Gwenyth Paltrow Elimination Diet Under Attack For Allegedly Starving Kids Of Carbs

Actress Gwenyth Paltrow is under fire for allegedly being a bad mom who is letting her children go hungry for the sake of nutrition.

In her new cookbook, "It's All Good: Delicious, Easy Recipes That Will Make You Look Good and Feel Great," the 40-year-old actress talks about how, contrary to popular belief, carbohydrates aren't needed in your diet nor are they necessarily healthy to consume.  As a result, not only does Paltrow restricts carbs from her diet, but she doesn't let her two small children, Apple, 8, and Moses, 6, eat them either.  This has caused a storm of backlash because she admitted that her family is sometimes hungry due to their lack of carbs.

"Every single nutritionist, doctor and health-conscious person I have ever come across . . . seems to concur that (gluten) is tough on the system and many of us are at best intolerant of it and at worst allergic to it," she writes in her book which is due for release in April.

"Sometimes when my family is not eating pasta, bread or processed grains like white rice, we're left with that specific hunger that comes with avoiding carbs," she added.

Media critics attacked the "Iron Man" actress for removing carbs from her children's diet.  In the Daily Mail, public health nutritionist Yvonne Wake says that restricting carbs could be more harmful than helpful.

"I think it's not a good idea," she said. "Kids need carbohydrate because it gives them glycogen which keeps your brain going. Without it they won't be able to think straight as their brain won't be functioning and their thinking patterns will be slow."

In addition, the New York Post reviewed the book as "the manifesto to some sort of creepy healthy-girl sorority."

However, on the contrary, other health experts say the nutrients in carbs can be supplemented with other, healthier foods.  Joanna Blythman, the author of What To Eat, writes that the "familiar notion of "[basing] your meals on starchy foods" is currently a central plank of public health advice," in the Guardian. "But this orthodoxy is under attack from influential researchers and nutritionists. The fact of the matter is that there are no nutrients (vitamins, minerals, micro-nutrients) in starchy carbohydrate foods that we can't get elsewhere, and often in a superior form," says Blythman.

She continues, "If the daily diet in the Paltrow household includes protein (fish/meat/eggs/pulses), unprocessed fats (butter/olive oil), plenty of vegetables and some fruit, then it is healthy, nutrient-rich and lacking in nothing. If that's what the Paltrow kids eat, she's doing them a favour."