Diet Changes

In February when we began chiropractic care Dr. Jessica advised me to look into changing Ayden's diet. There are many different diet's out there that have had a positive effect on epileptic children. The most common is the ketogenic diet. The keto diet must be administered under a doctor's care. Dr. Sharp (Ayden's Neuro) has never mentioned this step for us. You can find more information about the keto diet here http://www.epilepsy.com/learn/treating-seizures-and-epilepsy/dietary-therapies/ketogenic-diet.

Dr. Jessica advised us to follow a very clean diet for Ayden. She advised us to follow the paleo diet. You can find information about the paleo diet here http://thepaleodiet.com/epilepsy-gluten-free-diets/. It was a huge change for us. Ayden has always ate good. His breakfast menu looked like this:

Eggs, sausage, and applesauce
Oatmeal, toast, and banana
Pancake, sausage, and peaches

From the moment I knew I was going to be a SAHM I could not wait to cook and eat breakfast with Ayden at the table every morning. I have always tried to make sure he ate a good healthy breakfast. I never let him eat sweets, cake, or anything like that. I thought I was doing good. His lunch and dinner was not as healthy. I admit that. He would have some of the following:

Ravioli
Spaghetti
TV dinners ( He loved the meat. I think because it was so tender.)
Lasagna
Creamed potatoes
Mac N Cheese
Green beans
Corn
Bread - any kind of bread

Snacks:
Cheerios
Gerber puffs

He always drank water and milk only. He still does to this day.

This diet was a pretty big change for me because I had to cook everything. He could/can not anything bought or prepackaged. I had to buy all fresh fruit, vegetables, and meat. I had to change from vegetable oil to olive oil and coconut oil. ( I don't think I could go back now!) We cut out all dairy so he started drinking almond milk and goat milk. Let me enlighten you on the price of goat milk. It is $4.30 for a quart. Yes!!! He can drink a quart in one day.

I started out making his applesauce. I did this for about 6 months. I have now started buying natural applesauce that has no added sugar or high fructose corn syrup. If you start reading labels you will realize everything has HFCS in it. It is crazy and my personal opinion is that there is no need. A really good piece of advice that I received is that if it doesn't expire for a long time then it's probably not healthy. This tells us that it is loaded with preservatives. Our bodies do not need anymore toxins than we are already exposed to daily. Children with health issues are at a higher risk of their bodies becoming overloaded. Now Ayden's diet consists of the following.

Breakfast:
Scrambled eggs cooked with coconut oil
Turkey Sausage
Im thinking about trying a gluten free oatmeal. I just have not done this yet.
Applesauce or banana

Lunch & Dinner
Grilled or Baked Chicken
Baked Turkey Breast
Grilled Turkey Burger
Roast
Baked or Grilled Pork
About any meat besides Ham. I have let him eat ham, It is just very salty.

Sides:
Sweet potato
Butternut Squash
Summer Squash
Green beans
Broccoli
Beans- They are not on the paleo diet so I only let him indulge every once in a while. Green beans are considered okay.
Carrots
Green peas

Snacks:
Any fruit he will he eat
unsalted peanuts
Blueberries
Fruit and Veggie Smoothies with milled flax seed

I feel like I am drawing a blank on all the foods he eats. Although the list is pretty small. If we go out to eat I usually have to prepare Ayden's food ahead of time and carry it with us. I was letting him eat a grilled chicken patty from Chick fil A. I would prefer not to do that any longer. They changed their patty back in the summer and now it has a seasoning on it. You can't just get it plain. It tastes like it has some type of Italian seasoning on it. Italian seasoning is a No for Ayden. I have tried many different things. At the time I changed Ayden's diet. I had not read anything about Italian seasoning being a trigger. I was really seasoning up his meats. It gave them a great flavor. I started using essential oils on Ayden this summer (seperate post). At the time I was researching different oils that could be useful and harmful for him I ran across many Italian herbs that can be seizure triggers. I immediately stopped using Italian seasoning. I did notice a pretty big drop in his seizure pattern.

If you decide to take this step for your child. I encourage you to do your research and know that you are doing the very best you know for your child. These diets are not easy or accepted in our super size society. We are the ones that have to change it one child at a time. If I can help you get started or answer some questions feel free to email me at  aydensfightagainstepilepsy@gmail.com.

God Bless