Tag Archives: Ketogenic Diet for the treatment of Epilepsy

Best time in History for ”Keto-Thanks”

Posted in Home, Ketogenic Diet by

Ok, so for any of you on the ketogenic diet, or who are considering it, ponder the following: 

Think of having to do this diet without having any product labeling information – how in the world was that even possible?!  

Think of  having to hand-calculate the fat, protein and carb ratio amounts!  Can you imagine how time consuming that was?! That amount, and intensity, of math is far greater pain than my eight labor and deliveries were!  Beth Zupec-Kania surely you have crowns in heaven waiting for you for the creation of the KetoCalculator 😉 

Think of having no internet support groups/forums/ resources.  For us, the Charlie Foundation has been a life-line.  For others who may be reading this, you may have your own favorites.  The people we have had the opportunity to “meet” – even though not face-to-face –  have so blessed us as we have wept with those who are weeping and rejoiced with those who are rejoicing.  Knowing we were not alone. Watching, learning and  growing in grace, in so many ways, with all those who share similar burdens has been a very special part of our journey.

Thank you to all who have gone before, persevering, pressing on, clearing the way, creating new tools and giving light to those of us traveling behind you on our keto journeys. May we be as faithful to help those behind us!

If you have the blessing of being on the diet at this moment in history, give GREAT THANKS today!!!!  Truly, KETO-THANKS!

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 I thank my God upon every remembrance of (all of) you, always in every prayer of mine, making request for you with joy.”

Phil. 1: 3-4

Pumpkin Frappe! Shake! Ice Cream!

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Different names for one delicious, delightful, delectable, luscious, scrumptious delicacy!

This is one of one of my favorite “THM” fall frapuccinos and I am not sure why I never thought to make it “keto-friendly” until today.  And today, Autumn absolutely loved it….along with a few of her sisters, whom I had to make another batch for! I am quite sure this will be served on Thanksgiving day 🙂

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Here are the ingredients: (For specific ingredient amounts, click on the Recipes” tab) Please note: To make this shake, you will need to have already frozen “coconut milk cubes” – unsweetened coconut milk that has been frozen in ice cube trays.

IMG_0328First measure your cream in the blender. Blend until cream becomes “whipped,” now remember this is not going to look like much – but wait!

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Next, measure out cream cheese, unsweetened pumpkin, sweetener of choice, pumpkin pie spice, and a dash of salt.  Also, add a bit of vanilla or maple flavoring or a bit both. Put all ingredients into the blender.

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Next, place the specified amount of frozen unsweetened coconut milk cubes in a plastic bag, crush them up and place them in the blender.

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Blend until consistency of a thick shake. Serve up deliciousness from the blender into a special glass, or freeze if you like it more like ice cream, and indulge in pumpkin keto-yumminess – even as it drips all over you!

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Apple Spice Doughnut Bites…Yes, Donuts!

Posted in Ketogenic Diet, Recipes, Resources by

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This recipe comes from Dawn Martenz’s blog at ketocook.com.  Dawn is the author of “The Keto Cookbook.”  This is the cookbook I mentioned in both the video and under the “Resources” tab.  As I have stated before – we lived in this cookbook; it was the foundation for everything we made when we first started out on the diet.  There is soooo much good information on her blog, so make sure you check it out!

You could add a bit of pumpkin pie spice to these to give these a “Thanksgiving Flavor.”

http://ketocook.com/2012/09/22/apple-cinnamon-doughnut-holes/

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Welcome to Holland

Posted in Ketogenic Diet, Uncategorized by

For anyone reading this who may be in a different place in life than where you expected to be, you might enjoy the following poem/essay.  It was written in 1987 by Emily Perl Kingsley, about having a child with a disability, yet its message applies to “multitudes.”

“Welcome to Holland” 

When you are going to have a baby, it’s like planning a fabulous vacation to Italy.  You buy a bunch of guide books and make all your wonderful plans: the Coliseum, Michelangelo’s David, the gondolas in Venice.  You may even learn some handy phrases in Italian.  It’s all very exciting.

After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives.  You pack your bags and off you go.  Several hours later, the plane lands.  The stewardess comes in and says, “Welcome to Holland.”

“Holland ?!?”  you say.  “What do you mean Holland?  I signed up for Italy!  I’m supposed to be in Italy.  All my life I’ve dreamed of going to Italy”

But there has been a change in the flight plan.  They’ve landed in Holland and there you must stay.

