Hardcore Paleo and dragging the kids

With 2 years of Paleo eating under my belt, it's time to shake things up and tighten up loose ends. Paleo has been a life saver for me. I have been eating fast and furious under the guise of Paleo. I am adamant about staying away from grains (although, HFCS and corn starch will worm it's way in every now and then), legumes, no dairy (except for butter), but my down fall is sugar. I LOVE dark chocolate bars, bananas, and Heavenly Organics mint patties. So, it's time to get my home ship shape for the new year. Back to basics. With the holiday season coming to an end, I am deep in planning mode. I thought I would try to get the kids involved by letting them help with the weekly menu planning. My middle boy is 6 and he is very excited to help plan the menu and go shopping, not only that, he wants to cook too. I am thinking this will help the kids adopt better eating habits. My youngest is a sugar junkie. For him it's all sugar all the time. My biggest obstacles are going to be the other adults in the house. My beloved hubby, The Colonel, has some issues in eating Paleoized lunches, because he is on the road so much, he has to be able to eat with his hands, not only that, everything has to be served cold. He does like soup, usually the creamy type. He's is OK with dinners, Paleo or not, so that isn't a big hurdle. In fact, dinner seems to be perfectly wonderful for all parties. Another major barrier is going to be my In-laws. My FIL lives with us 24/7, and is a sucker for the kids. He also loves his cookies, cakes, candy and mocha coffee. Add to that a 1/2 gallon a day milk jones (Yes, 4 gallons of milk a week, all by himself). He is thinking about joining us on the hardcore Paleo plan, but doesn't want to give anything up. I did mention to him about going Primal instead (so he can keep his milk and the cheese he loves so much). I was going to give him my Kindle to read The Primal Blueprint, but then my Kindle went klaplooy. Top that all off with the fact that he won't sleep at night, and eats every 2 hours (usually toast). My grown son will just eat whatever he wants. I try to guide him more towards Paleo because he is autistic, and getting away from grains and sugar just might help, but he doesn't want anything to do with the whole idea. We will be using different resources for our menu. Whole Family Strong is a great place to get some great ideas, plus she has all ready put together a meal plan for 30 days! I also have plenty of Paleo cookbooks (too bad many are on my Kindle, but I can access my Kindle cloud with my computer and cell phone, so all is not lost). Not only will we be changing up our diet, but adding a daily exercise routine. In the mornings, we will be doing a 5 minute plank routine, and in the afternoons, use Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred (which I have done a couple of times before). The best thing about the Shred is that you are in and out in 20 minutes. And since my kids are kids, we'll be doing plenty of park time as weather permits. We have a park about a 1/4 of a mile down a bike path behind our house, so it's a nice walk added to park play. For me, all this is to get a grip on the 15 lbs. that I gained since using hCG a year ago. For the Peanut (my 4 yo) it's an experiment to see if I can get him calmed down (he's pretty hyper), and for the Pookers (the 6 yo), strictly for health reasons, hopefully I can get some meat on his bones, he is super skinny. All this is going to start on January 1st. The kids are mainly going to be mad about losing their morning hot chocolate (quality drinking chocolate is very expensive and a bit out of our reach), the every now and then trips to MickeyD's, and the organic, but not good for you Honest Kids juice drinks. I will be posting our progress. Hopefully, with the accountability and support, we can stay the course to health.