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After having my first successful run with Whole30 in January, I have encouraged my family to try it with me starting the day after Mother's Day! DH is finally onboard and ready to commit. DS is willing to give it a go, but a little scared, especially the thought of having to commit to 30 days (he did a 7 day sugar/gluten cleanse when I started my W30 in Jan). My main reason for pursuing this with my family is to alleviate some symptoms I've noticed in my son's health (low energy, weight gain, moodiness, mild gluten allergy, dairy intolerance, not hungry in the a.m., adult-sized appetite). Aside from the usual advice about reading the Whole9 literature about Kids doing the program, I would love some general tips and tricks from those of you that have had success with Kids' Whole30 or are in the process right now. Is there a mantra that helped you guide your kids through the program? A kid-friendly recipe website you couldn't live without? Did you modify the program at all for your kids? How did you explain the program to your kids to motivate and educate them? How did you manage slip ups? Any other words of wisdom to help with a 9 year old? Any advice you can offer is greatly appreciated!!

I posted for suggestions in another thread, but I'm dying here. I am cooking for 9 people three meals a day every day. I went into the kitchen to make lunch and found that the egg salad I had planned can't happen. They ate all of the boiled eggs but 6. That is not enough to feed all nine of us. The thought of cooking another meal brings me to tears. I've used the slow cooker, I've baked ahead, I've boiled and scrambled eggs..... I can not seem to get out of the kitchen. We homeschool as well, so we will all be home all day for the rest of eternity. How on earth do I make this easier??????? It's Friday and the fridge is empty again. They are eating everything and I simply cannot keep up. Often there is not enough left for my husband and I. We had to make breakfast twice today. We went through 10 lbs of potatoes in just one dinner. And yes, the kids are helping with food prep, but this is out of control. Any thoughts or advice would be helpful. Please imagine cooking for dinner guests every day all day long......That is what the last 26 days has felt like. On the positive side, we've made it 26 days.

My husband and I (and one of our kids) are on day 5 of our Whole 30. 15 year old opted out, but our 12 year old has his heart set on doing it with us. He was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease last year and after seeing how sick his inflammation made him before he was diagnosed and started treatment, he REALLY wants to do this with us. The problem is I don't think he is getting enough food, and I'm trying to figure out compliant ways to get him more calories. He worked really hard to gain a lot of weight since his diagnosis so I don't want to derail his weight gain. He came home from school weepy because he says he’s hungry all the time. Problem is he's a picky eater. LOVES- meat, eggs, and smoked salmon but is not much of a veggie eater. He’ll eat potatoes, bok choy , avocado, and romaine lettuce, but won’t touch mushrooms, green beans, broccoli, zucchini, sweet potatoes or carrot. Won’t eat nuts and olives. I got him to eat celery with some primal kitchen ranch dip. Packing his school lunches is a big challenge (sliced sausage, hard boiled egg and fruit this week). I keep telling him he doesn’t need to do this with Mom and Dad but he doesn’t want to give up. If we can find a way to make it work for him, I think it would be worth it to see if it helps with his inflammation. Any ideas? I've browsed the forums and it looks like maybe bending "the rules" for kids is sometimes ok. I saw some related posts suggesting paleo pancakes or perhaps dairy for kids. Thoughts?

My husband & I have decided to start the Whole 30, mainly for healthy Lifestyle changes. I also battle Immunodeficiency, Autoimmune & a rare disorder called Mastocytosis. I truly believe this dietary change may help more, than some of the handful of rx pills & injections I take daily. (Yes, I will still take my doc ordered meds.) My children also suffer from autoimmune conditions as well. Should the whole family try the Whole 30 as well? 10 yr old & 4 yr old. Thanks for any advice!

I am looking for recipes or breakdowns for school lunches. My son is in 2nd grade and loves taking his lunch. He's not too picky but they also do not have access to a microwave to heat up their home-brought lunches. I need help with a lunch plan for him. He enjoys packing his own lunch so I would love ideas where he can still either put things together himself or where I can maybe help a little too. I keep finding web searches that either appear to be complicated (not time friendly) or have things that aren't fully Whole30. We are starting our first Whole30 on Feb. 1st, I am making meal plans now and am just drawing a blank for school lunches.

