DIET DEBACLE

[antonin]

I currently have 50/50 of my 8-year-old daughter. Everything has been going fairly smoothly, although there have been a few rough spots with ex.

When I first met ex, she was severely overweight and I showed her how to loose weight through exercise and a diet that consisted of eating sensibly by eliminating excess fat and counting calories. She gained weight after our daughter was born, and then became fanatical about loosing it. She lost it, got in good shape and had an affair, which ended our marriage.

Mother's latest craze is carbo-counting ala Atkins.  She has indoctrinated daughter into it to the point where my daughter comes to my place and won't eat pears, potatoes, green beans, fruit, etc and tries to throw out that type of food.

What's worse, EX is accusing me of making our daughter gain weight. The daughter is about 4 pounds overweight, tops. Mother has been sending low carb stuff over to my place with daughter and insisting she eat it. About a month ago, mother insisted daughter not eat lunches at school anymore, but take sack lunches and do the low carb thing. Mother insisted on peanut butter sandwiches, so I agreed.  This went on for a month and that's when daughter put on the pounds. I also found that mother lets daughter eat as much PB as she wants, because of low carbs. Daughter gets 800 calories a day from PB and eats another 1200 in other stuff as far as I can see. If she wants to loose weight, she needs to eat about 1300-1500 calories a day..weight loss of 1-2 lbs a week will result.

Mother blew up at me last PM in front of daughter, said I was making daughter fat. I tried to explain to mother that you must eat less calories than your body requires, that's how you loose weight. Mother stated all you have to count is carbs, not calories. (Low carbohydrate diets are low in calories...hence the weight loss).

I have read much about Atkins, much of it negative owing to the fact that entire food groups are cut and that's not nutritionally wise.

I'm worried PBFH will try to use this against me in court some day. What should I do?

[wendl]

why in the world would a parent do that. Children as well as adults can maintain a good weight but like you said "deit and EXERCISE"

Have you discussed this with your daughter pediatrician?? Might want to call the doctor or nurse and ask some questions.

Pisses me off when people put there kids on diets, gee lets make the kids inscecure if they are a little overweight --gggggrrrrr

[lucky]

I am "doing Atkins".  I believe that you CAN lose weight and maintain nutrition if you follow the book.  HOWEVER, I would NEVER put our children on Atkins.

Some ideas for you:  buy berries or melons to get her to eat fruit, berries are acceptable fruits and melons are pretty good also.  Salad greens, including spinach, lettuce, etc. are also acceptable, broccoli, cabbage, celery, cauliflower, mushrooms, summer squash, zuchinni, tomatos are lo-carb.   Green beans ARE acceptable, even on Induction (which is only supposed to be for the first 2 weeks).  There are lo-carb, lo-fat, lo-calorie salad dressings and marinades out there too -- good for ANY type of xx-counting.  

I'm not saying that you have to buy into Atkins, however, you say that your daughter is indoctrinated and won't eat things mom considers high carb.  She can eat lower calorie, lower carb stuff from the above list (among other things) and then your ex can't say ANYTHING because you are preparing food that meets BOTH of your guidelines.  Funny that she "allows" PB sandwiches though as bread is typically high-carb and peanut butter ISN'T really that low carb when you look at the labels (or the carb chart on Atkins site) -- 800 calories of PB is about four servings which is about 16-20 grams of carbs alone.

The Atkins website is very informative, hopefully you will find information that will help you, here's the link:
http://atkins.com/

Good luck Antonin, from what I've read of your ex, I'd bet that she'll try to use this against you.  But ya know, it seems that it would be strictly common sense for a judge to look at her and say "an 8 yo on Atkins?? What's wrong with you?"

[Hawkeye]

I would not be bothered by your EX as far as her own food issues are concerned...  Feed your child a healthy balance of the food groups, stay away from carb/fat loads, like sodapop, and overly processed stuff, other than a treat now and then. Nobody has been killed by a fruit-rollup that I know of.  :^p Sounds like an obsession to me.
 
Heck, it's springtime in the breadbasket of Iowa, so why not check out a Farmer's Market near you?...  How about some salads? Become the COOK, serve up some Chef's or Greek Salads, who's gonna argue with that?

Sheeesh, some ex's, including my own, just make mountains out of molehills.

[nosonew]

If your ex would read Dr. Atkins ENTIRE book, she would realize that as a cardiologist, he invented this diet for those patients who WERE NOT able to exercise to lose weight.  

I too am on Atkins, for a year now in July, have lost my 35 pounds and am maintaining my weight on approx 100 carbs per day.  I do not believe it is recommended for children AT ALL, although I know some teens that have been on it and done well, I can't imagine an 8 year old needing to be on this.  However, decreasing your carb intake (mainly sugars) is a great thing to learn young, but she is too young!

You may want to get his book, find the info that is relevant to you, and show it to ex.  It is called "The Diet Revolution", he has several others out, but that is the one you want.

[mango]

I would consult your peditrician about this.

Children can loose weight so easily by simply eliminating pop, or replacing a cookie for a snack for carrots instead. Drinking a glass of water before meals.

But in now way should a child be on atkins. She needs all her essential nutrients, that Adkins does not offer.

[Jeepnut67]

I agree.. amn 8 year old should not be on a diet at all unless she was WAY overweight. 4 lbs is not unhealthy at all, I would think 4 lbs overweight would still be considered healthy.

I read Atkins' book and didnt like how he did some things, so I'm going by Schwarzbeins book instead, it is more into eating natural things, not searing oils and not counting carbs as closely as Atkins but mioxing them with the fats and protiens to keep bloodsugar/insulin levels in check. My ex was on Atkins getting only 5 grams of carbs a day and she was depressed, moody, had NO energy, and still didnt lose any weight because she wasnt fueling the machine. I tried it and gained weight because I got moody, depressed, and had no energy to go out and exersice.

I am suprised to see that the Atkins book is for people that cant exercise... I can see that, we need carbs for "right now" energy..

Dave