I'm just curious what other parents' stances are on how we choose to feed our children. Learning what I have learned about nutrition since I decided to start Atkins five years ago, I've been raising my daughter (now three) to eat mostly good, whole low carb foods. She loves veggies and meat, and is a great eater for a toddler, and is lean and strong and tall for her age!

That said, I do let her have carby and sugary crap from her grandparents and on special occasions. I had to draw the line on Thanksgiving Day when her grandpa was trying to give her COFFEE (lol) but usually I will let them give her cookies or ice cream, because I don't want her to completely miss out on having sweets.

I know a lot of us who are the ones who prepare the meals for our families make concessions to the skinny folks who thrive on carby stuff. I do make carby side dishes for my husband (who is also very lean), but my daughter's plate usually reflects my own. I feel like it's important to me that she learns to eat the way I do as the norm, and to have sugary and carby stuff on special occasions.

I, myself, was raised on hot dogs and mac and cheese, and we always had Twinkies and Little Debbies for after school snacks. I had a weight problem from age seven on, and it's something I have struggled with my entire life. It's incredibly important to me that my daughter not have that same battle to fight, though I don't talk about it in those terms to her. I just tell her too many sweets will make her tummy hurt, and they are only for once in a while. The rest of the time we need to eat good food that will make us strong and healthy.

I do get a bit of flack about this from her grandparents and other people who think there's nothing wrong with sugar. I've even had people tell me I'm depriving her because I don't allow sweets in the house except for her birthday (which also happens to be Halloween, so that kills two birds with one stone. )

What do you feed your kids? How often do they get sweets and carby stuff?

I think she will get enough exposure to different foods when she is away from home...so why not keep home a safe food place. If she asks for those things at home tell her the truth...that you only eat them on special occasions otherwise the different food wouldn't be special would it?

I usually make a meat/fish and veggie for dinner and offer a carb to whoever wants it which is always my dh and youngest daughter. My oldest and I eat about the same. I dont really have to much sugar in the house anyway but they all crave a dessert sometimes.. Let me put it this way, it aint a week night thing

That's exactly how I feel about it.

If I knew then, what I know now, my girls would have been raised on low carb. Now, my grandsons do eat healthy foods but not always low carb. I did add in more protein and fat into their diet by adding bacon to the cereal for breakfast.

Good for you for teaching her young.

Samika, sorry I missed your post last night! I was probably typing my previous reply!

So dessert is just an occasional thing in your home, too. I'd probably do it more often for my daughter than just her birthday, but she's got grandparents who give her junk food as often as possible, lol

Arlene, thanks! I really am thankful I discovered low carb before I had her. In fact, I think low carb is what allowed me to become healthy enough to HAVE a daughter. I just don't want her to have to fight the weight battle as I did.

We always want better for our children...that's what makes us good parents...we care.

Exactly!

You know your own kids and their attitudes best, of course, but I would be careful about painting the carby foods as being 'special'. My mom did that due to finances because we saved necessary dollars by eating mostly just meals and fewer desserts and treat snacks. So, in my twisted mind, 'special' meant 'preferred'. She also tried to teach us that veggies were healthy and to avoid them would make us grow up sickly. Since I hated all but a few of them, I associated nasty with healthy and sweet with pleasureful eating. The one blessing has been that I've always liked meats. However, I loved sugar enough that even in the late sixties,before all the food hysteria and fads, she was aware that I had an unhealthy obsession. She tried to scare me about diabetes but didn't have enough real info to make it stick. I think she was also trying to teach me that food choices have consequences without making me paranoid or unreasonably fearful/obsessed with food. In the long run, I found that being able to procure the foods I LIKE made me feel in control of my world, so in my young adult years, I gravitated to them at every opportunity; and since that meant having my own car and money, I made my own opportunities.
I guess if your kids are not emotionally lit up by sweets then it's okay. Just watch for signs that they seem to really look forward to the treats from their grandparents and if they do, don't preach at them that veggies are healthy if they don't like them. Instead, sit down with a list of the veggies they do like and don't, and try to add just one, every so often, by finding some way to cook them that will help add them to the good list. For example, if I had known how different cooked and raw broccoli are, I might have been convinced to eat some raw broccoli. It's so much stronger when you cook it and therefore, I still favor it raw.
I don't know what would have controlled my desperate love of sweets but I wish there had been more knowledge out there when I was a kid.

You make some good points, Ann.

It seems we had directly opposite unbringings (me with unlimited sweets and you with a sparing amount) but we both ended up overweight and unhealthy! I know a lot of what ends up happening is not the fault of the parents, but the failings of the individual, but I hope I'm building a healthy foundation for my daughter's well-being later in life.

I'm trying to not be too extreme with her diet. She loves her veggies and meat, since that's what we as a family always eat. As I said, I do let her grandparents give her sweets and junkfood, so I don't keep any of that in our house. To be a bit clearer about that- she has three sets of grandparents. My mom and her boyfriend live next door to us and see her daily. My husband's mom and her husband live in the same town as us and she sees them every weekend. My Dad and his wife come to visit once a year. I'm pretty strict with my mom about what she gives my daughter since she sees her every day. I let hubby's mom give her ice cream and such because it's only once a week, and my dad gets to give her whatever he wants since he only sees her once a year. Between all of them, though, I feel like the food police, LOL I want her to know she can eat sweets on occasion and still be healthy, but it's a difficult balance to reach with some many other people giving her things I don't really want her eating much of.

