Atkins for an underweight child? : Atkins Diet Forum : Active Low-Carber Forums

#6 ^

Tue, Mar-23-10, 18:13

M Levac

Senior Member

Posts: 6,498

Plan: VLC, mostly meat
Stats: 202/200/165 Male 5' 7"

BF:
Progress: 5%

Location: Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yesurbius

I guess it would be reverse Atkins ...

Considering he's a bit underweight .. I'd imagine I'd start him off as if he's on the final stage of Atkins ... high up on the carb ladder ... plenty of good carbs (use Ketostix to ensure he's in ketogenic state) Get him so he starts gaining weight then start scaling back the carbs until his weight gain slows .. then eventually stops - bam he has his target carb count.

Why? Two reasons.
First is that his eating habits as they are now, are horrible. He is picky and doesn't eat foods he hates - then snacks out on all the bad foods whenever he can.
Second, and mainly, is because of attention and focus problems. School system and early development assessment groups have already been micro-monitoring him - he is in queue for neurodevelopmental tests... I'm thinking it can't hurt .. especially since Ketogenic diets have shown to stabilize neurological issues (MS, Epilepsy)

I know myself, since getting on Atkins, have noticed my ability to focus at work DRASTICALLY improve. Clear chain of thought and alert.

It makes no sense to feed your kid differently just because he's underweight. I mean, Gary Taubes in GCBC explains that we see this kind of paradox in the same population all the time: An underweight kid to an overweight mother. According to the conventional dogma, this would imply that the mother is eating the calories that would otherwise put weight on her child. I mean, do you starve your kid? Of course you don't. That goes against everything we know about motherhood, right? That's what Taubes says too. He goes on to explain that these two problems are both the result of the same cause: A disorder of fat metabolism.

Feed your kid the same diet you feed yourself. And don't give him less just because he's smaller or because you think it's just too much for him. Allow him to learn to satisfy his hunger on his own. If you're on the Akins diet, then feed your child the same thing you eat. After all, what's wrong with chicken and veggies, steak and broccoli, bacon and eggs?