Re: advice needed part 2 (Patti and Chris)

December 12, 2006

Hi Anita,

Looking at the list of foods Jack is eating, assuming you're allowing him

liberal quantities of the veggies and fruits, I am BAFFLED as to how anyone can

think Jack is on the verge of being in ketosis. That astonishes me!! After 27

months of monitoring my daughter on the Keto diet (2000-2003), I am remembering

with vivid detail how difficult it was initially to KEEP her in ketosis, even

with extremely minute amounts of carbohydrate in her prescribed mealplans.

Now.... looking again at your list of foods, from an SCD perspective, and

keeping in mind that you have been on SCD only since September, I can tell you

that I think it's really too soon for some of these foods. I would consider

pulling the broccoli, cauliflower and brussels sprouts for now..... these are

advanced foods.

The peppers are fine.... only if you're somehow able to peel them. Oven roasting

is about the only method I know of where you can cook whole or halved peppers,

then peel the skin off before eating. Same would go for the eggplant (I must

admit, even tho I'm a Yank, I prefer the name " aubergine " ) .... though I

assume you are peeling those.

We also do see that it's fairly common for kids not to tolerate carrots.... so

if you could, keep a food journal, pull carrots out for a few days, then add

them back and see if there is an effect one way or the other on the firmness of

his BMs.

I would also suggest, since you are not seeing " good poos " , that you pull the

peanut butter.... and the cashew butter. We find more and more that peanut

butter is simply not agreeing with most kids in the beginning..... and after

all, it is a legume, so probably should be considered more advanced. Cashews are

the starchiest of all nuts... and are also advanced, and even then, should be

eaten in moderation.

If Jack is eating quantities of protein that are far larger than the quantities

of veggies, I would try to shift the balance so that he is getting more of the

others and less of the protein foods. You may want to consider pulling the fish

out, due to the mercury issue, as suggested... though that is not an SCD

issue.

My only other suggestion was in my reply to your other post.... about your

probiotic. TOSS THAT ONE AWAY COMPLETELY!!! Get just an acidophilus supp for

now.... and do consider starting the goat yogurt.

Those are my best tips at this point.

Gee whiz.... I wish I still had my Keto diet mealplanner program. I'd love to

plug Jack's meals into it and see what the actual ratios are..... I'm sure you

could show the printouts to the doctor and be able to assure him that Jack could

not possibly be anywhere NEAR ketosis. Do you still have any of the urine Keto

sticks? That would be another way to check.... just to see if he's spilling any

at all. I highly, HIGHLY doubt it.

Patti

advice needed part 2 (Patti and Chris)

Hi Patti and Chris

Thank you both for taking the time to respond. I have to say, I am bemused as

much as you, and would agree that Jack's dietary intake is, I'm sure, absolutely

fantastic compared to most two year olds. Like you Patti, we did a stint on the

ketogenic diet, which didn't work at all for Jack. The nutritionist said to me

that with his levels of carbs, proteins etc as they are, Jack was on the verge

of being ketogenic at the moment. He said that Jack was burning proteins for

energy now. Certainly, I mentioned that on the rare occasions Jack had had meat

in recent times his stools had reeked of ammonia, and the nutritionist stated

that this was a sign that amino acids were being used for energy rather than

carbs, ammonia being the by-product of this process. By the nutritionists

analysis, Jack's folate level is excellent - there is 'certainly no need to

supplement there'.

Jack is currently eating eggs (2 a day), fish, I've reintroduced meat this

week, cashew, almond, hazlenut and peanut butters, honey, oranges, apples,

bananas, pears, grapes, squash of all varieties, carrots, courgette, aubergine

(sorry, zucchini and eggplant!), peppers, broccoli, chard, asparagus, spinach,

beans, beetroot, and I've just introduced mushrooms, tomatoes, cauliflower and

brussel sprouts. I mean, looking at that list, I would say any parent would be

delighted that their kid was eating so healthily! And he eats too! He has a

hearty appetite and will eat practically anything put before him. He currently

weighs 16.5kilos, and is a big lad (tall) for his age - he dwarfs most two year

olds. He had been on steroids before we started the keto diet in June and had

put on a huge amount of weight, which he began to shift on the keto diet and has

continued to do so on the SCD. However, he had stabilised at 16k and so has

begun to gain weight again. He has just started

another course of steroids, and in the last week or so has gone a little podgy

around the face, so clearly weight is going to be affected by this again.

The nutritionist openly favours a gluten free diet - he says the same can be

achieved without the extremes required by the SCD, but other than this carb

issue, I'm really happy with the SCD, and I just can't see how simple, honest,

untampered with food can be a bad thing.

I do see what you mean about the mercury thing Chris. I had, to be honest,

forgotten of the pollution link with fish and this is something I now need to

consider.

Do you think then that Jack will be getting everything he needs carbohydrate

wise on what I'm feeding him? Are there any foods I've omitted that I should

introduce (yoghurt is on my hitlist!)?

Thanks again

Anita

__________________________________________________________

Cheap talk?

Check out Yahoo! Messenger's low PC-to-Phone call rates.

http://voice.yahoo.com

December 13, 2006

Hi Patti

I had no idea about the probiotic, he was complaining about the difficulty he'd

had finding an SCD legal one (why do we pay these people?!!) so that's

definitely gone!Funny you should say about the meal planner, becuase I still

have mine, it had never occurred to me to put J's new meals into it, but I think

I might just do that! Unfortunately I don't have any sticks left.

Do you think cabbage is ok or is this too early too? At what stage would you

suggest adding the broccoli, cauliflower and sprouts? I just introduced them in

the last ten days or so. Also, I have been giving him blackberries and

raspberries (cooked) for thier anti-oxident qualities - are these ok? I am

peeling the peppers - admittedly the peelings are thick, but like you, I

couldn't find a very good way of doing it otherwise, and yes, aubergine is

peeled. He hasn't ever been without carrots, so I will pull those and see what

happens. Mr nutritionist was worried about the fact that Jack had a limited

variety intake of veggies, which ok, I'm rotating, but because he tends to have

some of everything in the list each day, I was warned of intolerances slipping

in (though I have to say, as a child, we had carrots and potatoes every day and

hey, I'm fine!)

WIth regards to the nut butters, he doesn't have that much peanut (I mean, he

would have it, say, once a fortnight), but I had been using the cashew butter

for baking recipes. Does anyone have any hazlenut baking recipes other than the

standard nut butter, egg, honey, cake? If so they would be very gratefully

received!

Thanks again for your time!