I posted this in the kids lunch thread, but think maybe it should be its own topic. Sorry for the repeat, moderators feel free to remove the other post. Thanks! ------ I find my son just won't eat most of the ideas for Paleo kids foods. He has texture issues so there are many things he literally can't eat due to how they feel in his mouth. He won't eat eggs, avocado, celery, almond or other nut butters, jerky is too hard and chewy, deli meat is too slimy, etc... He would eat homemade turkey sausage and apples for every meal if he could. And he is one of those kids who won't eat, all day or more, if it is food that grosses him out. He always tries what we give him but often just can't get it down and swallow it. Even non-Paleo he would not eat many typical kid foods like sandwiches and such. Anyone else with kids like this? His doctor says they have found this texture problem is Sensory Processing Disorder and you need to work around it but in a paleo diet there are far fewer options.

We are in reintroduction and my daughters both had very emotional and volatile reactions when we reintroduced gluten. Luckily, I found myself next to a child psychiatrist last night at a sport event and we got on the topic of the Whole30 and gluten sensitivities. She told me it is actually well-known in the medical community that gluten can lead to a large range of psychiatric issues - including psychosis and suicidal thoughts (which she has witnessed personally with her patients)! She recommended I go to the Pub Med website and search on gluten psychosis. I found this one article as an example: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26184290 There are many more articles on this site. I wanted to share this info since this was earth-shattering to me! We are clearly going to avoid gluten as much as possible for our whole family, not just the girls, after this discovery.

I am only on day 5 feeding myself and 6 children (12, 11, 8, 6, 4, 2) and my husband. I'm struggling with being able to keep this up for 4 weeks. We live in Alaska and produce is very expensive (almost $5 for 5oz of baby spinach, 1 head of romaine over $2). We just went through 5 dozen eggs in 4 days... We are used to spending about $100/week on groceries and I've already spent $400 this week. We can't afford to eat this way, so I'm having an internal battle of whether to continue doing this with everyone (not sure how at this point) or just doing it for myself and only eliminate a few things from their foods, which would still be more expensive than we can afford. Please, any ideas are helpful. Need to figure this thing out.

So, we just re-introduced non-gluten grains to our 3 kids (ages 8-13) on day 27 of the Whole 30 (I needed to start reintroduction a few days early due to a trip to Grandma and Grandpa's house next week). My 2 girls both had negative affects - my son was fine. Here is what I gave them yesterday (the same for all 3): meal 1: non-gluten waffles (later discovered it had soy lecithin) meal 2: gluten-free pretzels (later discovered it had soy lecithin) meal 3: gluten-free pasta (brown rice-based) My oldest daughter felt nauseous after eating meal 2 yesterday. My youngest daughter said her stomach hurt this morning (before breakfast). I had planned to give them legumes tomorrow (because I really need to get further down the reintroduction path before the trip so I was going to do an every other day reintro schedule), but now I am stumped. Should I do gluten-free grains again but this time make sure there are no soy ingredients? Also, am I really tampering with our results if I don't wait the prescribed 2 clean days inbetween reintro days? I am very worried they won't be successful at trying to eat cleanly at Grandma and Grandpa's or else I wouldn't even be pushing the envelope by asking the question. Thank you for your help!

I am starting a Whole30 with my kids on Jan 1. I have completed around 5 Whole30s and I thought it was time to get my kids involved. I'm posting this in hopes of getting some ideas for potty treats. I am working on potty training my two year old and she usually gets one treat (a small candy like a jelly bean or m&m) for going number one and two for going number two. I have been trying to think of whole30 treats to replace the candy. I want it to be special because I want to reward her for going potty. I was thinking maybe just an Enjoy Life chocolate chip. I know they have the sugar but they don't have the soy, dairy, etc... I thought about dried fruit, but would she really think that was a reward? Has anyone gone through something like this? I would love some ideas. Thank you! Corey

My four year old and I are doing Whole30. We are on day 7. Well he is technically day 4 as he had sugar and gluten-free grains at our small school group on Monday. Anyway, last night he started crying for pizza. Today he is crying for pizza, mac and cheese or spagetti. I feel so sad for him. All the protein he will eat is sliced turkey and eggs. I know he needs to eat more, but he is picky. He leans on fruit for his cravings. Any tips for handling this mourning period for him? Thank you! PS: I allow him to have sweet potato chips. Ingredients are sweet potato, coconut oil and salt. I don't endulge in these myself as the snack demon will come out, but I feel like he needs something familiar... Thanks!

