Lessons from the Ketoverse

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

• Graham • Season 1 • Episode 11

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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?

Speaker 1:

Welcome to Lessons from the Keto-Verse. Join Stephen and Graham as they explore the keto lifestyle with tips, science and stories to boost your health. This podcast isn't medical advice. Consult your healthcare advisor for any health-related issues. Get ready to fuel your primal power.

Graham:

Hi everyone, and welcome to another episode of Lessons from the Keto-Verse, where we dive into the world of ketogenic and carnivore lifestyles. Today we are talking about an important topic keto for kids, or you could call it carnivore for kids whatever you want to call it, but the gist of it is how do we help our younger generations be as healthy as they can when it comes to food, and Stephen hello, and what inspired us to pick this topic for this week.

Stephen:

Yeah, I'm super excited about this topic this week, graham, because you and I both of our children were empty nesters now, but we've had, you know, our kids in our lives and their respective activities and having to come home from work you and I work together and having this very shallow window of time to get food into them before their activities occurred in a particular evening.

Stephen:

And what's really I'm quite passionate about this is because I know, as a single dad, that I often reverted to ultra processed foods, which we'll talk more about, and obviously the consequences is that you and I both learn, because we, you know, our kids are what we eat, not what they eat, Because when we're first engaging them, we're setting an example and it's a really bad one where we prioritize the sport over the quality of food that's going into our kids and well, and I know we both have some stats and things that we'll share with everyone but yeah, that's what inspired me, because if I could go back and have a conversation with my fatter, more unhealthy self as a single dad, I would have prioritized making sure they were fed properly more so than running them to two activities each in a particular evening, thinking that that was in their best interest and ultimately, mine. So yeah, that's my intro. How about yourself, graham? What inspired you about this topic?

Graham:

So yeah, that's my intro. How about yourself, graham? What inspired you about this topic? Yeah, critically important, certainly, going through what I went through as far as blood work, going the wrong way and turning that around. Very similar to you, I started to look at my responsibility as a parent as well and learning what good food and good nutrition looks like, versus just buying whatever has the heart healthy symbol on it and just thinking that I'm doing the right thing, even if the right thing was reading the instructions for how long that box should be in the microwave. And so one of the things that you and I had talked about in this issue is near and dear to our hearts. It's near and dear to a lot of people's hearts, and the reason for that is childhood obesity has reached, in my opinion, critical stages.

Graham:

The numbers are staggering and I'll just quote a couple of these. So we pulled our information from the CDC stateofchildhoodobesityorg, which is a great site, to take a look at the information and break it down by age group. But here's a little bit of a stat dump for the audience. So in the United States and I think we can safely say that a lot of Western countries are either at this level in some cases may have exceeded this level, but the information for the US is very detailed. So obesity now affects 40% of adults is very detailed. So obesity now affects 40% of adults. And we know with obesity comes from all sorts of issues. You know, as people get older, type 2 diabetes is a great example metabolic disease which causes all sorts of problems cardiovascular and metabolically in adults. But today, 20% of children so 40% of adults are obese. 20% of children and adolescents age 2 to 19 have those rates, so 20% are obese, and those rates have tripled since the mid-1970s. So a lot has happened since the mid-1970s, that's 50 years ago, when childhood obesity was about 5% in 1978, for example, 18.5% in 2016, over 20% in the 2020s and breaking this down 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 get worse until there's some real interventions in place, and that's what we're trying to help with.

Graham:

Today, about 19.7% of kids age 2 to 19, or almost 15 million young people, live with obesity, which is a horrible way to start out in life. Let's break down the age groups Ages 2 to 5, 12.7% are considered obese. Ages 6 to 11,. 20.7% of children are considered obese and in the 12 to 19 age group, 22.2%, or more than one in five, is considered obese. This should alarm every parent.

Graham:

In the West you know any country that you live in the CDC just released new data in the last day or two it may have been today that it was released One in three teenagers now has pre-diabetes, which means their blood sugar level is to the point where and Stephen, you'll help me with the numbers here, but it's past 5.5, a1c, is that correct? 5.7, thank you. One in three teenagers is now in the pre-diabetic stages, which means if there's no intervention, those children one in three are going to become diabetics. And that is, as you so eloquently put in the past, stephen, your doctor saying there's two things that I absolutely hate telling my patients the first is you have cancer, the second is you have diabetes, and so we're talking about one in three children now who may hear those words early on in their life.

Graham:

And I think, stephen, you've heard this and I've heard this often when people ask us how do I get my kids excited and educated about healthy eating? How do I feed them better? What does feeding them better sound like? I'm getting mixed messages from all over the place. My kids are getting mixed messages. When we walk down the cereal aisle, all of these colors are shouting out at my kids to pick me, pick me. And then the second question around parents is where am I going to find the time to make sure that my kids eat healthy? Stephen, you've had some experience in your lifetime in trying to move towards that healthy eating in the family. Maybe you can talk a little bit about that.

Stephen:

Yeah for sure. Thanks very much, graham. So one of the key things that you said that I think is important is kids are not as resilient to marketing as we are, so there's a lot of impulse of purchases that happen to address a kid, especially as you and I steer away from the middle aisles in the grocery store, like the bubonic plague is present in every one of those aisles. We don't typically go in there unless we're trying to get to the back, to where the dairy is or where the meat is. So my first piece of advice and I can say this with in my particular case whether you're married or you're a single parent, you always have the option of shopping when the kids are not around. So one of the things that I would argue is it's not in your best interest, and ultimately your kids, to take them shopping. I know a lot of us do it because you're like, hey, I got to grab a few groceries, get them home after I pick them up at school, quickly go to the grocery store. Probably a big mistake, because the system is set up to put you into a guilt and shame scenario and end up grabbing food that is highly processed. I mean, the stats speak for themselves, as you said, but literally 67% of kids' current consumption in the US is ultra processed. If we baseline that against what are considered tier one countries like Japan, that's as low as 27%. So the kids are literally eating 50% more crap in the US, with the obvious health concerns. I mean, you're talking about literally what you described in the case of diabetes. Going back against those markers, you know it used to be nine kids per 100,000 would develop diabetes and now it's doubled to 18. That's not a trend, that's a pandemic, right when it comes to diabetes.

