Low-Carb Kids?
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Lmao. for real?0
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Geez. I don't think anyone is being a "nazi." (I shudder at the casualness with which that word is thrown around, but whatever.) But again, if this were a question reframed as "My kid refuses to eat all bread, rice, pasta, and other starchy carbs, but loves eggs, fish, meat, and eats loads of veggies at every meal and seems to be healthy and vibrant, should I be worried?"Stop, just stop with the anti-carb nazi ridiculousness.
I highly doubt your response would be "Force feed that kid some potatoes lest he get a carbohydrate deficiency."0 -
People without kids always have the best ideas on raising kids. :laugh:0
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My opinion for myself and my children is 95% of all carbs must be complex carbs and whole grains and fruits and veggies (at least when I can afford it, you have to admit the cheap generic white bread and pasta and white rice is always cheaper then the brown and 100% whole wheat sometimes money gets tight and I buy the white rice)
My kids have ONLY ever eaten 100 whole wheat since they started eating bread. And if the cereal bags didnt have the WIC label under them then I didnt buy it. I tell them that I am not giving them a candy bar on a spoon for breakfast. I dont regulate what they eat at school though. I dont buy chips, soda, cookies, crackers and candy. For one thing it is empty calories and basically I am throwing my money away, and those are luxuries that I cant afford. They get soda if we go out to eat which since we dont have a lot of money isnt often.
What I do buy is all you can eat baby carrots, apples bananas, cucumbers, squash, celery and what ever fruit is in season. My kids go CRAZY over peaches, nectarines, mango, asparagus, artichokes. They can eat a peice of fruit or baby carrots or raw broccoli as a snack WHEN ever they want. With out even having to ask. Even if it is an hour before dinner. And I buy the stuff to make homemade cookies, and cakes. Now I dont have the time to bake all the time but the kids are allowed to whip up a cake or a batch of cookies or lemon bars a couple of times a month. So they are not deprived. And their favorite cereal is frosted mini spooners. Go figure. This is the way it has always been since the beginning. They know nothing different. Now I dont go crazy and all organic and stuff. Maybe I should but well that is another level of money that I dont have to I try to do the best I can with what I have.
So I agree that kids need carbs, everyone needs carbs but they should be the right carbs. Thats just my opinion.
Common sense. This post has it.
I wonder if anyone has tried to track how many calories kids burn during the day. I bet it's ALOT consider how much time they have to run around and go about the task of growing up. Kids are different than adults.0 -
I tell them that I am not giving them a candy bar on a spoon for breakfast. I dont regulate what they eat at school though. I dont buy chips, soda, cookies, crackers and candy. For one thing it is empty calories and basically I am throwing my money away, and those are luxuries that I cant afford. They get soda if we go out to eat which since we dont have a lot of money isnt often.
I like this and would like to raise my future children similarly. I don't plan to restrict what my future children eat, I just plan to steer them toward making the correct food choices. I would do the same with fitness - I'm not going to force my child to participate in sporty activities but I'm going to lead by example, and I happen to enjoy playing sports.
I do agree that Americans eat too many carbs in general. I don't think anyone really needs 50% of there calories from carbs. But I also don't feel comfy with ketogenic diets for the average person.
I am, however, inclined to be cautious. Our ancestors might have evolved so that they could survive long winters without grains/fruits/veggies/nuts/yams but that doesn't mean that was the ideal state for them to be in.
Absolutely. We SHOULD be very cautious. I don't necessarily think a low-carb diet is appropriate for anyone who isn't what I like to call "carb-overloaded". I was raised with very little knowledge regarding proper macronutrients and as a result subsisted on plain white bagels, ramen noodle soup, and spaghetti for many meals as a teenager with a side of vegetables and sometimes fruit. I feel like this is probably a very common diet for American culture as simple carbohydrates are SO EASY to prepare most of the time - but in hindsight, I know that's not the kind of diet a child will thrive on. So I think when a person asks about potential low-carb diets for kids, it would be insane to think you'd have a kid on an Induction-type diet while raising him. In defense of Atkins, the book (and Dr. Atkins) promote eating a wide variety of low-glycemic fruits, vegetables, nuts and proteins. Nothing about the maintenance phase is extreme - it's simply lower-carb than the food pyramid, and much moreso.
