OUR STORY
Our family
My name is Marie-Ange. I am a Mum. I am also a journalist. I live in Paris, France, with the 3 loves of my life : my wonderful husband and my 2 lovely sons. We love travelling, discovering other cultures, eating healthy, enjoying the treasures that Paris has to offer and spending our free time in our country home in the forest.
How it all started
One of my sons had his first seizure when he was 3 years-old. A month and a half later, he had 2 seizures within the same month. A few weeks later, he had 5 seizures in a day. It was January 5th. This is when our life became very complicated. Our son started having clusters of seizures (that means a lot) every 5 days : up to 11 seizures in a day. Each time, he spent 2 days at the children's hospital (specialized in epilepsy). They were running lots of tests: MRI, EEG, blood tests…
Discovering the 3:1 Keto Diet as a therapy
Very early on, the journalist in me searched the internet, day and night, looking for information. I read hundreds of scientific studies. The ketogenic diet came up very fast. I read every study I could find on the subject and spoke to the doctors at the hospital about it. The professor in charge of the epilepsy department said: "You are not going to prevent your child from eating cookies and candies! We live in the country of the baguette!". As he said those words, he tapped his belly. It was one of those moments that you will never forget… Needless to say, the hospital refused that our son would start a ketogenic protocol. Instead, they put him on medications, which, unfortunately, had no impact on his seizures. I followed my gut: I didn't feed anymore sugar to our son and considerably lowered his carbs. During his time at the hospital, I sent back the apple sauce and white bread they were feeding him and gave him food that I prepared myself.
Very fast, his clusters starting spreading apart: they now occurred every 10 to 12 days.
Getting on a 3:1 Keto Diet
We were lucky enough to get a second opinion from Professor Rima Nabbout, at Necker Hospital. She listened, she was kind, she understood our suffering and didn’t judge us for trying everything we could do to help our son. She put us in touch with one of the nutritionists in her team : Florence. Florence asked me to write down everything my son ate : what he ate and how much of it. I started weighing his food, all of it. She was then able to calculate his daily intake of protein, fat and carbs. At that point, he was eating about 70% fat, 20% protein and 10% carbs.
On March 20th, Pr. Nabbout decided we should try to get our son on a classic ketogenic diet. The nutritionist explained what that meant and gave me sheets of information about the nutritional values of all basic ingredients, with some recipes and tips. It took me a few days to get it right and make the transition. On March 30th, our son had 9 seizures and 3 doses of Valium.
This was the last time he ever had a seizure.
One year later
​
Our son has been on a 3:1 Keto Diet for over a year and he is seizure free ever since. He swims without floaties, he can ride a pony and his bicycle. Three things we never thought he would be able to do one day.
He has regular checkups at the hospital: EEG, urine and blood tests and kidney ultrasounds. Each time we go to the hospital, we meet with his nutritionist and neurologist. Our son is in full good health, grows beautifully and enjoys his food.
Don’t get me wrong, the whole 3:1 Keto Diet adventure hasn’t always been easy. This is a very restrictive and pretty complicated diet. But, when it gives good results, it is definitely worth it!
Happy Keto Kids
I've created Happy Keto Kids to share my experience with you, to give you the tips that I discovered along the way and to share the recipes I created with love. For the past year, I have put all my effort into trying to make the 3:1 Keto Diet as healthy and tasty as possible. I want your child to enjoy it and never feel like they are missing out. Happy kid, happy parents, happy family! In a very humble way, I hope to help you and your child make the transition as easy as possible. I am not a doctor or a nutritionist. I am just a Mum who is making it successfully through the 3:1 Keto Diet under the supervision of a specialized and experienced neurologist and her wonderful team of nutritionists. They are the chief conductors and I am just a trumpet player. I am lucky enough that my audience enjoys all types of music!
Only your child’s doctor can decide if a diet therapy is a suitable treatment for them. Like all diet therapies for epilepsy, the 3:1 Keto Diet must be medically supervised as it requires regular monitoring to help prevent the potential side effects. If you are interested in this diet therapy, ask your doctor about it. If you want to learn more about it, follow the link below.
​
​