Not really -- it's none of my business what other people eat, or how they feed their children. I'm sure other people get upset looking at my basket full of red meat, grassy butter, eggs, 100% baking chocolate and leg of lamb and are sure I'm going to keel over and die any minute now. It's frankly a waste of my time and energy getting het up about what other people eat or think about what I eat.

I'm still of the opinion that no one diet is optimal for everyone anyway, Paleo is just what happens to work for me.

I don't care about what anyone else eats. I only get upset when people seem to care too much about what I eat.

No, because when the Zombie Apocalypse is caused by wheat, and The Happening is happening, we will survive; those folks won't. LOL

What boggles my mind are the parents who have kids with behavioral issues and the fact that they haven't connected the dietary dots.

I tend to believe that everyone is allowed to raise their children as they see fit, and for me to say otherwise because I found something that worked for me is zealotry.

So no, it doesn't bother me at all. It's sad, but the best you can do is be healthy and fit and work to change common wisdom... because no one has the right to tell you what you can feed your family.

I respect the rights of others to eat whatever they want. Not everyone wants to eat a paleo diet and that's okay with me. I can't be responsible for what other people eat.

I'm sure many of us have eaten our fair share of candy, soda, and breakfast cereal before going paleo, so I can't fault others for what they eat.

I'm only upset by what my ex feeds MY kids.

I stuff them with as many nutrient-dense foods as I can when they are at my house, though. I must say they have adjusted better than I initially thought they would to my new "food rules" (dad ain't buying bread, pizza, soda, candy, etc. anymore, so don't ask!), and it has been fun for me watching them discover real food.

I was one of those parents. I'm not upset so much. Every time I see others feeding their kids that way I get upset at myself at how long it took me to see the error of my way. I'm content living the example right now, maybe someone will ask me about why and I can tell them then.

What makes me sadder is that I was one of those kids eating that junk and that's probably partly to blame for my current health issues. I can't do much with my daughter either because my wife isn't on board and my daughter is exposed to too much junk food elsewhere (daycare, playdates, etc). I just try to minimize the damage, by buying low sugar rice based cereals and providing copious quantities of fruits so she's less tempted to eat the cereal grains. Not much we can do about dairy since my wife stopped breastfeeding at 1 and she still needs the nutrients.

I sometimes feel saddened that parents might not have the right information in hand and so with the right (or wrong) set of genetic preconditions they could be making very bad decisions (without ever knowing that) for their kids. It's hard for me personally though to try to impose my beliefs on other parents since after all we're all just a part of a grand experiment that has not yet come to any definite conclusion.

I know my own parents loved me deeply. They also thought a bowel of cereal with bananas and a glass of orange juice was the perfect breakfast. Or a whole wheat English muffin, a bagel with strawberry jam, a bowel of fruit ... that's a healthy breakfast right? </sarcasm> Of course the things my parents fed me hurt my health tremendously. But of course my parents loved me so much and only did what they knew best to do. I have to remember my own parents love and their mistakes when I see other parents acting similarly.

To avoid getting upset with other parents I also remind myself that I can't really say with utmost certainty that the variables in my diet that I suspect improved my health in recent years are really the cause of the improvements I experienced. My strongest conjecture today (based on a few external data points and my experience) is that I have suffered from a "carbohydrate intolerance" throughout my life (since after following a diet that mostly excluded CHO I became much to my surprise asymptomatic of several serious health conditions), but that is after all just a conjecture; there are so many confounders in any such (N=1) experiment: D3? Gluten exclusion? B Vitamins? DHA? ...

I think it is appropriate though to just share with other parents (through social media posts or when asked in person) the types of food I eat, the types of food I prepare for my family, and why I personally believe my family's chosen way of eating affects our health in very positive ways. It's then up to them to decide if they think that's right for their family or not. Some might take a near nihilist approach towards their kids' nutrition and think drinking 2-3 orange sodas a day etc is just fine ... I think we know the likely end to that story and it is rather tragic ... but in many mays to me less tragic than not respecting another family's autonomy.

It makes me sad as well, and I'm one of the parents doing it, I had no idea how crap "healthy snacks" were, especially cereals, yuck. It's hard to find a balance though as they are kids and I don't want to become too heavy on the diet front or make a big deal about it, or make them left out not being "allowed" loads of stuff. I do wish it was more common knowledge how much rubbish is in supposedly healthy food and drinks.

Completely agree, I find it really upsetting - especially as there is nothing you can do! If you tried to educate the parent, well, it's just not worth it. It's most heartbreaking when they actually think the whole-grain, vitamin enriched, equivilent of 2-servings of fruit junk they're feeding their child is actually healthy!

I've seen so many cancer charities selling junk food (lots of it aimed at children) recently and it couldn't make me more annoyed! How can people not realise this is not a good thing?!