I guess in short, my point is that it's never wrong to plan or be concerned about what nutritional information you impart to your children. I don't plan to demonize carbohydrates but rather keep processed food out of my home in general. If my future child wants to attend a birthday party and return home from a multiple-chocolate-cupcake sugar high, so be it. Autonomy with regard to life choices is so important for children, but it's also important to lead by example.Good Lord, I would not deprive my children of pasta/rice/breads before an athletic event, nor do I deprive myself. Let kids be kids, for goodness sake! Do not feed them crap sugar cereals and chicken nuggets, but sheesh, let them have a cupcake.
For dinner tonight, my 4 kids (and we, the parents) ate more asparagus, onions, yam, green grapes, more raspberries and rotisserie chicken.
Stop, just stop with the anti-carb nazi ridiculousness.
I think natural fruit carbohydrates are actually way more appropriate for energy. When I played sports in high school, our coach didn't recommend that we eat a sandwich or a bowl of spaghetti before a game - she recommended that we eat an orange. Hydrating and energizing.
The dinner you mentioned is as low-carb as it gets in the maintenance phase of a typical low-carb diets, so I'm not really sure why you're calling an interest in low-glycemic eating "anti-carb nazi ridiculousness." Sounds to me like you need to educate yourself about what "low-carb" actually entails before you bash it and call it nonsense.People without kids always have the best ideas on raising kids. :laugh:
People who have procreated always think they have the best ideas on raising kids too, but look how many messed up kids (physically AND emotionally) there are out there. Quit being a prick.
Why don't we future parents just *never* think about what's best for our future children? THE AUDACITY OF TRYING TO RAISE A CHILD RIGHT BEFORE IT IS EVEN CONCEIVED.0 -
Have fun getting kids to eat low carb. Your talking very low carb anyway, which there's absolutely no need to do that, unless there are medical issues.0
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I limit bread (I dont even buy bread anymore), pasta, cereal, sugary crap, etc for my kids. I dont buy 'whole wheat' anything but that's a whole 'nother topic here....so that'd leave white stuff and that's not good for anyone, any age (except white rice, they eat white rice more than any other carb)....so it's rare. Again, bread I dont even buy anymore, pasta I'll make maybe once or twice a week...and they get sugary crap once in awhile. I'd never say you can never ever eat cookies or cake, cause that's boring and unfair, but it's certainly not daily or weekly.0
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My family does a lower carb diet but not extremely low. We totally changed our lifestyle a few months ago when I was diagnosed with celiacs disease, and we cut out all gluten, refined sugar, and processed foods. I have four kids under four & we changed their diet to b/c I don't want them to grow up eating crap like I did & then have food, and weight problems. I don't feed my kids really low carb, but i'm sure their diet is lower in carbs than a lot of kids. Here is our menu from yesterday:
Breakfast:
Cut up fruit w/greek yogurt & OJ
Snack:
Chopped almonds & raisins
Lunch:
Grilled chicken tenders w/mashed up sweet potato
Dinner:
Spaghetti Squash w/no sugar added sauce, and salad.
Snack:
Homemade guacamole w/celery sticks0 -
People without kids always have the best ideas on raising kids. :laugh:
LOL!! My thoughts exactly!! :bigsmile:0 -
Oh crap. You mean that even though I am TTC I shouldn't think about how I would nourish myself and my future children?People without kids always have the best ideas on raising kids. :laugh:
LOL!! My thoughts exactly!! :bigsmile:
Super! I'M OFF THE HOOK! Bring on the whiskey and cigarettes!0 -
Oh crap. You mean that even though I am TTC I shouldn't think about how I would nourish myself and my future children?People without kids always have the best ideas on raising kids. :laugh:
LOL!! My thoughts exactly!! :bigsmile:
Super! I'M OFF THE HOOK! Bring on the whiskey and cigarettes!
