On Sun, 8 Mar 1998, Mary wrote:

> Has ANYONE other than Ray taken their kids completely paleo???Can you share
> your secrets??

It's just not possible, without exercising despotic control over
your kids, which will create more resentment than I think it's
worth.  It's not unlike the situation of Jewish kids who "relax"
their observance of kosher laws when their parents are not
around.  Of course, some are self-motivating, and this is the
key.

I have a 14 year-old daughter, and she is not paleo, or even
close to it.  But as a teenage girl she has an interest in
keeping weight off.  She has seen me lose a lot of weight in the
past year, and she knows how I've done it.  Most of the weight
loss was achieved on the Zone, not Neanderthin, but the basic
principles are similar: reduction or elimination of sugars and
refined carbohydrates.  By just halfheartedly imitating my diet
choices she was able to drop 10 pounds very quickly, so she knows
it works.  She also knows that pizza and soda will bring the
weight back very quickly.  Several of her girl friends have
become quite heavy, and my daughter now at least *notices* their
food choices.

"Health" as an abstract concept means nothing to teenagers.  They
have to have a reason to make radical changes to their diet.  The
same is true for most of us, but as we get older health problems
become more real.  The best we can hope for is that as our kids
get older they will remember what we were doing and that it
worked.

Food is a social phenomenon.  The more limited and unusual your
food choices are, the more unusual you are as a person.  Adults,
at least some of us, have the ego strength to deal with being
unusual.  Most kids don't.  It's the last thing they want.  If
they happen to be overweight, that provides some motivation, but
it's still difficult.  Even a young child raised on a paleo diet
will have to deal with the same social pressures as he gets
older.  Kids are not known for tolerance, and a school lunchbox
packed with pemmican will not fail to draw derision from a room
of 11 year-olds.  What will make it worse is that even
"well-meaning" adults of the low-fat persuasion may make
comments, to which a child will not know how to respond.

Case in point:  My daughter has a Health class where they talk
about nutrition.  As you would expect, they indoctrinate them
with the importance of eating lots of whole-grain foods and
getting enough milk.  They tell them that just a little bit of
meat is plenty, and so on.  In short, everything about the school
environment is alienating to anyone who tries to adhere to a
paleo diet.  I have no wish to inflict mental cruelty on my
daughter, so I don't even suggest that she try this.  I do
suggest that she become conscious of her food choices.  She can
try to avoid the starches and sugars, get enough protein, eat
vegetables, drink water.  If she can do this much most of the
time she is way ahead of most teenagers.  When she is an adult
she can decide for herself if she wants to try more radical
dietary restrictions.

Todd Moody
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