How to fatten up my children?!? page 4

[icz]

Look, kids could and should can eat a wide variety of foods that are healthful for their bodies. The gluten thing is beside the point. . . A strawman. Most of the kids with gluten intolerance are eating gluten free facsimiles of bread, etc. anyway. Not relevant. What percentage of them are eating "primal?" it is probably not even statistically significant.

Look, i know there is no point in arguing with nutritional fundamentalists. . . Over and out!

[Saoirse]

wait, in one thread i'm not strict enough (my kids are sugar addicts!!), and in another i'm a fundamentalist. lol, which am i?? please tell me because obviously i need to change.

[FrankiG]

Kids grow and gain weight on complex carbs the same way adults do. (What the OP wants, correct?) In us, it can be unhealthy, but find me an article that says whole wheat pasta is bad for normal or underweight kids. Kids also happen to like pasta and breads, and that is for a reason. Their bodies need more glucose than ours. Not ring-dings or Twinkies or Koolaid, but real, complex carbs.

I am a mom, and a food educator, and a food writer -- so I do speak with some authority. If I were to limit my 8-year old son to the primally "accepted" foods, (meaning no WW pasta, bread, or tortillas) he would be beyond skinny. We need to trust their bodies inherent wisdom as well.

Your response doesn't even make sense unless you're viewing Paleo/Primal as a weight-loss diet vs. a healthy lifestyle diet. THere is a reason it eschews cereal grains and that is due to the poor nutrient absorption issues, anti-nutrients AS WELL AS the historical argument that they are a new intro to the human diet. If humans survived for eons without grains why do we consider them essential now?

[Saoirse]

Your response doesn't even make sense unless you're viewing Paleo/Primal as a weight-loss diet vs. a healthy lifestyle diet. THere is a reason it eschews cereal grains and that is due to the poor nutrient absorption issues, anti-nutrients AS WELL AS the historical argument that they are a new intro to the human diet. If humans survived for eons without grains why do we consider them essential now?

+1
i guess you're a fundamentalist too!

[PrimalJes]

Have your kids always been really thin? They could be dairy intolerant. My son was and he didn't gain weight until the dairy was out of his and my diet. He's doing even better with fewer grains. Just something to look into...

[magicmerl]

wait, in one thread i'm not strict enough (my kids are sugar addicts!!), and in another i'm a fundamentalist. lol, which am i?? please tell me because obviously i need to change.

Clearly you are all over the place

Remember, icz speaks with some authority. A little respect wouldn't hurt.

[Saoirse]

not sure if that was tongue-in-cheek.

i'm a mom, informed food consumer, and i guess a rebel without a cause. does that qualify me to get huffy? a friend's daughter faced this and her pediatrician suggested that the child be stuffed with ice cream and cookies. the mom decided instead just to feed her daughter nutritious, calorie-dense foods (she's mostly primal even though she doesn't know what that means).

[magicmerl]

not sure if that was tongue-in-cheek.

The smiley didn't give it away?

I think that icz is wrong, because even though there's nothing wrong with kids eathing more carbs, there's still no reason for them to be eating wheat other than 'because everyone else does'.

[icz]

I think that icz is wrong, because even though there's nothing wrong with kids eathing more carbs, there's still no reason for them to be eating wheat other than 'because everyone else does'.

Um, yes - that's what I said, they should be eating more carbs. Where did I say they should do it because "everyone else does?"

And Saoirse, I didn't direct any comments at you that I am aware of. Ice cream and cookies is ridiculous.

magicmerl - You are a riot! A riot, I tell you!

I think it might behoove some folks to look at the posters original question - -how to promote weight gain in a kid. I am not confusing the issue - I think the issue is most of us are thinking about what is healthy for us, and not for underweight kids. And yes, I went so far as to say that those who console themselves with the "all the other kids are just fat" when talking about the average kid, are wrong. I think that is pure conjecture, and meant to make someone we don't even know feel better about a situation we know very little about. I don't think that is responsible.

I think most people would agree that some complex carbs, including ww bread and pasta, but also sweet potatoes, etc. will help a kid gain weight. Is a kid gonna quaff enough coconut oil to do that? Enough sweet potatoes (yeah, maybe a couple - no kid I know.) The satiety factor is too high in things like fatty grass fed meat; it isn't likely to happen. I was irritated when I wrote the nutritional fundamentalist part, but that is how it feels in here -- either toe the line or be attacked by the snark squad. People write about how vegans are mean-spirited. . . I can't say it is Kumbaya here!

[magicmerl]

icz, are your feelings hurt after you dismissed everyone else here as "a bunch of ideologues on an internet site", and then presented your credentials as if you were the only person worth listening to? Please accept my condolences.

Most of your post was decent. However, this statement "If I were to limit my 8-year old son to the primally "accepted" foods, (meaning no WW pasta, bread, or tortillas) he would be beyond skinny." may or may not be true. When reading it I interpreted you to be meaning that those foods should be given to kids. And I disagree with that. I think that there better (i.e. more healthy) ways to increase calorific intake.

Like Saoirse said, the best way to do that is with the most energy dense macro nutrient, i.e. Fat. Fatty meats, fatty dairy etc. Carbohydrates are fine too, but I'd head for the sweet potatoes and other safe starches rather than wheat based products.

You certainly didn't say to eat wheat "because everyone else does". That was me being tongue-in-cheek. What are your reasons for recommending wheat to the OP? I don't know how long you have been reading the MDA site, but here's a wheat post (spoiler alert: the title is 'why grains are unhealthy').

I'm not trying to antagonise you. It just seemed like you were being dismissive of everyone else here and at the same time giving some advice that I disagreed with. Does that make sense?

"People write about how vegans are mean-spirited. . . I can't say it is Kumbaya here! " For sure. I actually think that primal people have much more similarities with vegans than differences. Perhaps that's why there's so much 'vegan teasing' in various posts?