Hi Monica!

I don't think we were talking about putting VERY young children on a low carb diet, but rather about not giving them refined sugar snacks. Very young (under the age of 3) children should not be on a low fat diet either...they NEED that fat for healthy brain development. I hate to burst your bubble on the frozen soy dessert, but 1/2 cup of Hagen Dazs vanilla ice cream has 5 grams of protein and 21 grams of carb (less than the soy dessert) so unless your son has a lactose intolerance, the Hagen Dazs would actually be a better choice. I did a lot of reading while I was on vacation this past week and have decided that my almost 8 year old daughter really needs to cut back on her carbs dramatically. She's been suffering from a lot of health problems, mostly repeated infections, which I strongly believe are directly related to the amount of high carb foods that she has been eating. She's also starting to show early signs of insulin resistance. As far as needing some level of carbs, I can't say that I agree that we need carbs. There are essential fats, essential proteins and even essential vitamins and minerals, but there are no essential carbs. They're an easy energy source for our bodies, to be sure, but the body can function and grow quite nicely without them and over time they can cause far more damage than good. Having said that, we DO need the vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals found in vegetables so it would be unwise and unhealthy to cut out those sources of carbs (not because we need the carbs, but because we need what comes with them). It's also a good idea to eat your carbs with a protein to minimize their impact on insulin production. I think you're doing fine with your son. He's far too young for you to worry about anything but teaching him good habits with eating and how to make good choices.