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

Not sure what her approach is because it's so hard to get to the truth without reading the book....but if it's avoiding refined carbs and wheat based products then i think it's a healthy approach for kids and adults.

Sorry couldn't get past the joyless list of things her diet is free from in that link.

I agree with Ariel.

This 'avoid wheat' mantra is utterly bonkers. Yes, some people do have genuine problems with wheat. Most of us don't. Wheat is fine.

Mind you I am a journalist and - gasp - specialise in writing about health, so what do I know...

Her kids are going to rebel and only eat junk food from about 14 onwards. We'll see how smug she is then.

To answer the question in the OP: of course my diet influences the rest of the family. But the kids' (and H's) preferences also influence was I eat/cook.

abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/Wellness/gwyneth-paltrows-diet-blame-bone-disease/story?id=11034632

Got distracted by DS so just quickly posted the above link...

I think if her diet has potentially affected her health then she should be even more determind to provide a balanced, healthy diet for her children which means involving all the food groups.

My diet wasn't the best before I had DS but I adopted a healthy diet when he came along because I didn't want to pass my hang ups onto him. He eats healthily so a few sweets here and there are not big deal.

Sounds fine to me. Not terribly interested in what feeds her kids though, far more interested in what I feed my own.

i like her,and avoiding the food she mentioned isnt avoiding carbs,you can get enough carbs from fruit ad veg if you want or need to.

If they really were following a low carb diet then they wouldn't be hungry, as that WOE suppresses the appetite.

She seems to regularly fall into the over privileged person's trap of thinking, "if a little of something is good for me, a lot of it will be very good for me."

As an aside, didn't Gwyneth do the blood group diet too? I vaguely remember reading that in a magazine.

I think it's wrong to avoid any foods. Why enourage a child to avoid a food group.
Such a bad example to set. So very very wrong.

There is really no nutritional need to make white food the mainstay of any meal. We'd all fare a lot better if we ate mostly vegetables and fish/meat, with limited amounts of whole grains (and not just wheat). Of course affordability is another matter, but there are many kinds of cheap vegetable. I agree with Gwyneth.

At first I thought she was barking mad. Then I thought about it a bit more and thought she is actually better than the mums who let their kids eat too many processed carbs, fast foods and junk. It's only because she is a celebrity, there is the discussion, otherwise no one would care.
If her kids do crave carbs, I'm sure they'll get them from somewhere if she keeps restricting them. I don't envy her diet but having said that she is much slimmer than me . Their her kids and I guess she can tell for so long before they start making their own minds up!

They're NOT their

I bet dinner parties round her house are a laugh-a-minute . They probably all discuss poo and seaweed and the latest fad.
Her kids probably go sugar bonkers once out from under her thumb

surley using that much peroxide isnt good for you either?

maybe shes not worried abou that though

This thread is prompting me to go and eat cake.

Quite, mother. Should we not all be trying to die younger, given we'll be left gasping for water in a pile of poo? Actresses, rich people and royals excepted. The least we can do is get out as soon as we can.

BunnyLebowski summed it up.