Nope. Other people make all kinds of decisions about their kids that are different from the decisions I make about my kid. Ain't no skin off my back what they do, as long as they're not running around getting all upset about what I do.

what upsets me is that a mcdonald's hamburger is less expensive than an apple in many places because our governments subsidize crops that make this possible. unless you called your local representative and said that you do not support soy/wheat subsidies, you are putting junk food in these shopping carts; be upset with yourself. the problem will not change until we all stand up to stop it.

I've just glanced through this thread, and it seems kind of weird that no one has said: FEEDING KIDS IS FREAKIN' HARD!! And no, I don't mean pickiness. They are pretty adaptable. I mean it is exhausting and time consuming. I have 4 kids. We all eat paleo (me-100%, kids-about 80%), so that means I am cooking meals for 6 people, from scratch, 3 meals a day. Plus snacks. There are weeks that I do nothing but plan food, buy food, prep food, cook food, clean up food, sweep floors, and wash dishes. It can be mind-numbing. I couldn't do it if I didn't absolutely believe it was the best choice for my family.

Even with their nutrient dense foods, my kids are still hungry ALL THE TIME! They are kids. They move and play nonstop. Do I cave occasionally and let them eat junk? Absolutely. I do have to maintain my sanity. We have pizza on Friday nights. We get milkshakes sometimes. They love peanut butter on saltines for a snack. They get to eat Halloween candy. And I am pretty hard core on the nutrition - these are occasional splurges. But some days it is SO HARD to not just throw a box of cheezits at them so they will eat and be quiet! lol

And then there's the cost. I can drive through Wendy's after 4 pm and get 4 kids meals for $1.99 each. Less than $10. Or I can buy a pack of chicken breasts and some fresh vegetables (none of it even grassfed or organic) and spend at least $10, probably more. And then have to cook it. And that's a cheap meal. A grassfed roast is usually $20+, and feeds my family for 1 dinner, plus maybe a little leftover for a few people at lunch. Rice and beans would be a LOT cheaper.... Breakfast: $5 for a half dozen pastured eggs (one meal) or $2 for a box of poptarts that lasts several days?

So all that to say, I can totally understand why a parent who works long hours, isn't educated about nutrition, struggles financially, isn't a very good cook, etc, just does what's easy. Sometimes you are just trying to get through the day. The real question should be, HOW can we make HEALTHY easier? Cheaper? (I don't mean "cheap" - you pay for quality - just not the drastic difference). HOW can we make it more convenient?

Rant over. :)

I just went through this with my sister and her son... he's getting in trouble every day at school and she'd rather let them medicate him and spank him with a belt daily than change his diet. Bottom line is I had to let go because it's her kid not mine. So it's none of my business what other people do and I don't offer advice unless I'm asked for it. I can only control myself!

I think it's more the brainwashing that gets me. The colorful wonderbread truck, iron kids bread, Ronald McDonald, Trix are for kids, etc. Despite what healthy choices parents are willing to suggest or provide for their kids, the campaigns of fun & tasty pervade these kids minds on a daily basis. -Billy

On the one hand, people have the right to do whatever they want and eat whatever diet they think is appropriate. As much as I would like to rule the world they are allowed to feed that diet to their kids.

On the other hand, you can't say that what they feed themselves and their kids has no effect on other people. Through the health insurance market I wind up subsidizing the health issues caused by the SAD. Unfortunately, my rising premiums are directly correlated with SAD issues such as Type 2 diabetes. It's sad that more and more children are diabetic as a result of foods their parents give them. It's wrong to allow your kids to get so sick, and I don't like subsidizing your kids' extra visits to the doctor. For that reason, while everyone is entitled to feed their kids the diet of their choice, if a friend or acquaintance has an obese or diabetic 8-year old I reserve the right to butt in where I am not welcome and offer unsolicited dietary advice.

On a cautionary note, it is certainly possible that a big study could come out tomorrow proving that a paleolithic diet is extremely unhealthy. It's unlikely, but dietary science seems rather fluid and every day new benefits and drawbacks of a particular nutrient are discovered. We should be careful in assuming we have a monopoly on dietary wisdom.

On one level it doesn't bother me b/c who am I to say how someone should raise their kids. But on another level it does get to me where I just wanna be like, c'mon really? A shopping cart of soda and ice cream and chips but no water, fruit or vegetables? Idk. The only time it really got to me was when I was a waiter at a local diner. This was waaaaaaay before I had any clue what Paleo was, but these 2 giants came in with their maybe 6 year old son and the kid was huge too. They had pancakes with ice cream, the father also had this huge pasta meal...also as much coke as humanly possible, then at the end the father orders a round of ice cream sundaes with the works for every one. The kid told his dad he wasn't hungry and the father lashed out at him and told him to shut up, he puts the food on the table and that his son would have to eat all teh food that gets put on there. It was the one time I just wanted to be like, you're fucking crazy. Never ever forgot that.