Stephen:

So I think the first thing is preventive. Don't entice your kids. They're going to see enough of it on television anyway, with the commercials, all these magic, whatever cereals that are full of sugar. And again, when you and I did this analysis and we discussed this prior to the show if you look at the differentiation in diet, one of the key factors that's missing from a Japanese diet that you'll find in a US or Canadian diet is the presence of sugar in ultra processed foods. So that is the enemy. So part of it, one part of it is prevention Shop on your own, make sure you're buying whole foods, and I think I'd like you to share some of the ideas you had about involving them in that process, even if it's just for a few minutes, before you fly out of the house to take them to their activities. Did you want to maybe comment on that, grant?

Graham:

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 lot of candies, cookies, sugar snacks, chips and that sort of thing, but they're not old enough to be buying those things for themselves, then somebody is buying those foods and bringing them into the house. It doesn't mean your house has to be barren of all you know snacks and treats and that kind of thing, but if you're not bringing them into the house and they're young enough, that's a great first step. So that would be tip number one. Tip number two would be to demonstrate healthy eating. My wife and I have tried to do this. My wife is incredible at not only, you know, picking healthy things to eat, but explaining to the kids. This is why I'm choosing this over that, because I'd rather have the chips, the cookies, the candies, because they're so delicious. However, I know that it's not going to do anything good for me, so I'm picking this instead and I'm actually trying to make this as yummy as possible so that I, you know, not at the end of the day, it's not only good for me, but it also tastes good and I think, just tagging onto that, as you've mentioned, is that the whole getting involved with your kids when it comes to cooking. I love this approach because it kind of turns mealtime into fun learning. Cooking with kids not only builds life skills but it also boosts their willingness to try wholesome foods.

Graham:

I remember when I was a Cub Scout or in that age, and I remember I got my cooking badge. I had to earn that thing. I had to cook a bunch of meals from scratch and be supervised, and I was kind of proud of not only that badge but other badges like it. I learned something out of that. Proud of, you know, not only that badge, but other badges like it. I learned something out of that. And so, if you're able to expose your children to wholesome foods, you know high fat, low carb staples that we rave about here avocados and eggs and grass fed meats where you can. These are practical tips to get started, but I think it's important to remember start small, keep it positive and sort of tailor it to your family's keto or carnivore vibe where it fits. Have some fun with it. So I talked about being a role model.

Graham:

Kids, especially young kids, mimic what they see If they see their parents eating candies and cookies and snacks and drinking orange juice which is just loaded with sugar. They are going to mimic that because their parents are their heroes, they look up to them, they want to be them and so, of course, they're going to want to act like them. Food is something that we need, so they're going to watch. They're going to be watching their parents, and if their parents are grabbing a keto-friendly avocado or a carnivore-friendly steak or biltong or some kind of snack like that, they're more likely to mimic those choices. And while you're doing that, you can explain to them that no longer cooking in seed oils Crisco, whatever it might be, for example I'm actually switching to healthier options, such as ghee and avocado oil, olive oil, even tallow, even bacon grease can be a little healthier than some of these other options, potentially and so you're explaining to them that I'm switching over to these things. And kids are more likely to kind of follow in your footsteps and I know my kids have when I explain to them the reason why I'm going for it. Yes, the ski is a little more expensive, but it tastes great and I know it's not going to affect me negatively like the seed oils do. Another thing for parents to keep in mind repeated exposure, so they're probably not going to remember the first time or the second time or the fifth time. It can take up to 15 to 20 tries, you know, doing fun ways to cook differently, cook more healthy, and this allows picky eaters to sort of warm up to things that they might not have otherwise liked, like, you know, having some broccoli or fatty fish or that kind of thing Tying into that.

Graham:

Establish some routines and eat together as much as you possibly can. We're all busy. With two parents at work, it becomes more and more difficult to set times for people to have meals together. Breakfasts are often scattered, depending on people's schedules. Lunch is almost impossible to eat together unless it's the weekend Dinner time. Make it a priority, even if it's three times a week. Make it a priority that we're going to sit down together, we're going to cook our meals together and we're going to eat our meals together and we're going to enjoy that time. This is a great excuse if you're getting your kids off the couch who are watching screens. They might be actually doing homework or they might be practicing for sports. All of those things are fantastic and, yes, those should also be a priority. But if what they're doing is sitting on the couch watching TV or just playing on their iPad and playing video games, it's a good idea to shut those things off and say come on, we're going to cook this meal together Because I promise you in the future, your parents are not going to be upset at you for turning the video game off, but they are going to remember you because you took the time to cook together. And I'll talk a little bit about some options age-appropriate options, to allow people to have some fun with this.

Graham:

Another tip don't or try and avoid labeling foods as good or bad. Stephen and I often talk about better than yes. We believe that a ribeye from a factory farm is not going to be as healthy as ribeye from a grass-fed farm. However, it's better to say this is better than that. So, yeah, the candy, it's really yummy, but here's a better option, and that better option might be, you know, some kind of more healthy whole food that isn't going to taste as good but it's going to make you feel great. So, just having some fun with this. Make sure you gently explain to them while one food choice might be better than the other over time and it's going to take some time over time, that they are going to look at you and they're going to start, you know, sort of consuming this information in a way that makes them perhaps instantly think I'm going to go eat an apple versus I'm going to eat a bag of chips, steven.

