Keto for Kids: Raising Healthy Kids in a Processed Food World

The childhood obesity crisis has reached unprecedented levels, with one in three teenagers now showing signs of pre-diabetes. As parents, this should sound every alarm bell we have. What's causing this epidemic? The answer is on our plates and in our pantries.

When we compared American children's diets to countries like Japan, we discovered a shocking contrast: 67% of American kids' food intake comes from ultra-processed products, compared to just 27% in Japan. No wonder childhood obesity rates have tripled since the 1970s. As parents who've made our own share of mealtime mistakes, we're passionate about helping families break free from the convenience food trap.

The solution starts with small, manageable changes. Begin by shopping without children to avoid marketing manipulation, then involve them in meal preparation at home. Kids as young as two can participate – toddlers can stir ingredients, preschoolers can wash produce, and school-age children can follow simple recipes. When children help create meals, they're far more likely to eat them, no matter how healthy. This approach transforms nutrition from a battleground into a bonding experience.

What's truly revolutionary is understanding how food affects not just your child's weight but their brain development, mood, and ability to focus. The brain actually runs more efficiently on ketones (from healthy fats) than on glucose from processed carbs. This explains why changing your child's diet can transform their behavior, focus, and emotional stability. Combined with increased physical activity (only 26% of American children meet minimum exercise requirements), these dietary changes can reshape your child's health trajectory.

Ready to start? Don't overwhelm yourself. Choose just one meal per week to transform, involve your children in the process, and celebrate small victories. Your family's health revolution begins with a single meal, prepared together with love and whole foods. What will you cook together this week?

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Lessons from the Keto-Verse.
Join Stephen and Graham as theyexplore the keto lifestyle with
tips, science and stories toboost your health.
This podcast isn't medicaladvice.
Consult your healthcare advisorfor any health-related issues.
Get ready to fuel your primalpower.

Graham (00:19):
Hi everyone, and welcome to another episode of Lessons
from the Keto-Verse, where wedive into the world of ketogenic
and carnivore lifestyles.
Today we are talking about animportant topic keto for kids,
or you could call it carnivorefor kids whatever you want to
call it, but the gist of it ishow do we help our younger

(00:40):
generations be as healthy asthey can when it comes to food,
and Stephen hello, and whatinspired us to pick this topic
for this week.

Stephen (00:49):
Yeah, I'm super excited about this topic this week,
graham, because you and I bothof our children were empty
nesters now, but we've had, youknow, our kids in our lives and
their respective activities andhaving to come home from work
you and I work together andhaving this very shallow window
of time to get food into thembefore their activities occurred

(01:10):
in a particular evening.
And what's really I'm quitepassionate about this is because
I know, as a single dad, that Ioften reverted to ultra
processed foods, which we'lltalk more about, and obviously
the consequences is that you andI both learn, because we, you
know, our kids are what we eat,not what they eat, Because when
we're first engaging them, we'resetting an example and it's a

(01:32):
really bad one where weprioritize the sport over the
quality of food that's goinginto our kids and well, and I
know we both have some stats andthings that we'll share with
everyone but yeah, that's whatinspired me, because if I could
go back and have a conversationwith my fatter, more unhealthy
self as a single dad, I wouldhave prioritized making sure
they were fed properly more sothan running them to two

(01:53):
activities each in a particularevening, thinking that that was
in their best interest andultimately, mine.
So yeah, that's my intro.
How about yourself, graham?
What inspired you about thistopic?

Graham (02:04):
So yeah, that's my intro .
How about yourself, graham?
What inspired you about thistopic?
Yeah, critically important,certainly, going through what I
went through as far as bloodwork, going the wrong way and
turning that around.
Very similar to you, I startedto look at my responsibility as
a parent as well and learningwhat good food and good
nutrition looks like, versusjust buying whatever has the

(02:25):
heart healthy symbol on it andjust thinking that I'm doing the
right thing, even if the rightthing was reading the
instructions for how long thatbox should be in the microwave.
And so one of the things thatyou and I had talked about in
this issue is near and dear toour hearts.
It's near and dear to a lot ofpeople's hearts, and the reason
for that is childhood obesityhas reached, in my opinion,

(02:48):
critical stages.
The numbers are staggering andI'll just quote a couple of
these.
So we pulled our informationfrom the CDC
stateofchildhoodobesityorg,which is a great site, to take a
look at the information andbreak it down by age group.
But here's a little bit of astat dump for the audience.

(03:08):
So in the United States and Ithink we can safely say that a
lot of Western countries areeither at this level in some
cases may have exceeded thislevel, but the information for
the US is very detailed.
So obesity now affects 40% ofadults is very detailed.
So obesity now affects 40% ofadults.

(03:29):
And we know with obesity comesfrom all sorts of issues.
You know, as people get older,type 2 diabetes is a great
example metabolic disease whichcauses all sorts of problems
cardiovascular and metabolicallyin adults.
But today, 20% of children so40% of adults are obese.
20% of children and adolescentsage 2 to 19 have those rates,

(03:55):
so 20% are obese, and thoserates have tripled since the
mid-1970s.
So a lot has happened since themid-1970s, that's 50 years ago,
when childhood obesity wasabout 5% in 1978, for example,
18.5% in 2016, over 20% in the2020s and breaking this down

(04:20):
even further.
And this is the concern,because I don't think this
problem is getting any better.
I think it's just going to getworse until there's some real
interventions in place, andthat's what we're trying to help
with.
Today, about 19.7% of kids age 2to 19, or almost 15 million
young people, live with obesity,which is a horrible way to

(04:43):
start out in life.
Let's break down the age groupsAges 2 to 5, 12.7% are
considered obese.
Ages 6 to 11,.
20.7% of children areconsidered obese and in the 12
to 19 age group, 22.2%, or morethan one in five, is considered

(05:08):
obese.
This should alarm every parent.
In the West you know any countrythat you live in the CDC just
released new data in the lastday or two it may have been
today that it was released Onein three teenagers now has
pre-diabetes, which means theirblood sugar level is to the
point where and Stephen, you'llhelp me with the numbers here,

(05:31):
but it's past 5.5, a1c, is thatcorrect?
5.7, thank you.
One in three teenagers is nowin the pre-diabetic stages,
which means if there's nointervention, those children one
in three are going to becomediabetics.
And that is, as you soeloquently put in the past,

(05:53):
stephen, your doctor sayingthere's two things that I
absolutely hate telling mypatients the first is you have
cancer, the second is you havediabetes, and so we're talking
about one in three children nowwho may hear those words early
on in their life.
And I think, stephen, you'veheard this and I've heard this
often when people ask us how doI get my kids excited and

(06:16):
educated about healthy eating?
How do I feed them better?
What does feeding them bettersound like?
I'm getting mixed messages fromall over the place.
My kids are getting mixedmessages.
When we walk down the cerealaisle, all of these colors are
shouting out at my kids to pickme, pick me.
And then the second questionaround parents is where am I

(06:39):
going to find the time to makesure that my kids eat healthy?
Stephen, you've had someexperience in your lifetime in
trying to move towards thathealthy eating in the family.
Maybe you can talk a little bitabout that.

