Anyone have kids? How do you feed them?
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Sunny_Bunny_ wrote: »Treats don't have to have sugar.
And if they are, they can be fruit. Or any of the awesome looking things Mariah Emmerich (as linked above) makes for her little adorables.
My youngest is 14. How I WISH I would've known about this when mine were babies. You have a golden opportunity to feed your baby right starting early enough that you don't have to first break his old habits.
I'd avoid all grains and processed foods if I could do it over again.
Treats would be whole fruits and grain free baked goods with minimal natural sugars. I'd probably even cut the sugar with stevia. But mostly not sweeten things very much at all so they didn't develop that need for super sweetness in the first place.
I would only give them water and fruit infused water without sweeteners of any kind.
I feel the same. My son is 10 and it is a struggle. I wish I would have started when he was younger. There are a lot of fruits, veggies, cheeses, meats he enjoys and lately he likes trying new seafood and 'different' meats. He tried lamb the other day and he wants to try duck and bison. He ate oysters with us a couple weeks ago too. So not my son but I am happy! He however still loves his Cheetos, Doritos, cookies, chicken nuggets, Pizza Rolls, frozen pizzas, mac n cheese etc...I try to seriously limit his sugar. And he does drink a lot of water and very limited juices and soda. But I don't for example make him eat spaghetti squash as his pasta like I do if it's spaghetti night. It's hit or miss on what he'll try and I won't force him to eat something he doesn't want to try or I know he doesn't like.
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I have a 5 year old, a 3 year old and a 1 year old. My husband is paleo and I am just a healthy eater in general.
My kids eat 90% whole foods. Eggs from our chickens and banana/spinach smoothies for breakfast, turkey or homemade peanut butter on sprouted bread for lunch, whatever protein and veggie we are eating for dinner. Fruit for snacks. They think plain air popped popcorn or a banana with homemade peanut butter is a treat. That said, i do not restrict them when they go to a friend's house or have a party, so they do get kid food once a week or so. i am not trying to create an eating disorder here.
It helps if you have time to cook. Look on pinterest for kids recipes with no sugar. There are all kinds of yummy spinach, carrot and pumpkin muffins and "cookies" out there. Mostly we sweeten them with over ripe banana.
Good luck, food and kids is HARD. My kids have gone through stages when they refused to eat dinner or healthy foods. I just said, if you dont eat our healthy dinner, you will be very hungry in the morning. Usually, they give up and eat our healthy food because they are hungry. When they don't, they eat a big breakfast. They certainly are not starving even when they go through their picky stages.
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AlexandraCarlyle wrote: »
I think a definite thing for me would be to make sure as far as is possible that I cut carbs out for my kids, too....
Or am I wrong?
Are you talking about processed carbs? I do think that carbs from whole foods like sweet potatoes, quinoa, fruit, berries, beans... can benefit very active growing kids.
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They're kids! They have way different dietary needs than us. And I bet they are WAY more active than the average person condemning a normal kids diet. Mine are 5&8. They're picky as hell, and most nights it's a victory to say I got them to eat a spoonful of peas with the pound of tater tots they inhaled. I personally make two dishes every night...."take it" or "leave it". That said, it has to be something reasonable they should eat. (Unless I get the super Dad award and let them eat cereal for dinner). Between soccer, hockey, running with me and their normal never-stop-moving lives they've somehow managed to turn out healthy so far.1
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AlexandraCarlyle wrote: »I hate to sound insensitive, and I hope no-one is offended, but - I find it kinda strange that we're all pretty well established as LCHF fans, and we generally condemn carbs as being wholly unnecessary - not to say detrimental - to general well-being, and yet we're still giving it to our kids...?
I guess I'm very lucky in that I don't have any young children now, and my daughters were absolutely never picky eaters.... and my grandson loves food in all and every guise, and his mum feeds him a hitherto 'balanced diet' but wouldn't hesitate to modify that if needed - and Grandson would be happy to eat it, too!
I think a definite thing for me would be to make sure as far as is possible that I cut carbs out for my kids, too....
But I'm sure some 'kindly soul' somewhere (Doctor? Teacher?) would condemn me as a bad mother and insist the child needs them as part of a growing plan.... even though I'm living proof you don't - and that nobody else does either....
Or am I wrong?
At 7 months I wonder what one could physically eat that wasn't carbs of some sort. Plus, I'm not one to give my kids obscene amounts of junk food (and yes, I consider some food junk), but I'm also a believer that if you demonize anything to kids, especially teenagers, they'll just want it more. We all heard about that kid who used to eat junk at a friend's house because it was forbidden at theirs. I'm also not completely convinced that all grain-y carbs are necessarily unhealthy. There are people who react better to grains than others. Grains are horrible on me, not so much either of my kids. I've been lucky, too, though, because both of my kids have always been good eaters.1 -
food_lover16 wrote: »AlexandraCarlyle wrote: »I hate to sound insensitive, and I hope no-one is offended, but - I find it kinda strange that we're all pretty well established as LCHF fans, and we generally condemn carbs as being wholly unnecessary - not to say detrimental - to general well-being, and yet we're still giving it to our kids...?
