Low carb for 4 y/o? Anyone doing this with a little one?

(LeeAnn Brooks) #21

Do either of your girls attend public school? If so, I’m assuming you will pack lunches, but are you concerned at all about trading foods or them getting sweets from their friends at school?

I just completed a tutoring program with 3 other women from work and one of them would bring in a large amount of treats for the 4 kids we worked with every single time. She would give them like 3 or 4 large cookies or 2-3 cup cakes each. I just wanted to smack my head. No kid needs that much sugar, regardless of diet. I felt bad for the teacher who we passed them back to after our hour with them.

(Aimee Moisa) #22

Oh, hey, did that sound uncivil? I’m really sorry if it did. I try not to sound sarcastic when I’m being sincere but I’ve been told quite often that I just give off that sarcastic vibe. I really wasn’t arguing with you, I just thought maybe you didn’t know which particular doctors I was talking about. I sincerely believe in keeping it civil, maintaining a polite tone, but sometimes talking through the wall of my monitor just makes me sound like a witch with a capital B. Sorry if you got that from me. Not my intent at all.

(Justin Traer) #23

Mine do not but we still send lunches. I’m not concerned yet about them trading lunches… I’m more concerned that they do not eat all all. I want them to hit the lower threshold for their protein needs, after that… if they are hungry they will eat.

(J) #24

My husband and I are trying to model good dietary habits for our kids (I am recently keto -but have been a whole-foods eater for years- he is predominantly paleo). We have a 15 year old daughter and 3 year old son. The 15 year old mostly does her own thing these days, but generally makes good choices. Of course, like most teens, she has occasional candy binges and comfort foods but I have been really impressed with her personal choices as a general rule. The 3 y-o can be tougher. Mac and Cheese is his FAVORITE, so I make it for him once per week. Otherwise, he eats a little of everything. We have opted to feed him a mostly whole foods diet vs the SAD, but not force him to eat the way we do. He usually wants whatever we are having even if only in theory :rofl:, so we are hoping that modeling good habits will help him make good choices in the future.

A typical day for him is Breakfast: HB egg, a handful of berries, toast (made with organic wheat) slathered in kerrygold butter. Lunch: Turkey, cheese, berries, crackers. Dinner: Whatever we are eating or a grass-fed, uncured hot dog, or mac and cheese :wink: He gets snacks at school. They are generally healthy. He mostly drinks water though drinks a couple of oz of whole milk at breakfast and dinner.

Both kids are slim and extremely active, so we don’t have any external restrictions on the amount they eat. They seem to self-regulate pretty well.

(Justin Traer) #25

No! We are good! I think you’re very civil!

My statement “Damn, I love the civility on this forum.” must have needed a smiley face!

It was sincere! The people here are so nice, it’s almost unheard of on the Net.

(LeeAnn Brooks) #26

Yeah, anyone who hasn’t been in an elementary school recently would be shocked at how much food get thrown away. The kids barely eat anything during lunch. Not sure if they don’t care for the food, aren’t hungry at the scheduled lunch time, or are too preoccupied with socializing, but they barely touch their lunches. Doesn’t matter if it’s a school lunch or a brown bag from home.

(What The Fast?!) #27

Check out Dr Ali Miller on Instagram. She has a toddler and talks a lot about what she feeds her. @alimillerrd on Insta

(Justin Traer) #28

I hope to foster this in my children before it is removed by an over consumption of carbs and other bad habits.

(Lauren) #29

I’m hoping to teach my 5 kids a sense of balance in their food choices. This is something that was never modeled for me. I have a 15yr old boy with type 1 diabetes and a 3yr old boy with hypoglycemia issues. I also have girls ages : 13, 9, and 2.

To start with, when I went keto we eliminated all breads, pastas, sugars, grains, cereals…well, basically all white carbs from the house. We do have one bottle of honey that is used on the rare occasion that one of the boys have low blood sugar.

With the older 3 kids, when they are home, they eat the keto meals I prepare, plus have unlimited access to fruits and veggies, peanut butter, cheeses, and things like pepperoni. When they are with friends or in school, they make their own choices. Sometimes they take food with them, sometimes they eat like their friends. I’ve noticed they are making better choices with sweets though. Either picking the smallest piece or turning them down all together.

With the 2 and 3yr old’s, they eat the keto foods I make, but I also add a serving of fruit or extra veggies they like to some of their meals. Or a big spoonful of peanut butter. I also dont limit their access to fruits/veggies, cheese, peanuts/butter, or things like pepperoni. There is also a low-carb yogurt they all go crazy over. They only get a chance at sweets during the once a month visit to my mom’s house, or if a sibling bring something home for them.

For the 3yr old with hypoglycemia issues, we’ve started giving him a larger bedtime snack with peanut or almond butter. His lows were always in the morning, so that seems to have fixed the problem.