Stephen (06:54):
Yeah for sure.
Thanks very much, graham.
So one of the key things thatyou said that I think is
important is kids are not asresilient to marketing as we are
, so there's a lot of impulse ofpurchases that happen to
address a kid, especially as youand I steer away from the
middle aisles in the grocerystore, like the bubonic plague

(07:15):
is present in every one of thoseaisles.
We don't typically go in thereunless we're trying to get to
the back, to where the dairy isor where the meat is.
So my first piece of advice andI can say this with in my
particular case whether you'remarried or you're a single
parent, you always have theoption of shopping when the kids
are not around.
So one of the things that Iwould argue is it's not in your
best interest, and ultimatelyyour kids, to take them shopping

(07:36):
.
I know a lot of us do itbecause you're like, hey, I got
to grab a few groceries, getthem home after I pick them up
at school, quickly go to thegrocery store.
Probably a big mistake, becausethe system is set up to put you
into a guilt and shame scenarioand end up grabbing food that
is highly processed.
I mean, the stats speak forthemselves, as you said, but

(07:58):
literally 67% of kids' currentconsumption in the US is ultra
processed.
If we baseline that againstwhat are considered tier one
countries like Japan, that's aslow as 27%.
So the kids are literallyeating 50% more crap in the US,

(08:19):
with the obvious health concerns.
I mean, you're talking aboutliterally what you described in
the case of diabetes.
Going back against thosemarkers, you know it used to be
nine kids per 100,000 woulddevelop diabetes and now it's
doubled to 18.
That's not a trend, that's apandemic, right when it comes to

(08:40):
diabetes.
So I think the first thing ispreventive.
Don't entice your kids.
They're going to see enough ofit on television anyway, with
the commercials, all these magic, whatever cereals that are full
of sugar.
And again, when you and I didthis analysis and we discussed
this prior to the show if youlook at the differentiation in
diet, one of the key factorsthat's missing from a Japanese

(09:02):
diet that you'll find in a US orCanadian diet is the presence
of sugar in ultra processedfoods.
So that is the enemy.
So part of it, one part of itis prevention Shop on your own,
make sure you're buying wholefoods, and I think I'd like you
to share some of the ideas youhad about involving them in that
process, even if it's just fora few minutes, before you fly
out of the house to take them totheir activities.

(09:23):
Did you want to maybe commenton that, grant?

Graham (09:25):
Yeah, I mean it's such a great segue because, at the end
of the day, if your children,if you're upset at the fact that
your children are eating a lotof candies, cookies, sugar
snacks, chips and that sort ofthing, but they're not old
enough to be buying those thingsfor themselves, then somebody
is buying those foods andbringing them into the house.
It doesn't mean your house hasto be barren of all you know

(09:49):
snacks and treats and that kindof thing, but if you're not
bringing them into the house andthey're young enough, that's a
great first step.
So that would be tip number one.
Tip number two would be todemonstrate healthy eating.
My wife and I have tried to dothis.
My wife is incredible at notonly, you know, picking healthy
things to eat, but explaining tothe kids.
This is why I'm choosing thisover that, because I'd rather

(10:12):
have the chips, the cookies, thecandies, because they're so
delicious.
However, I know that it's notgoing to do anything good for me
, so I'm picking this insteadand I'm actually trying to make
this as yummy as possible sothat I, you know, not at the end
of the day, it's not only goodfor me, but it also tastes good
and I think, just tagging ontothat, as you've mentioned, is

(10:35):
that the whole getting involvedwith your kids when it comes to
cooking.
I love this approach because itkind of turns mealtime into fun
learning.
Cooking with kids not onlybuilds life skills but it also
boosts their willingness to trywholesome foods.
I remember when I was a CubScout or in that age, and I
remember I got my cooking badge.
I had to earn that thing.

(10:55):
I had to cook a bunch of mealsfrom scratch and be supervised,
and I was kind of proud of notonly that badge but other badges
like it.
I learned something out of that.
Proud of, you know, not onlythat badge, but other badges
like it.
I learned something out of that.
And so, if you're able toexpose your children to
wholesome foods, you know highfat, low carb staples that we
rave about here avocados andeggs and grass fed meats where
you can.

(11:15):
These are practical tips to getstarted, but I think it's
important to remember startsmall, keep it positive and sort
of tailor it to your family'sketo or carnivore vibe where it
fits.
Have some fun with it.
So I talked about being a rolemodel.
Kids, especially young kids,mimic what they see If they see
their parents eating candies andcookies and snacks and drinking

(11:38):
orange juice which is justloaded with sugar.
They are going to mimic thatbecause their parents are their
heroes, they look up to them,they want to be them and so, of
course, they're going to want toact like them.
Food is something that we need,so they're going to watch.
They're going to be watchingtheir parents, and if their
parents are grabbing aketo-friendly avocado or a

(11:59):
carnivore-friendly steak orbiltong or some kind of snack
like that, they're more likelyto mimic those choices.
And while you're doing that,you can explain to them that no
longer cooking in seed oilsCrisco, whatever it might be,
for example I'm actuallyswitching to healthier options,

(12:20):
such as ghee and avocado oil,olive oil, even tallow, even
bacon grease can be a littlehealthier than some of these
other options, potentially andso you're explaining to them
that I'm switching over to thesethings.
And kids are more likely tokind of follow in your footsteps
and I know my kids have when Iexplain to them the reason why
I'm going for it.
Yes, the ski is a little moreexpensive, but it tastes great

(12:43):
and I know it's not going toaffect me negatively like the
seed oils do.
Another thing for parents tokeep in mind repeated exposure,
so they're probably not going toremember the first time or the
second time or the fifth time.
It can take up to 15 to 20tries, you know, doing fun ways
to cook differently, cook morehealthy, and this allows picky

(13:05):
eaters to sort of warm up tothings that they might not have
otherwise liked, like, you know,having some broccoli or fatty
fish or that kind of thing Tyinginto that.
Establish some routines and eattogether as much as you possibly
can.
We're all busy.
With two parents at work, itbecomes more and more difficult
to set times for people to havemeals together.

