My 12 year old son went Zero Carb for May


(Charndra Pile) #1

We called it “Meating in May”.
He ate Scotch Fillet steaks for many meals, including breakfast. Sometimes he skipped breakfast. (Skipping a meal here and there is OK for the child under 18, extended fasting is not)
For lunch he had things like tuna in a can, fritz, salami, snags, lamb chops, chicken wings, beef jerky, Bolognese leftovers in a thermos (usual mix, but no pasta).
For dinner he had steaks, korma (chicken and sauce, no rice), Bolognese, snags and eggs, roast chicken, pork, also fish (though battered that time), keto chicken nuggets (Parmesan and almond meal over egg wash) and chicken wings.
Meanwhile, he was being kept in at recess for contradicting the health teacher (politely, he’s very moral and clever) over being told to eat 6-8 serves of carbs daily, low fat…
He’s an expert at making a rare Scotch Fillet steak sauteed in ghee. He makes an awesome cheese sauce (no carbs), makes roasted chicken wings, also can make the Bolognese and korma.
He’s lost 5cm (2 inches)off his waist, his clothes are looser and he feels and looks great! All eating copious amounts of fat, mostly animal products, with the occasional ‘treat’, as he’s a kid and his metabolism is cool.


(Keto in Katy) #2

Excellent job. You and your son know better than the “authorities” what’s best for him.

I posted this graph last year about my 15 year old son (now 16) and his switch to keto in June. To date he has lost about 60 pounds. We tracked his weight every week and this is the progress.


(Mary Ann) #4

Interesting! Did he report any changes physically/mentally being ZC?


(Crow T. Robot) #5

That’s probably part of the beauty – no need! Meat has everything a growing body needs.


(Charndra Pile) #6

I must ask him this specifically. I have, but I’ve forgotten, LOL. I’ve noticed he seems more confident in himself.

His weight is smack-bang perfectly in the normal range for his age and height!

I’m really pleased that my trickle-feeding of information, focus on the science, little stories here and there have helped him to make the understandings his own, and now he has tested the information on himself, and has seen that he can get his body to WORK for him by understanding insulin, as opposed to trying low fat / calorie restriction and failing.

Over the month he has added more and more ghee to the steaks, initially didn’t really eat the fat, but now does, and also is using the blade tenderiser to suck more fat into the meat, and scoff the lot. He KNOWS that fat and meat makes him full.

Re the veggies, I dunno, I explain that eating veggies is a great way to get more butter in. Veggies are there for colour and taste! He knows there are far more vitamins in butter and especially meat than veggies, and the little Vit C we need a day (10mg is it?), well, you need less if not chugging carbs anyway. He has the odd bit of yoghurt now, has relaxed his ‘no carbs’ a bit, but is no longer wanting to have 2 minute noodles for breakfast and lunch, CC’s as a snack and whatever. Doesn’t eat bread anyway. Loves butter now.

Still, I have yet to crack the importance of BACON to him, then I’ll know I am a successful parent, LOL…


(Charndra Pile) #7

Stacy, that’s awesome.

I’ll see if he wants to track some other data next.

That’s really encouraging, well done to your son!


(Keto in Katy) #8

He eats mostly meat, very little else. Usually one meal a day and he’s happy with that.


(Keto in Katy) #9

He did comment that he wakes up faster and just feels more alert and happy. The change was very apparent to his mom and me. He has lots of energy and is more animated where he used to be sluggish.


(Keto in Katy) #10

Same here. My son was feeding on lots of chips, soft drinks, pizza, the usual carbage crap. He still has a little of that from time to time but it is a rare exception.


(Charndra Pile) #11

I feel like I’m giving him such personal power, actual CONTROL, rather than all those years I spent ‘hoping’ a diet would work, feeling great when it did (I lost 10 kg several times) but had no idea why it all crept back on + more, bar my personal failure.

Now I know the reason - calorie restriction is what I was doing, and coupled with scoffing the carbs as that was “healthy” (GAGH, all those years I carefully ate breakfast of porridge EVERY DAY, giving myself the IR that now only extended fasting can reduce, even though my diet is now good!)

Here my 12 year old happily skips the odd meal if he feels full. Knows what is going on when he does (more fat burning, better HGH, adrenalin energy,etc).


(John) #13

Very cool, my daughters are still young, but they like lots of keto food. They think low carb protein shakes are better than cereal so they want that in the morning. Throw some spinach in there and keep it quiet. Hopefully they can start to naturally eat the right way from the beginning rather than out of necessity later.


(Crow T. Robot) #14

I’m inclined to think the same way as you, but then again, it’s hard to argue with results. People who have been eating nothing but muscle meat (90% beef, some pork and seafood) for years seem to be the pictures of robust health, when the conventional wisdom would have said that the diseases of nutrient deficiency, e.g. scurvy, should have started as soon as a month after giving up plant food.

It just seems like there’s a lot we still don’t know.


#15

I mean, I’m all for butter, but this seems like a bit of a stretch.


(Crow T. Robot) #16

https://www.westonaprice.org/health-topics/know-your-fats/why-butter-is-better/


#17

Not questioning butter as a good food at all, just thinking the assertion that butter has far more vitamins than vegetables to be a bit hyperbolic. it’s got a decent amount of Vitamin A, and some D, but that’s pretty much it AFAIK.


(Charndra Pile) #18

Ok, to explain better, the fats help absorption of vitamins and minerals, i didn’t know that butter had ANY such good things in it, and the MEAT has far more vitamins and minerals than we are generally led to believe.

I have a table that we looked at, but am unsure how to add it, however, some examples are:
Calcium carrots 3.0mg vs red meat 11mg
Magnesium carrots 4.8mg vs red meat 15mg
Iron carrots .1mg vs red meat 3.3mg
And more is found in 100g of red meat for phosphorous, potassium, zinc, copper, vitamins A,D,E,also riboflavin, Niacin, pantothenic acid, VIT B6, biotin and but B12. Same was thiamin, carrots had more folic acid and of course, vit C!


(Mary Ann) #20

That was an informative read. There seems to be several factors at work. Glucose competes w vit C absorption so you need less on low carbohydrate diet. And meet provides the hydroxyl groups for collagen building that was normally provided by vit C.


(Todd Allen) #21

When comparing the nutritional density of foods you might look at them with respect to equal caloric portions instead of equal weight portions. When you consider carrots have roughly 1/4 the calories by weight as lean meats and a lower ratio to fatty meats they fare much better in a nutritional comparison. And carrots don’t measure up nutritionally per calorie to most green veggies recommended as more keto appropriate.

Perhaps a more keto way to compare them would be to take the insulin index into account. That’s more complicated, fortunately someone has done the work for us.
https://optimisingnutrition.com/2016/10/10/nutrient-dense-foods-for-weight-loss-and-insulin-resistance/
By their analysis a wide range of veggies (but not carrots) handily beat all meats and seafoods for nutritional density. However, all foods have strengths and minuses and restricting a diet to a single food or a group of related foods (such as meat or vegetables) will make it more challenging to achieve a nutritionally complete diet.


(Marty Kendall) #22

thanks for sharing @brownfat

I did this analysis of Amy who is eating a ZC diet with lots of organ meats. you guys might be interested.

here’s an analysis of general ZC foods.

here’s the nutrient analysis for Bacon Man.


(Ryan Lindsey) #23

Ahahahaha - Brilliant!