What a crazy few weeks we have had!
Jack and I both came down with Covid, and are starting to feel so much better. Neither of the kids got it from us, so I am very thankful about that.
So anyway, Eli (our oldest son who is 9), has always been a plain carb eater, loves sugar and has always been a very picky eater. And I don’t normally share much at all about our children, but I thought this was worth the share and to discuss my personal experiences with this. His food has always been a bit difficult. Over the last little bit, he has been watching Jack and I eating Keto, and he decided that he wanted to try eating low carb. It is not something that I embarked on lightly, and I continue to think about this all the time. See, Eli is very black and white, and once he sets his mind to something he is very determined. But he is still very little, and I really did not want him to get into the diet mentality. So, we had many discussions with him about healthy eating and also not fearing carbs. The last thing that we wanted was for him to be scared of eating particular foods. Again, let me just say this is what we had discussed as a family and each family is uniquely different, for example, he does not need to eat keto for medical reasons.
We went about discussing the need to increase the variety of foods he was eating, as if he didn’t try and accept new foods, eating low carb for him would be pretty tough. The one meal of the day that we found the most difficult was food at school. But we found some great options for him to have at lunch time like schnitzels, sausages and meatballs. He hates cheese, so this has certainly been a challenge. In fact, last night I made some fat head dough chips and he innocently asked me “do they have cheese in it, Mum?” - so I replied back “no darling”. Needless to say, he took one bite and was not impressed!!
After a few days at school, his class did two different activities during the day that was using smarties and Oreo cookies. The students were free to enjoy these after the exercise. He was not impressed and let his teacher know about it!! But to his credit, he took a moment and said to his teacher, “I still want to do the activities, I just won’t eat them after we are finished”. His friends were very happy to get his share of smarties and Oreos. His teacher has offered to keep some low carb snacks and treats in her drawer at school for when they do such activities and may need something to use. She even went as far to say that she would buy something from the supermarkets, I politely declined and said I have everything he needs.
He has also been struggling a bit with outbursts and being moody and grumpy for a little while. Even at 9 he is a little tween (wish us luck for when he is a teenager!!) But since going low carb, and completely reducing the sugar and lowering the carbs in his diet, his moods have improved so much and he seems to be able to move through emotions and feelings so much quicker than he used to. We had a meeting with his teacher recently, who had also commented that she had noticed a massive improvement in his attitude at school (she thought it was just a coincidence with the food, but I wasn’t going to correct her).
So, today, I am super proud of how far he has come. He had tried so many new foods and is no longer hungry!! And is able to work through making better choices in regards to his health and food.
But what I really need is any go-to recipes that you think I should make for him!!! Please help me as I want to keep him interested and change the food up so he doesn’t get sick of it 😊
Yvonne
xx