(13:27):
Breakfasts are often scattered,depending on people's schedules
.
Lunch is almost impossible toeat together unless it's the
weekend Dinner time.
Make it a priority, even ifit's three times a week.
Make it a priority that we'regoing to sit down together,
we're going to cook our mealstogether and we're going to eat
our meals together and we'regoing to enjoy that time.
This is a great excuse ifyou're getting your kids off the

(13:49):
couch who are watching screens.
They might be actually doinghomework or they might be
practicing for sports.
All of those things arefantastic and, yes, those should
also be a priority.
But if what they're doing issitting on the couch watching TV
or just playing on their iPadand playing video games, it's a
good idea to shut those thingsoff and say come on, we're going

(14:09):
to cook this meal togetherBecause I promise you in the
future, your parents are notgoing to be upset at you for
turning the video game off, butthey are going to remember you
because you took the time tocook together.
And I'll talk a little bitabout some options
age-appropriate options, toallow people to have some fun

(14:33):
with this.
Another tip don't or try andavoid labeling foods as good or
bad.
Stephen and I often talk aboutbetter than yes.
We believe that a ribeye from afactory farm is not going to be
as healthy as ribeye from agrass-fed farm.
However, it's better to saythis is better than that.
So, yeah, the candy, it'sreally yummy, but here's a

(14:54):
better option, and that betteroption might be, you know, some
kind of more healthy whole foodthat isn't going to taste as
good but it's going to make youfeel great.
So, just having some fun withthis.
Make sure you gently explain tothem while one food choice
might be better than the otherover time and it's going to take
some time over time, that theyare going to look at you and

(15:16):
they're going to start, you know, sort of consuming this
information in a way that makesthem perhaps instantly think I'm
going to go eat an apple versusI'm going to eat a bag of chips
, steven.

Stephen (15:28):
Yeah, I think there's also a psychology.
I would say that when it comesto kids and I'll use this as a
contrast when I was a kid, if Ieven looked at cookies before
dinner or anything like that, mymom would say her famous words
don't eat that, that'll spoilyour dinner.
Now, she was no biochemist, forsure, but this was passed down
through generations.
By the way, the cookies werenot in a package, they were

(15:51):
homemade, and so the amount ofsugar in them and everything
else was controlled, and I'mconvinced, with the combination
of love and the ingredients thatare in it, they're probably
about as healthy as you get,because they're full of all
kinds of stuff.
Now, she would say that notrealizing that what happens when
your kids graze while you'repreparing a meal is they're
going to have a sugar spike.
Just like the engineer.
We've talked about this before.

(16:12):
In restaurants they give youbread.
You have a sugar spike, yoursugar will drop and then all of
a sudden you're ravenous.
You hear the kids going oh, I'mstarving, I'm starving, there's
nothing in the fridge.
That's the addiction to sugarthat's speaking on their behalf.
So you've got to recognize thatyou're speaking to a different
person at that stage.
Not that we all necessarily needto mediate to the lovely United
Nations for the five-year-oldor seven-year-old, but we've got

(16:34):
to be the adults in the roomand say look, here's what you
can have.
I'm going to make a salad orwe're going to make a salad
together.
Can you help me grab thetomatoes and wash them in the
cucumbers?
Have them eat that.
First that will layer intotheir stomach and then they'll
be satiated and they won'tgravitate towards these other
foods when you're not around.
So there are many kids that Iremember when I was growing up

(16:56):
in high school and I looked attheir lunches and I looked at my
lunches and some of them, evenin the 80s, looked like their
parents maybe borderline hatedthem because it was just awful,
awful food.
And then there was other kidswe were envious of because mom
and dad would drop offMcDonald's or some kind of
restaurant food like two orthree times a week.
We're like, oh wow, so that'swhat it's like to have parents

(17:17):
that actually love you.
So meanwhile we learnedretrospectively I mean I ate
very traditional sandwiches thatwere filled with meat and they
weren't ultra processed, so moreoften than not they were cut
offs from the roast beef that wehad on Sunday.
And the other thing I was goingto say because it's great to
talk about the 70s and the 80s Iwas in competitive soccer.
I played for two differentteams, I played at a provincial

(17:39):
level, so it was not park league, it was very busy.
My mom still had a mealprepared what I truly want to
call it, which I thought wasexceptional with my kid's mom
she did something really smart.
She also might want to try busyexecutive and telecom, just
like you and I were in telecom.
She would prepare all her mealsfor the week on Sunday and the

(18:01):
kids would participate in thatpreparation and talk about
paying it forward.
They would literally help hermake the meals that they were
going to consume during thecourse of the week that they
were with their mom.
So my approach was far morefrenetic and, you know, to the
point where I don't know ifpeople would recognize me on the
soccer field in those days whenI take the kids to soccer with

(18:23):
a pizza hanging out of my mouth.
You know, facial recognitiontools didn't work back then.
So we definitely, definitelyneed to make that shift.
I think what my kid's mom wasdoing and what my mom did we
need to get back to thatancestral diet Like again.
If you look at the stats and wewere talking offline about
Japan they don't have any snacks.

(18:44):
I did a search on snacks inJapan, using them as a baseline
because of their low incidenceof type two diabetes and obesity
, and I got a blank.
What I got was their lunchesare considered highly nutritious
and satiating because theyinclude fish, meat, curry and
the big marker that will shockeveryone no sugar.

(19:05):
So next time you get Lunchablesor Snackables, depending on
what brand's being offered andyou think firing that in their
lunch, turn it over and look athow much carbs are in it, how
much starch is in it, and knowthat you're contributing with
that food to 67% of the averageconsumption daily of kids
consuming ultra-processed foods.
That's where it's coming.

Graham (19:23):
Yeah, and certainly I have been guilty of picking up
those Lunchables and we're notpicking on Lunchables, it's just
companies.
They understand the motivationto try and make something seem
healthy and very, veryconvenient, and most of the time
those two things do not mix.
If it's very convenient, it'sprobably not healthy.

(19:46):
If it's very healthy, itprobably isn't convenient.
In other words, it's going totake a lot longer to put
together.
And we talked about, you know,having some fun.
Well, what are some of thethings that I can do?
As parents ask, what are someof the things that I can do to,
you know, having some fun?
Well, what are some of thethings that I can do?
His parents asked what are someof the things that I can do to,
you know, get my kid interestedin food?
Well, definitely something wetalked about already, which is

(20:07):
getting them involved, so youcan bring out some ingredients
and say you know kids it'simportant to understand kids are
more likely to eat what theyhelp make.
They're more likely to beinterested in something that
they have had a part in beinginvolved in, whether that is
going to the local butcher andpicking out something
specifically that they want toeat that you know is healthy.