I used to work at a daycare (3-4 year olds) and I would be horrified by what some of the parents sent their kids in with. It made me feel bad to even serve it to the kids, but I didn't have a choice. It broke my heart to have to give a child a donut and a slushee at 8am, or feed a baby McDonald's, but they weren't my kids and I had to feed them what their parents packed.

The best I could do was model healthy habits for the kids and encourage them to make good choices, like eating their fruits and veggies. I would always pack healthy, paleo lunches for myself to at least set a good example. One little girl in particular starting asking her mom to pack her eggs because they had protein :)

Yes, it bothers me. I don't care one single bit what other adults eat or drink or smoke or inject, but I can get furious about what they feed their offspring. I grew up at a time and in a place where children were still considered property of their parents and there was no such thing as child abuse, except if you killed them. That has fortunately changed. But children depend on their parents for food and shelter. I know that most parents do their best and are mislead by big food and pharma, for themselves and their children. But I also think that any adult human being should have enough brain cells to at least for a split second think outside the box and follow instincts and decide that coke and fruit loops are as appropriate for children as vodka and cigarettes. I am also one who approves of government measures like in France to remove children from their homes if fed a vegan diet just like as if they were otherwise abused. I don't expect everyone to feed their children the absolute paleo approved super diet, there is a wide range, but many things that are given to kids nowadays as "food" remind me of decades ago when Nestle sent tons of baby formula to African mothers in a campaign that it was better and more nutritious than their breast milk, don't remember all the details but I do remember that Nestle was boycotted for years in Europe (where I lived). I should add that I don't have any children or grandchildren so it's easy for me to say, but I was a child once depending on my caregivers and remember it well.

I should also add that when I was growing up breakfast cereal was a bowl of organic oatmeal, meat was free range, eggs were as well and fresh daily, artificial ingredients were unheard of, fruit was local and eaten when in season, food in general was little processed and packaged, dairy was a big thing there and then, but raw and fresh daily picked up at the farm, and yogurt was home-made. That changed radically only a few years later but the cereal aisles in American grocery stores to this day seem very alien to me. And how someone can consider that food and not a drug. When I went paleo I only found back to my roots but without the oatmeal.

Yes, it's sad and upsetting. Children are mistreated all over the world: bombed, starved, abused and in the western world - overfed junk food. I feel for them all, but I just don't have the emotional energy to get incredibly upset about it. Do that and you will wear yourself out.

Not really. I was taught from an early age to make my own, for better or worse, and usually worse. That's what kids miss out on most when they're given ready-to-eat stuff.

What bothers me is lack of sense in how much to eat. I don't think that certain foods turn us into zombie gluttons. We just don't have any sense about how to deal with superabundance.

It makes me sad, but it is their choice as parents. What annoys me is when the parents who feed their kids food I deam to be crap are assigned snack day at school. Yesterday it was oreos for preschoolers at 10am. That is what kills me. My daughter, who is generally pretty smart about food, is fed oreos at 10am at SCHOOL. Can you say sugar crash in the afternoon, when she's at home with me? That is what gets me going. When those people make bad choices that affect me and my family. We have snack day on Monday. My daughter wants to bring apples and nut butter and white milk. I will gladly spend the (probably) $20 on a good snack, 1/2 the kids will throw it away, and the next parent will shell out a $5 bill and bring Chips Ahoy. It drives me crazy...

My downstairs neighbor just had her 3rd baby. She smoked during the pregnancy and in the infants face soon after birth (stroller at store). I am sorry but I find it hard to just "mind my own business" or "not tell people how to raise their kids" etc. I smoked for 7 years... I know a thing or two about how nasty it is. Was the child harmed by one puff of smoke in the face ??? probably not. Was the child harmed by one mcdonalds cheeseburger probably not... But still I have much in difficulty when it comes to "look the other way" to harmful behavior like that.

Paleo/Primal is a way of life, but it's not a religion. There aren't any "Paleo Sins" that need atonement, for you or for others. The only thing you can really do is live by example and hope others will follow... kinda like religion.

Am I upset? yes.

Is it my business to bother the parents or try to "convert" them? No. Everyone's diet is influenced by many factors (religion, allergies/intolerances, what they like and dislike the taste of, cultural trends, emotions, socioeconomic status, etc.) I've found a diet that works best FOR ME. It's presumptuous and rude to assume that a random stranger will thrive equally well on the exact same diet, and it's completely out of line to accost people in the grocery store to proselytize at them about their diet. I wouldn't want them doing it to me, either.

I take my sisters kids to maccas quite regularly. Their diet sucks anyway and they think its Christmas! (That's advertising for you). I'm not a food fascist but they cannot have coke with me, and only one additive freeish sugar drink. They have to learn to make better choices while eating standard Aussie fare. I'm currently encouraging the boy to eat bacon. "my dad knows fats bad because he's a personal trainer." Can't argue with that! :) The girls already will eat anything. I hope BIL will discover paleo soon.