Well, you can have all the thoughts in the world about serving your kids healthy foods all the time. But the cold hard reality is that some kids (not all as my 6 yo daughter is pretty good about eating decent. she likes salad for cripes sake!) won't eat some foods. Some of it is kids being kids and some of it is parents caving into kids only wanting to eat the good tasting stuff.0 -
People should be a little nicer about this. With that said, I raise my children to eat exactly what I do, and I eat low carb. They are 2 and 3, they eat low carb but I never say food is bad in any way. We don't talk about weight, I don't tell them to eat their vegetables, they just do because they don't know anything else. Yes, my children are at a normal weight I am not depriving them of any nutrition. Since I count what I eat I can kind of monitor their intake more or less. If more people ate clean with their children and didn't act like it was a chore to eat vegetables and fish maybe less children would be obese.
Agree with this for the topic. Vegatables and fish is all anybody needs0 -
People should be a little nicer about this. With that said, I raise my children to eat exactly what I do, and I eat low carb. They are 2 and 3, they eat low carb but I never say food is bad in any way. We don't talk about weight, I don't tell them to eat their vegetables, they just do because they don't know anything else. Yes, my children are at a normal weight I am not depriving them of any nutrition. Since I count what I eat I can kind of monitor their intake more or less. If more people ate clean with their children and didn't act like it was a chore to eat vegetables and fish maybe less children would be obese.
Agree with this for the topic. Vegatables and fish is all anybody needs
Sorry but my daughter won't touch fish.0 -
Kids need a healthy amount of carbs and fat for proper brain development.
Glucose is the brain's number one fuel source, that's why it will steal glucose from every possible source it can before using any ketones for fuel. A developing brain needs even more.0 -
My son is almost 4. He eats all fruits. He eats all vegetables except pickled beets and okra and I'm OK with that. He chooses veggies over anything else and can scarf down a whole cucumber in nothing flat. He likes beef, chicken, pork, elk, venison, all kinds of seafood and has eaten frogs legs, conch, octopus, and alligator.
He's not fond of pasta or potatoes. He will taste them and leave them on his plate. He asks for a sandwich, eats a few bites and then takes it apart and eats the guts and leaves the bread. He will eat toast. He likes goldfish crackers. He asks for a cookie, takes a bite or two and I find it around the house later.
We don't tell him no on any foods. He gets sweets and junk food in moderation. At the State Fair this year he wanted cotton candy. I bought a bag for him. He ate it for a minute or two and then was done with it.
As long as he's getting his milk (which he drinks), fruits, veggies, protein and fats, I don't worry about the rest. He's rarely ever sick and is taller than normal for his age and average weight.0 -
Well, you can have all the thoughts in the world about serving your kids healthy foods all the time. But the cold hard reality is that some kids (not all as my 6 yo daughter is pretty good about eating decent. she likes salad for cripes sake!) won't eat some foods. Some of it is kids being kids and some of it is parents caving into kids only wanting to eat the good tasting stuff.
... which is why it's important to start thinking about your family's health BEFORE YOU HAVE A KID. (Oh, right, we're not supposed to do that. How dare we plan.) How would kids even know what the "good tasting stuff" is if all they've ever known is a diet grounded in whole foods?
This is just idiotic. I'm annoyed at how holier-than-thou people get about parenthood, like it's some big achievement to become impregnated. I'm still on the side of the people who plan to think about their family's nutrition prior to conceiving a child. Nobody should be attacked for thinking responsibly.
