Thread: LowCarbing, is it ok for children?

I hope no one minds if I bring up some of these ancient posts?

I have two girls, 11 and 6, and -- like most of you -- am a busy lady so those convenience dinners...Crock Pot meals and Stoffer's Family Size Lasagne, etc...are sooo tempting. I've found that the more of those I buy the more other junk starts creeping into the house like cookies and goldfish crackers and chips. I guess the more junk you eat the more junk you crave? Of course this has really only happened a lot within the last several months since I started school. I have mended my ways though and am phasing out the unhealthy and bringing more good stuff back. Fortunately, my girls aren't used to always having cookies in the house so I have two boxes in there now that they have forgotten about, plus a bag of pretzels, a bag of tortilla chips and a bag of marshmallows. I'll bet I could throw all that away and they'd never notice!

I very rarely tell my kids what to eat or how much -- unless it's figuring how many servings everyone can have -- I just put a lot of good food in the house and on the table and they learn to trust their own bodies. I figure if I don't have junk in the house they can't eat it; it becomes a non-issue.

GSR and I have had similar experiences, and we share similar views (I think).

While my household growing up was never "Low Carb" in title, the family was never big on things like potatoes, pasta, or dessert. Pasta happened once in a blue moon (I refused to eat it as a kid). Dessert was saved for special occasions (Holidays, birthdays), and seriously - who wants to eat potatoes? They taste like cardboard. Now at 21, I'm only 5'2 and weigh nearly 200lbs.

What my parents didn't do was teach me how to be active and get me in the habit of preparing my (school) lunches at home in the morning and taking them with me, instead of buying cafeteria food (chips, candy, pop, fries, hamburgers with GOBS of ketchup [my biggest weakness]). I bought my lunch all through school, and now I do it at work. Aside from the nutritional problems this poses for me, it also takes a huge chunk out of my bank account each week ($10/day for lunch x 5 days x 4 weeks = $200/month. How many days this week did I spend that on coffee alone?)

I very rarely exercise. I walk the dog for about 30 minutes at a leisurely pace, and run to the bus stop every morning. I try to take the stairs, but I usually don't. I'm not entirely sedentary, but when I look at the difference between myself and my boyfriend (who played soccer, and baseball every year for 15 years growing up), I can't motivate myself to find active entertainment.

As children, I wouldn't worry too much about what they're eating. I'd stay away from refined sugars, but I don't think fruit will hurt them. One 1 ounce of fructose raises your blood sugar only about 1/3 as much as an ounce of sucrose, and it releases only about 1/3 as much insulin. Plus, they're going to be (hopefully) burning off this sugar really quickly by participating in highly active... activities. I think there is a very important distinction to be made between refined sugars and natural sugars (fruit, raw honey), especially when kids are involved.

TL;DR: Teaching your child about making healthy food choices and encouraging an active lifestyle will go farther in helping her maintain a healthy weight in her adult hood than ONLY having her on a LC diet now.