Lowery R, Wilson J. The Ketogenic Bible: The Authoritative Guide to Ketosis. 1st ed. Victory Belt Publishing; 2017. ISBN 978-1628601046. A deficit or surplus just relates to the number of calories you want to intake. A surplus means you are eating more than your body needs. A deficit means you are eating less than your body needs. Freeman JM, Vining EP, Pillas DJ, Pyzik PL, Casey JC, Kelly LM. The efficacy of the ketogenic diet–1998: a prospective evaluation of intervention in 150 children. Pediatrics. 1998 Dec;102(6):1358–1363. doi: 10.1542/peds.102.6.1358. PMID 9832569. Lay summary–JHMI Office of Communications and Public Affairs. Updated 7 December 1998. Cited 6 March 2008. The first modern study of fasting as a treatment for epilepsy was in France in 1911. [12] Twenty epilepsy patients of all ages were "detoxified" by consuming a low-calorie vegetarian diet, combined with periods of fasting and purging. Two benefited enormously, but most failed to maintain compliance with the imposed restrictions. The diet improved the patients' mental capabilities, in contrast to their medication, potassium bromide, which dulled the mind. [13] It is possible to combine the results of several small studies to produce evidence that is stronger than that available from each study alone—a statistical method known as meta-analysis. One of four such analyses, conducted in 2006, looked at 19 studies on a total of 1,084 patients. [25] It concluded that a third achieved an excellent reduction in seizure frequency and half the patients achieved a good reduction. [18]

This article is about a dietary therapy for epilepsy. For information on ketogenic diets as a lifestyle choice or for weight loss, see Very low-carbohydrate ketogenic diet. Let’s start with the calories. Simply put, a calorie is a basic unit of energy that helps us understand how much energy we can potentially get from the food we eat. Calorie intake is one of the most critical variables to be aware of when you are trying to change your body composition. a b c Bergqvist AG. Long-term monitoring of the ketogenic diet: Do's and Don'ts. Epilepsy Res. 2011 Aug 18;100(3):261–266. doi: 10.1016/j.eplepsyres.2011.05.020. PMID 21855296.

HOW MUCH OF MY PLATE SHOULD BE PROTEIN?Protein should make up around 30-40%of the space on your plate. Note that protein makes up around 25% based on calories but because fat has 9 calories per gram compared to 4 calories per grams of protein, it will represent more on your plate than 25%. Fat,on the other hand will take up less space as it is more calorie dense. Monosaturated fats are a mainstay on the ketogenic diet as they help to regulate blood sugar, improve skin condition and reduce belly fat. The best sources for monosaturated fats for the keto diet are avocados, avocado oil, macadamia nuts, almonds, and olive oil.

Your diet should be adjusted to your body's needs. A teenager who plays in his school football team will have a different nutritional intake than his mother, who has a 9-to-5 sedentary job. Our keto calculator takes into consideration the following factors: a b Neal EG, Chaffe H, Schwartz RH, Lawson MS, Edwards N, Fitzsimmons G, et al. The ketogenic diet for the treatment of childhood epilepsy: a randomised controlled trial. Lancet Neurol. 2008 Jun;7(6):500–506. doi: 10.1016/S1474-4422(08)70092-9. PMID 18456557 By following a strict net carb limit, you will know exactly what you need to eat to get into ketosis reliably and what variable you should change if you want to stimulate more ketone production.DO I COUNT COOKING FAT? As many of the fats are used in cooking, you need to imagine the space they would occupy if you placed them on the plate separately. See the example below, the olive oil in the bowl represents the oil used for cooking the omelet and bacon. The lower % is also explained by the fact that fatty cuts of meat are also supplying fat. The ketogenic diet is a mainstream medical dietary therapy that was developed to reproduce the success and remove the limitations of the non-mainstream use of fasting to treat epilepsy. [Note 2] Although popular in the 1920s and '30s, it was largely abandoned in favour of new anticonvulsant drugs. [1] Most individuals with epilepsy can successfully control their seizures with medication. However, 25–30% fail to achieve such control despite trying a number of different drugs. [9] For this group, and for children in particular, the diet has once again found a role in epilepsy management. [1] [10] Fasting A news report of Dr Hugh Conklin's "water diet" treatment from 1922 At the initial consultation, patients are screened for conditions that may contraindicate the diet. A dietary history is obtained and the parameters of the diet selected: the ketogenic ratio of fat to combined protein and carbohydrate, [Note 8] the calorie requirements and the fluid intake. [21] A Cochrane systematic review in 2018 found and analysed eleven randomized controlled trials of ketogenic diet in people with epilepsy for whom drugs failed to control their seizures. [2] Six of the trials compared a group assigned to a ketogenic diet with a group not assigned to one. The other trials compared types of diets or ways of introducing them to make them more tolerable. [2] In the largest trial of the ketogenic diet with a non-diet control, [16] nearly 38% of the children and young people had half or fewer seizures with the diet compared 6% with the group not assigned to the diet. Two large trials of the Modified Atkins Diet compared to a non-diet control had similar results, with over 50% of children having half or fewer seizures with the diet compared to around 10% in the control group. [2] The urine has a low pH, which stops uric acid from dissolving, leading to crystals that act as a nidus for calcium stone formation. [41]