Edited to add: For those of you that are mentioning the necessity of glucose in humans .... when protein is eaten in excess, the extra turns into glucose. Worry not.0 -
Well, you can have all the thoughts in the world about serving your kids healthy foods all the time. But the cold hard reality is that some kids (not all as my 6 yo daughter is pretty good about eating decent. she likes salad for cripes sake!) won't eat some foods. Some of it is kids being kids and some of it is parents caving into kids only wanting to eat the good tasting stuff.
... which is why it's important to start thinking about your family's health BEFORE YOU HAVE A KID. (Oh, right, we're not supposed to do that. How dare we plan.) How would kids even know what the "good tasting stuff" is if all they've ever known is a diet grounded in whole foods?
This is just idiotic. I'm annoyed at how holier-than-thou people get about parenthood, like it's some big achievement to become impregnated. I'm still on the side of the people who plan to think about their family's nutrition prior to conceiving a child. Nobody should be attacked for thinking responsibly.
Does my post have any mention of not trying to think about your kid's diet prior?
Basically, just feed your kids decent and don't be any hurry to feed them chips, soda, burgers, whatever fast food etc.....
I wouldn't try for any specific low carb plan0 -
I can only WISH my parents raised me in a lower carb enviornment -- maybe I wouldn't have ended up addicted to sugary crappy cereal, white bread, mashed potates with every meal, mac and cheese, deep fried everything, cakes, pies, donuts.
If I would have known as a kid about quinoa, millet, farro, amaranth, almond flour, whole grains etc. maybe I wouldn't have spend most so much time being morbidly obese.
There is a HUGE difference between extreme low carb -- and eating GOOD carbs, lean meats, fruits and veggies.
I would never go no carb or etxtremely low with a kid --- but a good balance and teaching them to make better choices is something you should do! If more people were thinking about how to teach their kids to eat healthier we wouldn't have so many fat kids eating crap in schools.0 -
Thanks to all who have contributed your thoughts on the topic so far. I'm definitely checking out the Paleo family blogs, as some have recommended. Actually, the maintenance phase of a lot of these Paleo diets is pretty close to what I had in mind for kids going low-carb--i.e. not super low-carb, so as to allow some fruits and vegetables, but definitely far below the 6-11 servings or 300g that currently passes as conventional wisdom today. I apologize for not clarifying this to start with and letting some people's imaginations run wild! So these blogs might be just what I'm looking for.
As my wife and I get more serious about starting a family soon, I often think "what I would do differently from how my parents raised me?" After all, this is the basic measure many of us have to go by. I feel I have great, loving, caring parents, but it doesn't mean I couldn't improve upon how they raised my younger brother and me. Nutrition is one of those aspects I look to improve upon as a future parent.
Growing up, both my wife and I were normal to skinny kids through our pre-teen years, but once our bodies changed in becoming adults, how we ate as kids only made us heavier. We both ate lot of carbs in our diets as kids growing up (probably pretty close to the Food Pyramid guidelines) and well into adulthood.
I feel a lot of how we think about our relationship with food (or the lack thereof) is taught to us as kids and ingrained as adults until we learn otherwise. My mom has end stage renal failure and is on kidney dialysis, a result of her being Type 2 diabetic and eating a lot of carbs her whole life. So as my mom's years are limited, this weighs on my mind a lot when I think about future kids, even though they are not yet born. I count myself lucky enough to have dramatically changed my dieting habits before any serious harm was done. But I keep thinking that I'd rather my kid not need to lose a 120+ lbs in their 20s, like me, to the extent I can influence their habits growing up. I think a lower-carb diet can help, but it's always a good idea to seek second opinions, even through online discussion forums.
