I'm 17. I've been Paleo since I turned 16. I've identified myself as 17 when I've asked questions and I have researched the Paleo lifestyle. I found Paleo Hacks through my father who turned me onto Paleo. My whole family is Paleo including my 2 year old brother who has been Paleo his whole life.

Although I am far from being a teenager - my son has been paleo for over 3 years (he is now 15). He is doing great health wise and is on the honor role every year at school now. Of course I have guided him along.

I'm about to be 16. I'm paleo. I came across the paleo/primal world from MDA. It kinda turned me onto the whole paleo-sphere. I also learned much from Kent Rieske's site. I've done tons of reading. Gary Taubes, Mark Sisson, Kent Rieske.

I very much agree. While I applaud the teens for doing research and making health decisions, I do feel it is not very ethical for me to advise them regarding weightloss.

There is so much body and brain development going on for teens. It's a very crucial time. My daughter is 13, and I don't want her getting nutritional advice from strangers on the internet. No matter how nice they might be.

I'm 16, got the whole family on board too. I think you have to follow the path that works for you. Paleo saved me from being an anxious, raw vegan with absolutely no life.

I'm 21, so there is no "teen" in my age, but I began eating Paleo around 19. I found out about Paleo through fellow CrossFitters and turned to Paleo Hacks for answers because the rest of my family does not keep Paleo. When I cook for them they do, but since I'm at college, they pretty much eat a SAD lifestyle.

As a young adult, I continue to look for answers to my many questions and constantly feel that I have much more to learn and modify in my life.

However, I will say this- there are definitely times when I look on this site and have similar questions, but the answers don't necessarily apply to me due to the fact that I don't have as much damage to repair (I say this in the nicest way possible, but my weight and intestinal health was relatively healthy when I found Paleo seeing as how I'm gluten intolerant already.)

I also turn to this site for support and to remind myself that there are many other Paleo eaters out there, which can be difficult when you're in college and a diet staple of my friends is beer. I do wish there were more college aged paleo kids out there!

I am 19, has been paleo since 18. If you consider our age, consider that most of us can't afford too much grass fed meat either. Thanks

I'm 18 and have been not-so-dedicated to paleo for about a year. I always take a person's age into consideration when reading any advice on dietary health online, since I obsessively read every question on PaleoHacks. Adjusting to a paleo lifestyle has been anything but easy, but I never give up. Changing my diet made my last year of high school fantastic and I wish other teenagers would give Paleo a shot.

Edit: My mom actually got me involved in this diet. She studied Nutrition and Fitness in college and never understood why all of the nutritionists were either severely underweight or morbidly overweight. My only wish is that I would have become aware of this sooner! I think this diet would be beneficial for a person of any age.

I think it is great that teenagers are on here and they should be helped out and supported as much as possible! It is so great that younger people are getting interested in Paleo, this only means great things for advancing the health benefits of this type of diet :) I do agree however that it would be best of parents are at least aware and involved with any non-professional health advice their kids might be receiving on the internet, but what of those kids who found out about paleo but their parents aren't buying it yet? That's a tough matter in a way.

I turned 17 yesterday. I have been aware of Paleo since mid-2010, but fully committed to it earlier this year. I discovered it when I was deeply anorexic and read up on everything to do with diet and weight loss. We were sitting at the dinner table once when my dad and stepmum started discussing Atkins and how much weight someone they knew lost because of it. I compulsively looked up everything to do with it and eventually stumbled upon Mark's Daily Apple.

I'm still recovering. Paleo has helped me infinitely. I don't meticulously count calories any more. I'm more focused on what my body can do than what it looks like. I've always been curious as to how Paleo impacts development, particularly recommendations regarding intermittent fasting and whether teenagers may require more safe starches or the like. Additionally, weight training.

I think the hardest aspect of being Paleo as a teenager is not being taken very seriously by your elders. I realise that I'm not exactly seen as trustworthy because of my disordered eating past, but it's still frustrating when my parents view my eating choices with an indulgent smile. All I can say is, that I've gone from an extremely unhealthy 47 kilograms to 62 at 172 centimetres and I feel completely comfortable in my skin now. I find it really difficult to discuss Paleo with my family and friends for fear of being laughed at, especially because I feel like I don't know the science enough off the cuff to really justify myself to them.

Thank you for this thread, it's really interesting to be able to hear different perspectives. Have other teenagers talked to their family and friends about Paleo? Has anyone had issues with organising meals, because we tend to live with our parents and don't pay for our own food yet?

