Abby’s diet consists of 90% fat. Fifty percent of the fat she consumes is in the form of heavy cream. Specifically, the heavy cream she consumes is special 6g of fat per serving cream. Most heavy cream available in stores is 5g per serving. For comparison, whole milk (which contains a ton of carbs and isn’t suitable for the diet) is 4% fat, her cream is about 40% butter fat. The 6g fat cream isn’t easy to come by. Trader Joe’s sells it, but they don’t always have it. Organic Valley and Stonyfield Farms also have a 6g cream, but only Whole Foods carries either of them regularly – and even then you have to be careful to check labels to make sure you’re getting the 6g cream.
Some independent dairies make 6g cream, but you have to contact them directly to find out. It’s not simple.
CHOP has also partnered with WaWa to provide the special 6g heavy cram. WaWa makes a 6g heavy cream but it is not typically available on shelves in regular Wawa retail stores. However, for CHOP’s keto patients who live near a WaWa store, WaWa will special order the heavy cream and have it delivered to your local store weekly. This is amazing. It saves me having to track down the cream every week and takes some of the stress off. Still, I was wondering exactly what this was going to cost me because this diet is *expensive* (the gram scale alone costs $200 and CHOP recommends we have two of them… fat chance!) . Imagine my surprise to discover, upon speaking with their corporate offices, that the cream would be provided to our family *free of charge* for as long as she was on the diet. Two quarts a week as a baseline, but if we need more, we just need to call. If we are traveling and need to switch delivery to another store, just call. If we need less, just call. No questions asked (we did sign a HIPAA release so that CHOP could send a letter of medical necessity first).
We even received a WaWa Mascot in the mail!
Obviously, WaWa doesn’t get *nothing* out of the deal. This week when I went to pick up Abby’s cream, I also picked up milk, which I wouldn’t normally ahve done at WaWa, but since I was there anyway… And Sam was with me and he wanted orange juice, so… It was a win for WaWa, but I still consider it a win for us. It’s amazing that WaWa does this and I will sing their praises from here until eternity. They also do a lot with funding programs for food insecurity and have endowed CHOPs volunteer program (they distribute complimentary beverages twice a day to the inpatient floors. (of course, they also get to plaster their name all over the hospital as part of the deal…). I’m still proud to say we are part of the WaWa family right now. Every little bit helps… and this is a lot more than just a little bit!
Yesterday marked an important milestone: Abby’s body officially begun the transition into ketosis – her morning blood ketone levels were over 2.4. The team here looks for anything over 1.5, so she was well beyond that. She is now, officially, a KetoKid (TM).
ChezPerky 