What’s for dinner? This is one of my favorite meals. But it’s not just for adults! If you scroll down, you’ll see a photo my 6 year-old son, River, eating his bone marrow.

Why bone marrow?

Because it is chock full of healthy fats, DHA, and fat soluble vitamins, which are all incredibly important for your kid’s brain, hormones, and nervous system. And he loves it.

Cate Shahanan works with the LA Lakers professional basketball team. In her book Deep Nutrition, she outlines four important factors proven to determine beauty and symmetry in facial development of babies and kids. Those four factors are Vitamin A, D, E, and K. Do you know what makes all those vitamins similar?

That’s right. They’re all the fat soluble vitamins.

Unfortunately, these fats are found in foods that kids are rarely eating in a modern Western diet. Let’s take Vitamin K2, for example. It keeps kids from getting calcified growth plates that stunt their growth. K2 is only found in animal-based fats. So my kids also drink bone broth, eat sardines out of the can (and drink the oil), and consume plenty of egg yolks and grass fed butter.

Wait! Why egg yolks?

Aren’t they full of cholesterol?

The fact is that your child’s growing body actually needs the cholesterol in egg yolks to make hormones and strengthen cell membranes. Egg whites without the yolks actually have higher amounts of digestive inhibitors that play a role in preventing nutrient absorption plus high amounts of avidin, a protein that can attach itself to B vitamins and prevent them from being used by a child’s body. You can read more about this in the book “Eat The Yolks” by author Liz Wolfe.

You know how walnuts are shaped like little brains? It turns out they are really good for our brains. So my twins, River and Terran, also have a big handful of raw walnuts every morning, right before they eat eggs scrambled in bacon fat or ghee (clarified butter).

What should your children not eat?

They shouldn’t eat egg whites, they shouldn’t eat fat-free cereals, and they shouldn’t eat low-fat yogurt. The latter two masquerade as a delivery system for huge amount of sugar. Low fat and high sugar intake are associated with attention issues and aggression in kids. There’s nothing to help stabilize those large fluctuations in blood sugar!

Often, if we send our kid’s to Grandma’s house, they return literally bouncing off the walls with hyperactive energy. They quickly become grumpy, irritable, and demanding. What foods do they eat at Grandma’s? Baked cinnamon rolls, low-fat chicken breast, scones, sandwiches, and other traditional low-fat comfort foods.

Children should eat energy stabilizing, fat-filled, brain food. Yes, fat-filled food! Incidentally, this is also why I test my blood four times a year, to make sure my total cholesterol stays above 200. As Paleo expert and bestselling author Nora Gedgaudas points out in this excellent presentation, a cholesterol below 200 is associated with low IQ.

You can start them early, too – very early! When my wife, Jessa, was expecting the twins, she prepared her body for pregnancy with a high-fat diet that roughly resembles the macronutrient make-up of human breast milk, which is about 55% fat, 35% carbohydrate, and 10% protein by calories. You can achieve this by including on your grocery shopping list the typical healthy natural fats, such as olives and olive oil, avocadoes, butter or ghee, wild fish, grass-fed beef, full-fat dairy, raw and soaked or sprouted seeds and nuts.

And when our twins have a hankering for something sweet? I’ll leave you with a recipe for one of our favorite high fat indulgences: coconut milk ice cream. Bon appetit!

Coconut milk ice cream base

• 1 can full-fat coconut milk (preferably BPA-free)
• 2 eggs or 4 egg yolks (yolks alone will give even more richness)
• Seeds from 2 fresh vanilla beans or 4 tbsp real vanilla extract

Flavoring options (add one or a combination)

• 1/2 cup of your favorite berries (chopped or blended to a puree)
• 1/2 cup coconut flakes
• 1/4 cup finely chopped mint
• 1/4 cup chopped nuts
• Lemon, lime, or orange zest
• 3 tbsp raw organic honey (or 1 tsp stevia + 2 tbsp honey)
• 6 tbsp cacao powder (get the right stuff, as this NaturalNews article highlights)

Ice cream preparation:

• Boil water in a pot and reduce to a simmer
• Place a heat proof bowl over pot in a double boiler fashion and pour the coconut milk in it. Add vanilla and heat until hot, but do not allow to come to a boil. If using flavorings, add them now. You can add dark chocolate at the end of the process to keep the pieces whole.
• Whisk eggs or yolks in a separate bowl. Add one ladleful of hot coconut milk to eggs, whisking vigorously. You’re doing is tempering the eggs and slowly bringing the temperature up without cooking the eggs and risking that they scramble. Add 2-3 ladlefuls of the coconut milk mixture and incorporate them to the eggs while whisking continuously.
• Take the tempered eggs and whisk in the bowl with remaining coconut milk that’s on the double boiler.
• Whisk 2 minutes non-stop to form a thick custard. Make sure it doesn’t get too hot and the simmering water doesn’t touch the bowl.
• Once custard is ready, remove from heat source and allow to cool on counter or in the refrigerator.
• You can add any other flavoring you want to use once the custard is cold enough to put a finger in it and feel comfortable.
• Let it cool even more in the refrigerator before freezing it.
• Put in your ice cream maker and follow its instructions or put in a baking dish in the freezer and stir vigorously every 30 minutes for about 2 to 3 hours until it’s set.
• Remove from freezer for 10 minutes before enjoying so it softens a bit. Serve with added coconut milk, berries, mint, coconut flakes, or other flavorings!

Ben Greenfield is an ex-bodybuilder, Ironman triathlete, Spartan racer, coach, speaker and author of the New York Times bestseller Beyond Training: Mastering Endurance, Health and Life. In 2008, Ben was voted as NSCA’s Personal Trainer of the year and in 2013 was named by Greatist as one of the top 100 Most Influential People In Health And Fitness. Ben blogs and podcasts at http://www.BenGreenfieldFitness.com, and resides in Spokane, WA with his wife and twin boys.