Stephen:

Yeah, I think there's also a psychology. I would say that when it comes to kids and I'll use this as a contrast when I was a kid, if I even looked at cookies before dinner or anything like that, my mom would say her famous words don't eat that, that'll spoil your dinner. Now, she was no biochemist, for sure, but this was passed down through generations. By the way, the cookies were not in a package, they were homemade, and so the amount of sugar in them and everything else was controlled, and I'm convinced, with the combination of love and the ingredients that are 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 not realizing that what happens when your kids graze while you're preparing a meal is they're going to have a sugar spike.

Stephen:

Just like the engineer. We've talked about this before. In restaurants they give you bread. You have a sugar spike, your sugar will drop and then all of a sudden you're ravenous. You hear the kids going oh, I'm starving, I'm starving, there's nothing in the fridge. That's the addiction to sugar that's speaking on their behalf. So you've got to recognize that you're speaking to a different person at that stage.

Stephen:

Not that we all necessarily need to mediate to the lovely United Nations for the five-year-old or seven-year-old, but we've got to be the adults in the room and say look, here's what you can have. I'm going to make a salad or we're going to make a salad together. Can you help me grab the tomatoes and wash them in the cucumbers? Have them eat that. First that will layer into their stomach and then they'll be satiated and they won't gravitate towards these other foods when you're not around. So there are many kids that I remember when I was growing up in high school and I looked at their lunches and I looked at my lunches and some of them, even in the 80s, looked like their parents maybe borderline hated them because it was just awful, awful food. And then there was other kids we were envious of because mom and dad would drop off McDonald's or some kind of restaurant food like two or three times a week. We're like, oh wow, so that's what it's like to have parents that actually love you. So meanwhile we learned retrospectively I mean I ate very traditional sandwiches that were filled with meat and they weren't ultra processed, so more often than not they were cut offs from the roast beef that we had on Sunday. And the other thing I was going to say because it's great to talk about the 70s and the 80s I was in competitive soccer. I played for two different teams, I played at a provincial level, so it was not park league, it was very busy. My mom still had a meal prepared what I truly want to call it, which I thought was exceptional with my kid's mom she did something really smart. She also might want to try busy executive and telecom, just like you and I were in telecom. She would prepare all her meals for the week on Sunday and the kids would participate in that preparation and talk about paying it forward. They would literally help her make the meals that they were going to consume during the course of the week that they were with their mom. So my approach was far more frenetic and, you know, to the point where I don't know if people would recognize me on the soccer field in those days when I take the kids to soccer with a pizza hanging out of my mouth. You know, facial recognition tools didn't work back then. So we definitely, definitely need to make that shift.

Stephen:

I think what my kid's mom was doing and what my mom did we need to get back to that ancestral diet Like again. If you look at the stats and we were talking offline about Japan they don't have any snacks. I did a search on snacks in Japan, using them as a baseline because of their low incidence of type two diabetes and obesity, and I got a blank. What I got was their lunches are considered highly nutritious and satiating because they include fish, meat, curry and the big marker that will shock everyone no sugar. So next time you get Lunchables or Snackables, depending on what brand's being offered and you think firing that in their lunch, turn it over and look at how much carbs are in it, how much starch is in it, and know that you're contributing with that food to 67% of the average consumption daily of kids consuming ultra-processed foods. That's where it's coming.

Graham:

Yeah, and certainly I have been guilty of picking up those Lunchables and we're not picking on Lunchables, it's just companies. They understand the motivation to try and make something seem healthy and very, very convenient, and most of the time those two things do not mix. If it's very convenient, it's probably not healthy. If it's very healthy, it probably isn't convenient. In other words, it's going to take a lot longer to put together. And we talked about, you know, having some fun. Well, what are some of the things that I can do? As parents ask, what are some of the things that I can do to, you know, having some fun? Well, what are some of the things that I can do? His parents asked what are some of the things that I can do to, you know, get my kid interested in food? Well, definitely something we talked about already, which is getting them involved, so you can bring out some ingredients and say you know kids it's important to understand kids are more likely to eat what they help make. They're more likely to be interested in something that they have had a part in being involved in, whether that is going to the local butcher and picking out something specifically that they want to eat that you know is healthy. Or when you're at home, they're actually picking some ingredients for the salad or whatever sides you know, under certain conditions. You're saying, well, we need to pick healthy, but I'm going to let you pick from these healthy options. It helps build curiosity about nutrition and while you're, you know, chopping up the food or if your child's old enough they're helping chop up some food, you can explain you know, I'm putting some extra butter in here. Or we're having, you know, meat as 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 sports in an hour, I'm better off having some high protein, high fat food than a ton of carbs that might slow me down in a couple of hours. So it doesn't mean no carbs, it just means you wanna provide that balance and help them understand that it's actually the fat that is providing them energy, and the good fats, hopefully and it's the protein that's, you know, giving the building blocks for strong muscles that's going to allow them to excel in whatever sport that they're trying to do or whatever activity they're trying to do. And I think, if you sort of connect that to the fact that we should really be starting simple and efficient, right. So, at the end of the day, this sounds overwhelming to a lot of parents and it is. We're not suggesting every single 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 that anybody, or most people are going to be able to reach. However, you can say you know what, from now on, on Thursdays, if that's a day where everybody can have dinner together, starting from now on, we are going to cook our meals together on Thursdays, it's a great start.