(20:30):
Or when you're at home, they'reactually picking some
ingredients for the salad orwhatever sides you know, under
certain conditions.
You're saying, well, we need topick healthy, but I'm going to
let you pick from these healthyoptions.
It helps build curiosity aboutnutrition and while you're, you
know, chopping up the food or ifyour child's old enough they're
helping chop up some food, youcan explain you know, I'm

(20:52):
putting some extra butter inhere.
Or we're having, you know, meatas a central part of our meal,
because it's gonna feed my brain, it's gonna give me energy.
If I'm out, if I've got sportsin an hour, I'm better off
having some high protein, highfat food than a ton of carbs
that might slow me down in acouple of hours.
So it doesn't mean no carbs, itjust means you wanna provide

(21:16):
that balance and help themunderstand that it's actually
the fat that is providing themenergy, and the good fats,
hopefully and it's the proteinthat's, you know, giving the
building blocks for strongmuscles that's going to allow
them to excel in whatever sportthat they're trying to do or
whatever activity they're tryingto do.
And I think, if you sort ofconnect that to the fact that we

(21:38):
should really be startingsimple and efficient, right.
So, at the end of the day, thissounds overwhelming to a lot of
parents and it is.
We're not suggesting everysingle meal needs to be turned
upside down, starting tomorrow,that's.
That's not a goal that anybody,or most people, are going to be
able to reach, goal thatanybody, or most people are
going to be able to reach.
However, you can say you knowwhat, from now on, on Thursdays,

(22:05):
if that's a day where everybodycan have dinner together,
starting from now on, we aregoing to cook our meals together
on Thursdays, it's a greatstart.
And what you want to do whileyou're sort of cooking with the
kids is let them make mistakes,have some fun with it.
You know, I remember my wifeand I were making some food and
I accidentally cut my thumbchopping something up.
I wasn't paying attention andit was, you know, a minor thing,

(22:27):
but I had to stop cutting thefood, obviously, and she had to
take over.
And as I was walking over tosort of take care of the cut,
she looks over and smiles andsays you'll do anything to get
out of prepping food in thekitchen?
And I laughed my ass off.
We were just having fun with it.
Kids are going to spill themilk.
There's no sense in crying overspilled milk.
That's a saying for a reasonAllow them to make mistakes.

(22:51):
If you have to throw a bit offood away because they made a
mistake, you can let them know.
You know what.
You have no idea how many timesI've done this and it took me
some practice to stop.
So don't worry about the mistakethat you made.
It's totally fine.
You know, the fact that you'remaking these mistakes is going
to allow you to be a really,really good cook one day and you

(23:12):
can build them up and build uptheir confidence.
And when they hear that andthey're surrounded by that, my
suggestion is they're going towant to be a part of that more
and more and more and you'llhear one day, potentially, the
magic words of Mom what are wecooking for Thursday night's
meal, tomorrow?
I have some ideas.
All of a sudden they're excitedabout it and they no longer care
as much about playing the videogame or watching the screens

(23:33):
because they get to hang outwith mom or dad or both and they
get to make something, andmaybe that make something is you
know, today we're going to docarnivore meatballs.
I'm just throwing this out.
These recipes are available allover the place and chances are
your kid's going to really lovecarnivore meatballs.
So let's go get some caketemplates.
And we're not making cake today.
We're actually going to makegingerbread men, out of

(23:54):
carnivore meatballs.
So not only are we going tohave fun with this, but it's
actually going to be superhealthy for you and maybe that
becomes a staple for dinners inthe future, because you've had a
little bit of fun with it andchances are none of your friends
have that experience with theirparents, and it makes it kind
of a unique thing that they'llbe able to look back over time

(24:14):
and think I had some amazingparents, stephen.

Stephen (24:18):
Yeah, I think that's a great suggestion.
You know, really, that lastsection really resonated with me
because I was looking forwardto turning the conversation
toward making it interactive andinteresting for the kids.
And one of the things with theelectronics today is you can say
to your kids on a Saturday hey,we're going to be doing meals
tomorrow.
Everybody gets to pick one meal.
What do you guys want to helpme prepare?

(24:38):
And so now they're feelingengaged and I know there's
parents out there that will say,well, hang on, I've got stuff
going on in the evenings wedon't have time to sit down.
Okay, but you're going toprepare the meals on Sunday.
You're going to defrostWednesdays.
On Wednesday morning, you'regoing to heat it up, you're
going to sit at the table andeat it the same way as you would
have that McCain's pizza.
So it's the same idea, sameprinciple, way, way more healthy

(25:02):
.
You won't find a ton of red dyein carrots or meat, you know,
unless you're really buying froma very, very poor butcher.
So these are the things we'retrying to take out.
You don't need to be a biologistand you know, instruct your
children on the fact that thismay be increasing the likelihood
of hyperactivity and all kindsof downsides, and that passion

(25:22):
is not obstructive, it'ssupportive when it comes to
teaching your kids about thesefoods, because I'd rather be
accused of being overlypassionate and overly concerned
than see them suffer later as aconsequence of my poor decisions
right Out of convenience.

Graham (25:37):
So well said and it's probably important for us to
point out that.
Obviously, you know our advicehas to be put through an age
appropriate lens.
So you know, our listeners aregoing to have kids that are of
varying ages, from, you know,weeks old to in their twenties

(25:58):
and maybe even older, and sowell, I've got a toddler.
You know, weeks old to in their20s and maybe even older, and
so well, I've got a toddler.
You know I'm not going toobviously allow them to be
cutting up vegetables.
Well, yes, that's correct, youdon't want to give them a knife.
You know that the wrong thing'sgoing to happen.
But toddlers absolutely love tostir safe ingredients, like you
know oatmeal, whatever it mightbe, in a bowl.

(26:18):
There might be whisking theeggs, they might be mashing up
the avocado.
All of these things can be done, and you know what.
So what if they make a mess?
They can help clean up the mess.
It's totally fine, but they'reactively involved and a lot of
kids actually really like theequipment in a kitchen,
regardless of how old they are.

(26:38):
Toddlers can do that.
Preschoolers, you know, threeto five years old.
They can wash fruits andveggies and you can help them
understand why washing fruitsand veggies is a good idea.
They can tear up, you know,greens for the salad.
They can mash soft foods.
They can use cookie cutters oncheese slices.
So now they have a real cheese.
We buy cheeses from Europe.

(26:59):
They're not pasteurized.
They tend to not have the wrongingredients.
You make a couple of slices ofcheese and you give them a
cookie cutter and now they canmake shapes with characters and
then they can eat the charactersand they can eat the you know
around the template.
Well, your kids just had alittle bit of cheese as opposed
to some cookies and candies, andthey've had a heck of a lot of
fun in the process.
Six to eight years old, theycan measure ingredients.

(27:22):
Now you're teaching them alittle more sophistication.
All of a sudden they'rebecoming young mini chefs.
They can peel eggs, they canpeel oranges, they can mix
batters.
They can even follow a coupleof simple recipes all by
themselves.
And then you can bring that outto the family and say, hey,
so-and-so junior made this mealall by themselves and they are

(27:44):
going to feel like they are oncloud nine.
They're going to be so proud ofit and I guarantee you they're
also going to want to eat it andthen maybe next time they're
going to want to make a slightchange to make it even better
and better and better, and thatbecomes part of their repertoire
of stuff that they can make.
You'll have children that areable to make food that a lot of
kids in the neighborhood have noidea what to do.
It's a gift that keeps ongiving for the rest of their

(28:06):
lives.
What can older kids do?
They can absolutely chopveggies, so it's age appropriate
.
By nine years and up, theyprobably can chop veggies.
But you can help them.
Maybe you watch a YouTube videoon how to safely chop veggies so
that they understand a sharpknife is better than a dull
knife.
They can follow recipes.
They can even plan a keto or acarnivore-inspired meal.

