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Antonia's kindergarten and the ketogenic diet
Antonia has loved attending kindergarten since her first birthday. We started the ketogenic diet when she was two and a half years old. For the diet to be successful, it is extremely important that everyone involved is sufficiently informed and that the circumstances allow it to be carried out at all.
Antonia' profile
Name: Antonia
Country: Germany
Diagnosis: Epilepsy
Ketogenic nutrition therapy since: 2019
Favorite food: Scrambled eggs with bacon, cucumber and avocado
All parties involved must be informed.
Since Antonia is usually at kindergarten from 8 am to 3 pm, breakfast, lunch, and afternoon snacks must be provided. Even before the dietary change, we discussed the option of warming up Antonia's lunch at the kindergarten with the educators. Additionally, we provided informational materials on the ketogenic diet and conducted a small information session. This was especially important at the beginning to educate all the children in the group in a child-friendly manner so that there wouldn't be accidental or secret food exchanges with Antonia that aren't suitable for the ketogenic diet. Children quickly get the feeling that something is being withheld from others and may secretly share their sweets, for example.
To enable quick information sharing and communication between the kindergarten and the parents, as well as to help unfamiliar staff, we created an information sheet. It outlined the importance of the ketogenic diet, how it is implemented, and provided essential phone numbers for quick inquiries.
From the beginning, every morning after washing and dressing, the backpack with the meals was packed together with Antonia. This way, she knows which meals are included and can help choose what she would like to eat that day.
Good preparation is important.
To ensure that the implementation is quick, easy, and practical even for unfamiliar staff, we've acquired some useful items.
For meal preparation, we've purchased food containers that are dishwasher, microwave, and freezer-safe. They are of a convenient size to fit each individual meal. After cooking in advance, the lunch is placed in these containers and can be frozen. This allows us to cook multiple meals in advance and store them efficiently in the freezer for longer periods.
All the meals are stacked in order inside a small backpack. This backpack is a 10L cooler backpack. Since the frozen lunch is placed in the middle and thaws slowly, the other foods won't get excessively warm even in the summer. To make it easier for the educators, we've also labeled each food container with name stickers and the name of the meal. These stickers are also microwave and dishwasher-safe.
This is what Antonia eats at kindergarten:
In the upper food container, we pack her breakfast. It consists of either Kanso Slices White or Kanso Keto Slices Seeds Dark wrapped in plastic wrap, a small 24g liver sausage can, a Kiri cream cheese cube, a slice of cheese, and an egg. Below the breakfast container, there is the lunch container with the frozen lunch. The educators warm this container in a microwave, allowing her to have a shared meal with all the other children. Most children comment that Antonia's food always smells very good.
After lunch, there is usually dessert at daycare. For this, we provide "Skyr Styl ohne Zucker" by Alpro (0 carbohydrates) in a multipurpose cup. These cups stack well and are also dishwasher-safe.
In the bottom food container, we pack Antonia's afternoon snack for after naptime. Here, Antonia enjoys Kanso Ketocrispbread and mini sausages (Ferdy Fuchs Mini-Würstchen).
At daycare, there are occasional small snacks in between. For these, we provide either Cheese Pops or XOX pork cracklings. Both snacks can be ordered online and are also enjoyed by most other children. Occasionally, there are celebrations at daycare where food should be provided for all the children. In these cases, we may provide, for example, colored eggs, which children love not only at Easter. Or we provide Ferdy Fuchs sausages for the whole group, as all the children love them.
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The most important information summarized briefly:
- Half a teaspoon of MCT oil is approximately 1 g/ml.
- One teaspoon of MCT oil is approximately 3 g/ml.
- One tablespoon of MCT oil is approximately 6 g/ml.
- MCT margarine is ideal for spreading on bread as well as for sautéing and baking.
- MCT oil can be used for salad preparation and for gentle frying at low temperatures (approximately 150°C).
- Do not keep MCT fats warm for too long, heat them too hot, or reheat them (in the microwave) as this could result in a bitter taste.