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.
Great story. We made these changes a few years ago and never looked back. The kids feel so much better, and so do we! Getting the grains and sugars out made a big difference, and the addition of good fats rounded it out. I really encourage any mom who is struggling with behavioral issues with kids to at least try some serious dietary changes. Often, it is a lot easier than they expect and the rewards are huge!
Here here! People comment everywhere we go, how well behaved my children are. Stores, resteraunts, church, DR offices…etc… When they ask what I do…I simply reply I get them good rest, eat healthy foods with whole ingredients and a little tough love. They are kids, they will choose from the choices we give them. My friend tells everyone she knows about the time we went to the grocery store together and my kids are asking if we can get baby spinach 🙂 She had never seen or heard of a kid asking for baby spinach! You can do it, they will like it! 3 out 3 kids in my house eat spinach and like it.
what a great post!
we did have a similar experience – even recently! I added lard to our diet (cook with it now) and i can definitely see that the kids (who can be very intense/loud/emotional) and I are a lot more peaceful and calm. I guess having animal fats is very imporant! Before that I only cooked with ghee and we ate butter, but I found that lard is actually cheaper and gives more nutrients for the mood 🙂
Marina
Ain’t that the truth! I used to have issues with seasonal affective disorder. Now I get plenty of D from FCLO, raw milk, raw butter, and so on- but when I have a bad day I cook something in lard, and the whole day just seems a bit brighter.
I would love to be able to make this change. I just don’t know where to start. My 2 yr old will only eat cereal, pb & j sandwiches and chicken nuggets. He’ll eat fruits, but not veggies.
Amanda, you CAN make changes while still feeding your child what he likes. Choose cereals that are all natural, make your own peanut butter or buy an all natural version, use a low salycylate jelly (like pear or cantaloupe) on natural bread or a gluten free version, and make your own chicken nuggets.
All-natural cereal is still cereal, still too much grain, still extruded protein and won’t do much if anything to improve behavior or nutrition.
I’d recommend looking up Paleo recipes for granola and cereal and see what you find. Still not perfect, any seed food will contain phytate–but better than an overdose of wheat.
We were fortunate enough to still be breastfeeding when we cut out grains (we had already cut down sugar and were eating a traditional foods diet): my daughter had a backup food supply when she slowed down on her solid foods while she adjusted to not having homemade bread, crackers, soaked oatmeal and the like. She actually ate so little solid food when we stopped the cereals/grains I sometimes wondered if we’d done the right thing. But, she still grew and gained weight–looking very healthy. (And, my friend who also eliminated grain while her son was a toddler says he did the same thing.) Now she loves to snack on crispy nuts, vegetables (even radishes), avocado, and even beef jerky. Kids tastes adjust to what you give them.
Amanda, my heart goes out to you. My oldest son was the same way after I fed him the recommended foods by the pediatrician (rice cereal, pureed fruits, etc). He was picky for a couple years until I started noticing that his attitude was getting worse over time. I realized that I, as his mom, was probably letting this happen, and decided that it was going to change.
The transition wasn’t easy at first. he refused to eat anything I have him (meats, veggies, etc) for several days, but then he started trying them. That was a couple years ago, and now there is not a vegetable he won’t eat. It is so hard, because we don’t want to see our kids go hungry, but just realize that in the long run, it will be so beneficial for him!
Also, explain it to him while you are making the changes. I’ve noticed that kids actually have an interest in understanding why foods are good and bad once they start having it explained to them. Good luck!
Amanda, as I have made many changes in our diet, my husband just LOVES his peanut butter & jelly sandwiches. I’m still uncomfortable with him having them every day, but I’ve done what I can to improve them – use local honey instead of jelly, homemade bread from sprouted wheat, Adams peanut butter. Have yet to make my own peanut butter, but that is coming! Also my husband and kids LOVED cereal, but actually are just as happy with the granola that I now make regularly – have to keep stocked up!
Do him one better and see if he likes almond butter. I’m paranoid about peanuts because of aflatoxin.
Cashew butter is pretty delicious too
This article is so true. I notice it with my autistic 7 year old even more than with my neurotypical 3 year old. If they are having tantrums I will give them their cod liver oil and it calms them down quickly.
Awesome! We are slowly (but surely) bringing down the sugar in our home too. Thanks for all the great tips and advice!
This article rings true to me.
When I traveled through Thailand and Cambodia, I noticed the children behaved differently than American kids. They were alert, in good spirits and never did I see a tantrum. Unlike children here, they did not eat lots of grain and sugar. When I went to Malaysia, a country that has more money and has adopted many American eating habits, the children were just like American kids.
Excellent observations MAS, thanks for posting. Dr. Weston A. Price noticed the same thing in his travels around the globe and his observations of traditional cultures that had not yet been cursed by the “displacing foods of modern commerce” The children in these cultures, were happy, alert, with excellent concentration. No behavior problems existed.
One of my favorite childrearing-related books is The Continuum Concept by Jean Liedloff. She noted the same thing you and Dr. Price did–children in a traditional culture being calm and listening to the adults in their lives and just about never throwing a tantrum. She concluded it was the tribe’s childrearing techniques, and her book was the inspiration for Dr. Sears’s attachment parenting book series. (I know this because I found an early version of one of his books at my public library and he mentions her book in it.)
Over the years there has been much contention about the validity of attachment parenting because, some parents say, it doesn’t work well for their kids–the kids still act nervous and insecure and don’t attach well emotionally.
I think the childrearing techniques were only half the story. Yes, I think that tribe was raising their kids in a sensible way–babies are helpless and still developing and *shouldn’t* be left to their own devices in a crib. But I also think they must have still been eating their traditional diet, so they were able to benefit from proper brain development in their children as well. That’s the piece of the puzzle that’s missing in the attachment parenting movement in America, at least for most people practicing AP. It amazes me how many AP advocates are vegetarian or vegan. I’m sure they’re mystified that they still have to deal with attention and behavior issues–next to allergies, I see lots of articles and ads in Mothering magazine aimed at the parents-of-ADHD-kids set!
Dana,
I think you have something here! I run a large AP parents’ group, and I notice a difference between the vegan/vegetarian child behavior and parent-child relationships and the relationships of folks doing traditional or paleo diets. (Strangely, the AP community seems to be mostly divided on either the vegan/vegetaruab-or traditional/paleo community.) I’ve even had this conversation with some of the other parents in the group–though it’s not one I feel comfortable with bringing up with the group as a whole, or even on my blog.
I think it’s a combination of things when a family eats high sugar, high-refined food, all vegan or vegetarian diet–including both the child’s brain and physical development and the psychological effects of being a parent who also isn’t meeting (or is that meating-haha) their own nutritional needs.
Sarah
I completely agree! I practiced attachment parenting like crazy and my son didn’t want anything to do with it ~ even as an infant! He exhibited dairy allergies early on and we have now found he is allergic to corn, artificial colors/flavors, etc. He has SPD challenges as well….so I believe diet plays a HUGE role in how our children behave and respond to attachment parenting. You can’t “wear” a baby that hates to be touched or confined! 😉
The key to stabilizing emotions and ease of controlling them is by stabilizing blood sugar. This can only be accomplished by limiting sugars and refined carbs an increasing wholesome fats in the diet. Unfortunately, our culture is still quite fat-phobic and therefore it is not surprising how many kids have real trouble with impulse control and emotion moderation.
What a wonderful story and a quick turnaround time! You must be very excited!
What an absolutely great post! Thanks!