<p>Been reading with great interest the vegetarian thread on how to cover the needs of a child who wishes to eat a different diet than the rest of the family. My DS recently started the Paleo Diet which consists of lean protein (meat, fish, poultry, eggs), veggies, fruits, nuts and healthy oils like olive oil or avocado. No sugar or wheat. So like the parent in the other thread, I am trying to make food he will eat and also cook for rest of the family as well.</p>
<p>In the spirit of separate but equal, does anyone else have experience in feeding a kid who eats this type of food regimen? And at the same time, keeping everyone else happy? </p>
<p>That sounds like an ideal diet, but are they averse to things with long cooking times like soups and stews? (One of my kids had a friend who went through a “raw foods” phase… I couldn’t convince her that fire increased human survival by making nutrients easier to absorb…)
We had this the other day…really yummy. We aren’t vegetarians (since my kitchen is going to smell like pot roast for days…) but it was filling and satisfied everyone.
[North</a> African Vegetable and Bean Stew - Cook’s Illustrated](<a href=“Recipes Featured on TV | America's Test Kitchen”>Recipes Featured on TV | America's Test Kitchen)
You could substitute hominy for the pasta.</p>
<p>And then what happens when your other kid decides to be a raw food vegan and the third decides gluten free would be fun to try? When my S decided to be vegetarian in high school, I explained that I didn’t run a restaurant and that to the extent he didn’t want to eat the meals I prepared, he’d have to supplement via his own efforts. He tried nuking veggie burgers for a few nights, then gave up the vegetarian thing. Problem solved. I can’t see catering to a kid’s experimentation with the latest fad. When they run their own households they can eat how they like; at mom and dad’s home, the the majority rules the dinner table.</p>
<p>I’ve just started eating paleo and I found a lot of good resources through Mark Sisson’s book, The Primal Blueprint. I also found another book, *Practical Paleo<a href=“Diane%20Sanfilippo”>/I</a> to be quite helpful. There are lots of meal plans and recipes in her book. Sisson has a blog that’s got a great deal of information too. </p>
<p>You can spend lots and lots of time on these recipes and lots of money buying the ingredients. For me, I find that I do better sticking to simple meals like fish and veggies or meat and veggies. The main meal recipes in Sanfilippo’s book are recipes that everyone in the family would enjoy. It’s easy to add carbs (rice/pasta/etc) for the rest of the family. You only need to make one meal that way. If you do something like serve pasta as your main course that means your son will need something else and you may end up cooking two meals. </p>
<p>Biggest challenge for me was breakfast, because I’d grab a bagel and run. I found that I can microwave a half of a sweet potato and I’m satisfied (sweet potatoes are allowed).
Good luck.</p>
<p>One of my friends roasts an assortment of unsalted nuts and eats that with milk for breakfast, sometimes with a bit of fruit (she makes a big batch of it & then uses it much like a cold cereal–sometimes when I’m visiting with her, I’ll eat that for breakfast as well or mix it with some cold cereal). I guess she’s on a similar diet and eats very few carbs. It has worked quite well for her so far and lowered her cholesterol without the need for medication. She makes food for everyone in the house, as well as herself. She just eats far fewer carbs than everyone else and is pretty happy with how it’s been going for the 1.5 years she’s been doing it.</p>
<p>I’m with MommaJ. I am not a short-order cook. I make one dinner per night. If a family member doesn’t want to eat it for whatever reason, they are free to fix themselves something they like. </p>
<p>My D doesn’t eat red meat, so she doesn’t eat the Christmas ham we’ve always had. In the past, she’s tried tofurkey (yuk), and eating sides only. This year, we came up with a winner, a deconstructed vegetarian shepherd’s pie for her. She microwaved some corn, and fried up some veggie fake hamburger, and piled them on top of the mashed potatoes that I made for everyone. She said it was really good, and she did all the extra cooking.</p>
<p>Actual paleolithic humans did spend a lot of time and effort hunting and gathering* the ingredients, and perhaps a considerable amount of effort to start the fire to do the cooking (plus, they had to improvise meals based on what they managed to hunt and gather that day). Obviously, they got their exercise in the process of hunting and gathering*.</p>
<p>*Gathering meant going on treks to several places to find all of the desired food, as opposed to gathering everything one needs from the grocery store.</p>
<p>No, no he believes in cooking - not raw, thank goodness! We had a beef and vegetable stew yesterday for New Years. He loved it but avoided the crusty bread I served with it. Bromfield, thank you for the book suggestions. I am headed to Barnes and Noble to check them out. And HImom the idea of nuts with milk for breakfast is interesting - quick and easy. I’m been making omelets but sometimes there isn’t enough time to do that if we are running late. I actually think could do Paleo because I love all the foods in the diet. No bread would be the hardest for me, I can live without pasta and potatoes. Oh, and chocolate. Is chocolate Paleo?</p>
