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

nuttymummy - I wasn't aware that anyone was peddling a 'no carbohydrate' diet. What do you mean by that?

Wonder why you are asking us our opinions HQ? Its not something I've seen you do often.

My view is that refined carbs aren't actual poison so long as they do not form the backbone of a diet, and that its not good to expose your children to extreme ways of eating.

Everything in moderation surely? I have PCOS so carbs are not good for me and I don't et a lot of them. But, I recognise that the DCs need carbs for energy and development. I don't tell them that things are bad, just that we should all be healthy and exercise and they do a lot of that.

She seems to experiment a lot with her children- it will be interesting to see how they turn out. Children eat what you eat - it is as simple as that.

We sometimes have a break from carbs. My DC will eat fish with a salad and beans...kidney beans for instance. Not a problem.

... but that isn't a break from carbs. Salad and kidney beans have carbs in them.

Do they BIWI?

Children should be eating bread and pasta and potatoes and rice, as should adults. The classic food plate that is a visual representation of what we should eat is 40% starchy carbs and 40% fruit and veg.

If she really thinks what has been reported then her view of what is healthy appears to have been dangerously warped by her career in an industry that objectifies women. She might well pay a fortune to have a personal nutritionalist tell her what to eat but those people have an interest in creating a complex diet that is difficult to follow. A sensible diet is not complicated and you can see the advice of dieticians for free on the food standards agencies website.

They do indeed. All vegetables, salad leaves and legumes have carbs in them.

My, non hungry, children rarely eat 'processed' carbs in the evening meal as dh and I don't and I know they eat more than enough for breakfast and lunch.

Really BIWI? Oh . Must have got my diabetic carb counting wrong for the last 40 years then.

you're joking aren't you?

There is so litle carb content in lettuce, that it requires no insulin.

Yes that's true - you would have to eat an awful lot of lettuce to have too many carbs!

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbohydrate
Wikipedia agrees with BIWI, fruit and veg do indeed contain carbs.

Lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes, celery, radish, spinach,bwatercress etc, have less than 2 grammes of carbs per 100 gramnes of each veg. Idont eat 100g of any of those in my salads. Eggs bacon. No carbs. No inslin required on my insulin pump.

Fruit does. I portion of fruit equals atleast 10 grammes of carb, which requires 1 unit of insulin.

I will get flamed for this but I think that some children are only gluten intolerant because their parents are frightened of carbs. I think that processed white flour etc isn't great but I think that cutting them out completely so young is a bit extreme.

My ex had the Gwyntheth diet; he was macrobiotic. He was a fanatical vegan and I almost died under his regime hence my eat a litle bit of what you fancy approach to food. Especially if it's chocolate cake!

This thread has proved to me that none of us - including Gwynnie - know what the bleeding hell we're talking about.

Why would anyone take lifestyle advice from someone who had developed thinning bones by their early thirties?

Very interesting article on gluten intolerance and suggestions for why it is increasing here...
www.nytimes.com/2013/02/24/opinion/sunday/what-really-causes-celiac-disease.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

I am really interested in the said cookery book, just to see what meals she has come up with.

My children eat alot of pasta and its my quick go to meal, not sure how i would cope without it. I usually tell myself its not too bad they have it a couple of times a week, with a healthy sauce...being as they never have things like chips/nuggets etc!

But not being able to use the list of things like pasta and dairy...we would struggle to think of thing and the children actually eat it...my dd2 will vertually eat anything if i say it has pasta in it!

Er - speak for yourself, MoYerBoat! I know a lot about low carbing, thank you very much!

See here - written by me

I am a health journalist. I know a fair bit about what I am talking about.

educator No reason to worry about your DC having pasta unless they show ill effects after eating it? Just be sure that the portions are not too big. I have never come across a pasta portion served in a cafe/restaurant outside of Italy that is not far too large.

Vegetables and fruit ARE carbs....so Gwynnie is giving her kids plenty of them....she's just choosing not to give them processed shite.

I am now eating a Low carb diet with the blessing of my GP....my ratios are 70% fat, 20% protein and 10% carbs.

I have lost a significant amount of weight.

Would I feed my child like this.....yes with some provisos. His bread is the lowest carb whole grain I can find, he has potatoes, pasta is now once a week (a useless starch) and he eats the rest in the form of fruit and vegetables.

There are sound reasons and evidence to back up reducing the carbohydrate we consume as a nation. Bit a little of what you fancy now and then is fine