Another newbie from Melbourne, Australia page

[Caz1969]

Hi, I'm another newbie from Melbourne, Australia. I'm 42 and a single Mum of 3 kids. I have epilepsy, and my eldest child has type 1 diabetes. I'm hoping this lifestyle will help me reduce my epilepsy medications, though I've been seizure free for a few years, so not in any hurry to mess with them. I also plan to look into whether or not this lifestyle is appropriate for type 1 diabetics. I know it's supposed to help type 2, but our diabetes team says that teenagers need carbs. My daughter is unlikely to be enthusiastic about the diet at the moment, but I at least want to look into whether it might be better for her. I'm currently a little overweight, and would like to have more energy and feel healthier.

I'm currently on day 2 of primal living and so far so good. This is probably going to be difficult for me because my previous diet consisted of a family block of chocolate and a litre of pepsi eaten throughout the day, followed by either a pasta or rice dish for dinner. No wonder I've been feeling pretty awful for a while. I was suffering from depression, but now that it's lifted, I've still been eating like a depressed person and I know it has to stop.

I'm a bit of an all or nothing type person, so my biggest worry is that the first time I mess up, I'll give up, so I need to get past the first few weeks to see the benefits before I allow myself any cheating. I've previously been on the Pritikin diet (years ago) and it worked well for me, but I found it too difficult to stick to long term.

Time to set up a journal to track how things are going and to help me keep on track.

Nice to meet you all, and hope to get to know you as I adjust to this new lifestyle.

[Lewis]

Hi, I'm another newbie from Melbourne, Australia. I'm 42 and a single Mum of 3 kids. I have epilepsy, and my eldest child has type 1 diabetes. I'm hoping this lifestyle will help me reduce my epilepsy medications

It might well. What follows is a strictly amateur opinion intended as general information and please take it as such.

The PB is low-carb rather than very low carb (i.e. ketogenic) but ketogenic diets have been, and still are, used for epilepsy. Information in here, for example;

Amazon.com: The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Living: An Expert Guide to Making the Life-Saving Benefits of Carbohydrate Restriction Sustainable and Enjoyable (9780983490708): Stephen D. Phinney, Jeff S. Volek: Books

AFAICT, some time on such a diet can "reset" things so that a ketogenic diet doesn't have to be permanent.

See also:

epilepsy ketogenic - PMC - NCBI

As regards type 1 diabetes, someone in your part of the world has made some interesting connections between the proteins in some types of milk and the incidence of Type 1 diabetes. It's Keith Woodford I mean:

Evidence linking A1 beta casein to Type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetes includes major differences in incidence between individual countries within the developed world (i.e. countries with similar lifestyles). These differences correlate remarkably with A1 beta-casein intake of these populations (10). Alternative hypotheses are unable to explain this. Supportive evidence comes from animal trials, evidence linking IDDM to milk exposure in general (11-13) and A1 beta-casein in particular (14, 15). The increasing incidence of Type 1 diabetes over time is likely to be a function of issues affecting gut permeability or antigenic susceptibility (viruses, antibiotics, hygiene factor, Vitamin D etc) rather than the quantity of A1 beta-casein per se.

http://keithwoodford.files.wordpress...011-final1.pdf

If that really is the source of the damage, then I guess it's done already, but still I'd have thought you'd probably want to get dairy out the child's diet -- or A1 dairy, at any rate, since you can get A2 dairy Down Under easily enough.

As I understand it a lower-carbohydrate diet could be beneficial to a Type 1 -- because they'd need less insulin given to them, and high levels of insulin likely don't benefit any of us. However, it's not something you'd want to go into without a cooperative doctor: the quantity of insulin taken needs to be balanced with the need for it, as determined by the diet, or there could be nasty consequences. Work with the doctor.

[Caz1969]

Thanks Lewis for the comments, encouragement and links. I'll spend some time this afternoon reading through them. I know that my daughter wouldn't go low-carb now, but I'm hoping she'll be more open to it as she matures. 17yolds don't think their mothers know much, lol, but I'll forward the links to her in the hope she'll keep an open mind.