When we saw this at our local grocery store checkout, we just HAD to share with the forum. (Wish there was a section just for Whole30 humor!) But sadly, in the end it isn't funny that a lot of these bad habits start young and as a parent, it takes a lot of teaching and avoiding things like this:

I'm having my first kid and i'm already worried about how to talk to him/her about their food choices without causing food hangups or body image issues. I watch my niece eat more sugary foods than any adult would ever eat and i'm worried about how i'll "prevent" my kid from preferring those foods over healthy choices. I'm also afraid of making "bad food" taboo and thus forbidden fruit. Any articles, books, etc for talking to your kids about healthy eating and raising them to prefer healthy foods over crap from the start? When do you let go and when do you put your foot down? How do you talk about food choices in a way they will understand and not translate into "mom doesnt want me to be fat" Thank you! Kris

Hi, I am one month away from turning 39 and feeling horrible! For the past 2 1/2 years I have been on a downward spiral of eating poorly. When mama eats poorly, so do her children! In my household we have: my husband (overweight), me (overweight), 16 year old son, 13 year old daughter, and 10 year old son. Believe it or not, prior to this past 2 1/2 years our family ate very healthy, and I was able to get rid of stomach issues as well as headaches and allergies. My daughter's allergies are back, as well as her headaches; my headaches are horrible, and I feel nauseous most mornings; my older son (16) is working out and gaining muscle, but he is not eating well at all....mostly carbs! So, I took the plunge to guide us back to a healthy lifestyle...We started May 12, 2014. Here are some issues right now: 16 yr old feels week while working out at gym...should I add more protein???? He is used to mostly a refined carb and protein diet since he started working out. He could lose some body fat, he is not able to though...I think it was the carb intake. 13 year old is super active, almost no body fat and a lot of muscle. She tumbles, cheers, plays soccer. She does not like meat or eggs very much...she is getting lightheaded. What should I add? She's eating fruits, veggies, cashews, almond butter...a lot of these foods! I have a problem getting meat into her...she gags! I am tired!!!!! But I know this is like a withdrawal effect. I am excited...but worried about the kids energy needs! I haven't started my 10 yr old yet....well I have incorporated more fresh fruits. There are no more processed anything ( I hate the stuff anyway). But I have not taken the bread and rice and pasta away yet....Not sure how to handle this. He is allergic to eggs....so I am thinking duck eggs will work for him. My husband is away this week for work. Thank god! Or I may bite his head off....I am very moody right now! He has not started....having trouble with motivating him. The GREAT aspects: We have been planning every meal together (for the past 3 days...lol) We have been talking about the foods as we pack lunches for the next day. The 10 year old is a part of it and is asking more questions about the foods he eats. We are all in this together!!! I am happy to get back to what I enjoy and believe in....clean eating!

