Making the Ketogenic Diet Easier, More Accessible and Kid-Friendly
Now Available: Children's Mercy Cooking with Keto Kids, created by Clinical Chef Educator Rachel Finn: A Medical Ketogenic Diet Cooking Program
The Cooking with Keto Kids Subscription
Cooking with Keto Kids Program provides dynamic content and kid-tested, family-friendly recipes that are customized to the exact ratio of a prescribed keto diet with expanded resources to help families adapt to this new lifestyle.
Who is this program for?
This program which includes recpies, instructional videos and handouts is designed for licensed dietitians or child neurologists who prescribe and supervise a medical ketogenic diet for pediatric patients. Everything included can be shared with patients and families that are under your care.
The program offers:
- Precise recipes and ratios that link to the exact prescription of a child neurologist or dietician
- Recipes that kids will eat and enjoy, hopefully increasing adhearnce to the diet
- Fun ways for patients and families to enjoy food while adhering to the diet
- Tips and tricks, including shopping list and conversion charts for integrating the keto diet into food prep for the entire family
- Instructional videos demonstrating unique cooking processes
Our Recipe for Success
The ketogenic diet can feel restrictive, making compliance difficult. In support of Children’s Mercy’s commitment to comprehensive care, a multi-disciplinary team was established to address the psycho-social elements of adhering to such a strict lifestyle required by the keto diet.
Clinical Chef Educator Rachel Finn was hired to work with a team of registered dietitians, physicians and patients. Using complex ratios and macro requirements, Rachel developed kid-friendly recipes for pizza, peanut butter sandwiches, sushi, cupcakes and more.
Rachel also began holding keto cooking classes, teaching families and kids how to cook together. Rachel’s work has helped increase adherence to the ketogenic diet. Patients on the diet have experienced improvements in:
- Academic performance,
- Attention,
- Alertness and
- Overall well-being.
Now, Children’s Mercy is pleased to share the success of the program with physicians and dieticians, enabling patients across the globe to benefit from this unique program.
“As a provider, though you still have to monitor your patients prescribed the ketogenic diet, the cookbook simplifies your job. Chef Rachel’s trusted recipes not only provide great-tasting options for patients and families, but they are also kid-tested, make titration of the diet easier, and are clinically analyzed.”
“[The Cooking with Keto Kids Program] turns the diet from just rules and specific guidelines into a lifestyle that [my child will] have forever. These tools make it manageable for our family. For us, it's a game changer.”
How to Request a Subscription
The Cooking with Keto Kids, a medical ketogenetic diet cooking program, is available via an annual subscription for registered dieticians, neurologists or other clinical personnel working with kids on a ketogentic diet. The subscription allows users to access a platform where the cookbook and other assets exist and can be printed and/or shared with families under supervison of a medical team.
Subscribers can elect to purchase a beta annual license for the cookbook at a rate of $350.
| Type of License | Description | Cost |
| Beta User | A beta license can be purchased, allowing for one download to a registered subscriber for a 12 month period. | $350 |
Subscribers will have access to new recipes, seasonal additions to the cookbook, updates to ingredients and macros as well as any additional handouts or videos created to help families. Updates will be communicated via email to active licensees.
To purchase the Cooking with Keto Kids Program, take the following steps:
STEP 1: Request Licensing Agreement
- Complete and submit the licensing request form
STEP 2: Review and Execute Agreement
- After the request for licensing agreement is recieved, Children's Mercy will generate and send the agreement via email.
Open the email from “techtransfer@cmh.edu" that will include the Cooking with Keto Kids licensing agreement.
Print, sign, scan and email back the executed licensing agreement to “techtransfer@cmh.edu”
STEP 3: Notification from Children's Mercy & Online Purchase
- After recieving the Licensing Agreement, Children's Mercy will send you an email from "techtransfer@cmh.edu"
- Follow the steps outlined in the email to purchase the license(s) through the Cornerstone portal.
- Maintain confirmation of purchase for your records.
STEP 4: Access the Cooking with Keto Kids Program
- Following purchase, look for an email from "techtransfer@cmh.edu" containing key codes and details for how to access the program.