Graham:

And what you want to do while you're sort of cooking with the kids is let them make mistakes, have some fun with it. You know, I remember my wife and I were making some food and I accidentally cut my thumb chopping something up. I wasn't paying attention and it was, you know, a minor thing, but I had to stop cutting the food, obviously, and she had to take over. And as I was walking over to sort of take care of the cut, she looks over and smiles and says you'll do anything to get out of prepping food in the kitchen? And I laughed my ass off. We were just having fun with it. Kids are going to spill the milk. There's no sense in crying over spilled milk. That's a saying for a reason Allow them to make mistakes.

Graham:

If you have to throw a bit of food away because they made a mistake, you can let them know.

Graham:

You know what.

Graham:

You have no idea how many times I've done this and it took me some practice to stop.

Graham:

So don't worry about the mistake that you made. It's totally fine. You know, the fact that you're making these mistakes is going to allow you to be a really, really good cook one day and you can build them up and build up their confidence. And when they hear that and they're surrounded by that, my suggestion is they're going to want to be a part of that more and more and more and you'll hear one day, potentially, the magic words of Mom what are we cooking for Thursday night's meal, tomorrow? I have some ideas.

Graham:

All of a sudden they're excited about it and they no longer care as much about playing the video game or watching the screens because they get to hang out with mom or dad or both and they get to make something, and maybe that make something is you know, today we're going to do carnivore meatballs. I'm just throwing this out. These recipes are available all over the place and chances are your kid's going to really love carnivore meatballs. So let's go get some cake templates. And we're not making cake today. We're actually going to make gingerbread men, out of carnivore meatballs. So not only are we going to have fun with this, but it's actually going to be super healthy for you and maybe that becomes a staple for dinners in the future, because you've had a little bit of fun with it and chances are none of your friends have that experience with their parents, and it makes it kind of a unique thing that they'll be able to look back over time and think I had some amazing parents, stephen.

Stephen:

Yeah, I think that's a great suggestion. You know, really, that last section really resonated with me because I was looking forward to turning the conversation toward making it interactive and interesting for the kids. And one of the things with the electronics 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 help me prepare? And so now they're feeling engaged and I know there's parents out there that will say, well, hang on, I've got stuff going on in the evenings we don't have time to sit down.

Stephen:

Okay, but you're going to prepare the meals on Sunday. You're going to defrost Wednesdays. On Wednesday morning, you're going to heat it up, you're going to sit at the table and eat it the same way as you would have that McCain's pizza. So it's the same idea, same principle, way, way more healthy. You won't find a ton of red dye in carrots or meat, you know, unless you're really buying from a very, very poor butcher. So these are the things we're trying to take out.

Stephen:

You don't need to be a biologist and you know, instruct your children on the fact that this may be increasing the likelihood of hyperactivity and all kinds of downsides, and that passion is not obstructive, it's supportive when it comes to teaching your kids about these foods, because I'd rather be accused of being overly passionate and overly concerned than see them suffer later as a consequence of my poor decisions right Out of convenience.

Graham:

So well said and it's probably important for us to point out that. Obviously, you know our advice has to be put through an age appropriate lens. So you know, our listeners are going to have kids that are of varying ages, from, you know, weeks old to in their twenties and maybe even older, and so well, I've got a toddler. You know, weeks old to in their 20s and maybe even older, and so well, I've got a toddler. You know I'm not going to obviously allow them to be cutting up vegetables. Well, yes, that's correct, you don't want to give them a knife. You know that the wrong thing's going to happen. But toddlers absolutely love to stir safe ingredients, like you know oatmeal, whatever it might be, in a bowl. There might be whisking the eggs, 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're actively involved and a lot of kids actually really like the equipment in a kitchen, regardless of how old they are. Toddlers can do that. Preschoolers, you know, three to five years old. They can wash fruits and veggies and you can help them understand why washing fruits and 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 on cheese slices. So now they have a real cheese. We buy cheeses from Europe. They're not pasteurized. They tend to not have the wrong ingredients. You make a couple of slices of cheese and you give them a cookie cutter and now they can make shapes with characters and then they can eat the characters and they can eat the you know around the template. Well, your kids just had a little bit of cheese as opposed to some cookies and candies, and they've had a heck of a lot of fun in the process. Six to eight years old, they can measure ingredients. Now you're teaching them a little more sophistication. All of a sudden they're becoming young mini chefs. They can peel eggs, they can peel oranges, they can mix batters. They can even follow a couple of simple recipes all by themselves. And then you can bring that out to the family and say, hey, so-and-so junior made this meal all by themselves and they are going to feel like they are on cloud nine. They're going to be so proud of it and I guarantee you they're also going to want to eat it and then maybe next time they're going to want to make a slight change to make it even better and better and better, and that becomes part of their repertoire of stuff that they can make. You'll have children that are able to make food that a lot of kids in the neighborhood have no idea what to do. It's a gift that keeps on giving for the rest of their lives.

Graham:

What can older kids do? They can absolutely chop veggies, so it's age appropriate. By nine years and up, they probably can chop veggies. But you can help them.

Graham:

Maybe you watch a YouTube video on how to safely chop veggies so that they understand a sharp knife is better than a dull knife. They can follow recipes. They can even plan a keto or a carnivore-inspired meal. They can look up recipes and actually make suggestions on that, and this is where, okay, we're going to make this particular keto meal or this particular carnivore meal that appeals to your children or your child. And're going to make this particular keto meal or this particular carnivore meal that appeals to your children or your child and they want to be a part of making it. That might be the time, after you've had a snack a healthy snack to go together to the grocery store and pick up those specific items that you need and say we're just here to get these five things to make your awesome meal. And now you bring them home and they sort of take the lead, with your supervision, on trying to prepare an amazing meal for the family. It's gonna boost their confidence and you're teaching them a lifelong lesson, as I mentioned. Steve.