(28:28):
They can look up recipes andactually make suggestions on
that, and this is where, okay,we're going to make this
particular keto meal or thisparticular carnivore meal that
appeals to your children or yourchild.
And're going to make thisparticular keto meal or this
particular carnivore meal thatappeals to your children or your
child and they want to be apart of making it.
That might be the time, afteryou've had a snack a healthy
snack to go together to thegrocery store and pick up those

(28:50):
specific items that you need andsay we're just here to get
these five things to make yourawesome meal.
And now you bring them home andthey sort of take the lead,
with your supervision, on tryingto prepare an amazing meal for
the family.
It's gonna boost theirconfidence and you're teaching
them a lifelong lesson, as Imentioned.
Steve.

Stephen (29:09):
Yeah, I think those are all really good points.
I was wondering now it might beappropriate for us to come up a
level and move out of thekitchen for a moment and talk
about the sports and talk aboutsome of the other things the
kids are doing.
Sleep other factors willcontribute generally to their
well-being.
So, interestingly, let'sreverse engineer from the fact
that in the US adults claim byand it's interesting the

(29:32):
statistic for obesity matchesthe statistic for mental health
issues in the US 48% obesity,48% mental health issue.
Those numbers may becoincidental but the reality is
that more and more evidence issupporting that the quality of
food that we're eating is notjust affecting our obesity rates
but it's also affecting theconnection, as you talked to in

(29:53):
our last podcast, between thedigestive system and the brain
and its well-being getting theproper nutrition that's required
, because some of theseartificial ingredients can cause
a lot of havoc on the metabolicsystem as well as the endocrine
system, and obviously we knowwhat it's doing to the metabolic
system as it relates to sugarand so forth.

(30:14):
So one of the things that kindof fascinated me, because there
wasn't a strong differentialwhen I again I refer back to the
US and comparing it to Japan,there wasn't a strong difference
between caloric intake, and youand I talked about this as well
, saying, well, it's a functionof what those calories are, not
how many they are.
And so we'll put a pin in thatfor a moment, because I

(30:35):
completely agree and I thinkanybody that's been following us
would align with that.
But what I thought wasfascinating is okay, so we've
got higher incidence of diabetes, we've got higher incidence of
obesity, we have consistentlythe same amount of food intake,
but now we understand, byputting a pin in it, that that's
the quality of food thatthey're eating, because the
Japanese kids are not eatingfoods that are rich in sugar and

(30:57):
there's carbs in there.
So you can't make that argumenteither, because they do consume
rice, but they mix it withvegetables and they stack it.
They also take their timeculturally in the way they eat.
My son just returned from Japanand said, dad, it would take
two hours to eat dinner.
So a very different culture.
They eat slowly, they processthe food, they layer the food.

(31:19):
It's the same way that we'vetalked about, other experts
suggesting so again, just toreinforce that exercise in Japan
, 60 to 75% of Japaneseadolescents we're talking
children to adolescents aredoing two to three hours per day
of exercise.
The American baseline for thatrecommended amount of exercise
daily for the same range of kidsis 60 minutes and sadly only

(31:41):
26% of American children hitthat guideline.
So think about the quality offood that's going in there, the
ability of the body to processit, defining its actual needs
for good nutrition, and to theextent in which that's being
used through exercise andconverted metabolically to
energy kilojoules.
Interestingly, in Japan there'sa drop to 25% of middle school

(32:05):
kids are maintaining that two tothree hours, which is still
substantially 300% higher thanwhat the standard is in the US
and Canada.
So I found that interestingbecause I was looking for points
beyond what we described abouthow you engage and have kids
take interest in grabbingsomething that doesn't require
pulling off the seal and diggingyour hands in for the latest

(32:27):
sweet snack, but actually alsothe amount of exercise they're
getting.
If you're taking your kids toas we both did, to activities in
the evening and they're walkingto the house like I was piece
of pizza hanging out of theirmouth, so now they got poor
quality food intake and thenyou're driving them for 25
minutes to their activity,they're only doing their
activity for 20 or 30 minutesand then they're coming home and

(32:49):
, as you said, which was a greatcatch, oh, and, by the way,
you've wasted 45 minutes beforetaking them to their activity,
letting them sit on the couchand do absolutely nothing.
So that whole engagement, oh,I'm tired, I'm this, I'm that.
Oh, I want one of these snacks.
These are actually making thekids less competitive in terms
of getting the maximum out ofexercise and out of what they're
doing, because they willalready be crashing because of

(33:11):
the sugar content in most ofthese ultra processed foods
before they get to the activity.
And you're like well, you know,sally or Joseph didn't do that
great today.
They didn't seem thatinterested, they didn't seem
keen and they're a bit grumpy.
Why?
Because they didn't have asatiated meal like the ones you
described.
You know, the ribeyes, thefoods that were cut up by my

(33:34):
kid's mom and prepared, thatwere whole and homemade.
So none of that was done.
If you gave that to those kids,even if they have to sit in the
middle of your van and eat itwhile you're taking them to
their activity, far better.
And if they can't, then why notfeed them when they come home?
I don't think a nine-year-oldis going to die by waiting an
extra 45 minutes or an hour toeat a proper meal, versus having
a really crappy meal 20 minutesbefore they do their exercise,

(33:54):
because they're not going tofeel very good out there.

Graham (34:00):
Yeah, such a good point.
And what Stephen's talkingabout and we've actually talked
about this a number of timesfeeding your kids a high-carb
meal 45 minutes or an hour and ahalf before their actual
sporting event.
There's a huge differencebetween that and feeding them
that same meal minutes beforethat sporting event.
Stephen and I have both talkedabout the fact that eating right

(34:23):
after a meal, regardless ofwhat you eat, the higher the
carbs, the longer you'reprobably going to have to do
this exercise.
But walking right after a mealsignificantly lowers blood sugar
and Stephen has actually foundthis to be factually true, based
on his continuous glucosemonitor that I've been listening
to for the past year, as he'sbeen able to share different

(34:44):
kinds of foods, what the spikesare and the impact of that walk
afterwards.
So you know our bodies aredesigned to burn glucose, which
carbs turn into as it's readilyavailable, and so you know when
you're in an aggressive sport,as Stephen talked about, like
soccer, you're going to burnthat glucose without it entering

(35:05):
the cells.
You're not going to see thesame kind of insulin response,
because your body is actuallyburning that glucose for energy.
However, I would argue that aketo diet feeding them, a keto
diet which is low carb is notgoing to have a sugar rush, but
it is going to give them thefoundation and sure they can
have some carbs while they'reactually in the exercise.

