Carbohydrates should be the foundation of your children's healthy diets.

Despite the popularity of recent high-protein diets that vilify dietary carbohydrates, carbohydrates are the foundation of a sustainable, healthy diet for you and your kids. Although it is true that excessive carbohydrates are converted to fat, the same can be said of dietary protein and fat. High-protein diets work in the short run because dieters are taking in fewer calories than they are burning. The high-protein foods that are the staple of fad diets are often high in fat, and the long-term effects of high cholesterol on dieters' cardiac health are still unknown. Furthermore, much of the weight loss credited to a high-protein diet over the short run is lost water weight. Walking around partially dehydrated is not good for anyone, especially children!
When I give advice to my patients and their parents, I ask myself what I would tell my brothers and sisters about feeding my nephews and nieces, and I think about what I recommend for my own daughter. In sum, I never recommend fad diets to my own family. Small children should certainly not be on nutrient-restrictive diets unless they are followed closely by a pediatrician and dietitian. Teens too should not start dabbling with fad diets, which can begin the lifelong process of yo-yoing—repeated weight loss and weight gain—that plagues so many. Like so many things in life, carbohydrates are good in moderation. That said, whole-wheat bread, brown rice, and wheat pasta are better choices than their white or processed counterparts for the whole family.