Hi - I've been feeding my children (girls, aged 3 and 7) the same food as me. They tend to have a little more fruit than me. I follow the same principles, palm sized protein, added fat, lots of veggies. A little fruit (always eaten with meals and not as a snack) A little background - I have tried to make the healthiest choices for them throughout their whole lives. I breast fed for as long as possible and have limited "treats" etc. I thought I was feeding them well. Until recently I cooked mainly with (all organic) brown rice, whole grains, legumes, veggies, lots of tinned tomatoes. Sometimes fish. I cooked with meat occasionally and because of the price I would make one piece last for several meals. They did eat sweets (candy) and chips (fries) but only as a treat once a week or at birthday parties. I can see now that it was very carb heavy, but I thought that it was healthy. We are considered by friends to have the 'healthiest' diet around. So, why is my 7 year old daughter fatigued often. Why do her joints ache in the morning. Why does she look pale and drawn with dark rings round her eyes? Why does she continue to get eczema (mild) when I don't use harsh chemicals in the house or bathroom? (I have now stopped using "pure organic oils" on their skin (which contained seed oils) and have switched to coconut oil and to wash with.) Why does she have sudden rageful tantrums followed by tears and deep sadness where she feels "bad" and then lacks energy all day (or the next)? (She is generally a very well behaved, respectful, interested, helpful, happy girl) Anyway - this has been an amazing learning curve. When I decided to quit sugar (end of March) she was so interested in my experiment that she chose to do it with me asking if sugar was making her tired too. However as a child, she has occasionally been in environments when sugary "treats" are on offer. I have said to her that I want her to learn to make the best choices. I've told her what I would prefer her choices to be but that I wouldn't be cross if she chose to have the ice lolly or bright coloured drink that day (birthday parties mainly). Now and then she has either become suddenly very fatigued, or has had a difficult to control tantrum where she feels like she can't stop and she scares herself. She has RAGE and becomes aggressive. Then she gets a 'downer' where she feels really sad and tearful and generally 'bad' for how she behaved and the next day - no energy, headache, fatigue. I wish I had been writing it down so I could know for sure if this always happened after a 'treat'. But Mama's instincts tell me that it is the sugar and/or additives causing it. She has food allergies (ige measurable) to Dairy & Egg (discovered at 6 months old when trying for the first time) and Peanut (Epipen) (discovered at 2years old) My 3 year old has asthma, and is often 'under the weather' with colds and other viruses. She is allergic to pineapple and kiwi evidenced by a rash when eating. I also suspect dairy has caused her to have eczema so I have kept her off it most of the time. I also keep her off eggs because the eldest is allergic but am going to reintroduce those now. So we gave up sugar (the 3 year old has no choice but to comply!) and we now limit fruit. Then after experimenting I noticed I was ill after eating wheat which lead me to research it, discover that grains in general might be bad and when I found Whole30, I stopped eating them all straight away. My 7 year old seems to be taking to it like a duck to water. She is used to having to eat differently from her friends. She loves experimenting and trying new food. She loves our cooked dinners for breakfast! My 3 year old is getting used to it all and has even stopped moaning 'but mummy that isn't breakfast, it's dinner'. My concern is this. My 3 year old (always stubborn, difficult and with a tendency to whinge, always insisting she is hungry and demanding food or trying to sneak some from the kitchen - this resulted in me installing the longest baby gate in the world last summer to keep her out of the kitchen part of my open plan family room!) has been getting more and more grumpy. She whinges constantly and is as usual always demanding more food. The thing is, when I was filling them up with loads of whole grains I knew she wasn't hungry and could ignore her pleas in confidence. Now though she seems tired and even grumpier and angrier than ever. I have been hungry so perhaps she is. She has seemed to have a cold this week. She is now crying when going to pre-school (she's never done that) but they say she is fine all day. Then when I pick her up she starts whinging again. Is she hungry? Is she detoxing? This morning they had pan griddled steak with onions and brocoli. Lemon in hot water. Added fats in the way of coconut oil and olive oil. Roasted vegetable sauce. I gave the 3 year old a spoonful of almond butter and some frozen roast root veg (she ate like icepops) on the way to preschool just in case she was hungry. She seems weak. Doesn't want to walk so much and is becoming clingy. Very out of character. Sorry this is so long. I just don't want to make my kids suffer just because I want to experiment. My motivation for doing this is life long ill health (me), allergies and asthma etc (them) and a myriad of ill health in my immediate family including type1 diabetes, type 2 diabetes, lymphoma, ulcerative colitis, connective tissue disorders. I desperately want to avoid the same health problems in my children and of course would like to finally feel well myself. I would love to hear from people in a similar situation or from moderators who can reassure me that this is safe for my kids. Although I have been cutting stuff out since end of march, I am officially on day 6 of the whole30.

Hello all, I really need some advice! My (excuse my lack of a better term and my obvious disdain here) moron of an ex husband feeds our children absolute garbage! Think pizza, cookies, kraft mac and cheese, and- oh the horror- McDonalds. He is the quintessential "Disney Dad"- no discipline, shows up bearing gifts or goodies EVERY.SINGLE.DAY. His latest parenting fail involved buying my four year old a plastic gun and allowing him to shoot my ex in the face without so much as a "no sir we do NOT shoot people"...of course, I ripped the gun from my son's hand and could harldy fathom why he would bring a gun over in the first place, let alone completely disregard the behavior and subsequently act like I was a nutcase for getting so upset. Hence, EX! The problem I have is that I would like to make my kids paleo at my house, but I fear the constant switching back and forth between no gluten and then an onslaught of sugar and grains will be even more detrimental. He refuses to listen even though he typically eats healthy and wouldn't eat the crap he feeds our boys. Am I correct in this assumption? I just know that the longer I am "clean" the worse it is if I get glutened. Of course I still feed them the most nutrient dense stuff that they will eat, but they are resitant because they don't have consistency between the households. They love grilled chicken, broccoli, sweet potatoes and a variety of other fruits and veggies, but heaven forbid I tried to feed them fish or take their yogurt away. I have managed to replace their milk habit with Bolthouse Farms "Green Goodness" mixed half with water. They LOVE that stuff(so do I, truth be told)! I just feel like they eat the same stuff over and over and still want bagels and graham crackers, if not m&m's and other such disasters. Plus, I hate being the "bad" parent. Yes, I realize the irony here, but explain that to a two and four year old. I apologize for the lengthy post, but I am so frustrated and would appreciate any suggestions! Thank you in advance:)

