Posted on 11/21/2010 6:47:29 PM PST by neverdem
Once every three or four months my son, Sam, grabs a cookie or a piece of candy and, wide-eyed, holds it inches from his mouth, ready to devour it. He knows he’s not allowed to eat these things, but like any 9-year-old, he hopes that somehow, this once, my wife, Evelyn, or I will make an exception.
We never make exceptions when it comes to Sam and food, though, which means that when temptation takes hold of Sam and he is denied, things can get pretty hairy. Confronted with a gingerbread house at a friend’s party last December, he went scorched earth, grabbing parts of the structure and smashing it to bits. Reason rarely works. Usually one of us has to pry the food out of his hands. Sometimes he ends up in tears.
It’s not just cookies and candy that we forbid Sam to eat. Cake, ice cream, pizza, tortilla chips and soda aren’t allowed, either. Macaroni and cheese used to be his favorite food, but he told Evelyn the other day that he couldn’t remember what it tastes like anymore. At Halloween we let him collect candy, but he trades it in for a present. At birthday parties and play dates, he brings a lunchbox to eat from.
There is no crusade against unhealthful food in our house. Some might argue that unhealthful food is all we let Sam eat. His breakfast eggs are mixed with heavy cream and served with bacon. A typical lunch is full-fat Greek yogurt mixed with coconut oil. Dinner is hot dogs, bacon, macadamia nuts and cheese. We figure that in an average week, Sam consumes a quart and a third of heavy cream, nearly a stick and a half of butter, 13 teaspoons of coconut oil, 20 slices of bacon and 9...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Yeeeeeesh! I’m glad my medication is effective!
Meechelle Obama isn’t going to like this....
The author’s handling of his son’s nutrition borders on child abuse.
No mention in the article of “Lorenzo’s Oil”, another adjunct to ketogenic dieting.
I see no problems in any form with his use of diet to help.
Yeah....ME TOO! (mine, that is)
130 seizures a DAY???
From what I’ve read, with the exception of the hot dogs, the kid is eating pretty healthy.
No, it does not!!!!!!!!!!!
Seizure medications are awful, and have terrible side effects and sometimes they don’t work.
The keto diet is a miracle for many families.
My daughter has been on anti-seizure medication for the past 3 years. If she forgets to take a dose, she can go into a life-threatening seizure. Her vitamin D levels are way low, even with massive supplements and sun. It’s affected her school work. They make her tired.
My daughter is only on a small amount of medication, and they have controlled her seizures.
I know way too many people who have kids who are on massive amounts of medication, and it’s still not working.
The keto diet is saving lives.
The ketogenic diet has been proven as effective for certain epileptics. How is that child abuse?
Uh....no. No. Not at ALL. In fact I commend them!
130 seizures a day is HUGE...
I been on a similar diet and it was great. My cholesterol is better than most and I’m more fit than 95% of the population.
The kid will definitely miss out on a lot of great foods to control his condition. For that I see your point and do feel sorry for the kid.
If he were to add sugar to his diet he’d be 200lbs in no time. Fat is not an issue until it’s combined with sugars. This boys diet perfectly illustrates that concept.
It’s pretty amazing that a diet that’s been around for decades can eliminate seizures no drug can touch.
Ignorance....
Epilepsy is still one of the least understood conditions in modern medicine.
The Keto diet is effective, especially for children.
***Seizure medications are awful, and have terrible side effects and sometimes they don’t work.
The keto diet is a miracle for many families.***
I never had ay problems till I got hit up the side of the head in an accident twenty years ago.
I had lots of auras and ONE grand mal. You have one you will NEVER want another.
I use Tegretol. My epeleptic seizures and auras have been under cotrol for the last 17 years.
Remember, you can only consume 40% of your caloric intake in proteins ~ the rest has to be in carbs or fats/oils, or a combination of both.
What is most abusive is denying children fats/oils and force feeding them a diet made up mostly of starches and sugars.
What do you suggest he should do? I'm in awe of his resolve to do whatever it takes to help his son. It's almost a Hobson's choice.
Great article! It does this low carber good to read things like this. I am on a high protein diet because I am hypoglycemic. I think I have been for 40 years but I finally found a doctor who actually LISTENED to me. It didn’t hurt that she herself is hypoglycemic and she recognized all my symptoms! After almost 3 months of eating no sugar, white flour or simple carbs of any kind, I am finally feeling great! My blood sugar is stable. If it can’t be cured with a pill, today’s doctors don’t know what to do so they tell you you have anxiety or whatever! As the saying goes...you are what you eat!
Epilepsy is such a broad term. There are so many types, causes and unknowns. If a family has found something that works, God Bless them. The vast majority of seizure disorders are controlled by medicine; for those that aren’t it is a nightmare.
My 22 month old was seizing 90 times a day. No medication made any difference, while the side effects were distressing. Less than three years on the ketogenic diet left her seizure free until she had three grand mal seizures her senior year in high school. They are contolled well with lamictal.
Before the ketogenic diet she was headed to death, slow and mindless death. She was actually regressing developmentally — as predicted if the seizures were not stopped.
The only hard thing about the diet for us was idiots who thought we were abusing her. There’s nothing like ignorance and a big mouth to make a person look like a fool.
We could do it your way, and she would never have made it to 8 years old. Or we could do it the ketogenic way and watch her grow into a wonderful young lady. Who’s the abuser here?
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