We've had some discussions lately about what our parents' actions may have done to contribute to our current weight situations.

I'd like to turn the tables and ask another question.

What should we, as parents, do when faced with a child who is obviously a carb addict? I do have a son who is a carb addict but he's old enough now that he can map his own destiny. I don't know what he says about me -- did I help him or make him worse with my attitudes toward him and food.

Using myself as the example, and a discussion with my mother this weekend as the trigger, I'd like to understand what could be done to help.

As a child, I craved sweets and starches. So much so that I can recall the places where the cookies were kept BEFORE my mother realized that I was raiding the cookie box and can recall each subsequent hiding place she put it in as she was trying to protect me from myself. I'm one of five and the only one to have this issue as a child.

Neither of my parents has ever been remotely obese. I don't consider that they had any kind of unhealthy attitude toward food other than what almost everyone of their generation who lived through the Depression went through -- it was a sin to waste.

It would have been impossible to be low-carb for this family growing up. It would not have been affordable. And even if my home food was LC, I am sure that I would have discovered the pleasures of carbs and indulged in them out of the house as soon as I was old enough to be somewhat independent.

I think the earliest I would have listened to anyone about a "carb addiction" may have been in my late teens -- and even then, who knows if I would have been able to be strict enough with myself to have save years of misery.

Long rant - but I'd like to hear what ideas others might have to say about dealing with carb-addicted children. Knowing what we know, it would be devestating to have our kids years down the road commenting that we had contributed to their problems by limiting their food in some way, yet is there any other way?