Low-carb and kids in the house...

[dansamy]

Okie, I have 3 kidlets. 10, 9 and 8. While I don't expect them to "suffer" for their momma's sake, I do realize that my dietary changes will have an impact on their diet. (You know, something about she who cooks the food gets to choose the menus....)

The last time I seriously LC'ed, they were 2, 3 and 4. It was real simple to make a small amount of something like buttered pasta to go on the side for them. However, ALL the bread, tortillas in the house were LC. I have never, and will never, buy lowfat cheese. Ever. I do buy 1% milk. Should I switch them back to whole milk?

Do you ladies do anything "special" menu wise for the family members who are not in need of dropping weight? Obviously, their carb choices should be healthier better choices than enriched bleached white flour and white rice and gravy.

Growing up my momma taught me that a balanced meal was meat, veggies, dairy and a starch. I know the 4 food groups have morphed somewhere along the way to the food pyramid. However, I am concerned for the nutrition of their growing bodies. I was thinking something like whole grain breads, brown rice and the like.

I am very grateful that my children all LOVE salads and will happily choose the salad bar over anything else when we go out to eat. So, incorporating pre-entree salads to our meal routine at home will be very easy.

Ideas, suggestions, comments, etc? .........

(Oh, and as for the husband....if he doesn't like it, he can make a sandwich! )

[wifey]

I always just added on some potatoes, rice or pasta to their dinner and fruit. yogurt, milk and veggies all day long. I also let them have treats but fortunately they like stuff I hate like Oreos.

[LoriWants2Lose]

I just started back on 1/12. My daughters are 13 and 16 and boy can they complain when they don't have their sugary cereals and crap to eat. I have just dug my heels in. They get enough junk at school. They are eating more of a higher rung Atkins at home, since they aren't really interested in LCing.

I buy them for snacks:

*nuts of all kinds
*Seeds (they love sunflower seeds--messy old things)
*Berries
*LC bread
*SF jello
*SF pudding
*yogurt (carbmaster)
*Cheese sticks
*Beef jerky or sticks
*apples

For meals, they can either eat what I cook or make a PB sandwich. The bread is LC and the peanut butter is natural. They griped nonstop the first week. It is getting better now. They are getting used to it and seeing I'm not going to budge. I just tell them I want us all to be healthier and I'm not bringing anymore junk food in the house and that includes bread and pasta.

If I made them pasta, it would be Dreamfield's and only on rare occasions. We do have pizza as a family about once every other week. I pick off the toppings, they eat it as is. That's fine. Their choice and it doesn't come into the house often these days.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that I think you should just adjust them to your way of eating with some modifications for their age and activity level. But that is my opinion. They are your children and the ultimate decision is yours

[wifey]

For me growing up my mom was a health food nut and never let us have " bad " foods. I was super thin until I got married and moved out and got to finally try all the " bad " foods. I will never make my kids think that certain foods are bad because I don't want them to go out into the real world and become overweight or have eating disorders. I teach them portion control of all foods and I really wish my mom would of done the same.

[dansamy]

They do like raw fruit. A lot of it in fact. Grapes, strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, kiwi, pomegranetes, oranges, tangerines, bananas. I guess I am really blessed to have children who actually *like* something other than pop-tarts and hot dogs.

I've been buying whole wheat bread for a looooong time. Occasionally they ask me "Can't we buy white bread, momma?" To which I tell them "NO!"

They do like sunflower seeds and mixed nuts. I can't keep cheese sticks in the house. A big bag of them goes really fast when you have three children who will each eat 1 about 2-3x per day.

I guess I really shouldn't fret so much. They are really good kids. Their cousins have candy every night for dessert. (Not kidding!) My children occasionally get some type of ice cream, but usually dessert is yogurt, pudding or jello.

I guess what got me down this little sidetrack was my trip to Wal-Mart to get some Spicy Ranch. (The only LC salad dressing I can stomach.) I was reading all thelabels in the bread aisle. WTH do we need HFCS in bread? That of course sent me over to the cereal aisle. Where I almost went into DKA from the sugar oozing from the shelves.

Heck, my kids'll even eat shredded wheat and grape nuts. They're not normal anyway. They'll get over momma's new grocery shoping changes.

