LCHF and kids

amyinthetardis1231
Posts: 571 Member
Hello all. I am two months into eating LCHF and am really enjoying it. I'm losing weight, my husband is very supportive, and we've found lots of new recipes that make it easy to eat this way. I also have a toddler, and she eats what we eat. She loves the LCHF recipes we make and is even starting to show a bit of a preference for those over more common carby snack foods (regular muffins, goldfish, pb&j). What I don't know is, is LCHF ok for a very young child? Their nutritional needs are presumably different than those of an overweight adult, and I don't want to hurt her metabolism or fail to provide nutrients she needs. I also don't want to set her up for health problems by doing too high of fat with a more typical American diet. I will check this out with her pediatrician at her next appointment, but thought I'd put the question out here as well, since I know not all docs are supportive of LCHF for anyone. Thoughts?
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Kids are already more fat adapted than adults. Ss far as I know the long term side effects of a keto diet are minimal on children and mostly concerned with lack of adequate calcium. It should be easy to google since keto diets have been used to treat epileptic children for many decades.4
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@anglyn1 - I hadn't read that article before, but it mirrors my own thoughts... My thought when this question comes up is always, "if it is healthier for me, why would it NOT be healthier for my child?" To me, that's the way my brain works...
Kids don't need sugar. They don't need junk. And that's the majority of what we "give up" when eating this way. Arguments can be made on all sides of whether there are benefits to wheat/grains, and certain ones, maybe, but modern wheat is a problem, I don't think anyone disputes that anymore...
@amyinthetardis1231 - My biggest statement to you would be that if LCHFMP supports a healthy metabolism, why would you want to start your child off with anything else?
zerocarbzen.com should also have a resources on children eating this way for life and health!!!4 -
We just eat food. Food is good for kids.
Is the question "Will she suffer some terrible health risk if she doesn't eat grains and sugar?" I don't think so.
Let her eat all the meat and non starchy veggies she can handle. Don't force feed anything. None of this "clean your plate nonsense". Give her the advantage none of us had. To not get hooked on sugar and let her developing brain flourish in a high ketone system where it can work most effectively.
Allow fruit to be dessert. And leave candy reserved for rare occasions and be careful not to glorify it as being so special...
I wish I knew what I know now when my kids were little. Things would be very different4 -
Sunny_Bunny_ wrote: »I wish I knew what I know now when my kids were little. Things would be very different
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Interesting article simplified - showing higher fat is healthier for children even very young ones. They NEED it for proper brain and neurological development.
npr.org/sections/thesalt/2013/03/19/174739752/whole-milk-or-skim-study-links-fattier-milk-to-slimmer-kids
Although some docs still don't get it as the article shows.2 -
My kid has pretty much steered himself into this, even before me. His natural inclination is to eat more meat, veggies, and cheese than grains. He still gets a sandwich in his lunch most days but it's also packed full of lunchmeat and lettuce, both things we eat on this diet. I have always limited his sweets but he does still eat them. I'm not forcing a total keto life on him but he mostly eats that way anyway. I'm not a doctor, I don't know about all the science behind it but I can tell you that he's always been perfectly healthy and grows like a weed.2
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Sunny_Bunny_ wrote: »I wish I knew what I know now when my kids were little. Things would be very different
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Me too. So vey much.1 -
KnitOrMiss wrote: »zerocarbzen.com should also have a resources on children eating this way for life and health!!!1
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Sunny_Bunny_ wrote: »I wish I knew what I know now when my kids were little. Things would be very different
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My biggest concern in whether or not keto/lchf is ok for her is not about her missing out on grains and sugar, it's about her being able to store and use fat she needs for healthy development. An adult who's already developed probably has somewhat different nutritional needs than a child who is growing every day, so I want to make sure I'm not putting her in a place where she's burning bodyfat instead of getting what she needs for brain development, if that makes sense? I'm overweight, I need to burn stored fat. She's a skinny mini and I want to make sure she gets what she needs to grow. She's never had candy and she drinks mostly water, with very limited and watered down juice. She gets an Oreo every once in a while. She does like fruit so she gets that regularly, and she eats some higher starch vegs like sweet potatoes. She generally eats what we do, and we don't force a clean plate. When she's done, she's done. I also let her snack on Cheerios and goldfish, but not to excess. We may stay on full fat milk long term, or only drop to 2% at lowest. So far she seems to be still growing and doing well, but we've had issues since she was a newborn with her gaining enough weight for her height, so I obviously want to be meeting her needs.3