I'm a 17 year old girl. I've been not-strict-paleo for about a year. As with most teens I started out looking for a weight loss solution, but I find paleo has really made me feel much more secure and feel fantastic in general. I echo Paleomofo on not being able to afford grassfed meat, and Fern on parents not taking my eating choices seriously. As for concern about teens being impressionable, I actually think most of us are discerning enough to evaluate information sources and make our own judgements!

I'm 19 and have been paleo for about a year and a half. I came here through MDA. I've had my share of issues, mostly from being too strict with myself about intermittent fasting (which I shouldn't have been doing anyway), cutting carbs, and exercising. However, I do feel that through this website and others I've learned a lot more about health and nutrition than most of my peers know. I suppose the best advice for teenagers coming here is to read about what other people have tried, but to put your own health and well-being first, before ANY ideology on this site.

I'm not sure I understand the question. Are you implying that promoting a nutrient dense diet that promotes gut health and has positive effects on hormone regulation is a bad thing to recommend to a teenager? I'll give the same answer when people question me raising my infant on a paleo-only diet: kids are just little people (yeah, I stole that from Robb Wolf, but he's right). Granted there are subtle differences, a baby needs more fat, a teenage boy probably needs lots more protein. But in general, there is nothing in the paleo approach that is more dangerous or less nutritious than would be recommended by the USDA, ADA, AHA, etc.

I am 18 and have been paleo for almost a year. Upon discovering this lifestyle I read "The Paleo Solution", "Why We Get Fat", and also "Wheat Belly", plus countless things on this site and others. I even did a presentation for school on the diet! The biochemistry behind everything has actually become a great interest of mine, and I want to pursue a career based on that interest.

I found this website when it would pop up with nearly any paleo question I would type into google, so I figured if I went directly to the source, you guys would help me out!

I love having this resource and knowledge base. Especially when I lived at home with a non-paleo family, it was a real challenge, and I know that a lot of teens agree, so I like that the people on here are willing to help us out!

I think it is utterly awesome that at least some teenagers are taking their health seriously; I wish I did when I was a teenager. All we hear about in the media is obesity, junk food, etc, etc ... which makes me afraid that today's youth will turn out to be obese diabetics in thirty years. Yet if youngsters today can get on the Paleo bandwagon and get their peers to join them ... this would be fantastic. Thanks to everyone on this forum who help advise these young folks.

_Lazza

I do hope we're seeing the future of a trend of living healthier lives.

For the near-term, I also worry that there is more than just the motives of early adopters among some of the teens, though. I get the feeling sometimes we're dealing with the kids who would have turned to something like anorexia or compulsive exercise otherwise. Those things are possible to practice within the context of paleo.

I'm sure I'm not the only one who has noticed the extremely precise food logs and tendency to not consume enough calories.

Even if paleo leads them to practice a healthy version of the proving control or their own bodies aspect of eating disorders, I do wonder if there's something we need to know about such issues that should color our advice.

I do prefer that they seek advice any way they can if the alternative is to approach paleo as lurkers. They need to forge their own paths. I would prefer to know they had great, advice-seeking relationships with their parents, but I also know sometimes parents are the source of their need to reclaim some control of their own lives and there's nothing we can do about that.

And probably most of us have a touch of obsessive nature anyway. We're actually in a decent position to advise because we're in no position to shame anyone else because of that.

I'm 18 and I've been paleo for about six months. It's really difficult with my family, who thinks I'm crazy and either all act very concerned for me or taunt me mercilessly. It's a weird set of opposites but I guess my family is adapting. That's really my biggest struggle with paleo - the weight is all on me, but when I'm dependent on my family for food until I leave for college, it can sometimes be tough.

Im interested in how the youngsters like me define paleo?

I have yet to eat grass fed beef. I just started my first bar of Kerrygold yesterday.

I made my first batch of bone broth and it turned out great.

To me, eating paleo is about eating veggies and meat. If the chicken has rib meat or the turkey is butterball... Or if I have to microwave my bone broth on a hectic morning before class... Im still paleo.

If I go out with the fraternity brothers and over-do it on the beer, Im still paleo on monday.

As long as IM eating salads made of spinach and kale and not iceberg lettuce and its topped with chicken tuna or turkey and EVOO.

So what do the other youngsters consider paleo? Im especially interested in the responses from those of you still in high school. How do you deal with peer when you bring lunch? What do you bring for lunch? etc.

I' m 32 years old but I feel like a teenager, maybe because I ate one yesterday.