Gwyneth Paltrow and avoiding carbs for kids - what do you think?

[JaneGMumsnet]

Hi,

You may have read news stories today about Gwynneth Paltrow avoiding carbs for the whole family, including her children aged eight and six:

"Sometimes when my family is not eating pasta, bread or processed grains like white rice, we're left with that specific hunger that comes with avoiding carbs."

We'd be interested to hear what you think about this story.

Does your own diet influence the way you feed your children?

Thanks,

MNHQ

If ds didn't eat carbs I don't know what he would eat. I am a fairly healthy eater and now eat meat as I used to be vegetarian. I am just happy that ds eats something as it has always been a battle ever since he was little.

I think its probably more the refined carbs that she wants them to avoid which is not a bad thing.

Kryptonite I bet he's got a special bit that sproings out of his suit

Chris Martin could do with a few carbs. And protein.

I'm sure the kids are fine.

I try to give my children's healthy diet but gwynnie would be horrified, especially at the fried square sausage and chips served up by MIL

According to NHS website starchy foods ie carbs should be one third of intake. Food exclusion for children is wrong unless for sound medical reasons. Their dietary needs are not the same as an adults. How can she happily describe her children as hungry whatever she thinks she means by that? These people drive me nuts. Please can we ignore them and hope the more reasonable people above are right and its not as bad as it sounds.

And no, while I try to influence DS towards better eating habits, he is utterly resistant ( I do talk to him about BALANCE but he's 6...). I do also try to lead by example by eating sensibly but without outlawing any foods. How do you learn sensible eating if something is 'forbidden'?

Where's the 'report troll' button?

Think I need to report the OP.

Is anyone else craving a massive bowl of pasta? I lasted an entire day no carbing because I kept day dreaming of bread and pasta.

If her children still get to eat fruit and starchy veg and pulses like sweetcorn, or lentils or then they are getting all the carbs they need and more, and they will be better off for not developing an over-reliance or even an addiction to wheat and processed sugar.

This ^

Getting kids hooked on processed carbs such as those found in sugary cereals, cakes, biscuits etc is setting them up for problems. The hunger she's talking about is the craving that processed carbs give you because they screw with your blood sugar levels

IMO the serious obesity issues we have as a society as linked to the addictive nature of processed carbs, and the lethal combination of them with saturated fats. These foods are addictive and positively encourage over eating

Good on her for feeding her kids healthy, and health giving, food

We are talking about a woman who named her daughter Apple.

Presumably they eat brown rice, sweet potatoes, lentils etc? What's wrong with that?

Nobody needs processed carbs, at all. Putting kids on an Atkins type diet would be absolutely ludicrous - avoiding artificial foods full of sugar? Can't see a problem myself.

That cook book sounds idiotic though.

Avoiding meat and dairy seems a bit much, for kids. Low-carb in itself is perfectly healthy, though.

Mo I agree. Gwyneth and Chris Martin are very nimby though. Someone else said they recall Gwyn eating only beige things once, that was another poncey diet that she was doing when pals with Madge. One silly diet to the next. What is wrong with moderation and exercise? Life is too short.

Nobody should have to eat wholewheat pasta

You may not like it my kids certainly do. We only ever have wholemeal pasta at home and at nursery they get given white pasta when it's a pasta based meal. They don't care. They still eat pasta at home too. They also eat white rice at nursery and brown rice at home. They don't complain. Same with bread. I don't give them refined carbs like white rice, bread and pasta. But I do give them biscuits and cake occassionally.

Kids eat too much processed carbs. it's not good.

My 9 yo was told at a recent nutrition workshop run by his football academy not to eat too many carbs, especially before playing.

He came home and refused to eat his pasta.

mmm ... I don't eat carbs, I do let my child eat them and I do sometimes feel guilty that he is consuming processed carbs when I wouldn't eat them myself. But then, he was a very fussy eater for a long time and it took a long slow process of introducing new foods get him to the point of enjoying a varied diet. I am still grateful that he eats so I don't want to restrict his food intake.

However not feeding a child processed carbs can only be a good thing: there'd be no childhood obesity for a start, so for once the batty Paltrow woman is right.

No idea what she means by the hunger tho as you feel less hungry rather than more so.

If she's missing a whole food group out of her diet, then

If they're still getting carbs from whole grains and starchy veg and their young digestive systems can handle it (some kids definitely can't and too much fibre in some children's diets can lead to malabsorption) then I see no problem, other than the joylessness and fadishness - oh, and the possible passing on of food related neurosis and anxiety.

I can't remember his name but there's an 80ish year old marathon runner who eats mostly small portions of bread and veg.

Not much help, and I've probably spelt marathon/an wrong.

If we're not meant to eat carbs and protein together, how come every single society in the world does so? Rice and dahl; sushi; tortilla and ground beef; chicken rice and peas; fish and chips; pork and noodles, bread and cheese etc.

Our bodies can cope with carbs. What they can't cope with is too much food. Cutting out carbs makes it easier not to overeat because it's just too hard to overeat protein and fat without cutting them with carbs. It makes us feel sick.

Children need carbs. Too much protein puts a strain on their kidneys.

I don't like the phrase 'specific hunger'. It doesn't make much sense and it smacks of trying to normalise something that's not normal ? a body's need for fuel.

If her kids ARE fed sweet potatoes, lentils etc then that's fine, but the 'hunger' comment makes it sound as though they're not being given carbs at all. That's worrying.

I've not read the actual book itself & press reports are well known for being a sensationalist croc of shite a tad left of the truth, so I'll reserve proper judgement based on press reports.

That said, if the books cover is all that the fuss is about, them she isn't cutting out all carbs, just wheat & processed carbs along with other foods known to be hard to digest, or potentially harmful in some way is not the same at all as the press headlines would have us believe & suggests any quotes are taken out of context.

I've eaten this clean diet way myself, its nothing new even if she does keep banging on about it as if she's some directional food guru it my case is was as a result of kidney trouble & no real medical answers or help, so I set about helping myself & ate this way for a several years - it made HUGE difference to my health & turned the kidney problems around, even healed some of the damage caused by recurring infections of no know source - much to the puzzlement of my doctors.

Even slackening off & eating a more "normal" diet after a few years didn't bring the problem back for many years - though more recently it has come back, though not infections & ironically its now all looking to be as a result of celiac disease - I'm currently eating a gluten load diet - my normal diet is a very healthy one, low in wheat - loading up on wheat is causing a heap of symptoms - I can really feel the difference

DD eats a similar diet, not fanatically so, she eats sweets, wheat etc occasionally, but she too has health problems & eating a clean diet like this helps keep her healthy too

They could both do with eating more carbs and protein. Their mentality is the sort of mentality that comes from spending too much time on a diet (and also not having enough to do with their time but write crap articles about them).