(35:25):
You'll see kids having orangejuice squares and that kind of
thing Real foods.
They're burning that glucoseoff right away, even though it
is high in glucose.
That glucose is going to beburned by the end of that sport.
And I think you know just tyinginto all this around the mental
health aspects that Stephen sorightly brought up, the
ketogenic diet was originallyinvented if you listen to the

(35:47):
podcast with Zoe.
It was originally created totreat children with epilepsy,
and so the ketogenic diet wasoriginally developed for a
specific mental affliction.
And if you read Change yourDiet, change your Mind by Dr
Georgia Ede, you realize thatthere is a direct connection

(36:10):
between the foods we eat and ourmental health, and that really
shouldn't surprise anybody.
If you really think about it,if you believe we are what we
eat and I believe that then ifyou're eating Big Macs every day
, your brain is absolutely beingstarved of the right kinds of
fats that are found in naturethat can put you into a ketosis

(36:32):
state where your brain is ableto run optimally.
We've talked before about thefact that the brain has the
capability of running on glucose, which all carbs turn into.
However, the brain cannot runat its optimal level with
glucose.
My understanding is, if ittried to run at its optimal
level, it would burn out, and soit is running at a substandard

(36:56):
level because you're full ofglucose and your brain is
actually living off of that.
If you switch over to aketogenic or a carnivore diet
where your carbs are low somesay under 50 grams, some say
under 20 grams whatever it is,less than 10% of your intake is
carbohydrates and you're makingsure that you're getting enough

(37:16):
fats from high fat foods andwe've talked about a few of
those avocados, eggs, ribeyesthere's lots of places you can
get natural fats, butter yourbrain is going to run more
optimally.
And so, as Stephen pointed out,if your child is suffering
through a debilitating mentalissue whether it's anxiety,
depression or other things,where you know other things,

(37:38):
where they're sort of lockedinside their minds, and you're
looking for ways to get them outof that, of course healthcare
providers are an importantelement of that, but taking
control over what your childeats, in my opinion, is a
significant portion of howyou're going to get them onto a
path of success.
It's such a critical thing forparents to understand that the

(38:01):
food that you feed your kids notonly will help them from a
physical health point of view,but it's going to help them from
a mental health point of viewif they're eating the right
kinds of foods and you'reprioritizing the right kind of
foods for them.
Stephen.

Stephen (38:15):
Yeah, I think I really have nothing to add to that.
I thought that was absolutelyspot on what you described.
I think what we've given theparents tonight is options and
perhaps a way to look into thefuture by investing now in their
kids, and it's going to pay offdividends.
It's going to pay off dividendsdomestically because it breaks
down all the barriers of what Iwould call, as it relates to

(38:38):
who's cooking the meal and whyeveryone can cook Contribute.
That'll get families, thefamily network, reintegrated the
way it was in the 60s and 70s.
There was absolutely no way Iwas getting away with mom
preparing a meal unless I wasdoing homework and not assisting
.
And literally, even if I wasdoing homework, I sometimes had
to run downstairs and grab thepotatoes and peel the potatoes.
It didn't matter, it had to beprepared, the meal had to be

(39:00):
prepared and, like I said, I hadall those practices that kids
have today and I ate a very goodmeal.
Before I went out, stood likean idiot in the middle of the
net as a soccer goalie trying tocatch a ball that somebody was
kicking at me.
So it can be done.
It was done, then it can bedone.
It was done, then it can bedone.
Now it's just a question ofpriority, and it's either invest
now or pay later.

(39:20):
That's ultimately what I wantto share.

Graham (39:23):
Yeah, well said, and parents are going to be thinking
about.
Okay, you know, I'm ready tohave even one breakfast a week.
That's healthy.
I'm ready to have one lunch aweek that's healthy.
I'm ready to have one dinner aweek that's healthy.
It all starts with the firststep, and that's a big first
step when we talk about the factthat earlier we talked about
the fact that the CDC justreleased some data one in three

(39:46):
teenagers has prediabetes.
Well, two out of threeteenagers don't.
We want you to have one ofthose two out of three teenagers
that don't have prediabetes.
And so, again it comes back toprioritizing meals, and my
daughter's a picky eater and sheknows what she wants and she's
very organized and plans her dayreally, really well.

(40:08):
One of the things that she'sdoing in her post-secondary is
there is a pretty seriousfitness element to what she's
doing, and so they're actuallymonitoring her fitness, they're
monitoring her endurance,they're monitoring whether she
is more physically capable thanthe week before, and so it is a

(40:29):
part of the post-secondaryschooling that she's working
towards.
And so I promised her, if she'sopen to it, that I would make
scrambled eggs and I cook itwith ghee, so there's a little
extra fat in there and some allbeef hot dogs.
And people think you're feedingyour kid hot dogs.
Are you crazy?
Hot dogs are bad for you?
Well, not in my opinion.

(40:50):
If you read the ingredients onthe hot dog list and you buy
them from the right source oryou get them from the butcher,
that's just a different way ofeating ground beef.
It's just a different way ofeating steak, and sometimes a
picky eater who doesn't want toeat steak or may not want to eat
ground beef which I find isless likely they're more than
happy to eat hot dogs becausehot dogs are fun foods for kids.

(41:12):
Well, now your kid has had somefat protein in the form of the
hot dog and fat protein in theform of scrambled eggs or
however they like their eggs.
And you know, after a couple ofweeks I would ask my daughter
how do you feel Like, do youfind you're hungry in the middle
of the day?
Because I would cook it thenight before.
I put it in a vacuum sealedglass uh, you know, tupperware,

(41:35):
tupperware, not Tupperware, buta similar kind and put it in the
fridge.
So as soon as she opened it, itwas, it was really fresh.
She would warm it up and I'd askher did she get hungry at 10 AM
when she was in the middle ofschool?
And she would say you know what, dad, I'm now noticing that I'm

(41:58):
not hungry.
I'm not getting that crashwhere I need to grab something
from the machine or I need tograb whatever's in my bag to eat
it because I've hit thehypo-glycemic stage of that
roller coaster as it relates toglucose and insulin response.
And so she started to recognizethat this high protein, and so

(42:27):
she started to recognize thatthis high protein, high fat or
higher protein, higher fatalternatives wasn once a week on
the day where she needsprobably the most amount of help
and needs to be the most alertas it relates to exercise.

Stephen (42:40):
To your point earlier about sports, stephen, yeah, I
think if we, like I said earlier, if we get back to basics and
we change our priorities, thepriority is not the
participation ribbon, that isnot the mark ribbon, that is not
the mark of success for thekids, it's the family unit
itself and making sure that thekids take care of themselves.

(43:02):
And I have to again give creditto my kid's mom.
My daughter's going into hersecond year of law school.
She's very highly ratedacademically there and I'll call
her on a Sunday and say hey,what are you doing?
She goes what do you think I'mdoing?
I'm doing my laundry and I'mpreparing my meals for the week,
right?
So she's still a little bitchippy, even though she's a
grown woman.
Maybe a little feisty would be abetter expression, but I'm

(43:24):
super proud of her because shetakes good care of herself and
she'll even send me snapshotsand going hey, dad, look what I
found in this New York store.
Look at how much sugar is inthis thing.
I used to eat these all thetime.
And of course I would respondback because I'm very sensitive
to body image and say somethingwell, that's why you used to
look fat, now you look wonderful.

