Is it safe for children to LC? How would you go about doing that?

I may be wrong, but I think the Hellers raised their two children on CAD/CALP, I think that they talk about it in their books. Not having children myself I'm not sure how it would work-don't know about the peer pressure when everyone else is eating sandwiches at lunch or having cookies after school......

-animaldoc

Atkins talks at some length (not a great length, but some) about this issue and sites a number of studies and also some pretty common practice for treating certain disorders in children via an LC approach.

It is becoming widely acknowledged that children going on diets is not a particularly good thing because it robs their bodies of the dietary protein and fat they need to grow and mature. Guess what types of "diets" are being referred to in that statement?

If anything, children benefit the most from an LC WOL because a high carb (especially if the sugar and fats are not controlled) leads to the generation of fat cells that the person will have for the rest of their life.

I don't "LC" my kids, however:

-they eat only whole grain bread
-yoghurt, not ice cream
-scrambled eggs for breaky (MOST mornings)
-juice is limited to 1 serving a day (water is offered first)
-REAL peanut butter only (no icing sugar hydrogenated stuff)

We let the kids have pop on special occaisions like parties and movies. We took them to a matinee last week and our 3 year old asked for milk with her popcorn (which they didn't have of course).

This way of eating has never been a hardship for our kids. We very rarely have cookies in the house but there's always a rotisserie chicken, a peice of cheese, or hard boiled egg in the fridge which they love to snack on.

My parents never let us eat junk food and I have pretty much banned sugary juices, crappy kid cereals, Dunkaroos, and food coloured crud from my kitchen.

Hope this helps!

Janice

Thanks for the imput, it was helpful.

I did read some on the Atkins site. I just thought there may have been some out there that was LCing their children. Thanks Janice, you sound like you've got it under control. Do you limit their intake of breakstuff or just the fuit juice?

FYI, our forum does have a section dedicated to LCing and children. You will find it here:

http://forum.lowcarber.org/forumdis...p?forumid=95&s=

Marlaine

Hi


My 16 year old son wanted to try LC and he did have some weight to lose so he did the induction. He did get rid of cravings, he was a big snacker of chips ,crackers,and snack cakes. I did not feel he should stay on the very low carb version since he did not have the yo-yo diet problem or anything like that. he does watch the carbs as far as snacking but he can eat his lunch at the school cafeteria as long as he eats fats protien along with his carbs. I guess he's kind in the zone its his own version now but he is aware of the carbs and I think that made it easier to see he was snacking tooooo much

just my experience not my expertise
I come here to learn

Keep an eye on his cholesterol situation - the worst combination is high fat and high carb. But, in this context, what constitutes "high carb"? I don't know. But if you monitor his levels for a while (say every six months or so to see if a trend is forming) for a couple of years you will probably be able to answer that question (at least as far as whether his carb intake qualifies as high or low) for yourselves.

Low-carbing, in the sense that you're reducing carbohydrate intake below what's recommended by the Food Pyramid, is a good idea for ALL children's good health. If your child is overweight, LC will especially be helpful.

Atkins suggests that his strict program, including Induction level of 20g carbs per day for 2 weeks, is safe. Carb Addicts does have a special program just for kids and teens. And Protein Power also has suggestions for kids as well. In all cases, it's really important to make sure that your child is consuming adequate protein -- Their metabolic needs are way higher than an adult.

The Drs Eades of Protein Power have this to say about kids and low-carbing:Atkins has some excellent suggestions listed at his official website. Here's the page on Child and Adolescent Health.

Carbohydrate Addicts has a program for kids, you can read about it here.

Hope this is helpful.

Doreen

Here is what I've found with my 6 year old.

I don't LC him on everything, but I do offer cheese sticks, nuts or fruit for snacks as opposed to cookies. Even when not doing LC, I have tended to eat LC dinners anyway and my family eats them with me. We have a great protein meal with some veggies usually. Sometimes they will have wheat bread too.

I noticed that the lack of late night sugar lets my son go to bed and go to sleep, instead of flying all over the house on a sugar high and crashing into bed.

I also use Splenda in our tea and coffee. It's usually that or milk for him.

My older son lives with his dad and we believe is ADHD. His dad although testing him high for it on the Connors scale, is more prone to think he just has a learning disability.

I hope to see if reducing his sugar and limiting his carbs this summer might help a bit. He is here for 8 weeks which should be plenty of time to tell. I am just afraid that his dad will not continue even if there are good results and that he will be worse off...

what do you all think?

Shelley

Hi Shelley!

I strongly suspect that my 7 year old daughter is Attention Deficit and while I don't have her on a low carb program, I have eliminated most of the processed sugar from her diet with great results. I now offer her cheese, yogurt and low carb fruits for snacks instead of chips and other junky food with the one exception of ice cream on Friday after school (it's a tradition). Her teacher is reporting that she is doing much better on this....able to pay attention for much longer periods of time without becoming distracted. Since she could also stand to lose a few pounds, I'm encouraging her to eat more meat and veggies and less breads and carby foods. What helps is that she seems to understand the problem that she has with sugar and that makes it much easier to keep her away from it, most of the time anyway...she's still a normal 7 year old with a sweet tooth! LOL You didn't mention how old your older son is, but 8 weeks should be a long enough time to see if this produces a good response from him and for him to see the benefits as well. Perhaps if his dad sees how well he's responding, he'll be more inclined to keep it up once summer is over or maybe your son will just want to keep it up on his own.

Thanks Lisa!

My son is soon to be 9 and while I think he will feel better on a lower carb eating path, I don't think he has the insight to understand that he feels better because of what he's eating.

If he were here year round, I think I would be more confident about trying anything diet related. I have a fear that he will go back to eating a ton of sugar and have a carb crash of sorts, making the situation worse.

But I think I have decided that I will in fact lower his carbs just a bit and reduce his sugar intake. If I see a noted change, I will make sure to tell his Dad and probably his family doctor, even before he goes home. Hopefully, if there is an improvement, the pattern will stick there too.