Starting the Diet

Charlotte and I spent 3 days with Gio in the hospital - November 29-December 1. I couldn't understand at first why we needed to stay in the hospital when all we were doing was changing food, but I quickly figured out why.

A lot of children get sick when immediately stopping their regular diets filled with carbs and sugars. Gio had been on a gluten and casein free diet for more than a year now, so I wasn't too concerned. We got to the hospital and even before we got into the room, the dietician met us with a formula - KetoCal. It was a milk like drink mixed with water. For the first day, this was all he would get. Luckily we had given him pasta the night before and I fed him a huge breakfast of eggs and bacon before we got there. We figured he should enjoy his "last meals".
Gio immediately drank the formula - actually, sucked it down. Even at 5, he still uses a bottle. It's easier for him to grasp and he can't really spill. Since he doesn't have the greatest motor skills, we haven't taken the bottle from him. Now, even after drinking nearly 11 ounces of that drink, he had to drink another 300 mL of water - another 10 ounces! Since he's not potty trained, you can imagine what has started now....lots of clothes washing. And, he HAS TO drink 300 mL of water after EVERY meal. The G-Tube now wasn't looking so bad. We can't force him to drink, but we can get all the liquids into him via the tube! So, the first day of the diet was liquid overload. He didn't mind and it went well.

Day 2 was learning about the scale - everything has to be measured out to the exact gram. So...we practiced and made our first meals for him - Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner...and a snack for bed, but that would consist of the KetoCal drink in a bottle to help him go to sleep. What he doesn't finish goes in through the tube. And, he has to eat the meals at around the same times everyday -
9AM breakfast and 300 mL of water
Noon Lunch and 300 mL of water
3PM - 250 mL of water
6PM - Dinner and 300 mL of water
7PM - Snack an 250 mL of water
The meals basically look like this:
50 grams Heavy Cream
10 Grams some fruit
20 grams some protein
20 grams oil or butter
What changes in grams depend on fat content and other ratios. But, what is consistent with every meal is the Heavy Cream - 50 grams...every meal.
The nurses were also checking his ketone levels...and by the second day, he had a small amount already! Everyone was pretty excited.
Here's some video of the 3rd meal Gio ate while we were still in the hospital.

In essence, small portions, lots of fat.