Gluten free, sugar free, reduced carb meals

[KarenB]

My son does the ketogenic diet for seizures, and because I have access to the ketocalculator, I decided to play around with it and come up with some meal plans for adults that are gluten free, sugar free, and reduced carbs. I'm doing this mostly for myself (for overall good health, and to regulate blood sugar and reduce migraines & joint pain), but thought these might be helpful for reducing seizures:
1) Gluten is a common seizure trigger
2) Unregulated blood sugar (either high or low) can trigger seizures. These meals should lower blood sugar levels, but also eating 3 meals and 2 snacks should keep blood sugar from dropping too low.
3) These meals are anti-inflammatory and high in anti-oxidants, which can help with seizure control and recovery from seizures (as well as over-all good health)

Even though the carbs are reduced (about 50 per meal) and fat is a little high, these meals should NOT put you into ketosis (unless the calories aren't enough and you lose weight -- which can put you into ketosis). So...these are NOT ketogenic meals, but they are fairly close -- if you are considering the ketogenic diet (or modified Atkins), you could try these meals out for a week or two and see if it's something you think you could stick with and if it seems to be helping with seizure control. The Ketogenic diet or modified Atkins would basically take these meals and probably remove all or most of the grains and increase the fat.

Each meal is about 400 calories, with 15 grams or more of protein, about 50 carbs per meal. The idea is 3 meals a day, with at least 2 snacks. I've listed nutrition info for each meal. It's a little higher in fat, but most of the fats are "healthy" fats.

 

[KarenB]

Asian Stir Fry

Stir-fry (401 calories, 22 grams protein, 49 grams carbohydrate, 12 grams fat, mostly vegetable fat)
(nutrients: 28% calcium, 200% vitamin C, 250% vitamin A, 12% iron)
1/2 cup cooked brown rice
1 1/2 ounces cup dark meat chicken, cut up in small pieces
1 tablespoon Canola oil
1 clove fresh garlic, chopped
1 tsp fresh ginger, chopped
1/3 cup raw onion
4 cups raw bok choy (280 grams) washed (cut leaves from bulb & set aside; chop bulb into about 3 sections)
1 tablespoon soy sauce (made from soy only, no wheat)

Alternate Veggies: instead of bok choy, you could substitute any of the following, or you could mix several together. Don’t worry too much about the amounts of the veggies, because even huge amounts are only 2 or 3 carbs. 200 grams asparagus, 100 grams broccoli, 100 grams green cabbage, 150 grams cauliflower, 200 grams celery, 100 grams mushrooms, 150 grams green peppers, 200 grams spinach, 100 grams bean sprouts, 200 grams zucchini.

Put oil in Teflon skillet or wok over high heat, add chicken, and stir fry about 2 minutes. Add garlic, ginger, onion and bulb part of bok choy. Stir fry about 2 minutes. Add leaf part of bok choy and soy sauce, stir fry about 1 minute. Serve over brown rice.

Cooking time (if rice prepared in advance) 5 minutes. Prep time (chopping stuff): 9 minutes.
It takes about 45 minutes for brown rice to cook. I cook about 4 cups at a time, and put the leftovers in fridge for future meals (can be warmed in microwave).

 

[KarenB]

Yogurt & Fruit

1 cup yogurt (plain, whole milk)
½ cup instant or quick oatmeal (dry)
2 tablespoons flaxseed meal

Any of following fresh fruit: 1 medium tangerine (12% Vit. A, 39% vit. C), 1 cup cubed papaya (31% A, 144% C, 13% folate, 10% potassium), 1 cup blackberries (8 grams fiber, 50% C, 36% K), ½ medium apple (2 g fiber), 1 cup strawberries (3 g fiber, 149% C, 29% manganese), 1 cup raspberries (8 g fiber, 54% C, 12% K, 41% manganese), ½ cup pineapple (1 g fiber, 67% C, 39% manganese), 2/3 cup blueberries (10% C, 16% K), 1 cup diced cantaloupe (1 g fiber, 106% A, 96% C, 12% potassium), 1 cup diced honeydew (1 g fiber, 51% C, 11% potassium), ½ cup sliced mango (2 g fiber, 13% A, 36% C), 1 cup watermelon (1 g fiber, 18% A, 21% C)

Mix flaxseed meal in with yogurt. You can also mix in the dry oats, or prepare the oatmeal with hot water and mix with yogurt or eat separately. The fruit can be mixed with yogurt or oatmeal or eaten on side.
Nutrition: 18 grams protein, 47 grams carb, 401 calories, 15 grams fat, 8 g fiber (plus what’s in fruit)33% calcium, 12% thiamin, 10% iron, 14% magnesium, 10% zinc, 16% selenium, 16% phosphorus, 74% manganese, vitamins depend on fruit

 

[KarenB]

Kefir-Strawberry Smoothie (Snack)

Snack: Strawberry/Kefir Smoothie
1 cup Kefir (plain, low-fat, Lifeway)
1 cup frozen strawberries
Put in blender. Can add a little artificial sweetener (Stevia, Splenda, Sweet & Low, etc.) to taste. (Avoid aspartame – Equal)

Nutrition: 2 g fat, 12 g protein, 19 g carb, 150 calories, 6 g fiber, 30% calcium, 11% A, 106%C, 6% iron

Alternate fruit - can sub for strawberries: 2/3 cup frozen blackberries or 2/3 cup frozen blueberries

 

[Maisy]

go too google and search dovefarm think its dovefarm.com its a great website lots and lots of recipes for wheat/gluten etc intolerance

 

[KarenB]

Thanks -- will check it out. I'm also working with no sugar and reduced carbs and also foods that are high in fiber and anti-inflammatory.

Sugar and refined carbs tend to spike blood sugar, followed by a big drop, even in people who aren't diabetic or pre-diabetic, and this can trigger seizures. So, trying to work with carbs that provide mega benefit -- such as significant sources of fiber (whole grains, beans) or calcium (milk and yogurt), or lots of vitamins and anti-inflammatory boosts (fruit like pineapple and cantaloupe).

Eliminating sugar and wheat and reducing other carbs while increasing fiber can help with weight loss and weight maintenance. Sometimes obesity can contribute to seizures, and it also can cause inflammation and trigger diabetes, which can also lower the seizure threshhold.

I've been giving special attention to the inflammatory value of foods, as some of the most recent and compelling research is pointing to chronic inflammation and auto-immune disease as being a significant factor in epilepsy that has not discernable cause. I highly suspect that this is playing a factor in my son's recent flare-up of seizures.

Even though I don't have seizures (although occasional migraines), I've been using the above recipes for most of our family meals just for general good health. It's taking awhile to develop them as we keep tweaking them. It's taken me about 3 months to get sugar out of my diet (I had an enormous sweet tooth, so gradually reduced), but I'm about 95% sugar free these days.