The girls are 6 and 4 years old. Neither one of them are overweight. They are both pretty skinny. They seem to be "high strung". I don't think it is anything serious, they just take after their father more than me (they got my looks! ). I think cutting out the sugar and starches will help. My big question is...How do you get a 4 year old to eat more protein (I should mention she is alergic to dairy). She drinks soy milk and we give her cheese in limited amounts. She likes lunch meat. She will eat steak and hamburgers and pork chops, but loves steak sauce and ketchup. She will not eat eggs. She has tried fish but since her sister won't eat it neither will she (Nemo complex ). She would rather eat the crust of the pizza and throw the toppings away. She loves pancakes, waffles, french toast, and cereal for breakfast. Both girls eat tons of veggies and fruits. I have eliminated soda as much as I can, and I get on my family for giving them sweets (my mom finally gets it and bought them t-shirts for Valentines Day instead of candy ). I guess it just seems like everything she wants is full of carbs. Maybe I am thinking too much. They actually have a pretty healthy diet compared to most kids. I just need a few ideas for variety and suggestions to get her to like protein more.

Do you have a blender? Maybe you could experiment with shakes. Throw in frozen berries, cream, ice and (shhh...) protein powder.

Peanut butter is a pretty kid-friendly protein source, too.

So she can handle limited dairy? Maybe she'd like yogurt. A lot of people who can't have dairy can handle yogurt.

Agreeing with the last person's thread - I can't handle dairy... but I've noticed that the Carb Countdown milk, even in very large quantities doesn't bother me. I make yogurt out of it and eat a lot of it!

If she'll eat it, try homemade yog - you can put fresh fruit in it, or flavour it vanilla and choc and control the sugars. Make sure if you use a "sweetner" you use stevia rather than a chemical one.

Maybe atkins bread with liberal egg soaking for french toast?

For lunches, instead of having two huge hunks of bread with a wee bit of meat filler, try a lot of meat - inbetween two tiny pieces, for example that brand hollywood thins, whole wheat. It's a small loaf, and thin cut.

Sorry, idea department of the brain seems to have shut down at the moment.

It's a great idea to limit processed food for kids!

take care,
Meg

Since they are on maintanance level carbs or above, cereal occasionaly for breakfast won't hurt. Get a whole grain cereal though without alot of sugars. Read the lables as some of the cereals marketed as healthy have more sugars then cocoa puffs. I do the Multi Grain cheerios since they seem to have alot of nutrients.

Get LaTortillas and make them wraps instead of samwiches. My son loves a peanut butter wrap. I also do iron kids wheat bread. It has higher fiber then most of the breads, lower carbs, and is iron and calcium fortified.

For the one who can handle dairy, string cheese can be a good snack. There is also soy cheese that comes in string cheese. You can also make them a "pizza" like snack where you dice up some chicken breasts, then cook them in some lower carb marinara sauce (Ragu light has no added sugars and is cheaper then LC brands) along with some cheese.

Get the unsweetened ketchup and all natural peanut butter. Chances are they won't know the difference unless told.

For my 4 year old I'll occasionaly let him have pria bars. They don't have sugar alcohols and are lower sugar then most protien bars. While it isn't the perfect snack, it works when we sleep in and have to get him to preschool fast, or other times there isn't any way to get a meal into him.

Since they are young and don't have weight issues, don't make food an issue. Just give them some protien in one form or another and some veggies at each meal and try to talk them into eating (I'm amazed you can get them to eat veggies). Have fruits be a dessert or snack instead of carby sugary treats, but don't totally ban all sweets or they may go over board when they get some. Just relax and be confident you are giving them healthy eating habits.

I just want to say that I think it's awesome that you are teaching your kids to eat healthy! It's amazing how many people seem to think that anyone under 12 has a recommended daily requirement of cereal that turns milk pink, chicken nuggets, fish sticks, and mac & cheese.

Oh, I'm sure you know this since you have two little ones, but just a reminder: their tastes can change pretty rapidly. I hated broccoli as a kid (loved spinach, though, and still do), but by the time I was a preteen I would have been happy to have it every single day.

My only real tip is for dessert. Most kids like jello, and they don't care if the jello is sugar-free or not. Whipped cream on it is good too, although your 4-year-old may not be able to handle it.