So far it’s working. They are all good weights and energy levels. They don’t try to constantly graze. They like the foods, and with getting to make their own choices outside the home they don’t feel deprived.

(Katie) #30

Danny and Maura Vega are all about it.


(Erica Ramirez) #31

Wow! I am pretty sure eliminating sugar from my 4 years olds diet has already made noticeable improvements! It’s the end of day 3. It’s been SO easy - we even went to the store today & in the checkout line she asked for pistachios instead of the candy! She’s happily chugging plain water (could be because we are in an unbelievable heatwave here in N TX) and craziest of all - at her soccer game this AM she scored no less than 10 goals! Normally she’s pretty good and gets 1 or 2 but she was an animal - she ran faster, focused on the ball better than usual and was super confident.
Of course, could be a total coincidence, but I was really impressed!
Kept thinking about how someone told me she was a “sugar bug baby” when she was a newborn - she had a vein across her nose. Apparently, in traditional Chinese medicine, this means she will be super sensitive to sugar & we should never give it to her (among other things). She’s my only one to have had it (it fades away as they grow up) and I think the sugar she was consuming affected her even worse than others. My husband said she even looks slimmer now - and I agree but I think she was retaining water, like I do so badly.
So just an update! I am so happy with the results for me and my little girl. I don’t see us ever going back! (and we homeschool until 8th grade, but are in a co-op, where she does a preschool 1x week - luckily most people there are on a different WOE than the SAD, no sugar, farm to table are really common)
A little more info on Sugar bug baby: http://holisticsquid.com/is-your-babys-blue-vein-a-sugar-bug/
And she is the very definition LOL! This girl will literally hold her breath until she passes out during tantrums :open_mouth: nothing like her older siblings!

#32

That’s awesome! She’s a beast!

#33

My 4 year old has been accidental keto most of his life.

He likes eating plain butter, heavy cream, chicken, bacon, eggs, sausage, broccoli (aka little trees) and loves salads.

He will eat fruit but stops eating it after two to three bites.

He will eat pasta/candy/fast food when offered but as he has gotten older he just wants a piece of meat, a vegetable and 1/4 cup heavy cream and he is good to go.

Loves cheese as a snack.

Drinks, water, cream, peppermint or peach herbal tea.

#34

There seems to be very mixed information out there. I am always worried about growth so I do not encourage low carb or keto until they are fully grown. This article seems to imply otherwise, that there is no reduction in growth but it seems to be observational

As opposed to this

https://www.epilepsyresearch.org.uk/does-the-ketogenic-diet-affect-growth/

After 15 months of the ketogenic diet, linear growth status declined while weight status and REE were unchanged.

I think perhaps a Whole 30 approach with dairy may be best.

I spend a lot of time in the car and I play podcasts. My kids have learned a lot and even though they do not follow a low carb diet, at least now they know sugar is bad. There is also a Fat Head Book for kids that you may want to explore, my youngest is 13 so too old for that approach. For older kids maybe watch the Fat Head movie

I make a keto dinner most nights and there is usually some cold rice they can heat up for themselves if they want or if they hate it they can make themselves a sandwich. I buy one loaf of bread and rarely bought cookies and chips before keto. I gave up on soda about 5 years ago and do not encourage artificial sweeteners for them. I cook with swerve but rarely bother making dessert, so one bag will last months. About the worst thing we have is breakfast cereal, have not decided whether to phase it out when they get back from camp. I do have fruit available but do not push it.

I would start by giving up added sugar in foods (whether you add it or the company does), eliminate seed oils and snack carbs such as chips and eventually artificial sweeteners, if you are doing carbs then more paleo sources rather than grains and then evaluate how she is on that plan

(Erica Ramirez) #35

This is pretty much exactly what we are doing and it is going really well. We see some kind of improvement every single day, whether it’s her sleeping or her attitude, whatever… its actually amazing!
For the last several days, she has had NO bread or bread products, no grains or starch (like potatoes or corn), no sugar and no juice/milk. And really, nothing processed, except sugar-free Jello, cool whip, and the crystal lite/mio, all of which is minimal.

Everything she is eating is homemade - a lot of meat, beans, cheese, and lots of veggies & fruit.
She’s found a love for nuts these past days - specifically macadamias & pistachios and is drinking only water (with a little crystal lite or MIO every now and then).

She’s not even missing the crap! Really, it is “lower carb” but more of a whole food WOE! The most important thing is, she’s happily accepting these changes and that is what really makes me KNOW I’m doing the right thing.

(Erica Ramirez) #36

And thanks for the info Re growth! It’s definitely worth thinking about. I am extra diligent about her daily multivitamin now. Luckily (in this regard I guess!) we are tall people :smiley: