So as many of you know, we are about to begin the process of transitioning Stephen to the ketogenic diet in hopes to help control his seizures. We are very excited and thankful that this is an option for us but we are also nervous because this is a HUGE undertaking and change.
So what is the ketogenic diet?
The diet is a high-fat, adequate-protein, low-carb and low-sugar diet (similar to the Adkins diet) that has seen great results in the improvement of seizures for kids whose seizures are not being controlled by medicine.
Many of you know that Stephen currently lives off of carbs. Most of Stephen's meals are composed of potatoes, noodles, rice etc. because they are easy to mash into a good consistence for Stephen to eat. This is where the big change comes in! Once we take carbs out of Stephen's diet we will have to be creative in ways to make his food. His portion sizes are also going to change dramatically. Currently, Stephen eats three times a day, just like everyone else- depending on when he is hungry and what we have going on that day. His typical meal I would say is the average size for a kid around 8-10 years old but that is all about to change. The average meal size dramatically decreases on the diet because everything is so high in fat and protein.
This is a sample meal consisting of 2 pieces of bacon, three cherry tomatoes, and 1 cucumber piece and the drink is a whipping cream and butter mixture.
Another big change for us with this diet is that we will have to measure everything out that Stephen is going to eat to the 100th milligram to ensure that he is eating the same amount of carbs. proteins, and fat ratio at each meal. He will continue to eat three times a day but they will be the same three times every day. The object is to get his ketone level to stay completely level through out the day (similar to a diabetic trying to get their blood sugars level).
As if all of this didn't seem like enough to keep up with, there is also carbs in almost everything you put on or in your body. We have had to change toothpaste, sunscreen, lotions, shampoos, wipes, laundry soap...you name it we've probably had to change it!
We are happy to make any and all of these changes if they help control Stephen's seizures. We will be on the diet for a least 3 months to see if they help control things. After three months if we haven't seen any improvement we can take him off the diet and start transitioning him back (fingers crossed it works though)
We would love to eventually be able to cut down on medications!
Please pray for us during this transition and pray that Stephen will do well on the diet and that we see improvement in his seizures.