<p>I’m with LasMa and MommaJ. “I am not a short-order cook. I make one dinner per night. If a family member doesn’t want to eat it for whatever reason, they are free to fix themselves something they like.”</p>
<p>This is why the good Lord made peanut butter. :)</p>
<p>Crossfit, the new workout cult of-sorts, endorses the paleo diet. D2 did it for 30 days very strictly, and now sticks to it when she can (hard to do when traveling).</p>
<p>My bet is that there’s a lot of information about paleo diets on their website. I know she had a book about it that came recommended from Crossfit.</p>
<p>I have mixed views–I don’t think that each family member needs his/her own special dinner, but if it’s easy to accommodate one family member’s preferences then why not? Incorporating pale isn’t that hard. It’s basically lean protein and vegetables, which can be the basis of most all-family meals. I’ve got a vegetarian daughter (she does eat fish and eggs). We eat lots of fish anyway, so I don’t have to do much to accommodate her. Also, I don’t think it’s too difficult for older kids to start learning to cook for themselves, but it seems to me that if a kid is trying out a new way of eating, there’s usually a good reason and I would try to encourage that and help him/her. I guess I’m in a minority but simply saying “I’m not a short-order cook, if you want something else, do it yourself” isn’t particularly encouraging. Now–since my kids are all out of the house, it’s probably easy for me to say this cause I just make dinner for two people most nights and my H will eat almost anything I cook.</p>
<p>The only substantive difference is that paleo dieters tend to stay away from dairy products. A minor difference is that the paleo diet might include some sweet potatoes, where those would be frowned upon in a strict low-carb diet.</p>
<p>As a practical matter, paleo is a low carb diet. Both end up being heavily meat and veggie oriented diets, low in sugar, low in grains (bread, pasta, etc.), low in processed foods.</p>
<p>Also Paleo does not promote processed meats like salami, pepperoni, hotdogs, etc. The preference is for lean protein like grilled chicken, flank steak, etc. DS will do a little dairy like mozzarella cheese sprinkled on his eggs. He feels great without the wheat and sugar.</p>
<p>Since S2 went meatless, the whole family has reduced meat consumption. We eat a lot more fish and seafood, and lots of vegetarian dishes based on legumes and lentils. I think this is good for all of us. When we do have meat, I make sure that there is an alternative for S2. This can be as easy as heating up frozen fish fillets. It’s not a problem for me to have meatless alternatives available because I cook a lot, regularly making large batches of things like minestrone, bean enchiladas, chana dal, and freezing some.</p>
<p>I have reduced my carb intake, and I eat much less bread than I used to. I think that we’d all be a lot better off eating much less wheat. I’ve found some wheat-free substitutions that I’ve incorporated into my standard recipes (I now make wheat-free oatmeal pancakes, replacing the flour with a combination of almond meal, ground flaxseeds, and buckwheat flour, and they are delicious. I’ve found brown rice tortillas at Trader Joe’s and I now use them in the black bean enchilada recipe that I make regularly, and no one has notices. I also usually use Trader Joe’s brown rice spaghetti and other pasta, and no one complains.)</p>
<p>I have not eaten meat or poultry for many years, but I never ask for special meals. I can almost always “make” myself a meal out of whatever is being served. Salad, veggies, etc. I do eat fish, so that makes it easier. Usually, if my husband is making the rest of the family steak, he will just throw a piece of fish on the grill for me. It’s not like you have to cook completely separate meals, and so many people no longer eat the old meat/potatoes diet there are lots of options anywhere you go. The paleo sounds great to me, but I like carbs too much!</p>
<p>Those paleolithic humans who consumed large quantities of vegetables and some fruits would likely be eating more carbohydrate than a typical “low carb” dieter would.</p>
<p>Great ideas, but here is the challenge: Paleo means no rice, no potatoes, no beans, no pasta, not even whole wheat. All carbs are from plant based sources = only fruits and vegetables. It is tricky to plan around.</p>
<p>From what I can tell, almost nobody does an ultra low carb ketogenic diet. Even Atkins only offers a diet that extreme as an “induction” phase for a couple of weeks and only then as an option. A more typical “low carb” diet is somewhere around 100 net grams of carbs a day. That level of carb consumption accomodates virtually unlimited veggies and some fresh fruit. Believe me, it’s shocking how much salad and green veggies I eat and stay around that 100 gram level.</p>
<p>The “no veggies” is a bit of a popular straw man characterization of “low carb” dieting. It’s hard to rack up big carb numbers once you take sugar and grains out of the equation.</p>
<p>ClassOf2015, I use your same peanut butter statement often! Tonight we’re almost out of dog food, so the dog had a peanut butter sandwich. He never complains :-).</p>