Read how Patricia Daly used the Keto Diet to aid in the treatment of a rare form of cancer in her eye and find out about her Keto Fundamentals Course.


A brief glimpse into my health story

I was 28 when I was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer, an ocular melanoma.

Conventional treatments helped to stop the growth of my tumour but didn’t have the long-term impacts which we were hoping for. The side effects from the treatments were severe and I felt like my body was out of sync.

After a relapse in 2010, not even 2 years after the initial diagnosis, I had more treatment and was facing major vision loss and other adverse effects. In 2012, I was confronted with another difficult choice when there seemed to be tumour activity again: taking my eye out or trying regular Avastin injections into the eye.

Since my diagnosis, I had been researching and studying nutrition for cancer and was frustrated by the conflicting information available to me.  Still, I persisted because I knew deep down that nutrition was one of the fundamental steps on my road to better health.

All the time, much of the information on cancer and nutrition focused on the benefits of raw foods, vegetarianism and veganism, plant-based diets and gluten-free whole grains like buckwheat and quinoa. I tried everything! But I soon realized that my “clean” eating approach with lots of fruit and vegetables, whole grains and very little fat or protein hadn’t made any real difference for me. If anything, it unfortunately seemed to fuel the regrowth of the eye tumour.

In 2010, I came across the so-called “ketogenic metabolic therapy” and the notion of “cancer as a metabolic disease”. I was immediately fascinated by the research presented by Prof Thomas Seyfried and the fact that metabolic drivers of tumours were used for diagnostic purposes (e.g. PET scans), but not for cancer management. I became very curious.

I spent a long time reading the latest studies, networking with experts in the field and also experimenting with recipes. I was intimidated and even a little afraid of starting the ketogenic diet.

Then, news of my eye getting worse pushed me to the limits and I just HAD to do something proactive and give the ketogenic diet a go- there was nothing to lose! My ophthalmologist agreed to monitor my eye and was ready to give me some time to “experiment” how my response to this nutrition therapy would be.

You see, in my case - and in many others - making small changes and eating clean just isn’t enough to make a difference. Something radical needed to happen- a metabolic shift in my body.

I had to teach my body to burn fat instead of glucose- in other words, teaching my healthy cells to regain their so-called “metabolic flexibility”. I also had to change my way to exercise, become gentler with myself and learn to ask for help.

By making these deeply significant changes to my diet and lifestyle and therefore shifting the tumour environment, I managed to successfully quieten this aggressive eye tumour.

The origins of the “Keto Fundamentals Course”

But as you can imagine, the road to figuring out this “metabolic approach” was bumpy at first. I fell into some (common and uncommon) pitfalls, had to change course several times and teach myself the fundamental concepts of blood glucose management. In 2012, this was a radical and revolutionary way of approaching my health: it was an incredible challenge to find ANY information on carbohydrate-restricted diets and what was out there was mostly geared towards epilepsy or also weight loss (think Atkins diet!).

Not the best approaches to adopt in my case- and that of many other people, especially because nutrient density and meal palatability were often neglected at the expense of hitting certain macronutrient targets. I quickly learned that this wasn’t suitable for me and that I had to figure out another way of approaching this way of eating. This yearning for a simpler, more wholesome and holistic approach to a ketogenic diet led Domini Kemp and I to writing our best-selling, and probably also somewhat groundbreaking, book “The Ketogenic Kitchen”.

We decided to write the book in 2013 and finally, after many rounds of editing and especially tweaking, changing and fine tuning our recipes and meal plans, it was published in April 2016.

Shortly after, and to teach people not only about recipes and meal plans, but how to personalise and tailor them to their needs, I launched my “Keto for Beginners” course that over 500 people went through. Based on their feedback, my experience and new scientific insights, I kept improving and fine tuning the course. It answered the basic questions of adopting a ketogenic metabolic approach to food and was a shortcut to getting on track.

From lack of information to overwhelm

Since then, scientific research into metabolic therapies for various health conditions has sky rocketed for many chronic conditions- from diabetes to kidney disease and neurological conditions such as depression or bipolar disease. Now, it’s not really a problem any more to find information, meal plans and equipment. But the main challenge these days is that there is so much (too much!) information out there that it very quickly becomes overwhelming for the patient. Often times, scientific experts and medical doctors even contradict each other and confuse patients even more.

