#5 Gillian Szollos – Seizure Free and Shed Over 100 lbs

SHOW NOTES

BEFORE KETO

• I have been working on a community health for about 20 years
• Back in 2014, I was driving home form the accountant’s office and I had an crazy aura
• When I was a child, I was diagnosed with epilepsy
• My mother who had been pediatric nurse said that I have been absent seizures or partial seizures
• And she took me to the hospital and the neurologist told her that I couldn’t have a possible epilepsy because I was not losing control of my balance of my bowels or my bladder
• My mom knew that, that was not right but she did not have any other recourse
• About 4 years, they sent me to see a psychiatrist and a psychologist and just telling me that it is just all in my head
• I was having more seizures during the school days and fewer during the summer
• By the time I was 12 years old, they were happening all the time, but I still did not have diagnosis
• Then, when I was 14 years old, my mom and dad moved and they happened to move next to well-known neurologist
• At the local Christmas party, my mom grabbed this guy and said, “Would you see my daughter?” and he said yes
• And I was in his office the next week and he did a bunch of test, and a week after that he said that I definitely have a lesion in your left temporal lobe and it is epilepsy and he gave me a medication
• I had no seizures for 4 years
• Those are the 4 years that I was in high school
• The medication was messing my long term memory
• So I had to study for tests and exams 2 days before, and there’s no way I could retain information
• I really want to go to med school and it became pretty obvious when I was in grade 11 or 12 that, that’s not just going to happen because I just don’t have the ability to retain the information
• So when I go to a University when I was 18 years old, I decided to stop the medicines, cold turkey
• And I did not have any seizures and I continued not to have seizure, my memory got a little better, I managed my grades up a bit, and then I start making babies
• Right after my two sons are born, there were some periods of time that I stop myself and I thought, “Is this an aura? I am not a 100% sure. I am not feeling great. Maybe I should get a check-up”
• And I start having migraines
• So the did take me back in, they did a bunch of tests and this one it came back and said I don’t have an epilepsy
• In July 2014, 2 days after that, I had another one and knew I needed to see a doctor
• My family doctor for 20 years had just retired and I had a brand new doctor
• On that Monday afternoon, I came back to work and I got picked up by my husband to go and have lunch. As we rounded the corner, I had a full-blown seizure
• So at the end of it, I was calming my husband down and told him that it’s okay and it just a seizure
• And he said why I did not tell him that I have an epilepsy and I told him that I really did not think I did
• And I went back to work and I did my meeting
• And in the middle of the meeting I fell apart and told the person that I am meeting that I really need to go to the hospital
• I did go to the hospital and the nurse said that the waiting is 7 hours and I told her that I am just going to go home
• She asked me why I am here and said I just had a seizure. She then told me not to go home and she took my vitals
• I called my husband that I am in the hospital and he went right away.
• Me and my husband sat together and I put my head on his shoulder and had a full-blown seizure
• Within an hour I was completely all worked out and they told me that I don’t have a brain tumor, but I do need a neurology consult and can’t drive my car
• From that day, I started to have 4 to 6 seizures a day and I have 130 of the over a 3 month period of time
• I decide to track everything
• I was going to track when I was having seizures and what time, day or month. I was going to track my ovulation, my period – anything that I could track, I would
• Over those 3 months, I saw a colorations
• I was out of control all the time
• I was exhausted all the time
• Me and my husband reached out to a Facebook page
• And the there, he learned about the Ketogenic diet
• He asked me if I want to try it and I said yes
• So he started cooking for me on October 23^rd
• I took it very seriously in the beginning and I weighed and measured everything
• November the 5^th, I had an insane seizure for 30 minutes long and I was alone
• That was the night I told my husband that I am going off this medication because I know it is making things worst
• On the next day I went to see my neurologist and told him that I started Keto and he said that it doesn’t work, that it only wok for kids under 2
• And I told him that I am doing it anyway
• But, November 6^th, I had no seizure and on the 7^th, 8^th and 49 days went by, and I had no seizures
• On the 49^th day, I had an aura
• Aura is different for everybody.
  Some people hear things. Some people see visual disturbances. For me, it is a sense of gastric rising
• And I describe it to everyday as every cell in my body is simultaneously exploding
• And when I look, I saw that I was ovulating.
• So I got to get out everything in my diet that is remotely estrogenic
• And I have been seizure free since and my 3 year “Keto-versary” is coming up
• I am so grateful that my husband discovered Keto

• I was actually pre-diabetic
• I was healthy person but I have always been over-weight
• I have been struggling my weight since my 20’s
• And I have done all of it and all the healthy ways to lose weight
• I lose 10 or 15 pounds but I never lose 90 pounds
• Which I made it to lose until I started Keto
• I lose 90 pound which has no problem at all
• What I discovered on my first year of Keto is I lost 45 pounds
• I was really in a very high-fat therapeutic level Keto diet
• I lost 35 pounds in the 2^nd year and about 90 pounds in the 3^rd year
• I lost 90 pounds but I sort of put up a lot of muscles
• On the scale it is like a 70 pounds loss, but I have gained 20 pounds lean muscles

TYPICAL DAY IN YOUR DIET

• Before I was very strict. Weighed and measured everything
• Tons of whipping cream.
  Lots of bulletproof tea
• I would definitely have more Keto treats. I have fat bombs all the time
• I would have treats 3 or 4 times a week
• I will eat 3 meals a day and sometimes snack
• Over time that changed
• I started having fewer Keto treats. Now, I’ll have Keto treats once a month
• I eat way more salads now that in the beginning
• My net carbs would be 20, but I always go on total carbs because that’s how I gauge how I am feeling
• If I know my period is coming, I will not have 40 grams of carbs
• These days, I am probably eating about 30 grams on average of day and 60 grams of protein.

TOUGH SPOTS

• The toughest part was the 2 weeks I started Keto
• Since then, the bumps on the road had been negligible compared the mental and the emotional suffering I was having before
• So now, there are little things
• I only eat 2 meals a day now, on average. Sometimes only one
• I do intermittent fast everyday
• When I try pushing myself for longer fast, I did not feel hungry. I just wanted food. I was surrounded by it and I wanted it
• When my Ketones gets high, I would not feel good
• I feel really good between 1 or 3

ADVICE

• Do your research
• Make sure you’re going to the right places to support the reason why you’re using the Ketogenic diet
• Make sure you’re getting enough knowledge
• Be as clean Keto as you possibly can
• Surround yourself with people who are supportive

WHAT’S NEXT FOR YOU?

• I am one of this “carpe diem” people
• I have this idea about a year ago, that it would be really awesome if you could start funding of a human trial on a Ketogenic diet
• So I started a website, “ketoalldayeveryday”. No sales just support