I guess I'm very lucky in that I don't have any young children now, and my daughters were absolutely never picky eaters.... and my grandson loves food in all and every guise, and his mum feeds him a hitherto 'balanced diet' but wouldn't hesitate to modify that if needed - and Grandson would be happy to eat it, too!
I think a definite thing for me would be to make sure as far as is possible that I cut carbs out for my kids, too....
But I'm sure some 'kindly soul' somewhere (Doctor? Teacher?) would condemn me as a bad mother and insist the child needs them as part of a growing plan.... even though I'm living proof you don't - and that nobody else does either....
Or am I wrong?
Kids have different needs than adults do. They are growing so fast. I think that it is more appropriate for them to be on a moderate carb diet, with no added sugar and avoid the foods that are a high glycemic impact. But if you don't start them that way, it is hard to switch it especially if the other parent doesn't eat LCHF. For kids that do strict keto for medical reasons, they have to me monitored to make sure they get all the nutrition they need.
Keto Mom is someone I follow on facebook and is what I would ideally for my kids.
I agree.
I eat LCHF not because I think carbs are evil or because I think everyone should eat LCHF; I do it because I have PCOS (which my boys do not
), am most likely insulin resistant, formerly had prediabetes, and I also have MS and it was recommended for that as well. I initially tried keto just b/c I was struggling so much to lose 20 lbs but I decided to keep eating this way because it also helped with my acid reflux, GI issues and joint pain. My boys don't have any of the health conditions I'm doing it for. And like pp said, I think kids may have a little higher need for carbs than adults do.
They definitely eat low*er* carb (and just generally more healthy) than the SAD though, especially our dinners.0 -
First of all, I want to thank everyone for responding in such a civil manner. I'm still quietly smarting, perhaps (?), from some fairly harsh responses elsewhere, so it's refreshing to have people reply in comprehensively patient and gracious terms.
So thank you all very much for that.
@cstehansen , very good points, I appreciate the expansion....
@food_lover16 , yes you're quite right about that, kids do have different needs. I think I inwardly "aaargh!" when I see mothers buying their kids low-fat yoghurts, all the while giving them sweets/snacks/biscuits/lollies high-sweetener sugary sodas..... I mean, really...?
@laurenj915 , your kids eat pretty smart! I wouldn't mind that kind of food on a regular basis myself. You've given me some ideas, even!
and the carbs I'm talking about are yes, the typically so-called 'bad' carbs, like white bread, chips, crisps, doughnuts, sweet snacks, white pasta/ rice, that kind.....0 -
@AlexandraCarlyle well to be fair, if you are higher carb, lower fat is better since it's high carb plus high fat that's bad (re the parents who give their kids sweets but low fat yogurts and such).1
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my son is 8 and skinny, I feed him whole foods with carbs and I make my own food. I have enough will power to pass up the carb items he eats. Not an issue for me. He is not insulin resistant so no need for him to be on a LCHF diet like me.
I have 8-year-old twin boys. One of them is skinny and seems to be in a growth spurt. He has never eaten as much as he's been eating lately! He'll eat a whole dinner of meat and vegetables and keep asking for more food. So he might get fruit, more veggies, still hungry, so I finally give him some bread with peanut butter or whatnot.1 -
AlexandraCarlyle wrote: »First of all, I want to thank everyone for responding in such a civil manner. I'm still quietly smarting, perhaps (?), from some fairly harsh responses elsewhere, so it's refreshing to have people reply in comprehensively patient and gracious terms.
So thank you all very much for that.
@cstehansen , very good points, I appreciate the expansion....
@food_lover16 , yes you're quite right about that, kids do have different needs. I think I inwardly "aaargh!" when I see mothers buying their kids low-fat yoghurts, all the while giving them sweets/snacks/biscuits/lollies high-sweetener sugary sodas..... I mean, really...?
@laurenj915 , your kids eat pretty smart! I wouldn't mind that kind of food on a regular basis myself. You've given me some ideas, even!
and the carbs I'm talking about are yes, the typically so-called 'bad' carbs, like white bread, chips, crisps, doughnuts, sweet snacks, white pasta/ rice, that kind.....
I am not a social media or even online forum type person. This is really the only place I check or contribute. I get in trouble with family because, although I have a FB account, I might spend 5 minutes a month on it.
The reason I do spend some time here is because I have found valuable information from civil people who genuinely want to help others. I would like to help others also.3
