It's not a radical change. It makes sense. Not only is that food toxic for anyone's health, but your family on both sides don't have the genetics to handle sugar and starch. That's the same with my family.

I feel that there will be many benefits to cutting out the sugar. For the first 2 weeks, your kids will probably complain and be very moody because there's none of the "good stuff" in the house and they'll go through the same sugar withdrawals we all had to. That's not a bad thing though because it's the same thing as detoxing from heroin or amphetamine. It just has to be done.

While this is going on, you can sneak in a bunch of paleo and/or low-carb comfort food. Ginger pork or Pot roast recipes from MarksDailyApple's website. You can do heavy cream with splenda and frozen strawberries for dessert (if you're not dairy-free). Remember, no one in the house is on a diet. Everyone's eating real food all the time and they'll feel better for it in the end.

Also, and this is very important since your kids are still young, I am going to tell you that since I cut my carbs way back a year and a half ago, I do not have ANY tartar on the back of my upper and lower front teeth. This never happens, they are normally dark brown on the other side and the hygienist has to scrape tons of it off whenever I go in for a checkup. My last checkup, she had nothing to scrape. She just kind of felt around for a second and went onto the next step in my cleaning. Also, I had no cavities. This has not happened since I was in 4th grade. Every time I went to the dentist, I had at least 2 or 3 cavities. Now, none.

I'll also add that I drink coffee. But my teeth are sparkling white nonetheless. My theory is that since there's no tartar buildup from the bread, sugar, pasta, chips, potatoes, you name it... that there's nothing for the coffee "pigments" to stick to. I dunno how true that is, but I know one thing for sure. My teeth are whiter than they were 2 years ago.

Anyway, I'm sure you can add many more reasons for why cutting out sugar will actually make your family happier, more energetic, and have a better experience in medical/dental checkups.