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@amyinthetardis1231 - Luckily, a low carb dietary plan is kind of like a level playing field. It helps your body grown/maintain in the zone it should be for optimum health. So for underweight kids and adults, it should help them gain healthy weight. For overweight folks, it should help them lose. For already healthy folks, it should help them maintain, etc. The body wants to be at stasis, and sometimes where it determines it NEEDS to be does not meet our expectations. If your daughter is already eating that fabulously, you're leaps and bounds ahead of what most of us didn't know. Adding extra bits of good quality fats to her meals while skipping grains and added sugars, making fruits the "dessert" choice, and starchy veggies the smaller side, you're setting her up for a lifetime of awesome choices!!!1
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@KnitOrMiss Thank you, it's good to hear we're on a good path with her. She's a good eater in general, and not very picky, so I'm fine with continuing to feed her this way as long as it's giving her what she needs to grow.2
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I just have to say how proud I am of my kid - I posted in other threads before that I wished I could get her on board with this for her health. She figured it out and is doing so great! Carb goals at 106 but usually way under and always under her calorie limits - so much so that MFP won't post - But still at a very health number. We've already decided that we will be adjusting cals and macros soon. I know she's going to feel the benefits very soon. She's about a month in, little less maybe. Crazy proud of her new choices... @Sohma164
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Yes. If weight gain is what's needed and a person is allowed to eat when they want until they want, there's no reason to fear being too skinny.
My daughter was underweight, very ill and went Keto, even eating less food because the hunger control kicked in hard for her right away and still put on 30 pounds!
Now she actually needs to lose about 10 of that but she's regained her health. If a persons body needs the weight, it will happen as long as they aren't going hungry.2 -
What do you all put in your kid's school lunches? My youngest is in high school and makes her own but the other day all she packed was cheese. four different kinds, but still. She doesn't like to put in a whole lot of effort so I'm trying to keep things simple by having meats & cheeses, raw dippable veges. Just looking for some more ideas.1
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What do you all put in your kid's school lunches? My youngest is in high school and makes her own but the other day all she packed was cheese. four different kinds, but still. She doesn't like to put in a whole lot of effort so I'm trying to keep things simple by having meats & cheeses, raw dippable veges. Just looking for some more ideas.
http://www.ditchthecarbs.com/2015/02/27/low-carb-kids-6/
A list of low carb lunches for kids!3 -
What do you all put in your kid's school lunches? My youngest is in high school and makes her own but the other day all she packed was cheese. four different kinds, but still. She doesn't like to put in a whole lot of effort so I'm trying to keep things simple by having meats & cheeses, raw dippable veges. Just looking for some more ideas.
Anna makes her own lunch and she takes stuff she can eat with her fingers cold....pepperoni, cheese, salami etc. For a snack or dessert she'll take a sugar free jello or pudding. She was worried at first she wouldn't find enough to eat or get full during school but she's 4 days in and has found just the opposite. I also try to make enough dinner that there will be left over meat if she wants that.2 -
Hard boiled eggs are good too! Garlic sausage, deli meats, that kind of thing.2
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My sons lunches are shameful but I have been unable to influence him or convince my husband (who does the shopping) to buy different things.
The best I've gotten is he now buys diet drinks and fruit cups in juice instead of syrup.
Both my daughters eat low carb and my husband has significantly reduced bread and pasta... That's probably all I'll get from my boys.0 -
What do you all put in your kid's school lunches? My youngest is in high school and makes her own but the other day all she packed was cheese. four different kinds, but still. She doesn't like to put in a whole lot of effort so I'm trying to keep things simple by having meats & cheeses, raw dippable veges. Just looking for some more ideas.
Mine is 9, very tall, super skinny - actually right at the border of being too thin but it has to do with how fast he's growing taller because this child is eating me out of house and home already....I dread the teen years for this reason alone lol He has been on a kick lately where he wants subs in his lunch. Previously, he'd just want all the meats and cheeses that go on on a sub. He gets his sub (about 4in.), sometimes there is fruit but he has drifted away from fruit lately. So right now it's just the sub which consists of ham, pepperoni, sometimes salami too, no cheese and some sort of leafy green - this week it's been kale, and a bit of ranch dressing b/c he eats that on just about everything. :P (it's a the Marzetti's Simply Dressed so low carb, low sugar).
He mostly drinks water sot that goes in his lunches. I stopped buying milk and juice awhile ago because I was throwing money away. When he wants to switch it up, he takes hard boiled eggs, leftover sausage or even steak (cold), pepperoni (his go to lunchmeat), celery sticks, cucumbers.1
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