(43:44):
And this is how we banter.
But the reality is she knowsI'm kidding she's in the gym
four or five times a week,maintains an insane schedule and
she has that discipline.
Yeah and she has that disciplineand that rigor and she knows
she's healthier for it.
She just had an accidentrecently turned her ankle and

(44:05):
sprained it quite badly, and shefound a way to accelerate the
healing and to manage hermindset because she wasn't able
to exercise at the gym withoutwhat she described I believe the
medical term was a gimp leg, soI've never heard that term in
medicine before and she stillmanaged to stay active, she
still managed to eat well andthis is really helping with her
mental health as well.
I have a kid that lives in adifferent country, that's in a

(44:28):
different city, doesn't knowanyone, and she's coping.
And she isn't just coping,she's excelling.
And I'm convinced it's not justa question of her upbringing,
but it's mindset, it's a qualityof food that she's putting in
her body.
It's really hard to study ifyou've got crappy,
ultra-processed food in your gutand you're thinking more about
having to use the washroom hello, how I used to be, versus

(44:48):
actually concentrating on whatit is.
You have to learn.

Graham (44:50):
Yeah, well said, and I'm just looking through some
different options that we'veswitched away from.
So certainly my wife and I donot eat cereals anymore.
In my opinion there are nohealthy cereals.
There are just cereals that areworse for you or better for you
, but in my opinion there's nohealthy cereals, and so I'm more

(45:11):
than happy to debate people onthat.
So you know, we've made it astaple to not only have eggs and
some kind of protein in themorning, but we've also tried to
source those eggs from, in ourcase, an Amish farm, and we'll
buy a lot at once, 120 at once,and keep them stored in the

(45:31):
fridge, because it does take awhile for us to get through
those.
But letting the kids know thatthese eggs come from happy
chickens that are running around, they're running outside,
they're able to eat whateverthey want to eat the bugs.
For the most part these comefrom happy chickens.
And then you'll break open anAmish free-range egg and break
open the cheapest egg from thegrocery store and just show them

(45:54):
how much more yellow the Amishfree range egg is, and you can
explain to them that the darkerthe yolk or the more sort of
dark yellow the yolk is, themore nutrients there are inside
that egg and the better it isfor you, and so just helping
them understand that you knowwe're getting our meat from a

(46:17):
regenerative farm, that theanimals are happier, they're not
sitting in a warehouse the kidsare getting these kinds of
messages and to help themunderstand that, yes, there are
cows in warehouses that havealmost no room to move and
probably aren't happy, versusthat we're prioritizing local

(46:38):
farms, as you do, stephen, withgrass-fed chickens or bug-fed
chickens, grass-fed beef, andthese are happier animals and
we're trying to support thatkind of lifestyle and, at the
same time, benefiting us.
So that they understand thatit's really important that my
parents find food that comesfrom healthy animals that are

(47:00):
happy, as opposed to what theymay hear on TikTok or whatever
social media that they're on,where all cows come from
factories and all of that is badfor you.
Those messages can be very,very confusing to children.
Helping them understand thatit's a priority of yours, you
understand the reason why thosethings wouldn't be popular and
you've made some big changes totry and be more aware of the way

(47:26):
people feel about these thingscan really help your child grow
up with a healthy attitudetowards properly sourced food.

Stephen (47:34):
Yeah, I just want to say like I hear this all the
time and you and I often willtalk about how people react to
our comments and one of thecommon ones is well, I'm not
sure I subscribe to everythingthat you're saying, because I
grew up in a world where youknow everything in moderation.
I said, oh yeah, did you trychewing on a poinsettia and did
you have a cigarette thismorning?
It's just one right Like that'smoderation, isn't it?

(47:55):
And then that usually makesthem realize and please don't
try a poinsettia out there,folks, you'll get very, very
sick.
But the point is not everything, even in moderation, is good
for you, and there are certainthings that we click.
I say that jokingly and peopleare like, yeah, what do you

(48:19):
think I'm an idiot?
Well, everything in moderation.
If it was in moderation, wewouldn't be talking about 67% of
consumption.
Caloric intake right now forthese kids is ultra processed.
One in three kids has diabetesor pre-diabetes, and that's from
two to 17.
We see a doubling of theincidence of type 2 diabetes in
kids from just 2002 to 2017.
15 years, we've doubled.
I mean I wish my portfoliowould do that in 15 years.

(48:42):
So I mean it's obvious to usbecause we're not preaching,
we're professing that thelandmines of life that we've all
had to traverse in ourrespective experiences, both me
and Graham are passionate aboutensuring.
Whether it's our kids, yourkids, our future grandkids we

(49:02):
want to set them up for successnow.
It's a harder minefield tonavigate today, and cereals are
a great example.
They're just a box ofcigarettes as far as I'm
concerned.
So there are some things youjust need to stay away from and
you need to show it to the kidsand explain to them the
mechanics.
I mean, you and I approximatedbut didn't work in the orbit of
marketing, but we're well awareof how our brands were sold when
it came to telecommunicationsand how they were promoted to

(49:25):
different age groups anddifferent cohorts.
It's the same with food, andnot all food is evil.
Not all producers are evil, butyou definitely have to have
your wits about you and be aninformed shopper and you can't
expect that taking a kid down anaisle with a really shiny box
of Lucky Charms isn't going toreach for that, more so than
that three pack of ribeyes.

Graham (49:48):
Remember what we talked about earlier, which is the food
that you bring into your homeis the food that your children
are going to most likely consume.
Yes, at some point they'regoing to be old enough and
they're going to be able to gobuy their own things, but if
you've given them the healthyeating bug early, they're going

(50:09):
to take that with them for therest of the, for the rest of
their lives, hopefully, and Ithink you know a small example
of this, I guess, is we.
We try and buy beverages thatare very, very.
They don't have any sugar inthem, natural sweeteners, and
you can tell when you taste themthat they're not very sweet.

(50:30):
So they they may have aningredient in them that isn't
optimal, but it is such a lowpercentage of the beverage that
we think, okay, you're not asbig a fan of water, we have a
reverse osmosis machine.
We let them know this is thecleanest water that you can
possibly drink, and they're bigon that.

(50:51):
They also understand that youneed to backfill with
electrolytes, especially ifyou're feeling thirsty.
And so all of our kids havestopped buying pop.
For the most part, they mightget it when they go to Wendy's
occasionally and I'll have mythree patties and I might even
have a small Diet Coke, becauseit's three or four times a year

(51:11):
that I do that but for the mostpart they've stopped drinking
pop as a result of havinghealthier choices at home.
These things can happen and Ithink it really comes down to,
at the end of the day, where doyou put on your list of
priorities the importance ofyour children eating healthy?
It's difficult.

