tips
EXPLAINING THE DIET TO THE KIDS
The 3:1 Keto Diet is a big change in your child’s life, a change that will affect the whole family. Adults understand the process and are lucky to play an active part in the diet. You do the food shopping, you do the math, you cook and serve the meals. It is a rewarding job that gives you the extraordinary opportunity to help your child. You are strong, you can do it.
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I find the diet to be harder on the other children in the family. They can feel sad for their sibling, guilty when they eat something their sibling can’t have or frustrated to eat a cookie secretly. In our family, the one who is the most eager for the diet to end is our son who is NOT on the diet. But overall, things are going smoothly. We went with our gut and it worked.
Kind words
for brothers and sisters
"Your brother/sister has been sick. It has been hard for them and for you. But we are all strong. And we are going to get through this together.
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We are going to try something to help your brother/sister and reduce their seizures. They are going to stop eating some things and start eating some new ones. It will be like food therapy. It is wonderful because it uses natural ingredients. It is going to be very good for their brain.
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If you want, you will be able to try all the new things they eat. You will also be able to keep eating your usual food. Sometimes you guys will eat differently. There are things that your brother/sister likes but won’t be able to eat anymore for a little while. We will play some games to help them through this change. Do you want to play and help?"
Healing words
for a child on a diet
"You have been a little bit sick recently. You have had some seizures and you have been to the hospital several times. I know that sometimes you have been tired and you have been scared. We are here with you and we are protecting you. We are going to do something to make you feel better. This is going to be great. You know how some people are allergic to some food..."
If you can, name someone your child may know who is lactose/gluten intolerant or has some sort of food allergy. That will help them feel like they are not the only one. "Your friend Mila can’t eat butter", for example. "Your brother Jack can’t eat cheese, it is not good for him." I use a sweet lie here : pick a food that one of your other children dislike very much and pretend they can’t have it because it is not good for them.
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"In the same way, some food is not good for your body. We are going to replace it with new delicious food. We all eat differently. Your brother Jack can’t have cheese but YOU can. We must eat what is good for us because we must protect our body. We are going to protect your body and you are going to feel better."
White lies
to protect your child's feelings
"I am like you, I can’t have sugar, it is not good for my body."
When your child sees a child the same age eating ice cream or candy : "Their parents don’t know it is not good for the body. Yet, that's too bad."
When your child asks why they can’t have the same food as their siblings : "What they are having tastes terrible, I don’t know how they can eat that. Yucky! Let me give you something that tastes good."
When your child sees or even grabs some food they can’t have :
"This is spicy."
Or pick something they don’t like at all: "There is a lot of ginger/goat cheese in it."
"Those are old, they have gone off."
"There is alcohol in that drink. It’s only for adults."
I always try to not make the diet too personal. To do so, I often use "I" or "we", instead of "you". I include myself or someone else. Whenever I can, I’d rather say "this is not good for the body" than "this is not good for your body". I say things like "fruit is very sweet, it is nature’s candy. We try to not eat too much of it at once."