On the plus side, though, she really does love to eat what we like to call "real food." She'll happily munch away on eggplant, spinach, broccoli, etc and any variety of meat, so her eating healthy isn't really an issue! We don't have to push her to eat "healthy" I just worry about how much junk food is given to her by people who want to see a smile on her face. I think it might teach her to associate junk food with love (from her grandparents) which I feel is a recipe for disaster.

"On the plus side, though, she really does love to eat what we like to call "real food." She'll happily munch away on eggplant, spinach, broccoli, etc and any variety of meat, so her eating healthy isn't really an issue!"

I'm sure this is the key. A lot of what happens really does depend on a person's likes and dislikes. My mom would make a plain yellow cake from bisquick once in a while, just trying to give us something good without spending a lot. I had NO interest in that cake because it had no frosting. If we had any pocket change we could spend, a trip to Dairy Queen was in order. I probably would have chosen some kind of sweet treat over Christmas toys if it had ever come up as an option. Still, I was never heavy until after I got married. I was undersized, if anything.
So here I sit, borderline diabetic and 60-70 pounds overweight for most of my adult life. I still fight sugar cravings whether I cut it out of my life or not. I was solidly sugar-free for seven months of my life at one point and I still never got to where I liked it less. I didn't crave it constantly, but other low carbers got to where they didn't even like sweets anymore but I have never gotten to that point.

"We don't have to push her to eat "healthy" I just worry about how much junk food is given to her by people who want to see a smile on her face. I think it might teach her to associate junk food with love (from her grandparents) which I feel is a recipe for disaster."

I don't think you have to worry about that since she obviously knows you love her. You say you had a weight problem as a child. If you worry that she gets too much junk and you can compare what you ate with what they give her, just tell them you don't want her to take after you. Paint a picture of genetics for them and make it about her social life. Grandparents always want their grandkids to be happy and make friends.

I'm sorry I didn't see your thoughtful post on this until now, Ann.

Very good advice, there, thank you!

I have two young children also.

I teach them nutrition. How to evaluate the choices. How to eat from all the food groups. ( I tossed the food pyramid long ago but they still use it in the schools; well, now its the rainbow thing . . .) If they have had a piece of fruit, the next fruit must be a different fruit. Have they had a veg today? THis seems to always be the hardest for them to remember. Fortunately, with a reminder, a salad will be gobbled up quickly, or they cook up a head of broccali or get out ranch dressing to dip green beans into.

THis did not happen over night. I encouraged cooking by starting with baking brownies when they were about three. How to measure out ingredients ( I did it) and they stirred and poured it into the greased pan. ALl part of a plan to learn how to cook, discuss foods, and understand how foods effect our bodies to either improve our health or destroy it.

My kids get a lot of junk food in my opionion, but certainly far less than most children. At parties I will not tell my son no fritos, but it does seem that some parties provide all the junk food possible. WE try to serve one chip along with vegie platters and fruit. THe kids will eat this. School is one of my pet peeves. Despite new rules, the teachers can get around them. TOday was a snack box exchange. THad is code for junk food as it must all be prepackaged for the sake of allergies. Healthy food costs a bit more so my kids get : oranges, apples, bananas, cheesestick, yogurts ( too much sugar), sugar free peanut butter and jelly, carrot sticks, cherry tomatos, homemade granola.

It is a path to move children from eating instant oatmeal as little ones, to measuring out 1/2 cup of oatmeal to cooking steel cut oats. By 9 years old, my kids eat steel cut oats for breakfast. I also put out a side of tomatos, sometimes oranges, and find it is a good time to get in a vegetable. Who says breakfast must be void of veggies.

I struggle too with helping my kids to grow up to be healthy adults. I try to teach the nutrition so that when they are young adults they can make good choices and not pick a sweet just to rebell. Don't get me started about Halloween candy. . . .

Our kids eat whole food at home. Most of their diet consists of single ingredient (or as close as possible) foods that we buy and give them at home.

They don't eat low carb, but probably 1/2 what the typical kid eats. They eat a lot of good fats.

Away from the house, we don't place too many restrictions on them. They enjoy it but don't go crazy with it.

As far as school, I just tell them to give the answers the teacher wants them to give with regard to nutrition, not what I am teaching them.

I once wrote to a teacher that we are working on a no sugar lifestyle and she interpreted that as NO cupcakes at a classroom celebration. My kindergardener was in tears begging the teacher to call home. ANd I wasnt home to answer. What would have been the damage of 1 cupcake became batter for 2 dozen cupcakes to make it up to him. Fortunatelysince then our schools adopted a new program and NO cupcakes are allowed any more. Fruit cups, apples or pencils are allowed on the last Thursday of the month to celebrate birthdays.