I guess if I was sure it was from eating too much junk food, I'd not be able to resist giving them a bit of a hard time myself. They've also been warned about how gorging on junk will make them feel sick, so it would be one of those life lessons, I guess.

I'm still alotted 2 "I told you so's" a year by my daughter, so I have to use them wisely.

So true. And I personally don't think giving kids the occasional junk at home makes it less likely that they'll 'lose it' at a friends house. I think it legitimizes junk as actual food rather than a metabolic and advertising con job. Of course kids are going to like a Mars bar more than low carb confectionery. But if you make your home a sanctuary from all and any of that stuff, I actually think kids pick up pretty quickly that junk food is like any other drug and best avoided, even when they're visiting friends.




What do you mean 'okay'. Disappointed with your child or the parents who organized the junkfest?

So it's emotional reasons why people binge as adults? And that has nothing to do with carbohydrates?

I don't have kids, but I can imagine it would be impossible to eliminate sugar and carbs from their diet,

but I can't believe that a parent who makes their kids eat a healthy diet (as low carb as possible) is doing the kid some disservice or making them mal-adjusted.

If anything, the lack of glucose in their diet would make them calmer, more sensible, and less prone to mood swings.

If people only see a low carb diet as a weight loss tool, then they have missed the point.

It's for health first, weight loss second.

Plenty of skinny people die of heart disease.

It's not perfect and I doubt the implementation of it will be, but everyone should be striving to have a household - where every single member is eating and thriving from a low carb diet.

That is how society is going to change, with the kids.

I don't think anyone would argue with you there. It's in the extremes, though, that any problems arise. Coming unglued because your child refuses to eat their broccoli, or being so strict they binge when given the chance (like my nephew and nieces on Haloween... they went to three times more houses than they told their parents and would gorge on candy before going home.) can set the stage for some pretty warped food values, IMO, although I don't know of anyone who sets out to do that either... they're just doing what they think is right.

"Just say no" doesn't work. Teaching them why they need to make a good choice does... and allowing them to make a few mistakes along the way sure helps.

I don't think low-carb will be considered mainstream until I have grandkids to fuss over... if even then. I'll have to try to remember that a good grandma works WITH the parents... I should make myself start writing "I will not slip my grandkids sugar when Mom's back is turned." 500 times now...

My mother raised me vegan. I knew no better until about the sixth grade when I had my first candy bar and hamburger. I was always a thin and active child but as soon as middle school hit and I began to eat meat and candy, I ballooned up to the weight I am today. I don't know If I should blame my mother, that to this day remains vegan and thin, or if I should just take responsibilty that I took something too far. She raised my sister the same way and my sister now at the age of 18 still eats in the vegan lifestyle and remains thin.

That's just not for me.

We are trying to raise our kids w/ moderation and the idea that certain foods are healthy & need to be eaten (e.g. every supper they need to have some greenies).

We provide whole grain bread & mix our rice part white, part red, part brown. We try to limit the saltiness of their food.

But, yeah, they get some junk too. The have hot dogs at least once a week. They go to McD's about once a month. In the summer we let them have ice cream. For dessert they sometimes get digestives (a type of cookie) or some yoghurt w/ sugar.

I don't really care too much if they get "junk food" at a friend's house, because they don't go over that much.

They are healthy kids who enjoy food and cooking and are (I hope) learning about healthy eating.

My own weight problem stems mostly from portion control - I ate healthy stuff, but LOTS of it.

I'm not a mother, yet, but I have to say that from personal experience and from reading about the phenomenon of why certain people "have a sweet tooth" on Barry Groves' site, I certainly agree that mothers who breastfeed their babies exclusively for six or more months have healthier children who don't have a sweet tooth.

Admittedly, as a child, I liked the occasional M&M, heck, I'd eat half a bag..but I never liked sweet, sticky cookies (more than two) or gooey cinnamon rolls, etc..I just never had a sweet tooth; I was also breastfed exclusively for a year, so that probably had something to do with it.

Now, I never eat sugar, partly because I don't like it, and partly because I know it's horrible for me. Quite interestingly, my mom wasn't breastfed, and currently, she's 57, obese, and loves all types of sugar..it's sad really.

Another point is that most kids (at least I did) will love fat. Fat is something that just tastes really good, for most people. Hence, just feed your kids more fatty meat, and they'll be too full and satiated by this healthy, nutritious, food to touch the sweets. Growing up, I never had sweets in the house; and I loved chips and salsa, grilled cheese sandwiches, and meatloaf. I was so skinny and small; I wish I had eaten more fat and whole milk, but my mom always bought 2%. Oh well. I suppose I'm making up for my dearth in fat now. lol.

Well...having bottle fed both of my daugthers, I'm not convinced. One can eat half a desert and walk away from it having had enough 90% of the time and the other will finish hers and go after her sister's [now abandoned] dessert.
I honestly don't think there is any hard and fast rule that can explain why some love sweets more than others.

My DD was breast fed, and has diabetes and a weight problem, but has started atkins, my DS was bottle fed and at 28 years old is 6'8" and 180 pounds. my DS does not eat healthy low carb foods, he will eat 15 Whoppers from burgerking or a large pizza or 2 at a sitting, but has never been heavy and has great blood sugar. DD eats much less but still gains very easily, it is not so easy to figure out this stuff. I beleive DS burns lots more calories then most people, when he trys to cut down to normal portions he gets very underweight, and DD burns much less calories then normal.