The important thing is that they haven’t taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease.  It’s just a different place.

So you go out and buy new guide books.  And you learn a whole new language.  And you meet a whole group of people you would never have met.

It’s just a different place. It’s slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy.  But after you’ve been there awhile and you catch your breath, you look around and begin to notice Holland has windmills- and Holland has tulips.  Holland even has Rembrandts.

But everyone one you know is busy coming and going from Italy…and they are all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there.  And for the rest of your life, you will say, “Yes, that’s where I was supposed to go.  That’s what I had planned.”

And the pain of that will never, ever go away, because the loss of that dream is a very significant loss.

But if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn’t get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, and very lovely things about Holland.

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BLOOM WHERE YOU ARE PLANTED!

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It’s Sunday, so…..

Posted in Home, Ketogenic Diet, Recipes, Uncategorized by

…That wonderful smell must be chocolate chip cookies baking in the oven!

Chocolate chip cookies are to Sundays what pizza is to Fridays….Mainstay Yum!

Warm chocolate chip cookies right out of the oven are the one food that EVERYONE in our family of 11 (and counting) agrees are absolutely the best food life has to offer (well almost :)).

So of course we had to find a recipe for Autumn as  well – and we did!  Sometimes she will have these along with a chocolate or vanilla shake or chocolate milk!

Here is what you will need (Click on “Recipes”tab for exact measurements):

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Weigh and combine all ingredients in small dish:

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Put dime size amount of batter on parchment-lined cookie sheet:

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Place in 350 degree oven for about 6-8 minutes depending on your oven:

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And serve up! That is once again…Keto Joy!

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Living – not just exisiting – another reason for KetoJoy!

Posted in Home, Ketogenic Diet by

There is not much living you can do when your child is dropping to the floor up to 80 – 100 times a day.  Even when Autumn first started having seizures and was “only” having 1 or 2 an hour, someone always had to be with her for fear of injury.   She had to be very careful as to what activities she did.  She could have never done what she did today – making candles with hot beeswax sitting in boiling water! 🙂

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Autumn chose to wrap her candle in purple ribbon for Epilepsy Awareness Month and green buttons to represent The Charlie Foundation.

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The diet that many doctors and patients  think is such a burden…brings to us such a blessing…allowing us to live again…and not just exist…that is Ketojoy!

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WELCOME!

Posted in Ketogenic Diet by

Welcome! We started  “Keto Joy!” (2013) as a way to get the encouraging word out on the Ketogenic Diet for the treatment of Epilepsy. The best place to start is to watch the above short video; it tells Autumn Joy’s entire seizure story, and gives you a great start to  “Keto Joy!”  SECONDLY, go straight over to the RESOURCES page – that will probably answer most of your questions! Our goal is to encourage people to see the diet as a joy and blessing rather than a burden.

Our family would like to help encourage anyone who may be struggling with the ravages of seizures and considering the diet.  Thus far, due to the diet, we have had a very short seizure story; perhaps it will help others have a “short story” as well.  We will be posting recipes, resources and links that may help in guiding you to find answers.

We don’t have all the answers  and we don’t know yet how our “keto story” will end, however for now, we are so thankful that “Morning has broken into a seizure free year…and counting!”

Update July 2014:  After once having up to 100 seizures a day, Autumn has now been seizure-free for over 2 years!  We have begun to wean Autumn off the diet, and although she is not totally off yet, so far so good.  Earlier posts will have more 3:1 ratios or higher.  More recent posts are more “low carb.”

Update October 2014: Autumn has been completely off the diet since July.  She recently had an EEG where the results showed all of her brain activity was completely normal.  That is the result of KETO JOY! Be encouraged and keep holding fast!

Update April 15, 2017: Autumn has been off the diet for almost 5 years and remains seizure free! Keto Joy! I am hoping to launch a new forum called FORTIFY in the next month or so to talk about all the ways you can fortify your health. After 55 years of living and 8 kids that keep telling me to “write all that stuff down, mom”, I hope to get started!

Update April 3, 2023 We have had to change the name of the website address from KETOJOY.COM to KETOSEIZUREFREEJOY.COM because I never applied for a copyright on the name, and someone else did…so I had to change it.  Hopefully all the links on the site will still work! In addition, you can check out ketojoy.com as they sell keto products that may be helpful on the diet – however I don’t think they existed when we were on the diet, so I do not have much infomation on the items they sell.