- If multiple licenses were purchased, the key codes and instructions can now be sent to addtional users for easy access.
STEP 5: Start Cooking & Stay Connected
- Start leveraging the Cooking with Keto Kids program with your patient population.
- Registered subscribers who elect to receive communications from Children's Mercy will continue to receive updates on new material as it becomes available. Additionally, stay connected with Children's Mercy to provide your feedback and ideas for future editions.
Have questions or need help with any of the steps above? Contact us via email: techtransfer@cmh.edu
More about the Ketogenic Diet Program
at Children’s Mercy
According to a study published by the American Academy of Pediatrics, epilepsy is one of the most common chronic neurologic conditions in 
children, affecting 0.5% to 1% during childhood.
Antiepileptic medication therapy is the first line of treatment for newly diagnosed children. And while medication is effective for about 65% of patients, about 35% will continue to have seizures.
A wide range of treatment strategies is necessary to help this subset of patients, such as the medically supervised ketogenic diet.
Children's Mercy is committed to the health and well-being of children through personalized and comprehensive care. The Level IV Comprehensive Epilepsy Center at Children’s Mercy Kansas City offers one of the largest Ketogenic Diet Programs in the country, treating approximately 300 children annually. As one of only a dozen pediatric epilepsy centers in the nation, we provide patients with the most complete diagnostic and treatment services available in this region. Our EEG lab also is ABRET certified. Fewer than 10% of labs across the country achieve this certification.
Ahmed T. Abdelmoity, MD, FAAP, Division Director of Child Neurology, has implemented multiple ketogenic diet initiatives to improve compliance, reduce seizures and decrease use of seizure medication, that have resulted in outcomes that exceed national average
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Epilepsy Expertise at Children’s Mercy
The Children’s Mercy Comprehensive Epilepsy Center is recognized by the National Association of Epilepsy Centers as a Level IV Center, the highest level obtainable in epileptic care.
In addition to the Ketogenic diet, we offer a full complement of diagnostic and treatment options for pediatric patients whose epilepsy is intractable. These include:
- Robotic surgery: We are the only pediatric hospital in the region utilizing a state-of-the-art surgical navigation and positioning system known as robotic stereotactic assistance, or ROSA Brain, to precisely pinpoint the source of seizure activity via a minimally invasive method.
- A Full Range of Surgical Options: Epilepsy resection surgery, laser interstitial thermal therapy and vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) are available at Children’s Mercy.
- Streamlined Patient Access, including same-day and Saturday EEG testing: Most clinic appointments can be scheduled at one of our convenient locations within days, not months. Same-day EEG testing is available from our ABRET-certified lab at multiple Children’s Mercy locations.
Nutrition Services at Children's Mercy
The Department of Nutrition Services exists to provide care for inpatients and outpatients; nutrition education for staff, community and Students In Health Care; and nutrition research.
Nutrition is key in the health and wellness of our patients. Dietitians and staff provide comprehensive nutrition assessments and develop an individual care plan appropriate for each child. We focus on helping patients manage their medical conditions, grow well, and develop healthy nutrition and eating habits. We have over 50 dietitians - all licensed in Kansas, Missouri and registered by the Commission on Dietetic Registration - who provide highly specialized care to each patient.
Additional Resources from Children's Mercy
Children’s Mercy Kansas City is an independent, non-profit, 390-bed pediatric health system, providing over half a million patient encounters each year for children from across the country. Children’s Mercy is ranked by U.S. News & World Report in all ten specialties. We have received Magnet® recognition five times for excellence in nursing services. In affiliation with the University of Missouri-Kansas City, our faculty of nearly 800 pediatric specialists and researchers is actively involved in clinical care, pediatric research and educating the next generation of pediatricians and pediatric subspecialists. The Children’s Mercy Research Institute (CMRI) integrates research and clinical care with nationally recognized expertise in genomic medicine, precision therapeutics, population health, health care innovation and emerging infections. In 2021 the CMRI moved into a nine-story, 375,000-square-foot space emphasizing a translational approach to research in which clinicians and researchers work together to accelerate the pace of discovery that enhances care.