There are typically two types of people who live a healthy lifestyle: those who are raised this way, and those who are forced into it by necessity. Based on this, it’s a great thing to introduce your kids to healthy habits. However, the later they start, the more accustomed they’ll be to junk food, and the more difficult it will be to help them embrace the value of making healthier food choices.

I don’t have much experience with getting children to eat well, but I do know that it’s human nature to resist when not given a choice. Perhaps if you encourage your kids to try different foods while showing them see that you won’t force them to eat what they don’t like, perhaps they’ll be more receptive. When you prepare meals for them, you can try gradually introducing small amounts of new and healthier foods and maybe even offer some kind of reward for eating them. Over time, they’ll hopefully become more accustomed to these new foods and have minimal objection to eating them.

Another consideration is that organic vegetables tend to be much more flavorful than conventionally grown vegetables. I find many conventionally grown vegetables to be practically tasteless, and this certainly isn’t going to help convince a child to eat them.

In regard to protein, seafood is a great source, and there’s nothing wrong with it being your primary source. Just be sure to include variety and be conscious of the potential for pollution, particularly heavy metals. For excellent quality seafood, I recommend Vital Choice.

Eggs are a great source of protein, but because many people develop sensitivities to them, it’s best to not eat them on a repetitive basis. Nuts are a decent source, but they’re not a complete source which means they don’t contain all of the essential amino acids. In addition, nuts should be soaked to reduce some of the antinutrients that they contain, especially if you’re going to eat a lot of them. Dairy is generally regarded as a good source of protein, but milk is another common food sensitivity. In addition, there’s the issue of pasteurization reducing it’s nutritional quality and the concerns related to a1 beta casein. Based on this, I’d choose these foods sparingly and rely as much as possible on a variety of high quality seafood.

You might want to consider doing some back exercises to balance the improved strength in your chest and shoulders that you’ve been developing. If you don’t, it might promote forward shoulder posture as well as strength imbalances, and many things can go downhill from there. Pull ups and bent over dumbbell rows are two good options. If you can’t do a pull up, you can use a chair to give yourself some assistance. Also, don’t forget about your lower body.

The Diet Cure is definitely a great resource. Let me know if it helps you.

I’m not sure what you mean by a paleo “challenge”, but the true benefit of a paleo or primal diet is to stick with it long term and make it your way of life. Once you do, your tastes will likely adjust, and I think you’ll be able to enjoy things like chocolate on occasion without it being an issue. This has been the case for me as well as many other people.

Stephanie – It’s nice to see another WAPF member here.

Stephen – Yes, aspartame is an excitotoxin which kills brain cells by overstimulating them. Definitely bad stuff! MSG is an excitotoxin as well.

“The reason why natural whole foods are so healthy is because we spent millions of years evolving on them. Based on this, an easy way to make sure that you’re eating the right foods is to ask yourself if they existed 10,000 years ago.”

Exactly. My diet is 180 degrees from what it used to be which was almost 100% meat, refined flour and sugar, and other starches.

I’ve read bad things about Aspartame and hippocampus nerve cell death. Do you know about that?

I’m going to check out your book recommendations. Thanks!

Stephanie