According to many doctors specializing in the treatment of epilepsy, a great effect is achieved by using a ketogenic diet. Epilepsy is a disease that is accompanied by characteristic attacks: seizures, mood changes, mental disorders, hallucinations, aggression, panic attacks, delusions, etc.
Significantly improve the condition of patients, as well as to stop epileptic seizures, complex therapy will help, which includes: physiotherapy, medicines, ketogenic diet.
The essence of ketogenic diet
Currently, in the treatment of epilepsy specialists use ketogenic diet, which is contraindicated in infants under 1 year. Due to very severe nutritional restrictions, this diet should be prescribed by the attending physician, after a comprehensive examination of the patient.
Long-term restriction in nutrients supplied to the body from various products can significantly reduce the frequency of epileptic seizures. In some cases, the disease attacks completely disappear, and patients can lead a full life. When prescribing a diet to patients, the attending physician must constantly monitor their condition and take action when any side effects or disorders are detected. Its main principle is starvation. The first three are allowed to drink drinking water without gas.
Patients are strictly forbidden to drink mineral water, as it contains various trace elements and gases. During the observance of the ketogenic diet, patients are strongly recommended to reduce physical activity. The attending physician may prescribe bed rest to the patient, if he sees all the reasons for this. Starting from the fourth day of hunger strike, patients need to gradually introduce solid food into their daily diet.
The daily rate of food should be divided into small portions (4 times less than ever), which in 5-6 receptions can be eaten. Patients should learn how to calculate the amount of nutrients consumed on their own, as this is very important for their body and overall health. They should focus on the following indicators: 4 part fat/ 1 part protein, 1 part carbs. During the ketogenic diet, lasting for 3 days, patients should completely exclude from their diet the following products: beets, potatoes, carrots, cereals, wheat bread, pasta.
During the treatment of epilepsy in children, whose age ranges from 1 year to 12 years, experts use a slightly modified ketogenic diet. It differs from the standard diet food as follows: young patients should drink special fat cocktails made on the basis of milk. This dairy drink has a special composition, which is working on the development of professional nutritionists.
Patients can choose in what form they will drink this drink: in the form of ice cream or a cocktail. The main task of nutritionists who have developed a milk drink is to teach the child’s body to the regular consumption of food with high fat content. This is due to the fact that fatty foods have antiepileptic effect. The attending physician individually for each young patient determines the list of products that can be eaten. Ketogenic diet can not only restore lost forms, but also help the body to fight serious diseases, in particular epilepsy.
Contraindications
Before starting a ketogenic diet, the patient should get advice from his / her attending physician, since there are a number of contraindications for it:
- Diseases of kidneys, liver (a large number of fats can negatively affect the work of these bodies);
- Endocrine diseases, particularly diabetes, metabolic disorders, etc.;
- Cardiovascular diseases;
- Cerebrovascular and lipid diseases.
Each patient entering the ketogenic diet has to keep own diary of a food. In it he will be able to note the frequency and duration of epileptic seizures. The duration of the diet can be determined only by the attending physician, after studying the diary of nutrition of the patient.
Some patients may develop side effects:
- A decrease in the activity;
- Violation of the chair;
- Lowering the acidity of the blood;
- For patients with diabetes, this diet may end fatally.
The category of patients who are contraindicated ketogenic diet, it is recommended to abandon the hard-to-digest, acute, salty and smoked food. They are also advised to limit fluid intake.
Menu for the week
During the ketogenic diet, patients can eat the following foods: Turkey meat and chicken, eggs, dairy and dairy products, sea fish, in particular tuna, salmon, herring.
Entering the diet begins with a 3-day fasting, during which patients are allowed to drink clean water. On the 4th day, patients should gradually introduce into their diet products allowed by the nutritionist.
1,2,3 days
- Water.
4th day
- Chicken eggs (boiled) 2 PCs., butter 1 tsp., coffee or tea with cream (high fat);
- Boiled sausages 2 PCs., mayonnaise 1,5 h. l. , 1 quarter tomato;
- Fat cottage cheese with sour cream 150 gr.;
- Boiled chicken breast 1 PC., butter 10 gr. the green beans steamed, olive oil 2 tbsp, tea or coffee with cream.
5th day
- Bread with butter;
- Turkey meat 150 gr., vegetable salad (cucumber and onion), olive oil for dressing;
- Soup with addition of fatty sour cream, pork fried with tomatoes, cream tea;
- Scrambled eggs, with the addition of brisket, fresh cucumber and a slice of bread.
6th day
- Hard-boiled quail eggs-4 pieces, coffee with cream;
- Boiled beef 150 gr.;
- Boiled Turkey fillet, tomatoes, mayonnaise;
- Apiece of boiled lean fish, boiled asparagus beans (half portion).
Between meals, patients can make snacks: yogurt, fermented baked milk, cottage cheese, kefir. During the ketogenic diet, fat tissue is burned in patients, and muscle mass is not affected. Currently, many athletes bodybuilders began to use this principle of power, whereby they are always full of energy and strength.
Results, reviews and recommendations of doctors on ketogenic diet
The involvement of ketogenic diet program in the treatment of epilepsy due to the fact that patients throughout the period of starvation do not experience discomfort. They blunt hunger, despite the limited supply of calories. When entering into a ketogenic diet in patients, the pancreas begins to produce less insulin. As a result, the risk of developing cardiovascular diseases is reduced.
Currently ketogenic diet has been used in the treatment of cancer. According to many experts who have left their reviews about ketogenic diet, 70% of patients noticed significant improvements in the General condition of the body, including a decrease in the number of attacks, and 30% of epileptics did not feel any effect. When you assign a diet to patients of young age there have been cases of complete healing from this severe illness. Many people use the ketogenic diet for correction of their weight. A total of six days of diet allows you to get rid of 5 extra pounds.
When using a diet for weight loss experts recommend not to limit themselves in the liquid to the slags quickly came out of the body, and its cells at an accelerated pace updated. Before you exclude from your diet these or other products, any person should get advice from your doctor or a professional nutritionist. The human body is able to independently produce from the fat deposits the necessary amount of nutrients for the full operation of the brain.
Everyone knows that the liver contains a certain amount of glycogen (glucose), which is enough for no more than 1 day. Having spent this stock, the body begins to start a process (ketosis), in which fats begin to burn (the pancreas processes fat cells into keto-bodies, in its composition capable of replacing glucose).
After ketones penetrate the brain of a person suffering from epilepsy, there is relief of attacks, as they have an anticonvulsant effect.
Over the years, various studies of epilepsy have been conducted, the result of which suggests that there is a direct link between the health of the patient and the nutrition system used by him / her. In patients who took part in the tests and sat on a ketogenic diet, dehydration of the body was found, which was achieved by eliminating carbohydrates from the diet.
Menu patients should count specialists, as for young epilepsy is extremely important presence in the daily diet of fatty milkshakes or ice cream. Such products are able to replace the necessary carbohydrates, so they should be eaten in sufficient quantities. Adult patients do not need to eat foods that replace carbohydrates, as they should be on a diet completely excluded from the diet.