Stephen:

Yeah, I think those are all really good points. I was wondering now it might be appropriate for us to come up a level and move out of the kitchen for a moment and talk about the sports and talk about some of the other things the kids are doing. Sleep other factors will contribute generally to their well-being. So, interestingly, let's reverse engineer from the fact that in the US adults claim by and it's interesting the statistic for obesity matches the statistic for mental health issues in the US 48% obesity, 48% mental health issue. Those numbers may be coincidental but the reality is that more and more evidence is supporting that the quality of food that we're eating is not just affecting our obesity rates but it's also affecting the connection, as you talked to in our last podcast, between the digestive system and the brain and its well-being getting the proper nutrition that's required, because some of these artificial ingredients can cause a lot of havoc on the metabolic system as well as the endocrine system, and obviously we know what it's doing to the metabolic system as it relates to sugar and so forth. So one of the things that kind of fascinated me, because there wasn't a strong differential when I again I refer back to the US and comparing it to Japan, there wasn't a strong difference between caloric intake, and you and I talked about this as well, saying, well, it's a function of what those calories are, not how many they are. And so we'll put a pin in that for a moment, because I completely agree and I think anybody that's been following us would align with that. But what I thought was fascinating is okay, so we've got higher incidence of diabetes, we've got higher incidence of obesity, we have consistently the same amount of food intake, but now we understand, by putting a pin in it, that that's the quality of food that they're eating, because the Japanese kids are not eating foods that are rich in sugar and there's carbs in there. So you can't make that argument either, because they do consume rice, but they mix it with vegetables and they stack it. They also take their time culturally in the way they eat. My son just returned from Japan and said, dad, it would take two hours to eat dinner. So a very different culture. They eat slowly, they process the food, they layer the food.

Stephen:

It's the same way that we've talked about, other experts suggesting so again, just to reinforce that exercise in Japan, 60 to 75% of Japanese adolescents we're talking children to adolescents are doing two to three hours per day of exercise. The American baseline for that recommended amount of exercise daily for the same range of kids is 60 minutes and sadly only 26% of American children hit that guideline. So think about the quality of food that's going in there, the ability of the body to process it, defining its actual needs for good nutrition, and to the extent in which that's being used through exercise and converted metabolically to energy kilojoules. Interestingly, in Japan there's a drop to 25% of middle school kids are maintaining that two to three hours, which is still substantially 300% higher than what the standard is in the US and Canada. So I found that interesting because I was looking for points beyond what we described about how you engage and have kids take interest in grabbing something that doesn't require pulling off the seal and digging your hands in for the latest sweet snack, but actually also the amount of exercise they're getting. If you're taking your kids to as we both did, to activities in the evening and they're walking to the house like I was piece of pizza hanging out of their mouth, so now they got poor quality food intake and then you're driving them for 25 minutes to their activity, they're only doing their activity for 20 or 30 minutes and then they're coming home and, as you said, which was a great catch, oh, and, by the way, you've wasted 45 minutes before taking them to their activity, letting them sit on the couch and 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 the kids less competitive in terms of getting the maximum out of exercise and out of what they're doing, because they will already be crashing because of the sugar content in most of these ultra processed foods before they get to the activity.

Stephen:

And you're like well, you know, sally or Joseph didn't do that great today. They didn't seem that interested, they didn't seem keen and they're a bit grumpy. Why? Because they didn't have a satiated meal like the ones you described. You know, the ribeyes, the foods that were cut up by my kid's mom and prepared, that were 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 it while you're taking them to their activity, far better. And if they can't, then why not feed them when they come home? I don't think a nine-year-old is going to die by waiting an extra 45 minutes or an hour to eat a proper meal, versus having a really crappy meal 20 minutes before they do their exercise, because they're not going to feel very good out there.

Graham:

Yeah, such a good point. And what Stephen's talking about and we've actually talked about this a number of times feeding your kids a high-carb meal 45 minutes or an hour and a half before their actual sporting event. There's a huge difference between that and feeding them that same meal minutes before that sporting event. Stephen and I have both talked about the fact that eating right after a meal, regardless of what you eat, the higher the carbs, the longer you're probably going to have to do this exercise. But walking right after a meal significantly lowers blood sugar and Stephen has actually found this to be factually true, based on his continuous glucose monitor that I've been listening to for the past year, as he's been able to share different kinds of foods, what the spikes are and the impact of that walk afterwards. So you know our bodies are designed to burn glucose, which carbs turn into as it's readily available, and so you know when you're in an aggressive sport, as Stephen talked about, like soccer, you're going to burn that glucose without it entering the cells. You're not going to see the same kind of insulin response, because your body is actually burning that glucose for energy. However, I would argue that a keto diet feeding them, a keto diet which is low carb is not going to have a sugar rush, but it is going to give them the foundation and sure they can have some carbs while they're actually in the exercise. You'll see kids having orange juice squares and that kind of thing Real foods. They're burning that glucose off right away, even though it is high in glucose. That glucose is going to be burned by the end of that sport.

Graham:

And I think you know just tying into all this around the mental health aspects that Stephen so rightly brought up, the ketogenic diet was originally invented if you listen to the podcast with Zoe. It was originally created to treat children with epilepsy, and so the ketogenic diet was originally developed for a specific mental affliction. And if you read Change your Diet, change your Mind by Dr Georgia Ede, you realize that there is a direct connection between the foods we eat and our mental 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 if you're eating Big Macs every day, your brain is absolutely being starved of the right kinds of fats that are found in nature that can put you into a ketosis state where your brain is able to run optimally. We've talked before about the fact that the brain has the capability of running on glucose, which all carbs turn into. However, the brain cannot run at its optimal level with glucose. My understanding is, if it tried to run at its optimal level, it would burn out, and so it is running at a substandard level because you're full of glucose and your brain is actually living off of that.

