Hello, I wanted to follow up on this thread for any parents who may come upon it:

It's been a year since we've been *comfortably* lo-carbing - since I came here looking for advice. My daughter is now 17 and has been following a basically LC diet for a year on her own (since the last post).

I didn't mention before (didn't quite realize) that I raised my daughter on a LC diet by instinct alone until I "thought the better of it" and followed the popular lo-fat hi-carb advice in order to "preserve her health." So the baby who happily sucked down 3 "dippy eggs" and a buttered toast point re-emerged last year as a young lady who ate liverwurst for breakfast and took weightlifting in high school!

I'm not involved in her diet since this situation when we she and I had become concerned and I posted here. I have noticed since last year that she is careful to minimize carbs and that she exercises more. But also critical is that she has continued to grow! She is now what can only be described as statuesque. And even yet I can see how her bone structure, in her face, for example, will become even more defined as she matures. Sixteen is awfully young to place expectations on a body, I realize it clearly now as I see my daughter becoming an unmistakably adult human being.

To her credit, rather than wishing to "become small" like her peers, over the last year she learned to "be big" and enjoy the feeling of female strength. She said once, after school, "The other girls slip behind their desks, but I have to shove them all aside to get down the aisle!" And I boomed out: "Queens do not slip! The queen moves the desks aside and strides forth!" We both laughed, and I've kept that message up front for her, but on her own she's made wellness (strength, health through traditional low-carb eating, affirming accepting body image) her own and I couldn't be happier. No parent would wish for more!

!Best to all!