This is why, in 2023, I decided to do a complete revamp and re-launch the beginners course as the Keto Fundamentals Course. Of course, I still get questions like
“Where do I start?”, “What foods can I eat?”, “Can I still eat out and go on holidays?”, “What equipment is required?”, “Does my whole family need to adopt this plan?”, “What blood work needs to be monitored”, “How do I know I’m on right track?”, “How long do I stick to this plan?”

But quite often, I also need to make sure that participants have the knowledge, skills AND tools to monitor what THEY are doing- instead of blindly following a meal plan or Instagram expert. Because it’s personal! We’re all unique and sort of become our own “study” if we just know what to measure, track and observe.

In the Fundamentals Course, I’ve pulled together and combined my personal and professional experience of 13 years to give you a shortcut that you won’t find anywhere else. I have walked the talk and know exactly what the main challenges and struggles are. Not only did I adopt this approach over a decade ago (and made it work!) but I’ve since also helped over a thousand people from all over the world.

I provide you with just the right amount of research you need to understand your metabolism and how impactful it is on your overall physical, mental and emotional wellbeing. But most importantly, you will learn how to personalise, prepare and get organised like it’s taught nowhere else- because quite often, this is the key factor on this journey. You gain confidence, motivation and tools that will stand by you for life- whether you keep going with this approach or heavily modify it in time and as you recover your metabolic health.

And we discuss this, too, of course! How to seamlessly integrate this way of living and eating into your life so that it becomes second nature (it has done that for me!).

One of the biggest criticism of this approach is that “it’s just too hard” and that it “can’t be done long-term”

I want to prove the critics wrong! Of course, committing to this dietary approach can be challenging- I’m not going to lie. Not because the foods don’t taste good (it’s actually a delicious way of eating) but due to many other circumstances that are (largely) in your control and that you can navigate with the right knowledge, skills and tools.

I have identified the initial stumbling blocks and realistic steps to work around them. But I’m also acutely aware what the main struggles in the long term are and how they can be overcome. Because- trust me- your initial approach will be very different to the one you have in a few years, or maybe even just months. The ketogenic approach is not a rigid “follow-a-macronutrient-ratio” exercise, and that’s where many people AND healthcare professionals go down an unhelpful path, in my opinion! 

Let me take the guess work out of your way and answer many questions complete beginners (but also more experienced followers- especially when they’re not thriving anymore!) have when they first come across the ketogenic lifestyle. I’ll also give you a good structure to prepare and start implementing the diet. As an experienced practitioner, patient (advocate), lecturer and speaker at conferences, I know exactly what the main “pain points” and questions are. I know that implementing a ketogenic lifestyle can be frustrating, time consuming and exhausting if you don’t know where to start, how to personalise and what information to rely on. You see, many keto resources that are available online are not tailored to your own unique biological needs.

The Keto Fundamentals Course- with a focus on the long term

Here is just a snapshot of what you’ll learn on the Keto Fundamentals Course:
●     understand the basics of metabolic health (in a way you won’t forget!), why it is the underlying cause of so many chronic conditions and what we can do to improve and personalise our wellbeing with a ketogenic metabolic approach.
●     learn what the goals and benefits of this therapy are and what the major pitfalls are- especially in the long-term- but, most importantly, how to be aware of them from the beginning.
●     know how to figure out which foods are the most (metabolically) suited to YOUR needs.
●     have various troubleshooting and award-winning tracking tools to monitor you progress and have fun in the kitchen.  
●     Master your blood glucose- and know EXACTLY what you’re looking for when measuring and optimising it- and also what tools to apply when.
●     have a clear picture of what the story is with ketones (because there are SO many misconceptions about them)- what levels to aim for, when, what (this could save you a ton of money) and how to measure (especially in the long term).
●     learn how you can still travel, eat out and have a social life although you have different dietary needs (and might at times considered “weird”).
●     get some insights into key lifestyle aspects that affect your metabolic health and determine which ones are particularly important to focus on.

Most of the information will be delivered as short (generally 10-15 minutes), interactive video lessons. But other tools like handouts, cheat sheets, lists and especially the access to an award-winning meal planning and tracking app will accompany your “learning by eating” process. The total learning time is just over 6 hours, which is a minimal time investment to learn such important skills.

The course is available to anyone, anywhere! It’s a self-paced online course with an interactive community forum to ask short questions, clarify some uncertainties, check in and connect with others if you wish to do so. You will have access to all the course material- videos, resources and eBooks- straight after signing up.

I’m excited to see you on the course soon and support you on your journey!

You can find out more about the Keto Fundamentals course here - http://patriciadaly.com/ketofundamentals/
Patricia has also kindly shared a code to save $100 on the course. 
Use code NK-100