[Blondie Baby]

I have 4 kids still at home 13, 12, 10 and 8 and they are all very aware of the foods I give them and why. I DO NOT keep white flour, sugared cereals, soda or any kind of packaged snacks in the house. They are totally OFF LIMITS (in the house) and I have discussed with my kids the nutritional aspects. I do keep sugar but well hidden, and WHEN they get a treat it is something I make - cakes or cookies - with whole grains and without all the preservatives and other crap in packaged snacks. They do eat rice more often than I do but we make just enough for that each of them have a portion sized serving and no more. If they want snacks, they have veggie sticks, assorted nuts, homemade beef jerky. As for dairy, we never have low-fat. Though I don't encourage my kids to drink very much milk because I feel that the bad outweighs the good in this case.

I don't believe that eating this way is making my kids "suffer" with me. I'm teaching them to make healthy choices for a healthy life. And now, my eldest dd has left for college and though she does have the occasional Coke, she tells me that when she eats alot of junk like her school mates, she just doesn't FEEL good. I think its all about teaching kids, not forcing them, to be aware of their own bodies and their bodies reactions to the foods they put in them.

[dansamy]

Originally Posted by Blondie Baby

I don't believe that eating this way is making my kids "suffer" with me. I'm teaching them to make healthy choices for a healthy life. And now, my eldest dd has left for college and though she does have the occasional Coke, she tells me that when she eats alot of junk like her school mates, she just doesn't FEEL good. I think its all about teaching kids, not forcing them, to be aware of their own bodies and their bodies reactions to the foods they put in them.

Thus my "suffer", which was also in quotations. There are some folks who would be utterly aghast at children not being allowed to have pop-tarts and fruit loops.

They do beg and whine like any other child I've ever met. We've always bought whole wheat bread. (They don't hate the whole wheat or multi grain breads, but they sure do beg me to buy white bread once in a while. They all ate grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch Saturday, made on my George Foreman grill with no butter. I hate butter soaked bread on a grilled sandwich. I like real butter, but not that much. These are more like paninis since they aren't butter-soaked.) I've always kept things like fruit and yogurt and cheese in the house. Their school snack is usually a piece of fruit or a snack size bag of pretzels. (The pretzels aren't real good for them, I know.)

Growing up I had an aunt who only made unsweet tea. Her children were allowed to have sweet treats only on rare/special occasions. I can't recall my aunt, uncle or any of their children ever having a weight control problem. I'd like to model that behavior/lifestyle so that my children have a better grip on the reality of food, nutrition, portions and weight balance.

The bolded, italicized section: that's my goal. I want them to be accustomed to eating well. So that when they leave home, they prefer to eat better and junk food is less appealing.

[TaDa!]

I just add whole grain carbs to whatever I make - I still buy them cookies and chips, but we have always limited when and how much of that they eat (cookies once a day at home, but ok if we're out, etc.). At the same time, I did introduce healthier snacks that I do not limit: hardboiled egg, laughing cow cheese wedges, nuts, apples, bananas, yogurt ... My mother was always making me diet as a child and I want my children (girls, 9 and 14) to have a healthy relationship with food - knowing that there is a time and place for eating "unhealthy" treats etc is important to me.

Over the years I have been on Atkins, though, I have absolutely changed the portions of my family's main meals, meat/protein has stayed about the same, veggies have gotten bigger and starch has gotten smaller. I also try to do a lower fat (not lowfat), for them so that they do not end up on high fat and on carbs, so reasonable amounts of butter, cream, cheese, etc. At this point, on maintenance I am also on 1% milk, so that works out, but when I was losing weight, I would buy 2 different ones.

Just my experience. hth!

[sistertzu]

I try the best I can to feed my family whole foods.

No one is overweight except me. Hubby and I are both diabetic, We are opposite he has trouble keeping weight I have extra weight. All meals I prepare low carb with added starch sides like tortillas, beans and rice. We eat a hispanic type diet prepared fresh.

Snacking on popcorn, nuts, seeds and cheeses are the norm. We do have chips and cookies in the house from time to time. Drinks are not sugar sweetened. I keep dark fruit juice for my daughter (one 8oz serving a day). Prepared desserts aren't sugar sweetened. Everything is full fat. Emphasis on a wide variety with portion control. I don't worry to much about school goodies it's minimal.