Low carb ok for children ???

[debbietowns]

Hi My 12 year old has recently been diagnosed with type 1 and i feel the low carb diet makes sense for him and myself (type 2).
I just wanted to check that it is ok to reduce his carbs? His nurse doesn't seem to agree.
If i do it gradually and keep checking his bg's is there anything i especially need to know for a growing child?
Thanks
Debbie

 

[cocacola]

If you are testing him regularly, you should be able to know what sends his BG levels too high. I would just avoid those foods.
Personally as he will be going through a growth spurt, I would be very careful not to cut his carbs back too much.

 

[ally5555]

As a dietitian I suggest you get some professional help - a low carb diet may result in his diet being low in calories and deficient in many nutrients in particular calcium - at age 12 he has much higher requirements than an adult.

He is also likely to have growth spurts fairly soon which will result in a massive increase in growth and appetite. Please get some professional help on carb counting from a qualified paediatric dietitian.

 

[phoenix]

(If it is not reply is not allowed as it is in the lowcarb forum please could it be put into a new thread on another forum?)
I think you also need to take into account that food is not just fuel, it's very much part of many social occasions. Not so long ago the diet for some childen with diabetes was indeed very restricted and some children were therefore excluded from many events (no birthday cake, no chocolate at Easter, no let's not invite 'Jimmy' he can't join in). As a primary school teacher, I can recall vividly a couple of occasions where this caused real distress, much worse it lead one young woman I knew to denial with far more serious consequences.
As I wasn't a child with type 1, I will quote from someone who was :

As someone who really enjoys helping other ‘betics, offering them advice and insight on how to be OK and live healthily without sacrificing any more than necessary, it saddens me to see newer diabetics being told that low-carb is the way to live. It strikes a nerve in me. The food restrictions that were just part of the package deal 30 years ago contributed to the rage and resentment I had toward this disease for so long. There are so many things about diabetes that are intrusive, why does anyone want to be unnecessarily burdened with more intrusions like unrealistic food restrictions?
Eating a wide variety of foods in moderation does not preclude being physically healthy and having well-managed diabetes. In my opinion, even more importantly, eating a wide variety in moderation is more conducive to emotional health.

http://www.thebuttercompartment.com/?m=xkjuzmxiwn&paged=77
I think it's important that all children, diabetic or not learn what a healthy diet is. I also feel (and this is opinion not experience) that a child should learn to manage his own insulin so that he can calculate the carbs in his meal , learn to dose accurately for different types of meals and yes, learn how to 'cover' the occasional less healthy ones. As a parent you will need to learn this first so that you can help him.This will take time and from what other parents say involve lots of ups and downs.(and frustrations too as those hormones set in and his needs change rapidly )
But you will have given him the tools to be able to cope with a flexible lifestyle' especially necessary during adolescence and early adulthood. I often read on forums of young people at University who go out with their friends but haven't the foggiest how to minimise the spikes from pizzas or other take-aways, frequently ending up with horrendous levels . As they mature, like most of us they'll hopefully revert to a healthier diet but wouldn't it be better that they were prepared for those occasions?

 

[hanadr]

Debbietowns
Katharine has brought her son Stephen through his teens on low a carbs. I think he was about 11 when diagnosed. Katharine is a GP and wouldn't do anything to harm her son.
You might finding a pm to her helpful.
Ifeel that all diabetics have a right to normal blood sugars( above the right to eat anything they fancy) and since using large doses of insulin tends to lead to swinging bg values, controlling carbs is pretty much essential.
Ally 555 is right in that growing children have different needs from adults and you do have to ensure your son gets all his micronutrients. By the time you've got all this in your head, you'll be ready to collect your PhD.

 

[jopar]

Teaching your child to eat a moderate carb diet, focusing on healthy carbs as daily regime, with an allowance/ability to include a treats along the way is far better than enforcing a regime onto him that will make him feel more stigmatised than he already does amongst his peers.. And he is more likely to rebel with disastrous consequences at some point in the future...

Katherine (her son isn’t on a extreme low carb diet)

Steven injects 12-20 times a day. This is because he sticks to 7 units or less for each injection.

This ensures meal insulin works when it is supposed to and reduces possible long term fat/skin changes.

It seems a lot but it is a great way to get pump style control without the disadvantages of the pump. Also the jags are all small in volume so are usually painless.

The thread can be found here to get full context viewtopic.php?f=1&t=11696&hili

Can you imagine how time consuming this amount of injections and supporting BG testing takes out of the day? And would you really want to ask this out of your son?

Your son is younger, and with this comes many more considerations, has his body reached enough maturity to recognise that the blood glucose is dropping, and start to signal with symptoms that this happening (a problem for a lot of children) if it is, can your son recognise and understand these symptoms acting upon them? Then there’s the usual ensuring nutritional requirements are meet to ensure healthy growing etc etc..

It is a fine balancing act, as yes we want the best possible control for our child, but we also must allow our child to grow within their peer group so as they travel through childhood, through teenage years then becoming well rounded adults with the necessary skills and understanding of how to take control of their diabetes in any circumstances without feeling stigmatised or standing outside looking in..