it, and I’m quite disturbed by what I have learned so far about the government’s role in big agriculture. We, as a nation, have truly been misled by a government focused on making a profit and by industrializing everything in sight.
I am angry that my kids are constantly bombarded with gluten-laden, sugar-filled “food”. I am angry that my kids still sometimes ask me for this crap 9 months in to our Paleo journey. I am angry that I sometimes still give in.
My daughter’s school is holding a silent auction fund raiser with each class offering a basket for bids. Her class basket theme is “baking”. I cannot afford to donate anything right now, so I am making copies of some of my favorite recipes from this site, and other sites, and some of my own concoctions. I know the basket is going to be filled with pre-packaged junk, and I hope that I can give one family at least a glimpse of how great it feels to eat a healthy meal.
Coby,
You are correct, you probably DO know the answers to most of the questions. But here is the million dollar question; “Why are grains so important?” Answer: because grains will cheaply keep people alive. They may not help one to thrive, or to excel, but if you want to control the world’s food supply, and appear to be helping the masses, grains do the trick. Is it our place in the world to save everyone in every country from starvation? If we want people to not only survive, but to thrive, what is the best way we can do it? The powers that be have decided that wheat, soy, corn, and their by-products are the cheapest and the most profitable means. I live on a small Hawaiian island, which is dominated by the GMO agrigiants. EVERY DAY, I see folks who are victims of agribusiness and big pharma. These beautiful people’s ancestors lived long and healthy lives. Today, they eat the cheapest crap they can get and completely believe what the government tells them (the majority anyway) about what to eat. In the end, it is sad to say, the only person you can change is yourself. Live your life as a role model for others, and hope that they are inspired enough to want to change themselves. When that happens, you know what to do and say.
Tell your boys the answer is one word: POLITICS. Our government subsidizes bad food to make us sick, so we have to go spend money at the doctor, and the cycle repeats. The biggest political contributors get the biggest subsidies, and a small part of the economy gets propped up. Call it an ongoing farm-med bailout.
While the contributors are getting government subsidies, their food is killing us off so the government won’t have to honor the promise it made 70+ years ago called The New Deal–Social Security and Medicare in old age. If the subsidized food kills us off before we reach 65, the government’s off the hook for those payments.
Trouble is, we “evolved” to live longer despite their best efforts. Now they want to move the goalpost to age 70, and at the same time, pile in even more toxins into our food to make sure fewer of us reach THAT goalpost.
I wish I had a number to compare the numbers of senior citizens who clear the 65 hurdle with the number of people who don’t make it that far–my inner voice tells me more make it than don’t (but I have no proof). My guess is we’re getting closer to 80% clearing the hurdle, and the New Deal programs didn’t factor that in. Federal laws have sanitized the workplace, so people no longer expose themselves to the hazards of old, and no longer die young.
When you’ve got people living well into their 80’s, 90’s, and even some into triple-digits, what good is moving the goalpost to 70? This is why they just want to take the goal post down entirely by eventually doing away with these programs. Unfortunately, the economy isn’t going to allow us to save for ourselves because there won’t be an adequate return on investments…so the government is stuck. At this point, Social Security can give a guaranteed 3% return–the stock/bond market not so much. From a return standpoint, Social Security’s looking pretty good, but how does government maintain that return? Riskier and riskier investments that one day may blow up–they used to be OUR bonds, but now they buy other countries’ bonds.
All they can hope to do is keep shoveling toxins into our foods, and hope they find the miracle that kills us off in droves, or maybe sends us migrating into other countries.
You bring up great points that help answer the question “Why?” But asking questions or bringing up these topics makes it easy to say “ah, you’re a kook, a nut-jobber.” I really detest that reaction in people, because the evidence is right in front of them yet they refuse to see. As I posted above, it’s easy to let other people think for you, and when you do that, you will think what they want you to think. It’s scary. We’ve abdicated our minds, bodies, diets, lifestyles to forces beyond our control for the ease of not having to think too hard about anything.
GREAT points, Wenchypoo!
I have to ask if you feel as I do, (I’m almost 55), that I really don’t care if the Social Security program goes away, even though I’ve paid into it since I was 14. I honestly believe that I will be a healthy and happy, able-to-work-and-thrive centenarian. Do you feel that way? No, I don’t have hundreds of thousands of dollars in 401K and IRAs, but I do believe that if you have your health, you have everything.
I have been reading obituaries in our local paper for the past 8 years and can say that there are an enormous number (I know that is not scientific) of under 65 deaths, at least in my little corner of the world. The sad part of this is that so many of them leave behind children under the age of 18. That prospect alone should be enough to change a parent’s habits, but it doesn’t.
This is one of the best blogs iv read, so much passion, meaning and truth i hope that i can share his message and keep the progress going so that everyone can start living full lives.
I am just beginning to study the Paleo Diet and learning more every day. Any tips on making the transition for my children. They are so used to eating the “normal” American way that they really do not like many vegggies. They think I am a health nut and my husband is not interested either. I am praying for God to help me in this lifestyle change for my family. I know in my heart it is the way we should eat to care for our bodies and to stay well.
