Low-carb Diets and Teens: Nonsense or Common Sense?
Low-carb Diets and Teens: Nonsense or Common Sense?
By Kelly Burgess
iParenting
I was floored when my 16-year-old daughter told me that her best friendÌs soccer coach had put the entire girls' soccer team on a low-carbohydrate diet. After all, in the reams of writing IÌve done on the subject of childhood nutrition, there are a few general ÏrulesÓ about kids and food that seem to come up over and over. They are:
1. Teenagers should never diet.
2. Girls should never be told they need to diet.
3. Girls who diet risk loss of bone mass.
4. Female athletes who diet risk loss of bone mass, cessation of menses and eating disorders.
5. Low-carbohydrate diets are bad for everyone.
So my question became this: How do these ÏrulesÓ apply to low-carb diets and teens? What I discovered is that while numbers 1 through 4 are absolutely true, 5 is definitely open to a healthy interpretation.
Teens and Dieting
Katie Bark, nutritionist and special project coordinator for the Team Nutrition Program at the Montana State University Department of Health and Human Development, says that rule No. 1 is unequivocally true.
ÏTeens should not be on a diet, because we donÌt want to teach young people to diet, and we donÌt want them to develop that diet mentality,Ó says Bark.
She's right to be concerned. According to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP), eating disorders are on the increase among teenage girls and young women. AACAP estimates that as many as 10 in 100 young women suffer from the two most serious eating disorders, anorexia nervosa and bulimia. This disordered eating comes from a variety of societal factors, and encouraging teens to ÏdietÓ is no solution. Rather, says Bark, the family should focus on good eating and exercise habits all the time.
And thereÌs the rub. Because the fact is, teens donÌt generally have good exercise habits, nor do they have a well-rounded diet. Unfortunately, teens, even relatively amenable, well-informed teens like BarkÌs two teenage daughters and my teenagers, like to eat junk. Soda pop, burgers, French fries and potato chips are much more attractive to teens than grilled fish and steamed veggies Ò no matter how lovingly the healthy dish is prepared.
Low Carb = Low Sugar
When I told nutritionist Carol Simontacchi the soccer team story, her answer was, ÏGood. At least theyÌre cutting back on their sugar!Ó
She went on to qualify her initial reaction with an assurance that she does not like fad diets, does not like the idea of teens being on diets and thinks that Atkins is not a healthful low-carb approach. However, she also said the fact is that kids eat too much processed foods, eat and drink too much sugar and too many chemicals, and, in general, a low-carb diet canÌt be much worse than what theyÌre already putting into their bodies....
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