Diabetes runs on both sides of my mom's family and my dad's. My wife's side of the family has gluten sensitivity issues and rheumatoid arthritis. So I know our future kid will have the genetic deck stacked against them, even though it may not show up as a kid, but if I can habituate my future kid with a better way of choosing foods to eat than my parents or my wife's parents did (keeping in mind our combined genetic predispositions), then maybe they'll have a better chance to lead a healthier life than my wife or me. I feel that making different food choices can greatly mitigate the expression of many of these genetic predispositions our kids will most likely have.0 -
Thanks to all who have contributed your thoughts on the topic so far. I'm definitely checking out the Paleo family blogs, as some have recommended. Actually, the maintenance phase of a lot of these Paleo diets is pretty close to what I had in mind for kids going low-carb--i.e. not super low-carb, so as to allow some fruits and vegetables, but definitely far below the 6-11 servings or 300g that currently passes as conventional wisdom today. I apologize for not clarifying this to start with and letting some people's imaginations run wild! So these blogs might be just what I'm looking for.
As my wife and I get more serious about starting a family soon, I often think "what I would do differently from how my parents raised me?" After all, this is the basic measure many of us have to go by. I feel I have great, loving, caring parents, but it doesn't mean I couldn't improve upon how they raised my younger brother and me. Nutrition is one of those aspects I look to improve upon as a future parent.
Growing up, both my wife and I were normal to skinny kids through our pre-teen years, but once our bodies changed in becoming adults, how we ate as kids only made us heavier. We both ate lot of carbs in our diets as kids growing up (probably pretty close to the Food Pyramid guidelines) and well into adulthood.
I feel a lot of how we think about our relationship with food (or the lack thereof) is taught to us as kids and ingrained as adults until we learn otherwise. My mom has end stage renal failure and is on kidney dialysis, a result of her being Type 2 diabetic and eating a lot of carbs her whole life. So as my mom's years are limited, this weighs on my mind a lot when I think about future kids, even though they are not yet born. I count myself lucky enough to have dramatically changed my dieting habits before any serious harm was done. But I keep thinking that I'd rather my kid not need to lose a 120+ lbs in their 20s, like me, to the extent I can influence their habits growing up. I think a lower-carb diet can help, but it's always a good idea to seek second opinions, even through online discussion forums.
Diabetes runs on both sides of my mom's family and my dad's. My wife's side of the family has gluten sensitivity issues and rheumatoid arthritis. So I know our future kid will have the genetic deck stacked against them, even though it may not show up as a kid, but if I can habituate my future kid with a better way of choosing foods to eat than my parents or my wife's parents did (keeping in mind our combined genetic predispositions), then maybe they'll have a better chance to lead a healthier life than my wife or me. I feel that making different food choices can greatly mitigate the expression of many of these genetic predispositions our kids will most likely have.
I think this sounds pretty reasonable. I mostly freaked out at the idea of kids living in ketosis throughout those critical developing years
If they're getting enough carbs from fruits and veggies (and I hope nuts and squashes?), then I think you'll have some healthy kids. There's nothing magic about getting glucose from grains.
I hope you will still consider consulting with an actual expert- someone who knows what a developing child needs and who can give you a target for the carb needs of your child or children (something like make sure they get 20% of calories from carbs). I'm not entirely sure where you'd find someone like that... but I'm sure they are there. You might check with your local universities.
I wish you the best!0 -
A quick Google search yields a lot of websites advising against the use of low-carb diets for children and teens, unless a child is severely overweight. Haven't really seen any in favor. The tenor of these against-arguments seems to be that carbohydrates are somehow essential to normal child development, but from what I understand, unlike proteins and fats, there are no "essential' carbohydrates. A lot of these websites also talk about other nutrients associated with carbs, but none of these nutrients seem to be unique to carbs themselves.
Of the 40 or 50 nutrition and diet books I've read, haven't seen or read too many specific studies on low-carb diets for kids, except that it's one alternative for overweight and obese kids. I'm not a parent myself, but my wife and I discuss how to think about children's nutrition as we do some family planning. So I was wondering your thoughts, for and against?
If low-carb is advisable when a kid is overweight or obese, why couldn't such an approach be adapted to prevent a child from becoming overweight or obese in the first place?
In full disclosure, I'm obviously biased toward a low-carb approach. I've done pretty well with a low-carb diet (-120 lbs & -30% body fat in 12 months so far) and it's been life-changing to the say the least.
