Atkins Diabetes Revolution (46 page)

A FAMILY AFFAIR

When a whole family starts cutting back on unhealthy carbs, everyone benefits, even those who don’t need to lose weight and/or stabilize their blood sugar. When you are more sensitized to the value of protein and fats along with healthy carbs, both parents and children will be more likely to eat regular meals and fewer unhealthy snacks, more fresh vegetables and low-glycemic fruits, better-quality carbohydrates overall, and a lot less junk food.

Breakfast comes by its name rightfully. It is important to send children off to school with the foods that get their chemistry off to a healthy, stable start after a long night’s fast. Having a high-protein breakfast means that they won’t be hungry or craving sugary foods a couple of hours later, and their behavior and schoolwork should improve, often to a remarkable degree. So serve up some eggs and cheese to get the day off to a good start, adding foods such as fruit, full-fat milk, and whole grains as your child’s individual metabolism and activity level allow.

On the Atkins family plan—by which we mean that every person is cutting back on carbs to some degree—everyone ends up a lot fitter, too. If you are doing Atkins properly, you are exercising regularly, and your children will see you as a role model. Kids, like adults, benefit greatly from adding a minimum of half an hour a day of physical activity. Of course, this has to be fun or they won’t participate. After- school activities aren’t always an option, so try to find ways to help your child build more activity into daily life—you’ll get more exercise that way, too. Make sure to include physical activity in weekend plans; even a rousing indoor game of catch with a foam ball is enough to get a youngster moving and enjoying it. Exercise videos can be fun if everyone participates. Maybe your child can teach you the latest dance steps, and both of you can get a good laugh. The important thing is to set a good example by being active yourself and finding ways for the whole family to join in.

SCHOOL FOOD

How can you protect your children from the bad nutritional influences they encounter every day at school? Fight back by sending them off to school fueled with a good breakfast—and armed with healthy snacks like an apple to be eaten along with nuts or string cheese, and a good, low-carb lunch such as chicken salad on whole grain bread. Let your kids buy the school lunch or a treat now and then (if you limit kids too much, they can end up getting teased or feeling resentful). Remember, you can’t control everything your children eat—you certainly aren’t going to keep them from visiting their friends and going to birthday parties—so work on controlling what you can. If you can just cut most of the junk food out of your children’s diet and continue to serve high- quality, low-carb meals at home, you’ll start seeing progress by decreasing cravings and controlling appetite better, stopping further excessive weight gain,or even encouraging some weight loss.

WHAT TO EXPECT

In a child, the warning signs of trouble ahead are pretty clear: inappropriate weight gain, cravings for carbohydrate foods, a family history of overweight, and the beginnings of the metabolic syndrome (see Chapter 4). If that describes your child, the steps you need to take are also clear:

• Remove enough unhealthy carbs from meals and snacks to stop any more weight gain. In other words, cut back on junk foods and foods like French fries and cookies that have minimal nutritional content.
  
• Introduce healthful foods early in life; that way, children develop a taste for them.
  
• Replace those unhealthy carbs with protein,natural fats,and vegetables.This will help decrease excessive hunger and cravings and introduce the child to a healthier way of eating.
  
• Don’t fixate on the scale—what you want is fat loss, not weight loss, which is why increasing a child’s activity is also key. Judge progress by how clothing fits, not by pounds dropped.
  
• For younger kids who aren’t close to puberty (they’re not yet showing signs of physical sexual development),the goal is simply to stabilize the child’s weight and prevent further gain. Usually as the child grows, he or she will simply “grow into” a normal weight. In extreme cases, physicians may recommend active weight loss, which should be medically supervised.
  

Likewise, for kids who are already overweight and moving toward obesity, are approaching puberty, or have advanced signs of the metabolic syndrome, you may want to consider a medically supervised program. The child needs to control carbs enough to stabilize his or her abnormal blood sugar, lose inches, and maintain long-term appetite control. That may take some fine-tuning, and supplements may be necessary to ensure that your child is getting the maximum nutritional benefit from the program.

JUST TRY IT, YOU’LL LIKE IT

When Dr.Atkins would explain to overweight children and their families what they had to do to make the necessary dietary and lifestyle changes, he often heard a chorus of concern about how difficult it would be. He suggested that they just give it a try for a month or so to see how it went. When he saw them again, the tune had almost always changed for the better. The youngsters and their families would tell him that the first week or so did take some getting used to, but that in the end the changes weren’t so disruptive or difficult at all. And after that, it was easy to stick with the program, because everyone, not just the overweight child, was now eating better, exercising more, and feeling better both physically and mentally—and eating foods they liked.

IS MY CHILD AT RISK?

Agree or disagree with the following statements to see if your child is at risk for obesity.

