Many people are switching to the Paleo diet and those who have made the switch are convinced that eating more like our ancestors (or even more like our grandparents) boosts energy, helps curb cravings and keeps your weight stable. A question that people keep asking, however, is whether it’s safe for kids or even babies?
Paleo diets generally avoid carbohydrates, sugar and processed food. Most people will agree that the majority of cereals (even if it’s whole wheat and has ‘added vitamins and nutrients’) belong in the candy aisles at Spar because they’re filled with sugar and have low nutritional value. But the concerns that pop up centre more around the topics of giving your child too much meat and not enough dairy.
The fact that processed carbs won’t necessarily make a kid fat, doesn’t make it healthy
Giving your child processed food might not have the same effect that it has on a grown adult (their metabolisms can often just absorb all the extra starch and sugar, so the chances of them becoming obese isn’t the problem). Healthy diets of vegetables, meat like fish, chicken or steak and lentils will, however, even out spikes in energy and give them the right nutrition to be fully active, focused beings.
Kids need carbs, but healthy carbs will do the trick
With regards to babies – few moms would be comfortable feeding a five-month-old raw almonds and carrot sticks. There are tons of other foods, which aren’t white starch that has been infused with fake vitamins, that babies will love, such as sweet potato, squash, eggs and fruit. Coincidentally, many vegetables are great carbohydrate sources, so while you might be avoiding high-carbohydrate vegetables in order to lose weight, focus on giving your kids a good source of carbohydrate, namely from fresh vegetables.
Switching to a paleo diet often means putting up with a few tough days or weeks of cravings, digestive issues or other flare-ups. Raising a child on a paleo diet is often to their own benefit, because kids don’t crave foods they’re not addicted to (like wheat, sugars and seed oils), which means you’re helping them avoid years of frustration.