If anyone can show me evidence that eating fats, protein, vegetables and fruit is unhealthy for a child - I will then change from the low carb lifestyle............
I believe a "controlled" carb lifestyle could benefit anyone and everyone, young, old, male, female, etc.............0 -
Clinical studies concluding that low-carb "would be detrimental to children trying to learn" or "hinder their ability to focus" would definitely be something I'd be interested in reading.
You know what? I can't find any specifically about that, so my guesses could be wrong. BUT I also can't find any studies demonstrating it's okay. The only studies I found that showed a low-carb diet was beneficial in children were studies on childhood obesity, childhood diabetes, with children who are epileptic, or with children who have a GLUT1 (Glucose 1) transporter defect.
Do you want to chance it? If you don't know that it's okay, why would you risk it? Especially when it's WELL ESTABLISHED that glucose is the optimal fuel for neurons.
Edited to add: I study Alzheimer's disease in the adult brain. I don't know a ton about the child's brain. So my guesses are 'educated guesses' but I they are still guesses. This is not my area of expertise.
There was an article by Emily Deans, MD, from Psychology Today that I bookmarked awhile ago that seemed to suggest that the brain and body might actually function better on ketones (i.e. in the absence or restriction of carbs) instead of glucose: http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/evolutionary-psychiatry/201104/your-brain-ketones... Doesn't sound to me like glucose really is the preferred fuel for the brain after all....Ketosis for the body means fat-burning (hip hip hooray!). For the brain, it means a lower seizure risk and a better environment for neuronal recovery and repair.
Yes, the brain functions better off fats, than carbs. Carbs are not a necessity for any human being. And the reading I have been doing and under the advice of my Doctor is that those people that eat higher fat eating plans tend to have less tendencies toward developing Alzheimers later in life.
This is provided that you are eating WHOLE foods. Fats, proteins, vegetables, fruit, nuts seeds.
As I mentioned in my previous statement..................If anyone can show me clinical and scientific evidence where people can not thrive on fat, protein, vegetables and fruit - I will change my stance and change from the low carb, aka Paleo lifestyle.
My sister feeds her kids (ages 2 and 6) a controlled carb lifestyle. My nephews have never had fast food, ask for yogurt, fresh fruit, vegetables, etc. She does not feed them grains either.
My nephew started kindergarten this year and the teacher sent a note home saying Thomas wouldn't eat his lunch. He sauid he didn't like white bread because it didn't have a taste and I can't eat that stuff. Since then my sister packs his lunch for him, no more school lunches because according to him they are yucky.0 -
^ I'm really pleased when I hear stories like that - kids making wise nutritional decisions on their own, even if it's merely taste-based.
Whoever posted about their son leaving partially-eaten cookies about the house - SO CUTE.0 -
Yes, the brain functions better off fats, than carbs.
Grrr. I wish people wouldn't post things like this. I don't want to offend, but dam' it, I'm a neuroscientist (a neuropharmacologist to be exact) and brains absolutely do not function better on fat than carbs. No way. Never. The fat is converted to sugars that the brain can use. Neurons use glucose, ketones, lactones, and glutamate for nutrients (I think that's all... I could be missing something). I don't think they ever use fatty acids or cholesterol without converting it to one of those other nutrients (and the neurons don't always do the converting. A lot of that are done by support cells called astrocytes, but that's not important for this conversation). Their preferred nutrient (the one they are most efficient at processing, the one that produces the most ATP for their efforts) is glucose.
Seriously... enough with the pseudo science.
I can and do accept that there are health benefits to a low-carb diet for some people.
Let me repeat that: I can and do accept that there are health benefits to a low-carb diet for some people.
