As a dietitian who practises non-diet nutrition, my advice is that ‘diets’ are unhealthy for everyone. Diets tend to restrict food intake beyond what could be considered a normal, healthy diet and this has negative effects on physical health. There’s also good evidence to show the negative effects of dieting on mental health too. When people refer to ‘carbs’ they are usually talking about foods from the grains and cereal group. For both adults and children, this is one of the food groups that we need most in the day. These foods are a good source of energy, dietary fibre and various vitamins and minerals. Not to mention that these sorts of foods form a staple part of the diets in most cultures so cutting them out dramatically reduced the variety of the diet. Putting a child on a low-carb diet may mean they have trouble concentrating in school, complain of feeling tired, complain of headaches, and suffer from constipation. As well as this, diets teach the child that some foods are “bad” and shouldn’t beeaten, when inactually fact all foods are allowed as part of a healthy diet. I don’t recommend any child be put onto adiet, unless medically indicated for a food allergy or intolerance.
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