Hello,

What is your opinion on the book "Super Food for Super Kids"? To me, these concepts are quite revolutionary and I'm not sure how to approach them. Until now, I believed that a diet should be based on grains, legumes, vegetables, and fruits, with a smaller amount of fish and meat, especially when it comes to children. It's never good to try overly restrictive diets with children. That's why I’m surprised that this book, on the contrary, advocates prioritizing meat and fats and limiting grains. I'm about to start introducing solid foods to my second son, and I don't know which approach to choose. Both arguments sound logical and convincing to me (both for a high-carbohydrate diet and for a low-carb diet).

With my first son, I began mainly with grains, vegetables, and fruits, and the experience was that he suffered a lot from bloating, and now at the age of five, he constantly demands treats (in some form of sugar, whether it's bread, fruit, porridge, etc.), and he's basically addicted to these things. It's what I wanted to avoid, and now I'm trying to fix it. However, I don't want to swing to the other extreme.

Thank you very much for your advice.

The idea presented in the book is logical and meaningful because one of the biggest problems in modern nutrition is the ever-increasing share of industrially processed carbohydrates in the diet. It is therefore natural to seek ways to reverse this trend, and low carb seems like an optimal solution. In principle, it is a good approach in the sense of avoiding unnatural foods, which can often seem like an attempt to return to the diet of hunters and gatherers, about which, on the other hand, we can discuss to what extent it makes sense today. However, the truth is that in the diet of young children, there is an excess of carbohydrates that should be corrected. Currently, we know that the body has certain requirements for the intake of basic nutrients, which must be followed. This means always first checking the amount of protein in the diet, for which both a deficit and an excess can be hazardous. Only then should the balance between energy substrates, namely carbohydrates and fats, be sought. The key is the quality of the ingredients, meaning the elimination of industrially processed fats and monitoring the sugar content, which should come only from fruits and vegetables. Based on the ratio of macronutrients, you set the energy balance and meet the basics of the theory. When putting it into practice, you'll find that you encounter natural reactions from children in the form of gaining life experiences (finding what they like, or what their body currently needs more), which shape their personality and approach to food. The nutritional outcome will be somewhat different from the original plan, and that's okay; you shouldn't let it throw you off.

The best you can do for a young child is to provide high-quality (natural) foods in as wide a range of options as possible and give the child the freedom to choose. Given the fact that we naturally gravitate towards sweet tastes, I am not convinced that a child of such age will automatically switch to a strict low-carb diet on their own, nor, in the absence of unhealthy sweets, will they lack the opportunity to predominantly prefer sweet foods and thus create desperately incorrect habits for the future. Make sure that the diet includes sources of protein, calcium, iron, and omega-3s, meaning that a certain portion of animal products should be present. If you follow the nutritional characteristics of the child's diet within this approach, you will find that while the wisdom presented in the book may appear low carb (compared to a conventional diet, definitely yes), the ratio of carbohydrates to fats will still favor carbohydrates, meaning it will essentially remain a high-carbohydrate concept.

Themes:  Weight loss   Diet