At 6 and 4 they probably still have that tendency towards "I eat 5 things, and that's all" so you are doing pretty well. What I used to do was if they liked a healthy thing, like green pepper or chicken legs, I always had a LOT of that around, and kept running out of the stuff that wasn't good for them.
They will eat what's there when it's something they like.
Also, just a sidenote: I was cruising around the web and found that several people have discovered that their children have serious reactions to grains, yet their children seem to crave them; will want to only eat bread, waffles, etc.
What happened was the children were as addicted to the grains as any one is to sugar. Once they cut them completely out of their child's diet, the behavioral and digestive symptoms went away, and so did the child's cravings for grains.
I found this interesting because I've seen how children get into a rut, just elbow macaroni with butter, for instance, and that's all they want to eat. It's a craving, and addiction, since this is not that nourishing and the body thinks more will solve the problem.
I didn't raise my kids low carb, but I found that the less I allowed soda or Twinkies, the less they seemed to want it. Perhaps this will help with the waffles & bread issues.

Try goat's milk and goat's milk cheese. I'm allergic (as in I cant breathe if I eat it) to regular dairy but I can have goat's or sheep's milk products with no problem at all. There are lots of goat's milk yogurts in health food stores and evaporated goat's milk in cans in regular supermarkets.

Peanut butter, peanut butter with cream cheese, peanut butter with jelly, peanut butter with apple, and cereal?

I give both the kids goat milk, I've never seen sheeps around here. Neither can tell the difference and enjoy it. Just recently my daughter has started having a problem with both goat milk and formula though, so not sure if we'll continue or if she'll have to move to soy. We're hoping it's just a small flu bug and not a complete dairy aversion.

There are some pretty good low carb breads coming on the market. You can make low carb peanut butter sandwiches to go with those shakes. Instead of giving a whole apple, cut it in half or in quarters...where they can have a small amount of fruit. Cut up 1/4 bannana and throw the rest away. It will not be a waste of food. You can fry chicken pieces without breading and there will be a thin crispy crust. Put a little cheese on veggies for the one that can tolerate it. If you give cereal add strawberries to the mix.

I have replaced soda with sparkling water. This may be a nice change if you can find a soft drink powder that is either unsweetened ( add your own splenda ) or sweetened with sucralose ( splenda ).

I wouldn't try to get your kids into ketosis. So begrudging them all carbs probably isn't necessary at all. But concentrate on carbs with lots of fiber and that they get plenty of protein and fat with their carbs.

There's lots of low carb breads out now, at least in my town. I suspect we'll see low carb crackers and more cereals soon. I get a low carb soy cereal called HiLo. 1.99 a box! I've made low-carb crackers, low-carb waffles, you can get low carb almost anything!

I'm getting a little leery of soy now. Reading bad things about soy and breast cancer. It is very similar to estrogen. Some say it can slow the thyroid down. I dunno. I hate to be experimenting on myself or someone's kids with it.

Sweetened Soy Milk can have as much [and sometimes more] sugar than Soda. That said, you can buy Unsweetened Soy Milk and sweeten it yourself or [my personal preference] go with Soy Slender which is sweetened with Splenda. It comes in Vanilla and Chocolate. As for Carb Countdown...It is made from Dairy, so depending on what she is sensitive to [Lactose, Casein, or something else] it may or may not be a problem. It is relatively low in Lactose, so some folks could probably handle it as another user stated. If she is sensitive to the proteins, then I don't think it will work. In that case, stick to Soy Slender or Unsweetened Soy Milk. Cheese will also probably be dependent on these same factors. Cheese contains very little Lactose and is sometimes tolerated by persons who are sensitive to Lactose. But, it still contains Dairy Proteins [not sure if Casein is one of them or not.]

As for protein sources...I always liked Beef, Fish [though you stated she doesn't go for that,] Shellfish, Chicken, and Turkey. In Elementary School [when I was skinny] I'd bring Stew Beef in a Thermos or some canned Tuna for Lunch. I gave up Tuna in the 4th Grade [I began eating it again after going on Atkins] after I had to sit in Dentention run by an overweight woman who could not seem to keep her Tuna Sandwich in her mouth instead of down the front of her shirt. I gave up Pork in 1st Grade because I got some that didn't taste very good in the School Cafeteria. I started eating Pork again in the 4th Grade after I tasted some of my Grandma cooked. I gave up Eggs in 1st grade after I got food poisoning from some Eggs I got for lunch in the School Cafeteria. That was just before the schools started serving pretty much nothing but cereal, bread, and milk for breakfast. I also started eating Eggs again after going on Atkins. I gave up beans [except Green Beans, which I'd always thought of as a vegetable] in the 3rd Grade after I got food poisoning from an undercooked hamburger on a field trip. Not wanting to admit it was the hamburger that caused it, I blamed the beans and gave them up. Since most beans [with the exception of Soy] are very High Carb, thats one food I'll probably never go back to eating...with the exception of Soy Products. I still won't eat the beans themselves, though.

