Carbs vs. protein

[Guest guest]

I hate to jump in here and cause a fire storm. But two years at

convention many light bulbs went on for me. One of them was during

the DuPage Easter Seals presentation with the feeding clinic.

Someone help me (I can't remember her name)- the dietician gave a

great presentation. I later saw all of them at the clinic for an

eval for Matt. Her point at convention and to me at the eval was I

was focusing so much on stuffing Matt with protein (to build muscles

and gain good weight) that he was really on the Atkins diet. Which

hit a nerve since my hubby, at that time (ok he is still my hubby),

was on the Atkins for weight loss. Hello! Good point! I actually

have the feeding clinic eval here somewhere telling me to add more

Carbs. Now, I will concede they prefer good carbs, but we all still

need carbs.

My husband is back on a modified Atkins, limiting his intake of

carbs because we are all eat more refined sugar and processed foods

than we should. But I have to say, I need to get calories in Matt.

And if that means one or two of his snacks is the graham crackers

that are shaped like Scooby Doo dog biscuits, then so be it. I am

just thrilled he is eating something fun for him, with calories and

he is doing it independently. For you who know my struggles, you

know this is HUGE!

Just my two cents.

Beth H.

Mom to Matt

[Guest guest]

Beth (Hultquist) - ABSOLUTELY I think you are 100% correct. Our

children HAVE to have complex carbohydrates. In fact, against what

proponents of Atkins, etc. may believe, the fact is that complex

carbos are energy. Now, that being said, we Americans do eat way

too many carbs, and simple carbs at that, and carbs with tons of

trans fats, processing, etc.

However, back to our kids. If everyone reads the article written by

Dr. Harbison on ketone spilling, etc., it brings back the Atkin's

Diet stuff that Beth is mentioning. The basis of the Atkin's Diet

is that if you don't eat carbohydrates (complex or any), then your

body will use up its glycogen storage and begin to burn fat, thus

spilling ketones (dieters test their urine with ketostix to ensure

that ketones ARE spilling). Our children should NOT spill

ketones. Why? Because most have very little body fat to burn, and

burning it loses precious calories. Furthermore, there are studies

that have shown that repeated ketone spilling and subsequent blood

sugar drops can damage the infant's and child's brain on a longterm

basis. This doesn't mean you give your child ALL carbos -- because

then you are spiking their blood sugar levels up and down.

It just means that you have to follow basic dietary balances --

balanced amounts of dairy, carbohydrates and protein. Just make

sure that the carbohydrates are complex and not simple, and that

when you can, try to avoid trans fats and " yucky " stuff. However,

if all your kid will eat is Ritz Bits with peanut butter, heck!!!

Do what you got to do -- my perspective.

You're talking to the mom whose son didn't potty train in the day

until he was 3 1/2 to 4 yrs old -- I figured when he was ready, he

would tell me. One day he said " Mom, how come you don't get mad

when I go poop in my pullup like Kian's mom does. " (He was pee-

trained but would go get a pullup on, poop in a corner, and then ask

me to change him UGH!). I told him that when he was a big boy and

ready to use the toilet, he would be ready, and until then, no big

deal. He looked at me, I swear to God, and said " tomorrow I will be

ready. " The next day, he went poop in the potty and that was that.

Yes, I probably could have " trained " him earlier, but caused far

more stress in my life than I needed! HA! Every family has to make

the choices that work for them in their lives. I truly believe

that, and as such, we have to support each other, knowing that each

of us has different daily issues, and we have to make the choices

that make our life livable.

So go carbohydrates!!!! (Separate note, I went without ANY

carbohydrates, even complex ones, and went without any sugar at all,

for 10 days. Let me tell you that I learned that some people NEED

it. I learned that I ate too many carbos and I could certainly cut

back. However, I am thin, and my doctor said that high metabolism

people often need more carbos than other folks. I was like

HALLELUIA - Bring on that bread again!!!! NEVER in the entire 10

days did I feel good; I had ZERO energy and by the 10th day,

although my stomach was indeed noticeably flatter, I felt so

horrible..... "

Anyway. Bye for now.

>

> I hate to jump in here and cause a fire storm. But two years at

> convention many light bulbs went on for me. One of them was

during

> the DuPage Easter Seals presentation with the feeding clinic.

> Someone help me (I can't remember her name)- the dietician gave a

> great presentation. I later saw all of them at the clinic for an

> eval for Matt. Her point at convention and to me at the eval was

I

> was focusing so much on stuffing Matt with protein (to build

muscles

> and gain good weight) that he was really on the Atkins diet.

Which

> hit a nerve since my hubby, at that time (ok he is still my

hubby),

> was on the Atkins for weight loss. Hello! Good point! I

actually

> have the feeding clinic eval here somewhere telling me to add more

> Carbs. Now, I will concede they prefer good carbs, but we all

still

> need carbs.

>

> My husband is back on a modified Atkins, limiting his intake of

> carbs because we are all eat more refined sugar and processed

foods

> than we should. But I have to say, I need to get calories in

Matt.

> And if that means one or two of his snacks is the graham crackers

> that are shaped like Scooby Doo dog biscuits, then so be it. I am

> just thrilled he is eating something fun for him, with calories

and

> he is doing it independently. For you who know my struggles, you

> know this is HUGE!

>

> Just my two cents.

> Beth H.

> Mom to Matt