My oldest (11yrs boy) has attention defecit and sometimes can be quite difficult, especially now that he's on a rotation in middle-school. We have opted not to medicate him as he extremely bright and don't want to risk deminishing any of his positive experiences (music, art).

Dr.'s Heller mentioned briefly in CAD that LC could help control ADD impulses in overweight kids but my son is about 12 pounds UNDER-weight. The last thing I want is to have him lose. However, it would be great if he could gain more control over his impulses simply through his diet. It has a pretty negative effect on his social relationships - he has finally made some friends that we DON'T know their parents and they have to hang out with him, poor thing.

Anyhoo, does anyone know if LC would cause him to lose weight which is something I consider unsafe for him or if the chemical changes would be very positive?

Because your son is already underweight I don't know that the traditional LC diet would be the best for him. However you may be able to modify it. Sugar for one is no good for anyone, let alone a child with ADD. I myself have ADD and found that this way of eating helps with concentration. Does your son have ADD or ADHD? I am no longer on medication, but I am an adult and body chemistry changes as you get older and with change of diet. You might also want to look into other carbs that don't give such an insulin spike. You can look these items up both in Atkins and the Zone books. I think the Zone goes more into glycemic index spikes. Using this method you would be able to keep his carbs up enough so he wouldn't loose weight and the insulin spikes down so he would be able to control himself and his thoughts better.

Hope this help,
Heather

Mrs. Oz, hi and welcome to the forum

I suggest you take a look at this thread - it deals with children with ADD who are LCing.

Also, I found this doing a web search on ADHD and Children and Low Carb - it's long but informative.


The ADD-Holistic Discussion Group can be found here:
http://www.holisticmed.com/add/addset.html


Keep in mind that when one LCs one's body tends to find an 'ideal' weight - you will not necessarily lose weight LCing.

HTH,
Nat

A growing child won't need to have such a severe carb-restriction as Atkins, and extra calories and energy can come from proteins and fats. The Zone is a calorie-restricted plan, and also low fat (only 30%).

Another program to consider is Protein Power. They recommend a somewhat higher carb intake for kids ... that includes mostly vegetables and some less-sweet fruits, pulses/legumes and occasional whole grains .. if overweight is not a concern. Here is what they have to sayYou can find out a little more info about the Protein Power program here

I'm not familiar with Carb Addicts For Kids, so I can't comment on it, but you can read about the Helller's children's program here, to see if it might be useful for you.

Doreen

My son, who is 11 and ADHD.. the distractable kind, not the tunnel version as myself
I thought he was alittle heavy, so did his doctor. He weighed 135 but is 5'2" and is big boned (Trust me, I remember his birth 12lbs 13oz!)
Recently I calculated his ideal range for body fat using Protein Power and they went like this 125-137.
Since my son's been on his version of Atkins diet (he eats what he want for lunch at school) he's lost 4 lbs. The good news its not muscle its fat. But he isn't losing it fast. It took 4 months for this to happen. My daughter cheats (She buys candy without telling me.. I find out though) She is 14. She has lost 3lbs but has more body fat, her range of weight should be 100- 116 (She is also 5'2" but is medium boned) She currently weighs 132. She is also ADHD with OCD too. My impulsive one.

What I want to stress is that the low carbing doesn't take muscle from the child and it doesn't have to make the person lose weight. I lost 45 lbs so far but then I weigh 280 now! (I used to be 325)

Something else. My kids are calmer and more, what's the work, um... more relaxed in listening to parenting.. does that make sense? They co-operate more and they wind down faster.
In the last 3 months, I've been able to get them to do chores - and no I don't bribe with food
The only thing I'm alittle concerned with is the fact my teenage daughter is developing a zit covered face... I was always told fat is the cause but I've also heard cleaning daily will help.. I'm working on that

I seem to recall that the Heller's have a book out for CA Children. There may be some more information there.

I have a book of Atkins from the 70's called The Super-Energy Diet. He advocates small amounts of whole grains and fruit for those wanting to gain weight and cleaning out all the white junk. Interesting!

Karen

I know a lot of kids with seizure disorders use the ketogenic diet instead of meds to control their seizures. Maybe it would help with ADD, I'm not sure. It is usually overseen by a nutritionist and I don't think they have problems with losing weight. Maybe you could start by eliminating sugar from his diet and see if that helps.

I don't know how legit this website is, but I found this:

http://www.notint.com/disorders.htm
Attention Deficit Disorder (A.D.D.) - Every child or adult who has a learning deficit will have some sort of concentration and distractibility problem so this is not a proper criteria for diagnosis. A.D.D. is a special L.D. program with the same cranial deficits I find in Epilepsy. My feeling is that the spontaneous hyperactivity is really a manifestation of seizure activity. Both conditions are treated the same way with N.O.T. with excellent results. Another clue is that Epilepsy and A.D.D. respond very quickly to a Ketogenic Diet (no sugar).

I just found another interesting website about ADD and diet:

http://www.kinesiology.nu/cgi-bin/h...icit%20Disorder

Well, it looks like I've got some reading to do. In mean time, I don't see how it could hurt to take away the candy and cookies. Also, what boy doesn't want his mom to cook him breakfast? I mean, he doesn't need to know I'm circumventing his Lucky Charms!

Thank you all again!

Sounds like a great start! You wont believe the difference just cutting the sugar will make!

Good luck!
Heather

You gave me a good chuckle, Mrs. OZ!
My son could down a whole box of frosted flakes in one day and ask if there is anything else for him to eat! Now that he has eggs for breakfast he has only 3 eggs. Something in sugar food makes a kid eat more than they need, that or fill them up so they don't eat the right things.. My daughter could eat some ramin noodles and not eat for the rest of the day! How are things for you?

Hi Lessara! I know what you mean, he has to be limited to 1 bowl (it's big) and then toast and peanut butter if he's still hungry (always). Today I made him the same as me - 2 egg cheese omelette. He thought that was pretty cool. I sent him to school with veggies and dip, thermos of veggie soup, 5 alive juice box and a rice crispie square. Didn't do so well with his lunch, I guess but I think I'd better move real slow on this.

Every little bit helps. Besides you don't want him to go through sugar withdrawl!

Take care,
Heather