Before anything goes in the cart. Sesame hides in buns, "everything" seasoning, hummus and tahini, teriyaki, hoisin and chili crisp, seeded crackers, some deli meat coatings, and most protein bars. Nuts hide in pesto, marzipan and mole. Both are mandatory declared allergens in Canada — the label will say so if you look.
One trolley, one week. Quantities cover four at dinner plus one packed lunch. If she plays a school sport, add a third to the meat and eggs rather than adding snacks.
No timers running
Read this first
Ground rules
No clinician is monitoring this, so the plan is built to be safe without one. It sits around 40 g of net carbs rather than strict keto's 20, keeps protein high, and never restricts how much she eats. That is deliberate. A 14-year-old is still growing bone, building iron stores and establishing a menstrual cycle, and aggressive restriction during those years is the strongest single predictor of eating problems later. This version gets the same result with far less that can go wrong.
Five things that matter more than the food
No calorie counting and no food scale. Not for her, not out loud, not "just to see." Portions are palm-sized and she eats until full.
No bathroom scale. If progress needs measuring, use how her clothes fit, once a month, and don't make it a conversation.
She eats what the family eats at dinner. She should never be the one at the table with the different sad container.
Frame it as energy, not weight. "Food that gets you through period four without crashing" lands completely differently at fourteen.
Friday pizza and Saturday off stay. A plan with no exits gets abandoned in week three, usually badly.
Stop the plan and book a doctor if any of these show up.
Her period becomes irregular, lighter, or stops
Dizziness, fainting, or headaches that don't resolve with salt and water
She starts eating less than the plan, skipping planned meals, weighing herself daily, or avoiding eating around friends
That last one is the one to watch hardest. It rarely announces itself, and it matters far more than any number on a scale.
One appointment worth making anyway. A baseline ferritin and iron panel before starting costs a walk-in visit and tells you whether iron is already low — common in teenage girls, and not something this way of eating fixes on its own.