Due to the number of requests we receive for information about the diet, I will tell you that many of the the best resources are listed below. Start by getting the book The Epilepsy Diet Treatment - by Freeman, Kelly and Freeman - and learn as much as you can.

There is another book called The Ketogenic Diet by Lyle McDonald, written more for dieters but has a great deal of good information about how the diet works and its effects. Often, people want a copy of the diet. There is no "copy" of any sort to get because the diet is based on each individual's caloric needs, height, weight, age and other medical needs.

The diet is an individualized program for each person that must be refined to their needs. It is deficient in many nutrients so supplements are necessary. It is no party to start this diet; it requires buy-in by the entire family as everyone in the household is affected is some way. However, when it works it's worth the effort.

Informed health care professionals are vital to the success of the diet and ongoing care while on the diet is essential. It may take a few months of "fine-tuning" to achieve seizure control.

Keto Centers in the United States

Keto Centers Worldwide

Resources:

Keto Meal Planner December 1996 release. (What I still use in 2004 when working with others - and love!) This version has a pull down listing of foods. - You can change the foods in the list but you'll need some help understanding this feature first. You may always call or email me. Be sure to double check food values with vendors as they do change.

There is a great website (isn't the web wonderful?) to get food values from the USDA. Just type in the food and you can then ask for the 100 gram count. I tried it and found it easy to use. This is a self extracting file, which means you need only double click on it to expand the file. I strongly urge you to get and review the file below. The file name will be mealplnr.xls

Lowcarbcafe.com: It also has a link to a hidden carb finder tool.

The Meal Planner developed by Mike Gillick, a PHP dad, who freely shared this tool and is the template that is frequently referred to as the Stanford meal planner because his son was at Stanford. He shared this with Stanford as well and then began distributing it to their families. He also created these help files for families.

The file is executable but is an Excel Template. http://www.parentshelpingparents.com/sigsupplements/ketogenic/ketodiet.exe

Alternately, you may download the Excel version http://www.php.com/sites/default/files/MEALPLNR.XLS

Meal Planner Help Files Great explanation and samples of how to use the meal planner using Excel,

Document 1: The Mealplanner

Document 2: Making a Meal

Document 3: Doing Calculations

Document 4: Adding or Changing Foods

Document 5: Adding or Changing Foods 2(Be sure to check food values with food manufacturer. This comes with many food values in the program but they can be modified to meet your needs.)

Yahoo! Groups has a great Ketogenic Diet List where you can communicate with other parents facing the same issues.

Tips From a Keto Mom- Many practical tips to get ready and a few great resources I used.

• Specialty Cheese Company - A low carb crunchy cheese snack. Delicious new snack made of nothing but natural cheese and spices. It's baked to crunchy, delicious perfection.
• Ketogenics Specialists H-B Drugs - Full service compounding pharmacy specializing in creating customized medications in order to most appropriately suit a patient's unique needs with a special interest in pediatric epilepsy and the ketogenic diet. (888) 383-2010 or (201) 997-8488. FAX number is (201) 997-8488. Located in N. Arlington, NJ.