Mayonnaise, Melted Butter Help Oak Forest Girl Live With Epilepsy

Some diets restrict carbohydrates. Others cut down on junk foods. For one 5-year-old Oak Forest girl, however, diet is all about the fat, the Sun-Times Media reports.

At age three, Christa Olson was diagnosed with epilepsy; a disease which causes her body to go into regular and frequent seizures. Modern and typically effective antiseizure medications are available, but they were of no use to Olson. In July of 2011, Olson’s mother decided to try a different technique that had been known to remedy epileptic children in the past—a ketogenic, or fat-centric diet.

“She went from five seizures (a day) to two, then it was one, then zeroes,” Olson said. “They’ve been zeroes ever since.”

Ideally, Olson will be able to wean herself off the diet within the next couple years.

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