“More Carrots Please!” How the Whole30 has affected my kid!

My toddler hasn’t had fries in 21 days. That is likely the longest stretch she has gone since she was about 14 months old.

I want to be transparent here: I am giving her special treats here and there and she certainly is not on a Whole30 – but her diet is much cleaner now. Not completely Paleo, but close. That being said, she definitely has missed some foods.

How could I possibly know that? Well, here are a few examples:

At dinner a few nights ago, my kid says, “I want a waffle.” Just out of the blue she says that. These were our go-to breakfasts – and not a syrup-covered eggo either, a Kashi Blueberry with some whipped cream, but still… a waffle all the same.

When she was rummaging through our pantry looking for something to snack on – she asked for the bread. Bread is NOT and was not a typical “snack” food around here – but she wanted it. AND… after gymnastics class last week when Daddy took her to lunch and said, “what do you want for lunch” she replied with “BREAD!”

When we decided to treat her with a waffle for breakfast, she about sprinted from her crib to the breakfast table yelling “Waffle!!! Creeeammm!!” I think she was a tad excited!

So, you get the picture. Her diet has changed. And while she still occasionally asks for some of the old foods she likes…

She has started to ask for more of the GOOD STUFF! Examples…

Before this journey getting her to eat any raw veggies was pointless and frustrating. Now, she happily eats raw spinach and raw carrots and recently she has asked for MORE! She ate her weight in raw carrots yesterday – I could hardly believe how much she liked them.

An amazing thing I have noticed about babies/very young kids – even before this journey – is that their bodies are still not messed up (too much) so they have a natural craving for what they NEED. Some days she would eat a LOT of meat and not as much fruit and veggie, other days she would hardly touch the meat and eat all the veggies and others she would skip everything and pile on the bread or potatoes or fries. The point is – I LOVE that her body is starting to crave healthy stuff and that she is asking for more things like carrots!

Also, after dinner she used to get a “dessert” or small treat if she ate her dinner well (at least SOME of her veggies, meat and starch). These treats would range from a couple of marshmallows to Nilla Wafers or M&Ms. NOW… after dinner she asks for fruit (pineapple most recently) or Banana “Sandwiches” are a new favorite (almond butter and banana) and dark chocolate covered blueberries!

This progress that I have seen in my toddler is so important to me! It’s been a great journey so far for me personally, but starting to see the healthy changes in my daughter makes this journey even better!!!