Starting Monday the 11th, and a bit scared!

[s.johnson]

Hi! I'm Shelly, and I live in NC. I'm an army wife, and mother to two growing boys (ages 6 and 2). Trying to meal plan for just me is a stretch, but having to meal plan for everyone, and different things, that scares me a bit. I tend to jump in with both feet until the reality of what I'm doing catches up with me and I panic! The husband is open to trying it, just not at the same time, and at a time he knows he won't be in the field training or called up, and that isn't now. The kids love their mac n cheese and other kid stuff, though they are generally open to trying new things. 

 

I do homeschool my 6 year old, so that keeps my days quite busy, between activities and school work. We will probably lighten our load this next month, since we are already ahead, he is beginning 1st grade work this month, since he finished up his kindergarten stuff last month. The 2 year old makes sure he makes enough messes to be noticed as well

 

One of my reasons for doing the whole30, is I lost my dad two months ago. For the past decade he has been battling a laundry list of health problems, and his immune system just couldn't keep fighting. Though some are related to his time in Vietnam (agent orange), many of his issues were either caused or exacerbated by his eating and exercise habits (or lack of).

 

I'm also struggling with endometriosis, and hoping this may help relieve some of my symptoms and either eliminate or extend the time before I need a hysterectomy. I'm 28, and not ready for that if I don't have to be. I'm about 30lbs overweight, and also starting to exercise regularly (for the past 4 wks) and hoping to continue that throughout this program.

 

Would love some pointers for meal planning with families, recipes your kids love (I do have the whole30 book), or any general advice! So excited to begin this journey with all of you! <3 

[rachelmaria33]

Shelly, 

 

  My kids are older, so I won't go into detail about recipes, but I will say that if you are ever going to get them on the path to healthy eating it will never be easier than now!    When you want to "treat" them let them pick a new fruit from the produce section. If you want to make it an easy transition,  make a familiar loved meal, with a healthier side dish.  Then, start making small changes to the family dishes as a whole.  I make myself a whole 30 chili that uses sweet potato instead of beans.  Their chili still has beans, but it is starting to feature some chopped carrots and sometimes sweet potato chunks or chopped zucchini.  No, it's not the same, and I am not trying to trick them, but they are getting used to it.  As much as possible I make us the same meal.  They have stir fry chicken with noodles, I have mine with spaghetti squash etc.

 

  One of the first new recipes I made, that everyone loves is http://www.onelovelylife.com/chicken-zucchini-poppers-gf-df/  Now I make the meat in smashed patties instead of meatballs for breakfast meat. 

 

  My hubby is not on board.  He is still stuck in the low fat, sugar loving life.  If he was on board I'd probably take a more direct approach, but so far no one is complaining.

[Auri]

Hi Shelly!  I'm also planning to start on the 11th and am also the mom to two small children (6 and 4).  My husband isn't doing the whole30 with me but is happy to eat anything I cook for him, which is great.  The children, however, are a completely different story!  My 6 year old is a carb addict and my 4 year old is picky too - just not as bad.  They flat our refuse vegetables and any kind of meal that is mixed together with a sauce (pasta sauce, any kind of pie), it's exhausting!

 

I have gone through phases of being paleo in the past and the easiest thing for our family is to cook a meat, a couple of veg's and a carb.  I usually just eat the meat/veg portion if the carb is going to be pasta or rice.   It's boring, but it's simple, easy and it works for us.  

 

I'm sorry for the loss of your father.  It sounds like you've got some pretty strong motivation behind you.  I've also got about 30lbs to lose but am really hoping this Whole30 helps with the unhealthy binge eating I've been dealing with.  I want to be a good role model to my children and also be the healthiest version of myself I can be.  

 

It's so wonderful to have the support of this board! 

[Emma]

Oh, what a rough year.  I'm sorry to hear about your father.

We have two kids and homeschool one of them and we've done the Whole30 thing as a family where the kids were amazing.  I'd second what Auri said about cooking the foods you'll eat on Whole30 (meats and veggies) and then add a carb like potatoes or rice for the kids for the time being.  It's what we are doing now and it works well while I get my own body readjusted to eating well again (have you seen the Whole30 timeline that shows the phases people often go through on this process?)

When we did do Whole30 as a family, we had a big discussion about the reasons why (getting healthier and eating clean foods) and then we had the kids select recipes from the paleo cookbooks and we made them.  We made a big to-do about trying new things and some things were lousy and some were great.  I did make paleo baked goods for my kids to keep things a bit more fun here and there and did make them paleo pancakes and waffles on the weekends.  The hardest part was the first few days because we were all used to sugars and salts, but after the first few days or so, everything did taste better and there are tricks like apples with almond butter as a snack instead of graham crackers.  It's also easier while they're little because you control what food you buy at the store.

 

The two cookbooks that my kids like looking through the most were Paleo Effect and Practical Paleo.

 

BUT, meal planning and food prepping was a nightmare and it took SO long.  Now it doesn't, but it did that first month as we were figuring things out and trying new things.  It's tough with two little kids in the house, but nice that you can ease off homeschool right now if need be.  It really is a great process to go through and makes a tremendous difference.  Ha - it's why I'm back again