PaleoJay's Smoothie Cafe #102 Don't make your skinny kid a fat, unhappy, sick adult!

pjsc 102  Insulin resistance is worse than being fat

As a “Paleo Pastor” of sorts, I wind up in lots of conversations with people who don’t really have much exposure to, or often ANY exposure to the idea of ancestral diet and lifestyle.  Actually, it is amazing to me, and actually a bit disheartening, that still, with all the latest science staring us in the face, and virtually all of it supporting the validity of the paleo type of diet- most folks still have no idea what it’s all about.

Most folks believe if they are thin they are IN- just so long as they aren’t obese, they can eat anything they want.  Especially, I hear this from parents who do NOT want to get into it with their children, who in this day and age are so coddled in what they eat and what they do that their parents  gladly get them fast food for almost every meal just because that is what the kid wants.  And then, the excuse they give to me when I point out how horribly unhealthy this is, is that:

“My kid is not fat- HE/She can eat whatever they want, because they just burn it off!”

Actually, when person is a child, and still growing, proper Paleo nutrition in the form of nutrient dense foods, and avoidance high glycemic index types of insulin spikers like grains, sugars and processed foods is more important than any time in their lives.

In the first 20 years or so of life, you are setting the groundwork for your health for the rest of your life!  Not to mention building a healthy set of muscles, tendons, organs, ligaments and bones...and the BRAIN and the moods that go with it.

So, shortchange your “skinny” kid on real, God made foods and let them eat their fill of crap fast and processed foods just because it’s “easier”... well, you are starting your precious kids off with a substandard body, prone to injury and disease- taking away their bodies ability to be sensitive to insulin, and making them gradually more and more insulin resistant.

This last is something that, although it won’t be visible for some time, leads gradually and inevitably to the syndrome called diabesity.  Your kid won’t get fat overnight, but you are laying the groundwork by changing his or her interior body chemistry and gut biome- this can and will eventually make the young adult, at a later date, prone to diabetes, obesity, heart disease, and cancer... not to mention “minor” things like tooth decay and disease, osteoporosis, and even depression, anxiety, and other mental problems!

All of those modern conditions are caused, slowly and surely, by crap food, lack of proper activity (organized sports are not proper exercise for young people), and the many chemicals we expose our children to that also alter their gut microbes in disastrous ways.  Not only noxious cleaning chemicals we spray around our houses, but more particularly in the form of antibiotics- did you know that 4 out of 5 adults takes a course of antibiotics every year?  Children probably MORE than that- and if you eat CAFO meat, you are getting a hefty dose of antibiotics in that as well, since the bulk of antibiotics we produce each year is fed to these poor animals to keep them alive in filthy, confined conditions until they’re big enough, and marbled enough with fat from our feeding them grains, to slaughter.

Don’t get me wrong- antibiotics are great; they are kind of like surgery- on some rare occasions it might be necessary, but we should do everything in our power to avoid having to use such a heavy-handed intervention.

So, even if you do have a skinny kid- keep him that way! Feed him a good, paleo type of diet, train him to drink a Paleo smoothie each day, loaded with raw greens, kefir, coconut milk, and all the other healthy additions I recommend you include in your daily smoothie to make it the healthiest, most nutrient dense food/drink on the planet!  Go on hikes with your kids, start them off with some Perfectly Paleo exercise including calisthenics, stretching, rebounding or jumping rope, and running around barefoot in the yard or park.  Garden with them- let them get dirty and replenish their vital gut microbes.  Get them out in the sun for Vitamin D, and go “forest bathing” with them in nature.

And keep them sensitive to insulin for their lifetime by not “burning out” their little pancreas when they are young by feeding them fast food “insulin spike meals” and treats, and then doom them to a disease ridden, unhappy, fat adulthood!