There's science to back that claim up. I don't know enough about the science to say why the low-carb is better. I'm pretty sure it's a whole-body benefit, as in it does enough good for the other tissues by keeping blood sugar steady that the negatives are outweighed by the positives. If I had to guess, I'd say it has more to do with insulin levels than with blood glucose levels. Yes, insulin controls blood glucose, but it does other things too... and it does have an impact on brain tissue. So while your brain is not directly using the fats and proteins in a high fat/protein, low carb diet, it might be happier if there's a steady amount of insulin around rather than the dips and spikes normal in a high carb diet.
Anyway.. sorry about the grumpiness that crept in. It just really erks me when people use fake science to back up their points when the real science is right there for them to use any time they want.0 -
I beg to differ on the subject where the brain utilizes fuels from fats better than glucose. There are plenty of well known DOCTORS that also agree with this.
Quoted by Dr Sears:Fats make up sixty percent of the brain and the nerves that run every system in the body. So, it stands to reason that the better the fat in the diet, the better the brain. So, with all the fat eaten by the average American, why don't we have more geniuses in this country? The average American brain is getting enough fat, but it's not getting the right kind of fat.
http://www.askdrsears.com/topics/family-nutrition/dha/dha-brain-foodFat
Roughly 50 to 60 percent of the brain’s overall weight is pure fat (the rest is a mixture of protein and carbohydrates). The brain uses fat as insulation for its billions of nerve cells. The better insulated a cell, the faster it sends messages and the speedier your thinking. Getting enough healthy fat in your diet is essential for brain health — but not all fat is created equal. (For more on how healthy fats benefit overall well-being and weight loss, see “All About Oils” and “Weight Loss Rules to Rethink” in the April 2007 and October 2006 issues, respectively.)
Like your car’s engine, your brain relies on good fuel. Put in high-quality gas and it’ll purr like a well-honed machine. But feed it junk and it spurts and sputters like a clunker. Good fats are premium gas for the brain. Any source of omega-3 fats, such as walnuts, flaxseeds, flaxseed oil, or dark, leafy greens, will help your brain run smoothly. But fish provide the brain with its favorite fat, docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) — which accounts for roughly half of its overall fat content.
“DHA is far and away the most important nutrient for brain health,” says neurologist David Perlmutter, coauthor of The Better Brain Book (Riverhead Books, 2004). A June 2006 study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition bears that out: People who ate an average of 2.7 servings of fish a week reduced their risk of suffering from Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias — illnesses that result in brain function decline in 4.5 million Americans — by roughly 50 percent. (For folks who don’t eat fish, and for people who are concerned about mercury contamination, such as women who are pregnant or wanting to conceive, as well as children, algae-derived DHA is a good alternative.)
On the flip side, bad fats are the brain’s rotgut gas. These saturated and trans fats — plentiful in processed foods, red meat and whole-fat dairy products — inflict double damage on the brain. Bad fats make bad cellular insulation, which creates sluggish thinking.
Deprive the brain of enough healthy fats, and memory and learning suffer. In an April 2007 American Journal of Clinical Nutrition study, researchers monitored the diets of 2,251 people for nearly 10 years and discovered that those who ate the least good fat were most likely to experience a loss of “verbal fluency,” a marker of brain health.
When it comes to good fat, it’s OK to indulge, says Perlmutter, who recommends looking to the Mediterranean diet (rich in whole foods and olive oil) for inspiration. “Too much fat is better than too little, and nothing is worse for the brain than a fat-free diet.”the brain will be fine without these carbohydrates, because it runs perfectly well on ketone bodies, glycerol, and protein-derived glucose.
Many people don’t understand what ketone bodies (or “ketones”) are, confusing it with a dangerous condition called ketoacidosis. Dr. Eades, however, provides a clear explanation of why ketones are good.
“The liver requires energy to convert the protein to glucose,” he writes on his blog. “The energy comes from fat. As the liver breaks down the fat to release its energy to power gluconeogenesis, the conversion of protein to sugar, it produces ketones as a byproduct. And what a byproduct they are. Ketones are basically water soluble (meaning they dissolve in blood) fats that are a source of energy for many tissues including the muscles, brain and heart. In fact, ketones act as a stand in for sugar in the brain. Although ketones can’t totally replace all the sugar required by the brain, they can replace a pretty good chunk of it.”0 -
*sigh*
Yes, there's a lot of fat in the brain. But fat cannot DIRECTLY supply FUEL for making ATP. It must be converted to something else.
