Is Low-Carb Living Healthy For Children?
Is Low-Carb Living Healthy For Children? CBS writes, “Four years ago, when he was 15, Christian first went on the Atkins diet. Now, he says he has backed off a bit: “Last year, I went on to a more low calorie maintenance deal that’s my own thing,” he says. “It’s not strictly low carb, it’s not strictly low calorie. It’s just what I think is healthy.” And now, his parents have parlayed their zeal into a low-carb cooking show on the Food Network.”
Pearson Education, Inc notes, “No diet is good for kids. You may have heard about some fad diets such as the Atkins Diet or the South Beach Diet. Adults follow these diets to lose weight. Most diets work at the beginning, but it’s hard for adults to keep the weight off over a long period of time. As for kids, no diet is as effective as eating sensibly. You also need to exercise each day to keep you healthy and trim. So turn off the TV, get up and be active and eat your fruits and vegetables.”
Jeemy Moore writes, “Regarding the health habits of children, I agree that they need to be active and exercise to supplement good nutritional intake. Eating fruits and vegetables fits well into the low-carb lifestyle as well as good portions of protein and fats to give them energy to get through the day… Take the sugar and junk food out of their hands and soon the term “obesity” could be eradicated from our dictionary! Is low-carb healthy for children? You better believe it is! With childhood obesity getting worse no thanks to the government, we can and must do something about it for the sake of the health of our children. ”
“I wouldn’t recommend children to go on any fad diets,” said Chutima Ganthavorn of the Corona-Norco Children and Weight Coalition. “Children form their eating habits and exercise patterns when they’re young. This is when to train them to do it right.”
Many experts recommend that parents focus more on increasing their children’s physical activity than restricting food intake. Couch potatoes are a bigger problem than french fries, they say.
A child’s diet restrictions depend on age, degree of obesity and medical-family history, said Heidi Schumacher, the chief clinical dietitian at Children’s Hospital in New Orleans and co-author of “Trim Kids.” (via The San Bernardino Sun)
You can find useful information about topic at lowcarb.ca:
A low-fat diet could damage nerve and brain development, says Jeff Hampl, a professor of nutrition at Arizona State University and a spokesman for the American Dietetic Association. “The basic understanding is that our central nervous systems and our brains have quite a bit of fat in them. Up to the age of 2, the nervous system continues to grow, and to ensure good brain growth we want to make sure that kids are getting enough fat.”
And the energy needs of children require fat, Hampl adds. “A higher fat diet gets more calories into infants, and they need those calories because of the tremendous growth they are undergoing. Fat has 9 calories per gram, more than double that of carbohydrates and protein. So, by feeding infants a somewhat higher fat diet, we are ensuring that they are getting the fat they need to develop properly.”