1. I am overweight.
   Yes
   No
   
2. Other close family members are overweight.
   Yes
   No
   
3. My child’s BMI-for-age is at or above the 85th percentile.
   Yes
   No
   
4. My child is physically active less than
   30 minutes each day.
   Yes
   No
   
5. My child drinks more than one can of soda each day.
   Yes
   No
   
6. My child eats a lot of sugary and salty snack foods.
   Yes
   No
   
7. My child often eats fast food.
   Yes
   No
   
8. The doctor says my child has high blood pressure.
   Yes
   No
   
9. The doctor says my child has high blood sugar.
   Yes
   No
   
10. The doctor says my child has high cholesterol/high triglycerides.
    Yes
    No
    

Scoring: If you answered yes three or more times, your child may well be on a path to being overweight or obese if he or she is not already.

BOUNCING BABY JOY

Having almost developed gestational diabetes with her second pregnancy, unable to lose “baby fat” after the birth, and with a family history of Type 2 diabetes, Traci Reason was headed for trouble. But today, she’s committed to setting a good example for her kids.

So many women never lose their pregnancy weight. With all the hard work of a new baby, we sometimes gain even more weight after the birth. That’s what happened to me. I had two children 22 months apart; I had barely recovered from my first child when I became pregnant with my second. After my second baby girl was born almost four years ago, I was also struggling with depression.

I had never weighed more than 150 pounds in my life. But I weighed 225 when I delivered on March 15, 2000. I started doing Atkins for a short time and got myself down to 185, but within a year I was up to 237. After that, I refused to weigh myself.

Because my maternal grandmother has Type 2 diabetes, and because I had borderline gestational diabetes with my second pregnancy, my mother was very concerned about my health. But I wasn’t. I kept telling myself, “I’m not like everybody else. Give me another piece of pie.”

In the meantime, my heart was pounding in my chest and I’d get red- faced and winded just by walking up or down the stairs. I was sweating at night. My back hurt because I had a compressed disk that was straining from the weight. My knees and ankles ached. I could not pick up my children and couldn’t play on the floor with them because I couldn’t get back up. Every day it was a struggle just to get through the day. “Tomorrow, I’m going to do something about my weight,” I’d say to myself as I
plopped down in front of the television set with a bag of chips and a cup of soda.

N
AME
: Traci Reason

A
GE
:35

H
EIGHT
: 5 feet 9 inches

W
EIGHT
B
EFORE
: 237 pounds

W
EIGHT
N
OW
: 133 pounds

T
OTAL
C
HOLESTEROL
B
EFORE
: 230

T
OTAL
C
HOLESTEROL
A
FTER
: 173

LDL C
HOLESTEROL
B
EFORE
: 143

LDL C
HOLESTEROL
A
FTER
: 102

HDL C
HOLESTEROL
B
EFORE
:55

HDL C
HOLESTEROL
A
FTER
:55

T
RIGLYCERIDES
B
EFORE
: 160

T
RIGLYCERIDES
A
FTER
:79

BEFORE AFTER

On February 28, 2003, I had gone three days without taking a shower. My husband, an airline pilot, was away on a trip. Toys were strewn everywhere because I couldn’t bend down to pick them up. And, suddenly, I got sick and tired of being sick and tired. Determined to succeed this time, I bought
Atkins for Life
and started Induction. For six months, I stuck to 20 grams of carbs a day or fewer. By mid-July, I had lost more than 60 pounds. A blood test in August showed my total cholesterol had dropped from 230 to 173, and my triglycerides from 160 to 79. When I saw those numbers, they meant more to me than the number of pounds I had shed.

I began walking daily and taking my girls to the playground. I was living life again after coming close to death at age 34. I lost 104 pounds using the Atkins Nutritional Approach, and went from a size 22 to a size 4. Today, I’m working out three days a week at the local gym, weight training, and running three miles on a treadmill. My marriage is healthier than it ever was before. I feel better than I did when I was 26 years old!

My ACE these days is 40 carbs. I still stick to a no-eating-after-six rule. I eat lots of chicken, shrimp with low-carb cocktail sauce, and pork tenderloin. My husband is a wonderful cook and loves to make Rib-eye Steak with Red Wine Sauce from www.atkins.com.

I’m so happy to be able to go outside with my daughters.We gave them a trampoline for Christmas, and now I’m out there bouncing with them whenever we get the chance! I’m showing them by my example how to live a healthy lifestyle—how to eat right, get exercise—that’s what it’s all about. It’s not about vanity. It’s about longevity and quality of life. There’s no better gift I can give my family.

Note: Your individual results may vary from those reported here. As stated previously, Atkins recommends initial laboratory evaluation and subsequent follow-up in conjunction with your health care provider.