PARTY!!!

And they all said NO MORE SEIZURES! :) Had Atty's party this weekend and it was awesome. So nice to celebrate with friends and family this amazing milestone. One whole year down, and Saturday also happened to be his last day on medicine! The power of diet and diet alone!!!

Atty's face just glowed with happiness the whole time. It was hard to get any un-blurry pictures of him because he was all over the place visiting and celebrating. He loved sharing his food with everyone. I spent two days making different foods for sampling, all out of almond flour. On the menu was:

Almond flour bread and cashew butter sandwiches

Herb crackers {using herbs straight out of my garden!}

Sesame crackers

Pecan shortbread cookies

muffins

I also had to make him biscuits in the middle of baking, so that he would have something to eat before the party...

Also on the menu:

Chicken strips made with almond flour coating

His type of hot dogs, cut into strips and boiled so they curl {we call them worms, ha ha!}

Macadamia nut "humus" for dipping

Cashew/Tahini/Olive oil dipping sauce or salad dressing

Mustard for dipping

A non-starchy veggies tray

A fruit tray with his types of fruit {we did have to put this on a separate table to make sure he didn't eat more then he was suppose to.}

Baby spinach greens

Macadamia nuts

A big batch of camomile tea over ice sweetened with stevia

I also made his guacamole and his heart shaped freezer treats but I forgot to put those out. Oh well. Everyone enjoyed the food, which was nice. I'll admit my first attempts at his food weren't the best, so it was really nice seeing people actually enjoying eating his food and declaring it yummy. :) Atty loved that it was a party that he could actually go up to the table and eat what ever he wanted. What a relief.

After food and conversation we moved on to trophies. I had trophies made for each of the kids with a special engraving on each one. I wanted them all to understand that I noticed and appreciated their hard work. This diet had been hard work for everyone, it involves the whole family and I am just proud beyond words of my kids. I can't even think about it with out tearing up. In fact I was so emotional that I couldn't talk and had to have my dearest friend give out the trophies at first while I tried to compose myself. By the time it was Atty's turn I had a better handle on myself and was able to speak and give him his trophy. "For your bravery and dedication against all odds. " It was a really special moment.

We all clapped and cheered for each and every one of them. They all felt very proud of themselves, as they should.

Then my mom surprised my hubby and I with trophies as well. It was so sweet and thoughtful of her.

Go Team Rivers!


I got all emotional all over again, and made a super ugly cry face, trying to express to the people there how much their love and support has meant to me. I had tried to warn everyone ahead of time that there were going to be tears... I'm pretty sure just about everyone there shed a tear or two {or more} and we all hugged. It was food for my soul.

Showing off their trophies, or in Lala's case... eating it! Yummy. Her trophy was for brightening up the dark days and bringing a smile to her brothers face. She was sometimes the only one who could get him to smile in the hospital.

Atty's posing for his trophy picture.

Ira showing his hard earned trophy for his excellent team spirit.

The proud big brother showing his hard earned trophy as well, for being an outstanding team player. :)

All of their trophies said, Go Team Rivers! Which is something we say a lot because it helps the kids to work together. We even have an all hands in cheer we do, because were silly like that.

After the trophies we had almond flour cupcakes. There were twelve candles to celebrate the twelve months seizure free and we all shouted "No More Seizures" before blowing out the candles together. Half of the cupcakes I frosted with a cashew butter/coconut oil/stevia mix that is super yummy and the other half I frosted with Nutella {for the people with out allergies}. Let me just say that Nutella frosting is amazing. The cupcakes where strawberry flavored using his flavored powdered stevia drink mix and then I added a slice of strawberry on top. Not a single cupcake was wasted. Major success!

Atty enjoying his muffin. Quite a few of the people at the party are switching to diets similar {but not a strict or as high in fat} as Atty's diet and were really interested in all the food. They loved the almond flour baked goods and now want to order almond flour for themselves. They all felt it was much yummier then the gluten free alternative they use. Exciting to be part of a better health movement! The GAPS diet is what I want to switch Atty to and that is what most of the people there were interested in. I ordered the book 'Gut and Psychology Syndrome' by Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride a while back and already have a waiting list of people who want to read it. I think it's an eye opening must read for everyone to understand the body better. Diet affects so many things that many of us have never even connected before.

Atticus, you are my Champion and I am so proud of you! One more year and you earned yourself a lizard! {Something I promised at the beginning of the diet...} It might end up being a bird instead though, as you are now really into birds, I guess we will just wait and see. Either way you are half way there!!!

I made a winner!

I've now made the BEST fake muffin, cake, cornbread concoction EVER! I say fake because I use NO flour or sugar in it. If I need muffins I put it in muffin tins...Actual muffins tins not the paper kind, so that they don't stick. If I need cake I use these adorable little round baking bowls, and if I need cornbread I stick it in a little square dish. It's the look that counts. He loves it!! Here's the recipe. I know most of you have no need for it but just in case there is some one out there trying desperately like I was to make some sort of baked good for a child on the modified atkins for seizures diet, that they would actually eat...here it is. Yummy!


muffin recipe updated on 10/26

{Makes 12 muffins}

4 eggs separated.

1 and 1/2 cups almond flour

6 tbsp oil, I use grape seed.

