Help Needed, Vegetarian Atkins Possible ?
 

Hello All

Yes, I am still around, but I have been quite busy and have mostly lurked in the bushes, just reading posts. But I really need some help. My friends son is getting quite chubby and she would like to put him on a LC diet. He is 10, so I am not sure how much Protein/Cals/Carbs should be ok for his age. To make it a bit easier for him I thought 50g of carbs a day should be ok. Trouble is, the family is Vegetarian and he doesn't eat fish. All those Quorn/Soy substitutes seem to contain a lot of carbs and not much fat. I tried to make a plan for a day. How do you think this looks like ? Anything too much/ not enough ?


Breakfast

Scrambled Eggs (2 Eggs, ½ cup Whole Milk, 1tsp Oil or Butter)
Morningstar Meatless Streaky Strips (21g = 1 Slice ?)
3 Strawberries

Lunch

3x Quorn™ Sausages Seasoned with Herbs
Quorn Deli Ham Flavour, 60 g (3 Slices ?)
Mayonnaise, Hellmans Real 1Tbs
Cucumber, 8x 4" sticks
3x Cherry Tomatoes

Snack

1 Ryevita Slice (crispbread)
1 Tbs Mayonnaise
1 slice Vegetarian Bacon
10 Slices of Cucumber

Dinner

Tesco Vegetarian 1 Chargrilled Quarter Pounder
1 Cup of Broccoli
3oz (=84g) of Lettuce with 1Tbs Oil and 1Tbs Vinegar

Snack

8 Strawberries
½ Cup of Single Cream
1 Packet of Sweetener (Splenda)


Total for the Day (according to FitDay)
Calories 1625
Fat 119
Carbs 67 (of which 16g are Fibre)
Protein 76

I am also a vegetarian and that means I don't eat fish or chicken either. The trick is to make sure you get enough fat-I always have to add mayo, cheese or salad dressing to my meals.

Morningstar Farms products are actually fairly low in carbs-the burgers, sausage etc are very low carb, but ALSO low fat. The only kind of high carb MS product is the chicken substitutes. I don't know if Boca products are available there-but they have a grilled chicken substitute that I think would be lower carb.

We also have a product called Smart Deli that has deli slices that taste like ham, turkey....they are only 1 carb a slice. It looks like that Quorn stuff is really high carb.

Hey there mad! I wonder about you sometimes! :D

I don't think there is enough calories, carbs or protein there, especially for a growing boy. I would aim for at least 2000 calories a day and wouldn't be to worried if the carbs were as high as 100 grams. What about cheese?

Do you know what his diet is like now? Does he eat a lot of carbage like refined grains and sugar? Is his family willing to go through the process with him? I'm asking because all he might need is a small diet adjustment instead of something as rigorous as low carbing.

Karen

Hiya Karen

The family is definitley willing to go through with it, as he is really getting chubby. Currently he is eating a lot of carbs, especially refined carbs, but so does the rest of the family and they are as skinny as can be (my friend has started to force herself to eat extra chocolate, as she keeps losing weight and is already a size 6 :eek: ). He also seems to be a book case of a carb addict, if there ever was one. If he sees sweets/bread/pasta, he is like a child posessed and wont stop eating it until it is all gone....

I did have more calories in the list before, but thought as he is only 10, that he might not need 2000 cals a day ? It is easily changed.

I had another idea today. I think I might get my friend to make a food diary of what he eats now, and then just half the carbs. That should have an effect ?

I know the Quorn Products have quite a lot of carbs, but they were the only ones I could get nutrition info on on-line. I think they normally use more soy based stuff and that is lower in carbs.

What I am really struggling with is the protein amount. How much does a 10-year-old need ?

Thanks
Sabine

How much? As much as he wants. I think he will forage around until he gets it. I sometimes wonder if some growing children eat tons of carbs because they are actually craving protein. You do get protein from grains but have to eat a lot.

I was surprised by your assessment of morningstar strips. I will have to check. I use Quorn stuff. the sausages are about 3, and the roast..Oh I can't remember now. But the real problem is that I find them a bit nauseating after a while. They are made of a kind of micro mushroom type thing, with egg protein. SO many veg versions of foods are made from grains. Some other sausages like 'cauldron food' are nicer. Cauldron foods make a very nice 'marinated tofu' which could pass as something else in a mince' substitute meal.
I eat fish, which helps. But in general I go for nuts, pine kernels, cheese and eggs to bump up the fat and flavour as well as protein.

The thing I notice about chubby children, funnily enough particularly boys (I am a teacher) is that they are SO inactive. Your friend may need to find a fun family activity for their son to be part of.
There is a very good thread somewhere about children, I will try to find it.

I have found it but I do not know how to link. It is under daily low-carb>Atkins.>'Is low carbing safe for 13 year olds?'

A good place for the family to start may be Carbohydrate Addicted Kids by the Hellers.

Also, Atkins published an interesting book called the Super Energy Diet after the first DANDR - out of print now - which goes into adjusting the diet of people who are thin but not healthy. By eating whole grains, fruit and adequate protein, their weight stabilizes. It sounds like something the whole family can benefit from.

Karen

Mmm, I'm not sure if you should worry that much. In a few years puberty is going to hit him and the fat will probably melt away as the hormones take their stranglehold (I hated that part of my life).

Probably getting the lad weaned off sugar would do him the world of good.

Just my thoughts.

Robert

I wouldn't say you'd need to get the child on Atkins as I'm sure he doesn't need to cut down his carbs that much. Check out "SugarBusters for Kids", this seems like it would suit him more. Basically get him to cut out refined sugar and white flour and there you go.