Back on topic, as for Sandwiches...as one person stated LaTortillas will work. Reduced Carb breads such as Nature's Own Wheat 'N Fiber Bread and most Light Breads [such as Sara Lee's Delightfull Wheat/White] have 5-7g of Net Carbs...and have twice the Fiber of regular Bread. It is really interesting from a LC perspective to see how Sara Lee is now marketing its Light Bread as Low Carb. Almost all sliced light breads have 7g of Net Carbs. Sara Lee's has 6.5g. Not that significant of a difference. Light Breads are Reduced Calorie Breads. Since sliced bread has virtually NO fat or Protein, the only way to reduce the Calories was to reduce the Carbs. Most Light Breads are basically made with one recipe: White or WW Flour, Wheat Gluten, Wheat Protein, Cornstarch, Guar Gum, and various Brans/Fibers. Fibers are typically used for light "white" breads and Brans for light "wheat" breads. There are some LC Breads with 2-3g of Net Carbs and much more Fiber, but they are also much more expensive [Keto = $8/loaf; Atkins = $4.69/loaf.] Plus, they don't typically taste as much like real bread as the Reduced Carb breads. Atkins makes LC Bagels which are VERY good and have 7-9g of Net Carbs [11g of Fiber if I remember correctly.] Only downside is they are expensive at $4-5 per half dozen. Then again, that's about what the school clubs charged in HS for their Bagels...which were usually hard. Subway's new Atkins Wraps are very good. They're made with Wheat Gluten, Soy Protein, and Seasame Seed Flour and have 5g of Net Carbs [with 11g of Fiber] for the wrap, plus whatever carbs are in the meats/toppings.

Keto Spaghetti [5g Net/2g Fiber] are Darielle Pasta [9g Net ???] are both very good and are made from Wheat and Soy. Atkins Spaghetti is horrible and never fully cooks...unlike Keto which cooks almost instantly. Keto makes LC "Rice" and "Frosted Flakes" type cereals. The "Rice" cereals are very good. The "Frosted Flake" types contain a small amount of Maltitol and aren't quite as good, though I don't mind the slightly cardboard taste [I blame the fact I snacked on Rice Cakes for so many years I began to actually believe they taste good.]

Ladybelle, what is a peanut butter wrap???

twofoofers, kudos to you for giving your kids a healthy diet! When I was a little kid my dad wouldn't buy sweets and junk food (except as treats), and I think it really helped me--I didn't get chubby til I was an older child, and there was lots of junk food in the house.

There have been some great suggestions so far! Hmm, what else can I think of . .

Oroweat makes a couple of LC breads that are about 4-4.5g carbs/slice, and are really good. As mentioned already, peanut butter or tuna/chicken/egg salad sandwiches are great for lunch. Or you could make tortilla rolls instead!

Pizza roll-ups would probably go over well, just put some tomato sauce, cheese, and toppings on a LC tortilla and roll it up.

Celery stuffed with peanut butter is a good snack.

How about beef jerky? You can probably make your own, if you want.

And I also recommend Hi-Lo cereal, it has lots of fiber, few carbs, and a good amount of protien. Have it with Carb Countdown milk, if your little one can tolerate it.

And don't forget nuts!

For the epanut butter wrap I just take a latortilla and smear itt with peanut butter, often adding cream cheese and all fruit jam with it, then roll it up. It really helps if you don't do it quite like a samwich, instead you mix the peanut butter and other toppings first in a bowl then spread it on thin. If not when they take a big bite, they could end up with a lap full of filling

A few other suggestions to replace the foods they are used to having-- these are some things my kids like:

If you have a Whole Foods near you they carry frozen blueberry waffles the are 6 carbs each (they are good!). Sorry, I can't remember the brand name off hand.

Fiber One cereal with blueberries and soy milk. This one still shocks me!

French toast made from LC bread and SF syrup or berries and butter or whipped cream as a topping.

Apples baked with a little cinnamon & Splenda (you can bake some pecan halves in there too).

For protein aside from meat at meals, cheese sticks, pepperoni slices, nuts, hard boiled eggs (but only my oldest will eat them) and beef jerky are our staples.

Oh and don't know if your kids will go for this, I'm surprised mine do-- thin sliced corned beef or soft salami, spread with cream cheese and rolled around a green onion.