(51:31):
It's a difficult task, butbeing a parent is a difficult
task.
Just ask every single parent onthe planet.
If you help raise your childrenwith a healthy eating mindset,
they are going to thank youbetter in life.
If you ignore that, youdeprioritize that and you let
them eat the way they would liketo eat, or you deprioritize the

(51:52):
amount of time it takes to helpteach them how to eat more
healthy meals aren't going tothank you down the road.
They're going to be a part ofthe statistics that you don't
want them to be a part of, andmore problems can occur as a
result of that, and parentingcan be even more difficult as a
result, and so I think it makessense to subscribe to channels

(52:15):
that make keto-friendly andcarnivore-friendly meals for
kids.
On YouTube, you can do a bunchof searches and find the ones
that you love.
Whatever social media you're on, make those searches for keto,
carnivore-friendly meals forkids.
You might even want to enterthe age of your kids so that you
can have appropriate meals forthem and, again, as we talked
about, have some fun with it,and I think you know, at the end

(52:40):
of the day, who has time forall of this.
Well, it does come down to whereyou prioritize the health of
your family.
In a world where there's somany conveniences, we seem to be
as busy as ever.
There's no question about that.
In many families, both parentswork We've talked about this and
they're just trying to makeends meet, or the kids are in a
single parent home, which canadd its own challenges.

(53:00):
Even one meal change a week andI can't emphasize enough,
starting with one meal change aweek can start the ball rolling
to something that can buildmomentum over time.
Only good things can come fromyou making that a priority, even
if it is one meal a week tostart, and I think you know.

(53:20):
Celebrate the small wins whenyour kids like your healthy meal
you've prepared.
I mean, is there anythingbetter than feeding them
something healthy and they turnaround and say that was really
good?
It's a great feeling becauseit's a win-win and I helped make
it and I helped make it and Ihelped make it.
I was just going to say majorbonus points if they helped you
prepare it right, because nowyou've taught them a life lesson

(53:43):
that they'll likely neverforget.
I'll just mention a proud dadmoment.
So one of my other daughters isin post-secondary in a health
sciences degree and I spentprobably an annoying amount of
time explaining to her thedifference between food that's
good for you and food that's notgood for you, and she really
took it to heart and she has.
I could tell she listened as weprepared those meals and as she

(54:08):
saw me eating and saw her momeating and saw the meals that we
prepared together.
And one of my real proud dadmoments was, you know, last year
and the year before.
Every now and then my daughterwould take a picture of the meal
that she prepared with herroommates and, keeping in mind I
remember when I was inuniversity, the photo that I

(54:29):
would have sent my parents wasprobably some Kraft dinner.
She would send me this mealthat was fatty fish with a
little bit of carbs, some saladand there was always sort of the
emphasis on protein, buteverything was whole foods and
she'd say, just thought I'd showyou what we prepared tonight.
And it took everything not tojump in the car and drive for an

(54:51):
hour just to join them for thisincredible meal that they'd
made.
But it made me feel like I'dgiven a gift to my daughter my
wife has a huge part of that aswell Given a gift of that whole
food healthy keto idea, and thefact that she was so proud to
show it off told me that I thinkshe's going to be okay when it
comes to food.
Stephen.

Stephen (55:12):
Yeah, I think that's outstanding.
I have similar stories with mydaughter sending me pictures
from New York and when she getsa deal on good food she's got a
personal relationship with thelocal grocery store and tells
them what she likes, becausepart of her heritage is
Ukrainian.
She prepares things that sheknows her baba would be very
impressed that she can prepare.
She goes to local markets andmakes sure that she's buying all

(55:35):
food, and even my eldest, wholives in the province of Quebec,
she will actually go to localfarms.
She's raising her own chickens.
She's eating the eggs that areproduced by these chickens.
She's purchasing her fruit andvegetables from local farmers.
She literally lives along astrip and it's all farms.
Hers is the only one that isn'tan active farm per se, unless
you were to count poultry.

(55:56):
So I'm also very proud of her.
She's had challenging healthconditions as well and she's
getting on top of that andtaking a more pluralistic
approach to her mental healthand her physical health and
obviously at an age where shewants to start thinking about
kids.
So all these are factoring inand I'm I'm proud of them

(56:17):
because it's not a transactionalprocess of getting through the
next 20 minutes and stuffingtheir faces with some food.
It's a emoto like experience,meaning the professor emoto,
where we understand that youknow our feelings or energy.
Everything is being impartedinto what.
The majority of this food iswater.
It's got water in it so you canaffect that by having the right

(56:38):
mindset.
So I don't know what it is, butgrowing up in a Eastern
European family is, you know,nobody's food tasted better than
Bubba's.
If you were to do the caloriesthat were in the food compared
to the amount of love that wasin it, it was always busting at
the seams with love right,because so much effort was put
into these preparations.

(56:59):
We'd go there for Sunday and Ifelt like a Viking raider
because she would prepare andlay out this awesome spread and
everything was in a certainorder, eaten a certain way, and
the genius of it, as I look backsome, you know, some 40, 50
years later was everything wasfrom the garden, everything was
from the local butcher,everything was prepared the way

(57:20):
she was taught in the 1920s and19th.
Nothing had changed.
The ingredients were all whole.
You know you could tell theywere whole because sometimes you
forget about something.
You go in the fridge and go ohmy God, what is this.
Did you steal that from a, amedical lab somewhere, because
it looked like there wasliterally something growing that
shouldn't be in the oils thatshe used in the fats?
I recall, as we talked aboutbefore, my grandfather used to

(57:41):
slice off pig lard in giantthick slices as thick as a
waffle and eat that with freshlybaked bread that was handmade
by my bubba.
So there was no, no, there wasno, uh no impurities in that
bread whatsoever.
The only yeah, it was just, youknow, unless you want to call

(58:03):
yeast to impure, like in and andto this day, like I don't eat
bread because I'm, I'm, I'm ketocarnivore.
But I certainly know, if shewere here today and offered me a
slice, I would certainly takeit, because it's certainly
healthier than a box ofcigarettes calling itself cereal
and some of the other thingsthat people are eating today

(58:24):
100% and maybe double the butterjust to make it even healthier.

Graham (58:29):
I think, at the end of the day, what it comes down to
here is try and prioritize yourown health and the food that you
eat.
Try and prioritize yourchildren's health and the food
that they eat.
Only good things can come fromthis, and hopefully some of the
things that we talked abouttoday can inspire people to give
something a try that they maynot have otherwise tried.

(58:50):
Stephen, thank you so much foranother great episode and we'll
see everybody next time.
Thank you, everyone.

Speaker 1 (58:56):
Thanks for tuning into Lessons from the Ketoverse.
Join Stephen and Graham nexttime for more keto tips and
stories to fuel your health.
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