My son has not been thrilled with our Paleo eating. He has been gluten free for a year and as close to Paleo as we can get him for about four months. He understands it is technically healthier for you but he really hates to be "different." He has had two breakthroughs recently though. At one point we started to allow him to have corn chips and taco shells. I noticed he was having emotional breakdowns, sobbing and crying and things like loosing a soccer game or a video game. This is not like him and I noticed it happened after eating corn products. So we took him off all corn for weeks and then went to a movie and he really wanted popcorn. We said he could have it but we would be watching for his moods. Sure enough two hours later he had a crying fit over going to a restaurant instead of going home. On his own he said "I don't think I should eat corn again." Then this weekend he went to a sleep over and made his own choices, close to paleo. Hamburger (no bun), fruit, strawberry ice cream, eggs, bacon, and sausage. He came home, fell asleep for a few hours and woke up to explosive diarrhea. Poor kid! While all except the ice cream was Paleo, they were all processesed, not the homemade burger patties and sausage we make. Or the Whole 30 approved bacon we eat. He said "Now I know why we eat Paleo. I don't want this to happen again." I feel bad he had to learn that way, but it did allow him to make his own decision. Now though he really wants to eat Paleo but doesn't like much of what we make and really wants more snack items like our homemade jerky. He has texture issues with food so finding things he can eat is hard. I just want us to help him feel good about his decision. Anyone have more kid friendly ideas?

I have a VERY spirited (which is a nice way of saying ornery) four-year-old girl who does not eat anything good. I can not force her to do anything against her will, especially put food in her mouth (and I'm not a push over, believe me). She still drinks a lot of milk, often chocolate, and eats the occasional scrambled egg or slice of cheese. The rest is junk (and some of the "healthy" stuff isn't so great either): Pirate Booty, fish sticks on rare occasions, corn dogs, crackers, popcorn, etc. Essentially, she eats the way I modeled eating for a very long time. I have no one to blame but myself, but now that I want to make a change, I need help. She is at her most temperamental, ornery, stubborn, boundary-pushing phase of development. Is this the best time to start making dramatic food changes? If I just dive in head first, how do I do that? I've read a lot on Everyday Paleo and Paleo Parents about "letting your kid help with the cooking" and "don't offer anything but what the family eats for dinner" and "always offer healthy foods and someday they will eat it." My kid cooks with me all the time, but refuses to eat it. I offer her everything I eat, and she refuses to try it. If I do convince her to try it, she licks it, declares it gross, and moves on. We don't have "family dinners" because her dad works nights and it's just me and her, so really just me eating. Should I start with one thing first? Like, gluten free everything and then move on to the next step? Or is cold turkey better? Every day is a struggle to get her to do anything. I'm in my Whole30 and have more energy than I used to, but the constant nagging can really bring me down. Any help?

Whenever we go to the local HyVee, I let my kiddos pick out a snack to keep them quiet to keep them from asking for cheese...non-stop... Usually they want a Larabar, and generally I have no problem with that. But last time we went shopping, we ALL went shopping, and before I knew it I had $6 of Larabar wrappers in my cart! That got me thinking - some things can be serious paleo budget busters! Seriously, that's a jar of coconut oil (at Walmart)! What are some of the budget busters in your cart? Better yet, what do you buy that saves your budget? For us, it's the 5lb bag of organic carrots and the jumbo twin pack of Sunmaid raisins.

Any recommendations for dairy substitutes for kids? My 4 year old son LOVES milk, cheese and yogurt. What do your kids eat/drink instead of dairy? Any suggestions for substitute items to break him of his dairy habit? Thanks, Grady