My sister is going to give Atkins a try after hearing about me being on the plan. She is married with 2 young kids (3 & 5) and a husband who loves a full meal. She has always been hesitant about doing Atkins because she would have to eat differently and cook different meals for herself and then her family. In trying to help her out I am seeking some advise from mom's out there who have been in a similar situation and have over come the family barrier with Atkins. Any help would be great.

Why would she feed her family different food?

I cook LC meals and if needed I can add a side dish for my daughter. My daughter would rather eat mashed cauliflower than mashed potatoes. There are non-lc items in my house such as fruits, puddings, yogurt, mac & cheese, rice dishes, pasta side dishes etc.... I don't eat them but they are there for non lcers.

I've even had Keto spaghetti and made regular spaghetti for my daughter

I am a stay at home dad....
I try to cook a main dish we all can eat. The I just fix them a side or 2 for them. If I make them pasta of something differant than what I am eatingI just cook mine while theirs is cooking. Seems easy to me. Mom's and stay at home Dad's are just short order cooks anyway. At least I am. I never dreamed in chef school my job would be this..... But I love it

I'm with everyone else. Cook the same meat and vegetable for everyone that you can eat and then add another side dish or two for the non-low carbers. You can even get sneaky and make those extra side dishes more healthy for the higher carb crowd by using whole grains and lower GI veggies (like sweet potatoes instead of white potatoes). I've been low carbing for 2 1/2 years and have yet to make a separate meal for myself.
You can always try to move them closer to maintainance levels of low carb (see Atkins For Life for ideas on what that would entail at each meal). Unless they are total carb junkies, I'd be willing to bet that they won't notice a whole lot of difference.

I always try to make something they like, but that I can eat some of the ingredients of. Last night was a good example. I made tuna casserole for them, and salmon patties (cause there wasn't enough tuna) with salad for me. No big deal. The kids really liked my patties, too. Maybe that will be a family meal some time soon. I have done other eating plans and hated having to cook something different. I think it is a mindset that I got over. Now it just isn't such a big deal if I have to make a little something on the side for myself.

I agree with everyone else--My family is a big meat and potatoes eaters and I just make the regular meals and pick what I can eat ad what I can't eat-although it is much more tempting then if everything is LC.

Marion

I cook LC meals. My SO has the option to eat them or fend for himself, he usually eats at work anyway.

For my 4 year old I usually cook him what ever I'm having unless it is something spicy, or shashimi or other thing I would worry about him eating. Basically I will either make him a small side dish, or if he eats a decent portion of the LC meal he can have something else after.

Tonight we had spaghetti squash with marinara sauce and turkey/lamb meatballs. I thought he would eat the spaghetti sauce and nothing else. I did put a small meatball on his plate and asked him to at least try it, though he didn't have to eat it. He ended up loving the meatballs and eating 4.5 of them Suprised the heck out of me. He didn't really eat the squash though. As a treat for eating well at dinner he got a banana, some sesame pretzals, and a little diet soda for a treat.

Last night we had salad. I made his with ranch dressing and a little chicken breast. When he ate at least some (the veggies are a fight) he got a treat of "chocolate" yogurt. Basicaly it's whole milk plain yogurt with some protien shake mixed in for taste. He's happy because he gets something special (don't tell him it could be healthy) and I'm happy he's at least taking a few bites of what everyone else is having.

Atkins is high fat though, and mixing high fat, plus high carbs for the family can be very bad. When she makes meals, she can add oils to hers for taste, add cream to snacks and so on to get her fat intake up, while keeping the meals for the rest of the family moderate fat. With children that young they need the fat for brain development anyway. They don't need sugar. Giving them more of a balance of moderate carb/fat instead of low one or the other would be best. When they see her eating healthy and there isn't junk food in the house, they will eat healthy too by example. For the kids she can also reserve out a small portion of the meat she cooks before she adds in any spices, or make things with two seperate sauces.

Make sure she keeps plenty of fruit around for the kids to snack on. After induciton when she can add back in things such as whole milk yogurt, berries, cottage cheese and so on, the whole family can enjoy these healthy snacks. String cheese is also a wonderful LC treat children love.