Sugar detox for a six year old?

[AuntieM]

My 6yodd is a carboholic. Next week I will start Atkins and the rest of the family will be out of town. I plan to, as much as possible, have her eat what I eat. However, that will be very very low carbs. I plan to have no treats, aside from fresh fruit in reasonable amounts.

 

My question is, how many good carbs does a kid that age need in a day? I am not trying to actually put her on Atkins, I just want to try to break her sweet tooth and get her to eat more protein. Should I plan to offer her a side of brown rice, a slice of wheat bread, or a serving of sweet potatoes with the protein and veggies? I'd also appreciate any suggestions for quality carb menu items.

 

She's a tad on the chubby side, but I know with the next growth spurt she'll shoot up and be skinny. All my other kids followed that puff-up/grow-tall/get-skinny pattern a few times between ages 7 and 14. I am really not trying to put her on a diet, but to take advantage of this time where she's not living from treat to treat (ie, kindergarten class birthday parties, overnights with aunts & grandparents, and this week the crowning event of VBS with candy and other daily treats).

 

As always, your input is appreciated!

[Daisy]

I'd just dump the processed sugars and not worry about how many good carbs she eats. I'd make sure to have at least one carb at each meal. I tend to serve our carb AFTER the protein and veggies. You might try that. She probably will self-limit if she fills up on the other stuff first.

[Momof3littles]

Our meals are pretty much all LC (often a meat/protein plus 2-3 veggies). Sometimes the kids get things like pizza (and I make a low carb version for DH and me). I don't limit their fruit or veggie consumption, and my kids eat sprouted bread (like Ezekial). They like the one minute muffin made w/ almond flour (pretty calorie dense). They eat berries and homemade whipped cream, etc.

 

I would make sure to have extra snacks on hand but I wouldn't necessarily go out of my way to offer rice, etc. just because.

 

Sweet potatoes, unlimited veggies, fruit, etc. will take care of her carb needs quite well.

[meggie]

I totally understand where you're coming from. My oldest is the same way. What I had to do is give him the carb/starchy item AFTER he was done with the protein and veggies IF he was still hungry. I need to make sure he was getting a varied diet and he would always eat the carb/starchy item first, declare himself full and not eat anything else. So now, when we have fajitas, he gets the chicken and veggies first and if he's still hungry when he's done, I'll give him the tortilla. If it's something like a stir fry, I'll just give him less rice, more meat and veggies and mix it up for him so he has to get through the veggies to get to the rice.