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
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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.
I’m new to this and was wondering if there is a link to an earlier post about the diet changes you did make (more info, details)?
Just started GAPS without intro and my son (21months) stopped throwing tantrums the first week and is back to having meltdowns. I don’t know if its the yogurt i introduced or die off. Even fat or fclo doesn’t make him happier! He was fine with the ghee the first week.
What a great post and discussion! It’s always so inspiring to hear about families with kids who have changed their diet! Especially in the face of a culture that constantly pushes sugar, artificial colors and flavors, and generally fake food at kids!
Earlier this year, when we were planting our garden, we got a first-hand taste of what sugar can do to a kid. Our daughter (we have eaten a mostly traditional foods diet since she was born and now eat a paleo diet) was offered a red sucker at the garden store. Not wanting to be the parent who always says no to sweets–and thereby sets her up to sneak them as soon as she’s able–I relented and said she could have it. She did. And, within a few minutes she was whining, within fifteen minutes, she was in full meltdown mode. The meltdown lasted until she was asleep half an hour later, and not at her usual nap time. It was so remarkable that even now when we go to that store and she asks for one, I remind her how awful she felt after the first one, and she’ll ask me if we can get a special treat somewhere else–like home or whole foods instead. (For a treat out, she likes raw milk cheese at WF, with a kombucha–she calls it Bucha-Beer).
This was a great reminder. My daughter was having terrible tantrums lately, so we changed her diet today and she was a new child!
We are careful with all coconut products as we are sensitive to them. Not every food product is for everybody!
We are careful with all coconut products as we are sensitive to them. Not every food product is for everybody!
We have fed my son simple, basic foods from day 1 as we are older parents and had already discovered for ourselves that we needed to eat a healthy diet. We notice big changes when he eats snacks at church or at grandparents. Suddenly he is just not the same sweet child. He always has lots of energy and is an on the go little boy but after store bought factory food he is just wild. There is an edge to him. My husband and I realize that if we didn’t already eat healthfully for our sakes we would by now for his sake! He is young but learning to voluntarily say no as he realizes it is harder to behave and harder to sleep peacefully when he eats factory made foods or foods made with new fangled ingredients (ingredients invented in the last 100 years and made in factories).
We have fed my son simple, basic foods from day 1 as we are older parents and had already discovered for ourselves that we needed to eat a healthy diet. We notice big changes when he eats snacks at church or at grandparents. Suddenly he is just not the same sweet child. He always has lots of energy and is an on the go little boy but after store bought factory food he is just wild. There is an edge to him. My husband and I realize that if we didn’t already eat healthfully for our sakes we would by now for his sake! He is young but learning to voluntarily say no as he realizes it is harder to behave and harder to sleep peacefully when he eats factory made foods or foods made with new fangled ingredients (ingredients invented in the last 100 years and made in factories).
Yay. Love this. We noticed huge changes after being on GAPS. We did the diet for 6 months and are slowly reintroducing grains. Thanks for the reminder. It’s so easy to slack during the holidays. But I always notice a difference right away when I let the crap foods slip back in.
I would also like to see some sample menus. We’ve had some very moody days recently and I’m so over them!