Graham:

If you switch over to a ketogenic or a carnivore diet where your carbs are low some say under 50 grams, some say under 20 grams whatever it is, less than 10% of your intake is carbohydrates and you're making sure that you're getting enough fats from high fat foods and we've talked about a few of those avocados, eggs, ribeyes there's lots of places you can get natural fats, butter your brain is going to run more optimally.

Graham:

And so, as Stephen pointed out, if your child is suffering through a debilitating mental issue whether it's anxiety, depression or other things, where you know other things, where they're sort of locked inside their minds, and you're looking for ways to get them out of that, of course healthcare providers are an important element of that, but taking control over what your child eats, in my opinion, is a significant portion of how you're going to get them onto a path of success. It's such a critical thing for parents to understand that the food that you feed your kids not only will help them from a physical health point of view, but it's going to help them from a mental health point of view if they're eating the right kinds of foods and you're prioritizing the right kind of foods for them. Stephen.

Stephen:

Yeah, I think I really have nothing to add to that. I thought that was absolutely spot on what you described. I think what we've given the parents tonight is options and perhaps a way to look into the future by investing now in their kids, and it's going to pay off dividends. It's going to pay off dividends domestically because it breaks down all the barriers of what I would call, as it relates to who's cooking the meal and why everyone can cook Contribute. That'll get families, the family network, reintegrated the way it was in the 60s and 70s.

Stephen:

There was absolutely no way I was getting away with mom preparing a meal unless I was doing homework and not assisting. And literally, even if I was doing homework, I sometimes had to run downstairs and grab the potatoes and peel the potatoes. It didn't matter, it had to be prepared, the meal had to be prepared and, like I said, I had all those practices that kids have today and I ate a very good meal. Before I went out, stood like an idiot in the middle of the net as a soccer goalie trying to catch a ball that somebody was kicking at me. So it can be done. It was done, then it can be done. It was done, then it can be done. Now it's just a question of priority, and it's either invest now or pay later. That's ultimately what I want to share.

Graham:

Yeah, well said, and parents are going to be thinking about. Okay, you know, I'm ready to have even one breakfast a week. That's healthy. I'm ready to have one lunch a week that's healthy. I'm ready to have one dinner a week that's healthy. It all starts with the first step, and that's a big first step when we talk about the fact that earlier we talked about the fact that the CDC just released some data one in three teenagers has prediabetes. Well, two out of three teenagers don't. We want you to have one of those two out of three teenagers that don't have prediabetes.

Graham:

And so, again it comes back to prioritizing meals, and my daughter's a picky eater and she knows what she wants and she's very organized and plans her day really, really well. One of the things that she's doing in her post-secondary is there is a pretty serious fitness element to what she's doing, and so they're actually monitoring her fitness, they're monitoring her endurance, they're monitoring whether she is more physically capable than the week before, and so it is a part of the post-secondary schooling that she's working towards. And so I promised her, if she's open to it, that I would make scrambled eggs and I cook it with ghee, so there's a little extra fat in there and some all beef hot dogs. And people think you're feeding your kid hot dogs. Are you crazy? Hot dogs are bad for you? Well, not in my opinion. If you read the ingredients on the hot dog list and you buy them from the right source or you get them from the butcher, that's just a different way of eating ground beef. It's just a different way of eating steak, and sometimes a picky eater who doesn't want to eat steak or may not want to eat ground beef which I find is less likely they're more than happy to eat hot dogs because hot dogs are fun foods for kids.

Graham:

Well, now your kid has had some fat protein in the form of the hot dog and fat protein in the form of scrambled eggs or however they like their eggs. And you know, after a couple of weeks I would ask my daughter how do you feel Like, do you find you're hungry in the middle of the day? Because I would cook it the night before. I put it in a vacuum sealed glass uh, you know, tupperware, tupperware, not Tupperware, but a similar kind and put it in the fridge. So as soon as she opened it, it was, it was really fresh.

Graham:

She would warm it up and I'd ask her did she get hungry at 10 AM when she was in the middle of school? And she would say you know what, dad, I'm now noticing that I'm not hungry. I'm not getting that crash where I need to grab something from the machine or I need to grab whatever's in my bag to eat it because I've hit the hypo-glycemic stage of that roller coaster as it relates to glucose and insulin response. And so she started to recognize that this high protein, and so she started to recognize that this high protein, high fat or higher protein, higher fat alternatives wasn once a week on the day where she needs probably the most amount of help and needs to be the most alert as it relates to exercise.

Stephen:

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, the priority is not the participation ribbon, that is not the mark ribbon, that is not the mark of success for the kids, it's the family unit itself and making sure that the kids take care of themselves. And I have to again give credit to my kid's mom. My daughter's going into her second year of law school. She's very highly rated academically there and I'll call her on a Sunday and say hey, what are you doing? She goes what do you think I'm doing? I'm doing my laundry and I'm preparing my meals for the week, right? So she's still a little bit chippy, even though she's a grown woman.

Stephen:

Maybe a little feisty would be a better expression, but I'm super proud of her because she takes good care of herself and she'll even send me snapshots and going hey, dad, look what I found in this New York store. Look at how much sugar is in this thing. I used to eat these all the time. And of course I would respond back because I'm very sensitive to body image and say something well, that's why you used to look fat, now you look wonderful. And this is how we banter. But the reality is she knows I'm kidding she's in the gym four or five times a week, maintains an insane schedule and she has that discipline.

