Keto Diet Still Pending

I really had every intention of starting Raquel on the Ketogenic Diet on November 1st as planned. But I can honestly say that gearing up for this thing is taking a little bit more work than I anticipated. Yes, I've got the scale, the books, the list of foods - and meal plans for the initial week, which are kinda hard to decipher. But oh my gosh!! There's just so much to take in and change. I'm very overwhelmed right now about how to deal with the process because the household is going to be turned upside down once this goes into effect.

So, let me just back up a bit and post a couple Halloween pictures. This year, I took the girls to the local mall for trick-or-treating and have to say that it was a great experience. Safety wasn't an issue, the weather wasn't a factor, and we could've really made a night out of it by going out to dinner or bowling or something once they stopped handing out candy.

Here's my happy little pirate. Arrr!!!



And her big sister, the genie.

Good times. We continue to make the best of things because, to quote a special friend, "that's how we roll."

Okay, back to the diet situation. For starters:

• The meal proportions are large and she has to eat everything. Raquel likes to eat small frequent meals, not so much 3 big ones plus 2 snacks. She can eat here and there all day long. Not on this diet. Everything is weighed, calculated, and measured.
  


• She loves her juice. I dilute it with water, but this is no longer a consumable item. Water is the preference, but who seriously wants to drink nothing but water all day? - and I'm a huge water fan. And water is critical in this diet to help prevent the development of kidney stones.
  


• I'm having issues with using artificial sweeteners. She can have a Diet Sprite but no apple juice? I get the idea behind it, but don't particularly agree with that being a beverage of choice. She can have some sugar free flavored water, but again, we're going back to the artificial sweeteners. I think the carb-free Stevia is going to be my new friend. I just need to figure out how to use it.
  


• The medications in pill form are a challenge. I'm used to squirting the liquid meds in her mouth with a syringe type thing. The pills taste bitter and the only thing I can do to get them in her is to hide them in applesauce or yogurt - which are, of course, two more items she can no longer have. Fortunately, I'm getting some good feedback from my Keto support group on ways to do this. It'll just be a work in progress. If I keep her on liquid meds, that does something to her carbohydrate load and more calculations are required and blah, blah, blah - I'm going to make the pill thing work at this point.
  


• I still need to get the sugar free multi-vitamins, shampoo, lotions, toothpaste. I never realized sugar was in all this stuff until I started looking for sugar-free brands. Sugar needs to be in shampoo why?
  


• Just got the urine sample testers today. But there was no need for them before because there's really no reason to test her since we haven't implemented the diet.

On the positive side, she has suddenly started liking eggs. Fried, scrambled, poached, you name it. She never would touch those things before. I've started to reduce the amount of "bad" carbs she is consuming and replace them with more preferred ones. I've located steel-cut oatmeal and have an idea of how to cook them. She continues to enjoy the tofu Shirataki noodles, which she'll now eat for spaghetti - as soon as I figure out how to make the keto friendly tomato sauce. :)

Now that she is on pill forms of her meds, it really is nice. I only have to give them to her twice a day instead of 4 times. There's been an adjustment period - she gets tired earlier than usual because she's getting a full dose in the morning and it's not split up - but once I give it to her at breakfast, I don't have to worry about it until bedtime, which is a really great thing. I started her on the pill format on Monday - and we've had 3 seizure free days. I'll take it. I'll take any day without a seizure. Any afternoon for that matter because they've been pretty frequent these days.

Hoping to start in-home academics/therapy during the intial diet phase very soon. That's a paperwork thing at this point but am pretty sure it'll happen. Raquel has her next follow-up with her neurologist on January 23rd.

Thanks go out to the best friends and family in the world for your constant love, support, and encouragement. It means the world knowing you are there for me, give me strength, and don't judge. You all know who you are, and you rock. xoxo