Ethan Harris

Keto Diet for Beginners Ethan Harris

The Ketogenic Diet is a high fat diet which appears to benefit some people with epilepsy, especially children. It is not a magic cure but one alternative to the various anti-epileptic medications currently available. The ketogenic diet offers the advantage of improved seizure control for some children, and in some cases, improved mental alertness with fewer medications. The ketogenic diet is often regarded as a difficult regimen to follow, however, with practice, and an understanding what the diet aims to achieve, it can be reduced to a manageable routine. The basic aim is to switch the body's primary fuel source from carbohydrates (like bread and sugar) to fats. This is done by increasing the intake of fats and greatly reducing the intake of carbohydrates. The real difficulty is that the diet is so restrictive, that all foods eaten must be weighed out to a tenth of a gram during meal preparation, and a participant may not eat anything which is not "prescribed" by the dietician. The level of carbohydrates allowed is very low so that even the small amount of sugar in most liquid or chewable medications will prevent the diet from working. As examples, a typical meal might include some type of meat with green vegetables cooked with a mayonnaise sauce or a lot of butter. Heavy cream may be included on the side for drinking. Another meal might consist of bacon and eggs with a lot of butter or oil added, and heavy cream to drink. A very high ratio of fats to carbohydrates must be maintained with a low total calorie intake for the diet to be successful.