Stephen:

Yeah and she has that discipline and that rigor and she knows she's healthier for it. She just had an accident recently turned her ankle and sprained it quite badly, and she found a way to accelerate the healing and to manage her mindset because she wasn't able to exercise at the gym without what she described I believe the medical term was a gimp leg, so I've never heard that term in medicine before and she still managed to stay active, she still managed to eat well and this is really helping with her mental health as well. I have a kid that lives in a different country, that's in a different city, doesn't know anyone, and she's coping. And she isn't just coping, she's excelling. And I'm convinced it's not just a question of her upbringing, but it's mindset, it's a quality of food that she's putting in her body. It's really hard to study if you've got crappy, ultra-processed food in your gut and you're thinking more about having to use the washroom hello, how I used to be, versus actually concentrating on what it is. You have to learn.

Graham:

Yeah, well said, and I'm just looking through some different options that we've switched away from. So certainly my wife and I do not eat cereals anymore. In my opinion there are no healthy cereals. There are just cereals that are worse for you or better for you, but in my opinion there's no healthy cereals, and so I'm more than happy to debate people on that.

Graham:

So you know, we've made it a staple to not only have eggs and some kind of protein in the morning, but we've also tried to source those eggs from, in our case, an Amish farm, and we'll buy a lot at once, 120 at once, and keep them stored in the fridge, because it does take a while for us to get through those.

Graham:

But letting the kids know that these eggs come from happy chickens that are running around, they're running outside, they're able to eat whatever they want to eat the bugs.

Graham:

For the most part these come from happy chickens.

Graham:

And then you'll break open an Amish free-range egg and break open the cheapest egg from the grocery store and just show them how much more yellow the Amish free range egg is, and you can explain to them that the darker the yolk or the more sort of dark yellow the yolk is, the more nutrients there are inside that egg and the better it is for you, and so just helping them understand that you know we're getting our meat from a regenerative farm, that the animals are happier, they're not sitting in a warehouse the kids are getting these kinds of messages and to help them understand that, yes, there are cows in warehouses that have almost no room to move and probably aren't happy, versus that we're prioritizing local farms, as you do, stephen, with grass-fed chickens or bug-fed chickens, grass-fed beef, and these are happier animals and we're trying to support that kind of lifestyle and, at the same time, benefiting us.

Graham:

So that they understand that it's really important that my parents find food that comes from healthy animals that are happy, as opposed to what they may hear on TikTok or whatever social media that they're on, where all cows come from factories and all of that is bad for you. Those messages can be very, very confusing to children. Helping them understand that it's a priority of yours, you understand the reason why those things wouldn't be popular and you've made some big changes to try and be more aware of the way people feel about these things can really help your child grow up with a healthy attitude towards properly sourced food.

Stephen:

Yeah, I just want to say like I hear this all the time and you and I often will talk about how people react to our comments and one of the common ones is well, I'm not sure I subscribe to everything that you're saying, because I grew up in a world where you know everything in moderation. I said, oh yeah, did you try chewing on a poinsettia and did you have a cigarette this morning? It's just one right Like that's moderation, isn't it? And then that usually makes them 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 certain things that we click. I say that jokingly and people are like, yeah, what do you think I'm an idiot? Well, everything in moderation. If it was in moderation, we wouldn't be talking about 67% of consumption.

Stephen:

Caloric intake right now for these kids is ultra processed. One in three kids has diabetes or pre-diabetes, and that's from two to 17. We see a doubling of the incidence of type 2 diabetes in kids from just 2002 to 2017. 15 years, we've doubled. I mean I wish my portfolio would do that in 15 years. So I mean it's obvious to us because we're not preaching, we're professing that the landmines of life that we've all had to traverse in our respective experiences, both me and Graham are passionate about ensuring. Whether it's our kids, your kids, our future grandkids we want to set them up for success now.

Stephen:

It's a harder minefield to navigate today, and cereals are a great example. They're just a box of cigarettes as far as I'm concerned. So there are some things you just need to stay away from and you need to show it to the kids and explain to them the mechanics. I mean, you and I approximated but didn't work in the orbit of marketing, but we're well aware of how our brands were sold when it came to telecommunications and how they were promoted to different age groups and different cohorts. It's the same with food, and not all food is evil. Not all producers are evil, but you definitely have to have your wits about you and be an informed shopper and you can't expect that taking a kid down an aisle with a really shiny box of Lucky Charms isn't going to reach for that, more so than that three pack of ribeyes.

Graham:

Remember what we talked about earlier, which is the food that you bring into your home is the food that your children are going to most likely consume. Yes, at some point they're going to be old enough and they're going to be able to go buy their own things, but if you've given them the healthy eating bug early, they're going to take that with them for the rest of the, for the rest of their lives, hopefully, and I think you know a small example of this, I guess, is we.

Graham:

We try and buy beverages that are very, very. They don't have any sugar in them, natural sweeteners, and you can tell when you taste them that they're not very sweet. So they they may have an ingredient in them that isn't optimal, but it is such a low percentage of the beverage that we think, okay, you're not as big a fan of water, we have a reverse osmosis machine. We let them know this is the cleanest water that you can possibly drink, and they're big on that. They also understand that you need to backfill with electrolytes, especially if you're feeling thirsty. And so all of our kids have stopped buying pop. For the most part, they might get it when they go to Wendy's occasionally and I'll have my three patties and I might even have a small Diet Coke, because it's three or four times a year that I do that but for the most part they've stopped drinking pop as a result of having healthier choices at home.

