Hello, wondering if anyone else doing 5:2 BSD has small children? Mine are aged 4 and 1 and need carbs as part of a balanced diet, especially when they’re so active.

Some days we eat a jacket potato with a filling and veg, or a pasta dish with veg on the side. Some weekends we make pizzas as a fun treat. Am I just going to have to make something separate for me? I can’t think of an alternative to a jacket potato, and my children aren’t very adventurous (I’ve tried to widen what they eat, but my eldest won’t try new things at the moment) so I like to cook what I know they will eat. I work 4 long days a week so can’t really face planning and cooking separate meals for me on the days when we can eat together!

Hi Sambascuba — children are particular, that’s for sure! but there is a good bit of research that a BSD type diet is very good for children and especially their brain development. I don’t mean limited calories, just good protein and veg and fats. You can always supplement with a slice of bread and butter or a.buttered potato if necessary, or even a good dessert like egg custard — Check out Dr. Petlmutters book “Smarter by Kindergarten” for good research on healthy children’s diets.

Hi Sambascuba,

I’m a single man, so I don’t really know much about living with kids, but I do know that cooking for one is a pain in the backside. I’ve been batch cooking at the weekend and freezing individual portions to reheat as and when I need them. Is this something you could do while cooking for the rest of the family?

I would add bread/rice/quinoa (my two yr old nephew loves it)/ cous cous, mash potato/roast potato you can chop up some veg and add it in, roasted courgette and peppers go with pretty much any grainMy husband always adds stuff to the low cal meals I make. So doing chicken skewers tomorrow and he’ll probably add a pita bread to his dinner while I’ll put veg on the side. Whatt kind of meals are you planning for your fast day?

Hi there, my kids are older than yours (12 and 11) though I well remember younger mealtimes! I am not sure they do need the carbs, and currently am not giving my kids any at home, especially as there are SO MANY carbs everywhere else.

My daughter was/is a carb junky and I am now finding it harder to get her in good routines at nearly 13 than when she was 4 and I could just not give it to her. We regularly used to just have a protein/veg meal (thanks to my boy refusing to have ‘mixed together’ food so I would give them, for example, salmon/broccoli on a plate) and I just wish now I’d done more of that and not kept up with the pasta/jacket potato/whole meal bread thing as we all struggle with weight and am pretty sure genetics plays a part in not being able to process carbs efficiently. I think my boy is probably not a carb junky, as he eats when he is hungry and stops when he is full.

There was quite a lot of groaning at mealtimes (there still is) but I try to remember they are not on a reducing diet, so they have plenty of berries and cream/dark chocolate/nuts etc that they like. Trying to keep them away from all the ‘white’ stuff, though am still offering brown rice (partly because it’s not a favourite so I know they only eat that for hunger). Trying to avoid tropical fruit for them (they are mad for mango) and dried fruit but have apples and pears available for pudding.

Packed lunches though, am dreading next week. What to put in a packed lunch!?!

Hi, meant to say I HATE cooking, so the slab of protein with veg on side is great for that. Protein in the oven for 20 – 30 mins, veg on hob for about 5mins!

Also, smaller kids do adapt to your food, though it might not seem like it at the time so if it’s that or nothing and you don’t force them to eat it or turn it into a power struggle then sooner or later (i.e. Maybe the next meal) they give in and eat! In my experience anyway, but then I am quite Impervious to moaning. My friend was forced to be very firm as on a restricted budget and her small kids ate EVERYTHING. Because they only got three meals, and they got whatever was on their plate. So I took inspiration from her and my kids improved, despite moaning and drama (from them!)