Thank you for sharing your life.
Blessings,
De
I’ve seen a lot of families and how they operate and one thing I’ve learned is that the parents’ attitudes towards food strongly shape the kids – ESPECIALLY the attitudes that they don’t actually verbalize. Kids from families who eat vegetables heavily disguised, covered in sauce, poorly prepared, and grudgingly – even if they do it regularly, even if they “eat lots of vegetables” – those kids will NOT enjoy vegetables and, being kids, will refuse to eat them. Adults can rationalize health benefits and eat them because they know they’re good for them, but kids don’t care. Subconsciously, they think “these are gross. YOU might want to eat them but I’m not gonna.”
Families with kids who eat vegetables LOVE vegetables. They love shopping for them, they love eating them, they love cooking them. When the plates are plunked on the table, both parents eat the veggies FIRST. They say things like “Wow this cabbage is really sweet, where did it come from?” and “Yay! Asparagus! We haven’t had this for ages! Pass the butter!” and “This combination of carrots and parsnips with cumin is really great!” Vegetables are appreciated for their flavours and intrinsic interest, not the fiber and vitamins they add to the diet.
People who want their kids to eat vegetables should look at their own attitudes, and what they’re actually serving them. Steamed broccoli and previously frozen cubes of vegetable matter out of a box aren’t going to make anyone a veggie lover. Just my 2 cents.
Great post. You have lovely children. Mine doesn’t have any digestive issues with grains, thank goodness, but she still prefers actual fish to goldfish crackers.
So…I find it odd that at the bottom of this post is an ad for Zatarain’s Jambalaya Rice. Seems like a poor fit for advertizing on a Paleo website!
You’re right, it’s totally a poor fit. Dain was experimenting with some ad words stuff and as soon as he saw food ads coming up, he yanked them. We are not intentionally advertising for that specific product; I hope most folks would realize that.
I joined the paleo lifestyle after seeing you at the Enloe Conference Center in February 2011. I went with a friend of mine because she had expressed an interest in finding out more about what paleo meant. I seriously had no intent of changing my eating habits or lifestyle which I thought was “very healthy”. But something you said (probably that you only had to try it for 30 days) resonated with me. The very next day I gave up my steel cut oatmeal with blueberries and yogurt, and began my journey eating paleo. I discovered so much including the fact that what you eat affects how you feel. I always said I would exercise to keep from being in a funk. I now know the foods I was eating were definitely affecting my mood. I’m married and my husband was not immediately on board. He too felt we ate healthy. But I think within two months, he was ready to give up his cereal for breakfast and was thanking me for making food that tasted incredible. My kids are grown, but they too are watching.
Sarah, I’ve read your blog, bought your book for my daughter (at her request), and witnessed what I feel has been unbelievable growth in paleo awareness (more paleo blogs, paleo foods available at conventional grocery stores, etc) over the last year. So happy you do what you do!!! You are on the ground floor of what I hope will help to transform the eating habits of millions of people around the world.
First off, I almost punched my computer screen when I read ” It makes me hold my head up high when people ask me in a snarky sort of way, “How are those book sales going, are people still really interested in the whole cave man thing?” (I’m consuming my second “NorCal”, I promise to try and behave). Damn straight you hold your head up high! You have inspired so many, who then perhaps go on to inspire others. That’s no small thing! Let’s all take a moment to remember our (insert belief system here) charity when it comes time to ask said snarkalists “How is your diabetes?” “Oh, your doctor has you on a new med?”
Yup, it’s a bummer to have to explain to your chitlins that there is alot of corruption in all aspects of government, including the food and ag industries. But reveal we must. It’s the American way (cue music…). Feel nothing but pride that you are sacrificing the easy path for the bigger picture of passing on knowledge, know-how and the desire to ask “why”. As well as life long habits to good health and vitality (may you be blessed with many grandchitlins!)
Back to the contagion of inspiration; I gave your cookbook as a Christmas gift to my 5th grader’s teacher. She had alot of questions about how my 5th grader’s diet (pause…we are not super strict paleo- definately gluten-free/primal/paleo, but our results are very apparent). Your book has helped her a great deal to have a better understanding of how the foods we comsume affect our well-being and health. Great gift for the teachers! Hint, hint y’all…
Stuff my kids have said;
15 yr. old daughter-” If i can afford it, I’m definately raising my kids paleo. Now that I understand so much more about how food can affect us.” (lengthy discussion followed about ways to make it affordable).
8 yr. old son- “I just want to yell at my friends who eat gluten, Stop eating that stuff! It’s bad for you!” (discussion of manners and not scaring off your audience ensued).
Those are my least compliant offspring!
18 yr. old daughter- “Am I suppossed to feel this healthy?!” (this after a month prior being reminded that “cavewomen didn’t drink wine ,Mom!” She was also a force to be reckoned in her online college nutrition course!
11 yr. old son- “We just don’t get as sick as other people anymore.”
Keep on keep’in on! You do great work! You are inspiration to more than you can ever know! As a parent, you are influencing future consumers, voters, parents and whatever the stars may hold!