Graham:

These things can happen and I think it really comes down to, at the end of the day, where do you put on your list of priorities the importance of your children eating healthy? It's difficult. It's a difficult task, but being a parent is a difficult task. Just ask every single parent on the planet. If you help raise your children with a healthy eating mindset, they are going to thank you better in life. If you ignore that, you deprioritize that and you let them eat the way they would like to eat, or you deprioritize the amount of time it takes to help teach them how to eat more healthy meals aren't going to thank you down the road. They're going to be a part of the statistics that you don't want them to be a part of, and more problems can occur as a result of that, and parenting can be even more difficult as a result, and so I think it makes sense to subscribe to channels that make keto-friendly and carnivore-friendly meals for kids. On YouTube, you can do a bunch of searches and find the ones that you love. Whatever social media you're on, make those searches for keto, carnivore-friendly meals for kids. You might even want to enter the age of your kids so that you can have appropriate meals for them and, again, as we talked about, have some fun with it, and I think you know, at the end of the day, who has time for all of this.

Graham:

Well, it does come down to where you prioritize the health of your family. In a world where there's so many conveniences, we seem to be as busy as ever. There's no question about that. In many families, both parents work We've talked about this and they're just trying to make ends meet, or the kids are in a single parent home, which can add its own challenges.

Graham:

Even one meal change a week and I can't emphasize enough, starting with one meal change a week can start the ball rolling to something that can build momentum over time. Only good things can come from you making that a priority, even if it is one meal a week to start, and I think you know. Celebrate the small wins when your kids like your healthy meal you've prepared. I mean, is there anything better than feeding them something healthy and they turn around and say that was really good? It's a great feeling because it's a win-win and I helped make it and I helped make it and I helped make it. I was just going to say major bonus points if they helped you prepare it right, because now you've taught them a life lesson that they'll likely never forget.

Graham:

I'll just mention a proud dad moment. So one of my other daughters is in post-secondary in a health sciences degree and I spent probably an annoying amount of time explaining to her the difference between food that's good for you and food that's not good for you, and she really took it to heart and she has. I could tell she listened as we prepared those meals and as she saw me eating and saw her mom eating and saw the meals that we prepared together. And one of my real proud dad moments was, you know, last year and the year before.

Graham:

Every now and then my daughter would take a picture of the meal that she prepared with her roommates and, keeping in mind I remember when I was in university, the photo that I would have sent my parents was probably some Kraft dinner. She would send me this meal that was fatty fish with a little bit of carbs, some salad and there was always sort of the emphasis on protein, but everything was whole foods and she'd say, just thought I'd show you what we prepared tonight. And it took everything not to jump in the car and drive for an hour just to join them for this incredible meal that they'd made. But it made me feel like I'd given a gift to my daughter my wife has a huge part of that as well Given a gift of that whole food healthy keto idea, and the fact that she was so proud to show it off told me that I think she's going to be okay when it comes to food. Stephen.

Stephen:

Yeah, I think that's outstanding. I have similar stories with my daughter sending me pictures from New York and when she gets a deal on good food she's got a personal relationship with the local grocery store and tells them what she likes, because part of her heritage is Ukrainian. She prepares things that she knows her baba would be very impressed that she can prepare. She goes to local markets and makes sure that she's buying all food, and even my eldest, who lives in the province of Quebec, she will actually go to local farms. She's raising her own chickens. She's eating the eggs that are produced by these chickens. She's purchasing her fruit and vegetables from local farmers. She literally lives along a strip and it's all farms. Hers is the only one that isn't an active farm per se, unless you were to count poultry. So I'm also very proud of her. She's had challenging health conditions as well and she's getting on top of that and taking a more pluralistic approach to her mental health and her physical health and obviously at an age where she wants to start thinking about kids. So all these are factoring in and I'm I'm proud of them because it's not a transactional process of getting through the next 20 minutes and stuffing their faces with some food. It's a emoto like experience, meaning the professor emoto, where we understand that you know our feelings or energy. Everything is being imparted into what.

Stephen:

The majority of this food is water. It's got water in it so you can affect that by having the right mindset. So I don't know what it is, but growing up in a Eastern European family is, you know, nobody's food tasted better than Bubba's. If you were to do the calories that were in the food compared to the amount of love that was in it, it was always busting at the seams with love right, because so much effort was put into these preparations. We'd go there for Sunday and I felt like a Viking raider because she would prepare and lay out this awesome spread and everything was in a certain order, eaten a certain way, and the genius of it, as I look back some, you know, some 40, 50 years later was everything was from the garden, everything was from the local butcher, everything was prepared the way she was taught in the 1920s and 19th.

Stephen:

Nothing had changed. The ingredients were all whole. You know you could tell they were whole because sometimes you forget about something. You go in the fridge and go oh my God, what is this. Did you steal that from a, a medical lab somewhere, because it looked like there was literally something growing that shouldn't be in the oils that she used in the fats?

Stephen:

I recall, as we talked about before, my grandfather used to slice off pig lard in giant thick slices as thick as a waffle and eat that with freshly baked bread that was handmade by my bubba. So there was no, no, there was no, uh no impurities in that bread whatsoever. The only yeah, it was just, you know, unless you want to call yeast to impure, like in and and to this day, like I don't eat bread because I'm, I'm, I'm keto carnivore. But I certainly know, if she were here today and offered me a slice, I would certainly take it, because it's certainly healthier than a box of cigarettes calling itself cereal and some of the other things that people are eating today 100% and maybe double the butter just to make it even healthier.

Graham:

I think, at the end of the day, what it comes down to here is try and prioritize your own health and the food that you eat. Try and prioritize your children's health and the food that they eat. Only good things can come from this, and hopefully some of the things that we talked about today can inspire people to give something a try that they may not have otherwise tried. Stephen, thank you so much for another great episode and we'll see everybody next time. Thank you, everyone.

Speaker 1:

Thanks for tuning into Lessons from the Ketoverse. Join Stephen and Graham next time for more keto tips and stories to fuel your health. Subscribe, share and let's keep the keto vibes going.