Do you understand the distinction? Nothing that I said contradicts your Dr. Sears. Dr. Sears erred (in my opinion) in using the 'fuel' analogy- it's clearly causing confusion and making you think that our brains are burning fat for energy- but he (or she?) is right that our brains need the right kind of fats to be healthy. But our brains are not making ATP directly out of fat. That fat has to be converted to something else to make ATP.
If you want an analogy, it might be better to say that fats are like oil instead of gasoline. Oil can be converted to gas, but in it's unconverted state, it is used to lubricate the car. It's not used to propel the car forward.
Similarly, fats are extremely important for brain physiology, but in their unconverted state, they're not providing energy for our brains.
To say that our brains use fats for fuel more easily than they use glucose is patently false. It's simply wrong. That's not my opinion. That's just plain fact and if you cornered Dr. Spears on it, I'm sure the good Dr. would agree.
What does our brain use fats for? Among other things, it uses those fats to form healthy cell membranes, healthy myelin sheaths (that 'cellular insulation' Dr. Spear mentions), and signaling molecules. It converts those fats to cholesterol and makes hormones out of them. It does a lot of things with fats, but it does not burn them as fuel without first converting them to something else.
I'm also not arguing that our brains can't run on ketones. They can. That doesn't make ketones the neurons preferred choice.
Again... another analogy. If I handed you a whole bunch of Euros, could you use them? Sure. Of course. You can use them as currency. But you'd probably rather have dollars.
And for the record, I am a doctor too (a PhD, not an MD). Or maybe I'm some ugly dude sitting around in my underwear pretending like I know a lot just for kicks and giggles. It's the internet after all.0 -
We take the approach that whole foods are our main source of food. We do eat some bread and bread products but we mill our own flour so everything is as whole grain as possible. That said, I try to encourage them to eat more fruits, vegetables, nuts, beans etc than bread products. I personally tried a very low carb diet and it didn't suit me well so I went back to moderate carbs after a few months. I just missed my green smoothies too much! They are what turned my health around and I could feel it when they were missing. My carbs are around 100g a day and I get plenty of fruits and veggies with this. I don't monitor my kids nutritional profiles but they are aware of the types of foods they should eat more of.0
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^ Moderate is the key. I don't understand why Low carb proponents seem to go out of their way to insist that there is only low carb, and high carb. I don't believe in eating low or high anything for optimal health, I eat moderate fat, moderate carbs, and moderate protein. Whole foods are more important than any particular macro.0
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Yup. For some reason when opposing parties argue, extremes are more often that not used as examples to get their point across...........neither extremes being optimal. imo^ Moderate is the key. I don't understand why Low carb proponents seem to go out of their way to insist that there is only low carb, and high carb. I don't believe in eating low or high anything for optimal health, I eat moderate fat, moderate carbs, and moderate protein. Whole foods are more important than any particular macro.0 -
:flowerforyou:
4) Do not attack/slam/insult other users. The forums are here so that members can help support one another. Attacks or insults against each other takes away from the supportive atmosphere and will not be tolerated. You can discuss the message or topic, but not the messenger - NO EXCEPTIONS. If you are attacked by another user, and you reciprocate, YOU will also be subject to the same consequences. Defending yourself, defending a friend, etc. are NOT excuses. Violations of this rule are taken very seriously and may result in being banned without warning! If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all.
Keep it clean, keep it nice.
If someone attacks or insults you the ONLY answer is for you to report it so us mods can take care of it.
This is an important topic, which has a lot of value for MPF members, new and old.
Thank You
AWTY
MFP Moderator:flowerforyou:0
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