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Chocolate Pudding

A friend shared a chocolate pudding recipe that looked delicious… It had me craving chocolate pudding!

I wanted something that I could share with Reese (we’re still trying to limit her protein), and I think I came up with a winner… it’s very slightly tangy, which I personally liked, but if you didn’t, I’m sure adding a little more sweetener would lessen it.

In a nutribullet, combine:

83g heavy cream

70g marscapone

58g cream cheese

20g powdered erythritol

6g unsweetened cocoa powder

1.3g vanilla

and blend until it’s a pudding consistency.  Super simple!

The best part?  It’s a 4:1 ratio!  

For Reese, this makes about 3 servings.  It’s a total of 813 calories, 81.18 fat, 11.8 protein, and 8.5 net carbs.  Of course, macros will vary based on exact ingredients used.

Keto for Life?

I am often asked if Reese will be on the ketogenic diet for life.

Sometimes, there are conditions, like GLUT1, that are helped by keto where the child will need to stay on the diet to maintain the results.  Other times in pediatric epilepsy, if a child can remain seizure-free for 2 years by any means (meds or keto), there’s a chance they can “outgrow” it. The 2 year mark is not an exact science, but that’s the generally accepted time.

With keto specifically, there is research that suggests that 80% of the time, whatever results were achieved while on the diet will last even after weaning from the diet.  So in our case, there’s an 80% chance Reese can remain seizure-free, even after weaning the diet.

The decision to wean will be different for every family and I don’t believe there is just one right way of doing things. 

So what does this mean for us? 

When we first started this diet, we thought that if we were lucky enough to achieve seizure freedom for 2 years, we would be anxious to wean off the diet as soon as possible and go back to a standard American diet, or at least what we were doing before.

We’ve since reconsidered our stance. If/when we hit the 1 year seizure-free AND med-free mark (which will be about 2.5 years seizure-free), we’ve decided that we’re going to opt for a slow transition to the Modified Atkins Diet. Reese has always been very compliant and we figure we shouldn’t mess too much with what’s working.  If Reese’s seizures return, we’ll go back to strict keto (it’s not by any means a bad way of living!).  If successful, she’ll probably be Modified Atkins for the foreseeable future… through adolescence at least.  I think it’ll be a long, LONG time before Reese eats carbs and I don’t think twice about it.

Regardless, with what we have learned from doing keto, I don’t think we’ll ever go to a standard American diet.  We are happier packing our own food in many instances and picking low carb options when available.  

I am, however, anxious for a little flexibility (I currently write down every single thing Reese eats to the hundredth of a gram) and maybe even to eventually be able to let Reese split a churro with the family at Disneyland for a VERY special treat and then continue making healthier choices, like bunless burgers.  

Holidays will remain less food centered regardless – that’s been a wonderfully welcomed change!  

We’ll continue to eat whole, unprocessed foods for a majority of our diets and will always, ALWAYS be thankful for the ketogenic diet as a medical therapy!

No More Meds!

This is a day we’ve waited a long time for. And didn’t even know if it would ever come. A couple years ago, I wasn’t even daring enough to dream of this.

When Reese started keto, she was on 6 meds and still having 100 seizures a day. Within days of starting the ketogenic diet, she became seizure free. Although she had started some meds mere days before, I always had a feeling it was keto. Our neuro agreed. Still, we were aggressive with starting meds and wanted to be conservative in weaning meds.

Reese is still on a bunch of supplements.

And I’m still nervous. But I’m thankful. So, so thankful that ANY treatment resulted in seizure freedom, but even more so that it has been food.

Keto Disneyland Churro

We were supposed to go to Disneyland twice during this quarantine.  Small price to pay for health, but I still miss it.  It’s my happy place.

Disneyland posted the recipe for their churros and I decided to try to make it keto so I could pretend that I was at Disneyland.  And they turned out quite good!

I followed the recipe with a few keto changes…  For the dough, I used 236.5g water, 112g butter, 1.5g salt, .7g cinnamon, 125g almond flour, 12g coconut flour, 10g xanthan gum, and 51g egg.  For the “sugar” coating, I used 60g Lakanto classic and 1g cinnamon.  Instead of frying them, I baked mine for 40 minutes at 350 degrees.

And the best part?  The churros are a 3:1 ratio!!  That’s not as good as being at Disneyland, but it’s close!

The entire recipe is 1696 calories, 164.14 fat, 35.98 protein, and 18.76 net carbs. Macros will vary depending on exact ingredients used.

For conventional measurements, it’s 1 cup water, 8 tablespoons butter, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon, 1 1/4 cup almond flour, a little less than 2 tablespoons coconut flour, 4 teaspoons xanthan gum, and 1 egg for the dough. And for “sugar” coating, about 1/3 cup sugar substitute and about 1/3 teaspoon cinnamon.

Now let’s hope the world can get back on track so I we can all celebrate @EpilepsyAwarenessDay at Disneyland in November!

14 Months Seizure Free

If the last couple years have taught me anything, it’s that there is nothing more important than our health.

I can’t believe it’s been 14 months since Reese’s last seizure.

We’re embracing this quarantine by staying home and taking it easy. Reese is living her best life by spending the entire day in her keto pajamas!

13 Months Seizure Free

Wow. So much has changed in 13 months… when Reese started keto, she was on 6 pharmaceuticals a day and still having 100 seizures a day. Now, she’s down to just one last pharmaceutical and has been seizure free for 13 months.

This feels like a dream. And if it is, don’t wake me!

They say that epilepsy doesn’t just affect one person – it affects the whole family. And I couldn’t agree more! I will forever be thankful for family that has supported us every step of the way. And for Reese’s #1 fan (her brother).