Amen, sister! My son always asks, “why do they eat gluten things…..it’s gonna make them sick!” about his friends. Like he feels a responsibility too. “why don’t they know?” I love that my kids are so conscious about the foods they eat. I love your website and what you do. You inspire a mother like me to keep on keeping on! Thanks for doing what you do.
Great read! I have a son 3 and a daughter 1 and have been paleo for 2 months now and I honestly feel I am doing the best for my family! The children have taken the transition with flying colours and my husband (whom I thought would be the struggle) has been supportive and Is really enjoying the change! We are from Australia and we follow your recipes, stories and think you are a great inspiration!! Keep up the good work!
Great post! You and I will probably not change the world’s eating habits in our lifetime, but kids like yours just might.
I’m not a regular ‘me too’ gal, but in this case, I must repeat what so many others have said above: A great post!!
As others have posted above, what really surprises me is the fact that so many people (or, make it most people) are not willing/ready to even Explore something like paleo, when it has the potential to have such far reaching implications on their very lives and health!
I am just beginning to learn about the Paleo diet from my dear and treasured friend. I find your story to be very convincing why one should take changing their western diet to the paleo diet. Not to be poisoned bu tot live as healthy as possible.
Amen Sarah!! My daughter calls them “gluten-filled goldfish!” Just the other day she was asking me “why do the food makers make bad food if it’s bad for us?” I told her because they want money..it’s hard for a 6 year old to understand..heck, it’s hard for me to understand sometimes! It can be difficult for her when the kids in her class are having cupcakes, etc. for a birthday and she can’t have one..but, fortunately she has a great attitude and she understands that that stuff isn’t good for us and she says sometimes it makes her sad but then she thinks about how good she feels when she eats healthy food. 🙂 I have friends and family members comment on how “weird” we are because we don’t eat bread, etc. I am PROUD to live this lifestyle and pass it on to my kids and I am pretty sure my girls will be happy I did this for them when they’re older just as your son is. Thank you for being an inspiration to us all..We LOVE Paleo Pals btw 😀
The bottom line is that it is cheap, easy, and filling to eat the fake food, and unfortunately, we Americans tend to go for the quick, easy, commercially-approved solution.
I have six kids, ages 4 to 15, and our family has been through this discussion many times ourselves. It started with “why can’t we just buy the cheapest one without checking whether it has high-fructose corn syrup?” and has slowly grown with them and with our commitment to feed them real food.
See, you have a lot of support! My husband spent years in pain, his health had been declining, he was dependant on pain killers – his doctor suggested the paleo diet because he finally realized a food allergy was causing much of the problems with my husbands health. My husband doesn’t need to take those addictive pain killers anymore, he has energy and health is much improved. He can play with the kids again and doesn’t need to stay in bed all the time! After seeing his success, I began the way of life. Next up is to move our kids towards the paleo lifestyle – having five young daughters means looking for creative ways to satisfy their picky tastes while keeping them healthy. Glad I found your blog!
I’ve found that a lot of people think I’m crazy or a weirdo, yet after awhile some of those same people have come to me to find out what I’m doing right. Keep living by example. You can’t make people change, but sometimes they will realize on their own that the answer is “living” right in front of them.
You’ve got my vote for President! I get the same snarky comments and am amazed at how people just have mindless eating and wonder why they feel like crap. Hello, you are eating crap! Educate yourself people, turn off the tv and pick up a book or heck maybe 10 or 20. That is actually something that helped my family a lot, we turned off the cable and we don’t see the endless commercials for foods to eat or drugs that we would have to take if we ate those foods. Your book is the next one for me to buy, so yes tell the rude people your book is still selling. I can’t wait to try all of your recipes. Thanks for all your work and keep going against the grain! Ha
Thank you so much Leslie but – president?? No thank you!! LOL!!!
I love your blog for recipes!!! My husband and I have been CrossFitting since 2009 and striving to eat mostly Paleo. We now have a toothless 10 month old and I probably shouldn’t be giving him “gluten cheese fish!” Any ideas what to do for protein? I do give him unsweetened yogurt but he just doesn’t know what to do with meat!? I don’t really want to give him crackers because why should he eat them but I don’t?!
Emily, I am not an expert on Paleo but I will tell you that my kids are loving eggs…egg cupcakes (recipe in Sarah’s book), scrambled eggs, hard boiled eggs. These are things that you could easily mush up for a 10 month old. You can also put meats into a food processor and make them easier to eat without teeth just as you would fruits or veggies for baby food. The earlier you start your little one on the paleo lifestyle the easier it will be in the long run. We just started and had always thought we were eating healthy. Our kids already loved veggies so I thought at the ages of 4 and 6 this would be an super slick transition. Turns out they had an emotional attachment to their gluten filled goldfish and sugar laden yogurt…wishing I had known about this at ten months old 🙂 Best wishes! It is both exciting and frustrating when they start eating solid foods before they have teeth.
YES!!!
I get it all, the desire to scream, the love, all of it. Fight on!
You are a wonderful mother. Thank you for all you.