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Low carb for children

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Flossy11

Member
Messages
13
Type of diabetes
Parent
Treatment type
Insulin
My daughter 11 has been diagnosed with T1 just over a week ago. After the initial horror I am taking steps to look at our duet. While I thought it was generally healthy, already I'm noticing the difference if she eats bread or rice. We are going to drop these 'staples' from our diet and follow a much lower carb plan I cannot find much info online regarding low carb plans for children, and looking through this forum there is not much mentioned does anyone feed their T1 child low carb? Also, I'm strongly against sweeteners, is there any other way of sweetening some foods for her naturally?
 
You need to get Dr Bernsteins book. He's a type 1 who has had it since childhood. Have a look on amazon.
 
Just so you're aware, her HCPs may caution you not to put her on a low carb diet, so have a think about how you will deal with them. If it were me, I'd only refer to websites, books etc that they won't freak out about... actually that probably excludes most low carb resources. They work to guidelines they have been given and often they are scared of new approaches, especially involving children.

Take your time, do your reading and design an eating plan for her that will help manage her diabetes while avoiding nutritional deficiencies, such as vitamins and minerals. Veges, meat, eggs, dairy and nuts are great sources of these. I'm going through some issues at the moment with avoiding deficiencies while low carbing, and it can be complex.

I'm a huge fan of Dr Bernstein but his ideas are not shared by most doctors or dieticians, more's the pity.
 
There are no essential nutrients in grains you can't get from other and better sources so to there is no problem in dropping them.

There has been research done on extreme low carb diets in children with epilepsy but I you probably won't need to take your daughter's low carbing that far.
 
Just to echo the above. Low carb will really help your daughter. But you'll need to manage the info you give her HCPs or you'll get a *lot* of hassle from them.

You could even try asking Dr Bernstein a question on his monthly teleseminar session about how to do things for your daughter. I'd think about shooting for something a bit less strict - say 40 grams/day?

But definitely avoid starches - bread, rice, pasta, most potatoes.

Low carb eating is actually incredibly nutrient-rich.

And get her eating lots of green veggies !!

Good luck to you.
 
Just to clarify, I agree low carb eating is nutrient rich, but this is one issue the HCPs are likely to raise. I can hear them now, lol.

Personally, I am finding I may not be getting enough sodium, potassium, and magnesium, but that's not the fault of low carbing, it's my fault for not doing enough reading first to ensure I'm getting enough nutrients. I'm sure Flossy11 will prepare better than I did.
 
My daughter is 7 and we have been following Dr Bernstein's diet for just over a year now. I do popup in other threads on here to talkibg about low carb for kids.
Our consultant's aren't totally on board with low carb but a drop in hba1c from 81 to 38 without too many lows can't really be argued with.
With regards to vitamins DD has a plain multi-vitamin and a separate vit d (highest dose I could find)
Not sure about not using sweeteners, i only use erythritol and stevia. It depends if you intend to do a lot of baking. Feel free to pm me.
 
@Flossy11 - I wouldn't like to go specific on Low Carb for children as it's not something I had experience of. What I have noticed are a number of blogs or recipe sites created by "T1 Mom" and the like. T1 Mom is a name I seem to recall, but can't recall if she is a carb controller or not.

I'm certain if you could spend a couple of hours on Google, and of course the Parents section here, you could find lots of help for you both.

Good luck with it. Low carb has changed many, many lives for the better.
 
Thanks everyone. I've ordered dr Bernstein book to be delivered on Saturday. Trawled the Internet and found some great recipes. Think I'll start off dropping bread, grains and rice...as the shock may start a meltdown with her..then I'll look at cutting back on potatoes. Does anyone have any thoughts on Hemp
milk? Just found this on web and looks like a replacement for dairy (some recent studies connecting cows milk a1 protein to diabetes?!)
 
Personally my only concern about milk is the amount of carbs in it. I eat cheese, cream, butter and full fat yoghurt.

I was just thinking about what you said re meltdowns... maybe you could involve her in the process of rethinking carbs and learning new recipes and ways of eating? It's early days yet and IMO there's plenty of time. Maybe the adjustment will be easier on her if it's slower. With newly diagnosed adult T2, there's no time like the present to get started on low carbing, because it is the foundation of managing the disorder (at least it is to me). But with T1 there is a lot more to adjust to besides carb changes. Just a thought.
 
The info on Epileptic children going low carb would be a great source.
They have been using diet as treatment for a long time now, and have probably hit every barrier and problem that could come up.

Worth googling.
 
Hi I'm on a Facebook page called Typeone gritters they are amazing! They have their children in lch protein for growth.
 
I love this site, so foodie ideas, and I had a niggling feeling about children with it. She has a section on children, but not specifically related to T1, but some of her food ideas are just fab!

There's a link to 30 days of lunch boxes, and another for snacks, so there might be something to interest you on it:

http://www.ditchthecarbs.com/kids/

Good luck with it all. It must be a challenge, I'm sure.
 
I would say, as with everything diabetes, its all about trial and error.........

low carb will help the blood sugars there is no doubt about it however small kids will process the carbs much better and quicker, so cutting it down to levels that some of us on here are doing may be a bit hasty........

good luck....
 

You can get a milk called A2 that doesn't have those proteins in. I use it for my children. You could also try coconut milk - that's got a very acceptable taste.

None of my children have diabetes ( I have Type 1). If they did I would be cautious about putting them on any kind of restricted diet without checking with a paediatrician. Children's needs are very different to adults - growth, puberty, etc.

I would, however, look into a pump if any of my children got Type 1. My pump has allowed me to get excellent control and has given me a huge amount of freedom.
 

Sorry - I missed that your daughter had been diagnosed so recently. Her blood sugars will probably be high to start with as children are started on a low dose of insulin which is then increased if needed.

Do you count carbs? It will often be the case that accurate carb counting will allow a person to eat reasonable,portions of bread, pasta, etc. if you're not counting carbs and your daughter's meals are varying from day to day, then that could be the reason you notice rises after bread and rice.
 
We are counting carbs and I've loved all of the responses, I'm so happy I've found this site. Such great information and help...thank you all.
 
@mrs grimes... Been trying to find Facebook page you suggested...is it typeone grit? I can't find anything for typeone gritters
 
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