It’s already been a long journey even though I only began yesterday. Yesterday was the first day for me on my Modified Atkins Diet (MAD) for epilepsy. I am already learning.

I met with my dietician Kelly Faltersack in the afternoon yesterday. I’d already gotten my starter pack information and had read and watched quite a bit on the diet, so I felt safe eating within the diet for breakfast and lunch and making yesterday my first full day with the program. I will say that I encourage anyone who reads this and wants to start the MAD or another keto diet for your epilepsy or other health challenge, talk with your health team first. There are a lot of details they can help with to save you a lot of trouble and make success more possible.

Just in my first day I was struck by what it really takes to rebalance my diet and get sufficient calories. A number of years ago I worked with a different Kelly, an old friend of mine and a nurse practitioner, to do allergy testing and revamp my diet. At that point I moved from being a junk food junkie to really becoming a pretty healthy eater. I don’t keep sugar in my house. I also don’t keep chips or pop. I will sometimes have some potato chips or a non-caffeinated soda when I go out, or at least I would until now. The point being that for an American I eat well. Still, yesterday I found myself getting hungrier than usual between meals. I looked at the tracking system I am using and realized that even with adding what I thought was quite a bit of additional fats, my calories were too low. Yesterday I ended the day with a grand total of 888 calories. ( *Note- calorie counting is not a regular part of MAD for epilepsy) That was okay for a day, but clearly not healthy for more than a few days in a row. It became rapidly clear that I need to figure out a new way of understanding servings. It is an interesting puzzle– how to get sufficient calories without going over 20 grams of carbohydrates in a day.

So, today I am working on the puzzle. I added another egg and two tablespoons of heavy cream to my scrambled eggs. I am glad to say that I’m not feeling as hungry today so far. It is still fairly early in the morning though. It’s interesting to look at food servings in that different way. Normally, I would want to add something bigger, something that takes up more space or seems heavier to fill myself. It is strange to me to think of just a tablespoon or two of liquid as a large source of calories and energy. It’s always been true. I’ve just never thought of it before.

My other challenge for the day will be building up my water intake. Typically, people are encouraged to drink at least 64oz of water per day which many of us don’t succeed in doing. Because of my epilepsy medication and being on the MAD my neurology team is advising me to drink 74oz. That’s a lot of water! But, it sounds a lot better than the alternatives of constipation and possibly kidney stones, so I am holding up my water bottle and toasting good health to us all.

Is anyone else out there using the MAD to address epilepsy or other health issues? I would love to hear your stories. Please share.