My experience with picky kids is that once they get over the withdrawal symptoms, they stop being so picky. If you get all the bad stuff out of the house, you can just tell them "sorry, we don't have any of that. Have some meat." If they refuse to eat, don't worry - they'll work up an appetite eventually.

If he is on retalin or anything like that for hyper active thats why he is skinny. Dunno?

My son was skinny way before ritalin became a regular part of his diet.My son remained skinny after I took him off of ritalin 10 years ago. The problem isn't weight. The problem is the treatment for ADHD and how the proper diet is a better option than ritalin.

Doctors are clueless about how diet truly affects our health. It is not selfish to go outside of the box. My son would have loved to have been able to eat the way he eats now. His younger years were spent in a medicine bottle which was cheered on by the teachers. He had no appetite because his tummy hurt. Diet was not a consideration and that needs to change mainly because diet, namely a low carb ketogenic diet, can indeed help. The supplement I would have given him would have been taurine and a dialy multiple vitamin. I would love to have the opportunity to go through the insanity that I went through just so that I could stuff his mouth with bacon and eggs and taurine.

I think the concept is great, but I think making the kid use keto-sticks is a bit extreme. Might set him up for an eating disorder or something.

Also, how strict do you plan to be? It is very possible that he'll still eat junk at school and get stuff from his friends. Are you going to forbid this? Because that might just make him rebel.

One final thought: when I was young, my mother was super strict with my diet. She grew up overweight in the 60's, when hardly any kids were fat, and she feared that we would become fat. I stayed pretty skinny, though I am convinced it was genetic, because my brother ate the same stuff and got chubby. However, I really craved junk food because I NEVER got it EVER. I would go to friend's houses and eat entire bags of chips. As a teen (with $ and a car), I ate soooo much junk food. I ate way more than my friends who grew up eating whatever, and I have been obsessed with chips, pop-tarts, and candy ever since...the "forbidden fruit" always appeals to us!

I don't think the plan has to be too restrictive. But remember that it is sugar that you need to avoid. There is always junk food around my house but my kids eat very little of it. I have tossed so much junk ( chips, candy etc ) that I don't get why it is even in the house. We still have junk from the holidays.But again, I am not looking at the weight issue. I am considering the ADHD issue. Take away the poison for as long as your child can stand. Then give him a sugary treat and see if there is a difference...I would guess that there will be a difference and if your child is lucky, he will even get sick when / if sweets are reinstated.

I am all for the kids watching their intake on sugar and processed foods. We have to remember our ancesters didn't have this processed food and sugary substance then. they ate real wholesome food, in it's natural form and they gave it to their kids as well, so why we can't do the same for our kids.

Its interesting to see people's posts and how they are coloured by their own personal experiences.

He has been to doctors. The Neurological Development department at the children's stollery said that he does not have a "clinical" definition of attention deficeit, but that doesn't mean he doesn't have attention deficeit problems. He stated that his attention issues were "moderate" - [I guess extreme issues would constitute clinical].

He cannot be tested for an Auditory Processing Disorder until he's age seven, which is in two weeks. We've been on a waiting list for 8 months to have that test done.

He is *NOT* on anything .. no Ridilin .. no vitamins .. no cod liver oil .. nothing. I am not a fan of 'additives'.

My wife is obese. She's been on Atkins and has been losing lots of weight. When it comes to the children however, they seem to have a different set of rules. She buys them chocolates, candy, etc ALL THE TIME. For me, I never had this growing up... outside of holidays... my mom cooked our meals and it was always the same .. One Meat, One veggies, one starch (potatoes/pasta). I never gained weight until I met my wife .. sedentary lifestyle set in .. Pop, Sugar, etc intake skyrocketed.

Since posting - I have pitched the idea to my wife - and she agrees. They will be following my wife and I's diet. Whatever we eat, they eat. Because of this however, my wife and I have decided to stray a bit from Atkins so that we can lead our kids diet by example. We have been adding a starch to our supper plates .. usually half a potato, a small scoop of wild rice ... and we've been having 1 cup of not-from-concentrate orange juice for breakfast.

Both her and I's weight loss has slowed .. but its still going down - which is good. We plan on adding in small amounts of Nuts, Berries, Fruit in the coming months. Also - I've managed to get my hands on some organic whole wheat flour - not processed. So once or twice a week we'll be having sandwiches for lunch.

All in all I feel that this family compromise will give us all a SUBSTANTIAL reduction in the amount of carbs and refined sugars we've been consuming - and should benefit our overall health. The most important thing about the dieting we've started this year is that we're becoming way more informed. We're also taking those lessons and trying to pass them on to the kids - making the kids read nutrition labels so they learn to tell between good foods and bad (I like when I ask them what they want for supper and they shout "Chinese!" ... then I ask them to think of a healthier supper .. its starting to work <grin>)

Well, in a world where everybody suffers from some form of physical degeneration due to a high carb diet, then a "moderate" attention deficit is "normal".