1 and 1/2 teaspoons sugar free vanilla (more or less to preference)

1/2 cup water

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

For the muffins or cake add 30 drops of liquid stevia or 1 1/2 tsp flavored stevia powder like Stevita Breeze. It's actually a powdered drink mix, but it works really well for strawberry (or any flavor your kid likes) muffins. Best part...adds flavor with out carbs!!! For the cornbread add 15-20 drops liquid stevia and 1/2 teaspoon sea salt.

Mix all ingredients except the egg whites together. Whip up the eggs whites until fairly stiff and then fold into the mix really well. Oil each muffin tin well (the more oil the better) and pour batter in until full. Cook in a preheated oven at 350 for about 20 minutes until light golden brown.

If putting into a pan add oil to the pan first so it doesn't stick and it adds fat to the recipe which is a plus on this diet. Melted butter works well for the cornbread, melt it in the pan then add the mix, super yummy! I've been baking it in a oven at 350 until light brown and a toothpick comes out clean. There is no set time since the pans vary depending on what I need. You don't want to over cook these though so keep a good eye on them.

Fruit can be added but then I have to count it as a carb on Atty's diet and it gets a little tricky. The first time I used banana in the recipe for a cake on Spike's birthday. (1/3 of a banana mashed and added to the mix was equal to 5 grams carbs) He can only have 15 grams of carbs per day in the form of fruits and vegetables and he had already had 10 grams that day. I then had to leave out the vegetable in his dinner to make up for the 5 grams of carb in his cake and I didn't really like that very much. So I decided to make it with out fruit and changed the recipe a little and came up with the recipe above. From now on unless it's a special occasion I'm just going to leave the fruit out so that I don't have to reduce the amount of fresh fruit/vegetables for the day. I like that with out fruit it doesn't count as a carb on his diet and I can add it to any meal or give as a snack or treat. I guess you could always put less stevia in it, but he likes it the way it is and since he can't really have any treats or sweets right now I'm leaving it as is.

So anyways there you go...best fake muffin, cake, cornbread ever...BEST. Just ask Atty he's already ate three muffins this morning. It feels great to be able to bake something for him again and it makes it so that I can bake yummy treats for my other kids now and I don't have to feel bad about it. It's a win/win...which is the best way to play if you ask me. :)

Oh and I think I forgot to mention that we were able to switch Atty to a dairy free version of the diet, except he still has some butter. The butter doesn't really seem to bother him though, at least as far as I can tell. He's still loving the avocado...what a blessing that has been!

What's for lunch?

Lunch time!Atty's is the monkey plate...on this day I gave him raw veggies because he can have more (certain kinds) of the raw verses cooked, I tweaked it a little and gave him slightly less then a cup of raw veggies so that I could give him a few thin slices of apple. Normally he can have 1/3 of a small apple as a serving or 1 cup of raw veggies. I have to pick them off of a list of acceptable vegetables. I gave him olives for fat and butter "candies" (each one being a tbsp of butter). Turkey sausage is some thing he really loves right now and I add oil to them to increase his fat intake. I also poured a little oil over the veggie sticks. I always give him a smaller plate because it makes it look like more.

Butter "candies" are just butter melted with Stevia and a flavor extract. I pour the mixture into ice cube trays and put in the fridge (or freezer) to harden. I put them on a tooth pick to make them like a sucker. I found this adorable heart shaped ice cube tray that I've been using and I want to see if I can find a good deal on some summer themed trays as well, to change it up a bit. He was just eating cubes of butter, but he doesn't seem to be very enthusiastic about that anymore. He tends to like a certain food exclusively for a while and then abruptly stop liking it. Which is a little nerve wracking when there isn't much to choose from on this diet.

He always eats one type of food on his plate at a time, then when he's finished he moves on to the next. He gets really upset if you offer him something else before he's done with the first thing. I am having to work on getting him to self feed again because he is capable most days but doesn't want to. He will pick it up and hand it to me and say "help me". I'm glad he's using his words (we've been working hard on that) and want him to continue to communicate verbally. But I get frustrated also because if he can pick it up and hand it to me he can certainly put it in him mouth! For a couple days he was really throwing horrible fits and refusing to feed himself, but I keep gently insisting and he seems to be self feeding more and more each day.

Two things he eats a lot of right now. I literally thank God every day he continues to like avocado. Seriously. We had to take him off of the heavy cream because of his reaction and it makes it a lot harder to get enough fat into his diet. Avocado is such a great fat for his diet, so I am very thankful that he hasn't tired of it so far.

Here are the fats that I rely heavily on. Lots of butter, grape seed oil and extra virgin olive oil. I wish he could have coconut oil but the one time we tried that (about a year ago) he had a reaction in the form of a body rash, and I've been afraid to try it since. His dietitian would like to try it again once his seizures settle down and we are in a good routine. It would be awesome if it worked for him because it's another good fat, and it's pretty yummy in flavor.

This is what was left over. Pretty typical. Not big on the veggies right now, but I keep offering because eventually he will nibble on a thing or two. It's a good thing that he likes to eat the same things over and over again...makes it a little easier. So that's what a normal meal looks like for Atty right now...exciting right?

I attempted to make a pan baked bread thing (with almond meal as the flour substitute)...like cornbread...only not. He humored me and ate a little. I'm going to attempt to make flax seed crackers next from a recipe his dietitian gave me. Wish me luck!