Saving my children from themselves

Last week my son caught a flight to Melbourne. He was down the back of the bus, which to my mind is where all 12-year-old boys belong.  He happened to sit next to a beefy, health-mad bloke who spent the entire hour extolling the virtues of raw almonds, including how they ‘give you muscles’.  We’ve now HAD to buy a 1kg bag of nuts and my son is steadily munching through them in the hope of attaining Popeye arms before school returns next week.

I tell you this only because it collectively set us thinking about our diet and any changes we could make as a family to kick-start a healthier year for us all.  We agreed that the four of us had to have total buy-in to any changes.  We talked about giving up meat, dairy, gluten, anything processed or eggs*.  However, we all felt that not only would this bore us rigid but it would also mean that I was more than likely to resign from the kitchen in protest.  This would have the flow-on effect of the instant imposition of a torturous version of the Paleo diet on my family.  They really would have to go hunting and gathering and may well end up the way of the dinosaurs.

None of this for a while.

So after much discussion, we settled on excluding sugar from our diet for the month of February to coincide with a great initiative called FebFast.  Personally I’m delighted as I’ve long believed that sugar is the true evil in modern day diets.  On the other hand, the thought of no wine for a month has me in a state of quiet, terrified panic.  I’m also not sure my children quite realise that this means no Nutella or soft drink for a month.

Lots of this…

And lots of this…

So watch this space.  We’ve all taken a “before” photo of ourselves. If everything goes according to plan (and I’ve not been hospitalised for failing to survive “witching hour” during the month), we will share it along with an “after” photo on March 1.

Why not consider joining us or choosing a similar challenge for your own family?  My son did try and get chores and teeth cleaning off the forbidden list, cheeky bugger.  You can find details on the FebFast initiative here, including details on restaurants participating in the challenge, who’ll offer up sugar free alternatives for the month of February. You can also set up a team and fundraise for those suffering serious alcohol and drug issues.

Until next time….

*We are blessed not to have any allergies and I fully commiserate with those that do. There are many people out there who inspire me daily with their ability to devise scrumptious recipes, living with allergy. I tip my hat to each and everyone of them.

Thanks go to FebFast for sponsoring this post.