By Mary Lynch, Kindergarten Teacher
I am writing to share with you a few of the amazing improvements we have seen in our family since we started changing our diets and learning the truth about fat and what is and is not healthy.
We made little changes at first; adding coconut oil, fermented cod liver oil, and butter to our diets. Within a week and after many hours of research, we decided to eliminate refined sugar and processed foods and to reduce grain consumption as well.
We noticed immediate and dramatic changes in our daughter’s childhood anxiety, mood and behavior!
My eldest has always struggled with fear and childhood anxiety issues. For years we have worked with prayer and behavior modification and we have certainly seen improvement. But one week into our diet changes we saw the largest jump in confidence that we have ever seen. All of a sudden, she approaches challenges calmly and logically, rather than immediately shutting down or freaking out. She has attempted — and enjoyed — activities she would not even consider in the past. She is embracing life rather than hiding from it!
My youngest daughter is not afraid of anything. We call her our “adventure girl.” However, this passion for life sometimes leads to what I like to call an “excess of emotion.” She’s nine years-old and was having all-out temper tantrums at least once a month. Small discouragements became huge problems. Her emotions were controlling her, rather than her controlling her emotions. Sarah, as soon as we changed our diet she became a calm, content child. She now takes disappointments in stride and can control her emotions, actions and words easily. Yes, she cries sometimes. But she no longer screams and throws things while she does it. She even noticed right away, saying, “If I don’t want to be angry I can just take a deep breath!” She even surprised herself!
It was my husband who noticed the change and improvement first. He came home from work at 5:30, as usual, but was not met with the usual homecoming chaos. He expected me to be stressed about preparing dinner, tidying the dining room and overseeing homework. He expected the girls to be whining about homework and dinner and chores. (I’m embarrassed to admit this was typical at our house.) Instead, he found silence. We were still getting things done — cooking and chores and homework — but instead of coming into an atmosphere of tension, he came home to a house filled with peace.
Thank you, Sarah, for your passion for healthful eating and for sharing what you have learned on your blog. I just had to let you know how it has changed not just our diets, but our attitudes and relationships, too.
More Information
Natural Remedies for Panic Attacks
Depression: Your Brain on Sugar
About the Author
Mary Lynch is a Kindergarten teacher in Tampa, FL.
She has been following the principles of Traditional Cooking and Eating for only a couple of months and has already experienced life changing results in her home.
She is one of the few teachers I have met who knows how to throw a truly healthy party that is still fun and delicious for the children in her class.
Let food be thy medicine! 😀
I would LOVE to make these changes for my family but I have really been struggling with making the changes for the kids. I have noticed great benefits for myself but having a 3 year old, 5 year old, 1 on the way, working full time and getting a second masters, I just can’t find the time or energy to make all the food…..Any suggestions on where to start? I have so little time to cook that it makes it difficult to stick to a whole, non processed foods diet.
The book “The World’s Healthiest Foods”, by George Mateljan, has been very helpful for me for several years. For people that don’t know how to cook, this is a great start. It explains the nutrients of the chosen ingredient (fruit, vegetable, nuts), the reason people should eat it, how to select, cut, and store it, and it has lots of delicious and healthy recipes that are easy and fast to prepare. I’ve bought other recipes book, but this is my favorite.
Hi Jessica, I recently started cooking more homemade meals to save on money and eat healthier. we have also tried juicing (so time consuming AND expensive). here are tips: try cooking food in batches and then freezing them in containers and baggies. this way later during the week you can reheat and have homemade “instant” meals instead of processed food instant meals. Try cooking crockpot meals—less cooking time is needed. For examples, on the weekends, I chop and prep ingredients and put into pot, then set on low… i don’t get tied to the kitchen— i go about household chores or working my laptop… stirring every now and then, and checking flavors and seasoning… then later—yehey! a home cooked meal. I make meat stews and vegetarians stews in the crockpot. I’ve also tried pasta dishes in the crockpot. also try one-dish meals. all ingredients go into one pot—jambalaya and chicken stew with dumplings are some examples of one-pot meals… google crockpot recipes and one-pot meal recipes. good luck!
While it IS really interesting and i am thrilled for you that this diet change helped your kids, may I gently suggest that you change the by-line?
Going paleo is NOT a “simple diet change” for most americans it is a complete overhaul of how they are eating in the first place. (I would know, i’ve tried it and failed at it about 3x, its definitely NOT for me but I’m glad if it helps others eat healthfully!)
She didn’t go Paleo. She just eliminated refined grains and sugar. Not that hard to do.
I would love to know Mary’s secret to throwing “a truly healthy [classroom] party that is still fun and delicious for the children in her class.”
I really needed this reminder 🙂
Hi, would like to know what is exactly paelo diet?? For breakfast I make my 2,7 yrs son new Zealand follow on goats milk with cooked millet , quinoa and buckwheat. The other version would be amaranth porridge and oats porridge with the same goats milk. I am bit confused and not sure if these are healthily… As u talking that grains are no good. Is amaranth oats , millet buckwheat and quinoa grains? What is grains ? Thank u very much for sepond. Btw article is awesome!
Eating a GAPS-like or paleo diet is healing me from a long-term chronic illness as well. It’s always lovely to find that people are finding out how to heal children before a life-time of toxicity catches up to them. Thanks for sharing the good news.