Chronic illness doesn’t just affect individuals; it reshapes entire families. In the United States alone, more than half of adults live with at least one chronic condition [*]. Rates of mental illness are climbing [*]. Diagnoses are stacking, and medications are multiplying. The ripple effects can destabilize households, exhaust caregivers, and leave families cycling through solutions that never fully stick. This is the story of one family that found a way through.
By the time Kristina reached the emergency room in July 2020, presenting with symptoms of a heart attack and carrying 243 pounds on her petite frame, she had spent decades navigating the ups and downs of crippling anxiety, depression, OCD, PTSD, unwanted weight gain, and endometriosis.
On and off medications, in and out of psychotherapy, she thought she’d found a few ways to keep her symptoms under control. But a partial hysterectomy in January of that year triggered a downward spiral that sent her looking for a new set of answers.
After that stint in the hospital, she knew it was time to try something different.
Meanwhile, her daughter, 11-year-old Genevieve, wasn’t doing much better.
History Repeats, Then Escalates
Genevieve’s mental health journey began at age 5, when the bright, strong-willed child they knew seemed to vanish almost overnight.
“She was always stubborn and independent, but once she hit school, something changed in her.” Whether it was the stress of a new environment or the sudden demands of a more structured system, something triggered a profound shift. Her confidence gave way to fear, and her spirited nature unraveled into anxiety, volatility, and near-constant dysregulation.
By the time she was 7, Genevieve had been diagnosed with ADHD, OCD, and a mood disorder after experiencing prolonged, intense emotional outbursts. At age 9, she was admitted to a 16-week intensive children’s psychiatric program, where she sometimes required secure holds to keep herself and others safe. Following her discharge, in January 2023, her psychiatrist formally diagnosed her with bipolar I.
Of course, the family tried every traditional medical solution they could find, but certain medications only seemed to worsen Genevieve’s condition. Therapy helped, then didn’t. In early 2024, Genevieve began hallucinating during her manic episodes, adding even more fear and confusion.
Meanwhile, Kristina was trying to manage her own diagnoses while supporting a household where every family member was struggling.
They were a family in medical freefall, orbiting the healthcare system with no real resolution in sight. And they weren’t alone. This kind of multi-diagnosis chaos, where every member of the household is on medication, battling symptoms, and cycling through care, is increasingly common. Families are facing a chronic disease epidemic with few clear solutions and even fewer success stories.
Then, in April 2024, something changed.
A Different Kind of Intervention
That spring, the family hit pause on making any further changes to Genevieve’s care plan. Her psychiatrist recommended keeping her medications as they were and reassessing in six months. With limited options left within the traditional system, they began searching desperately for a new way forward. “[Genevieve was] getting increasingly violent, and the medication changes weren’t working. We had no other options for what we could do medication-wise.”
Luckily, Kristina had recently come across Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaking at a press conference, where he mentioned Dr. Casey Means and her book, Good Energy. That was the first turning point.
“I implemented the Good Energy plan in our home,” Kristina said. “We cut seed oils, refined sugars, and grains.” Within seven days of switching to a 100% whole-foods diet, Kristina began sleeping through the night, her joint pain subsided, and her energy returned.
Although her remaining ovary—left intact after her hysterectomy—began acting up, the pain gradually eased over the following months as she adapted to whole foods and eventually a ketogenic approach. Around the same time, Genevieve began reacting poorly to her afternoon medications, which the family ultimately discontinued, marking the first real improvement in her condition in six years.
“The physical part came quickly, but I was still feeling so foggy.” Over time, she lost nearly 80 pounds on a whole foods diet, but when it came to her mental-emotional health, she thought, “This isn’t working, nothing’s working.”
Meanwhile, Genevieve showed flickers of improvement, but her moods still fluctuated. The intense manic episodes and hallucinations didn’t resolve. Something was still missing.
Then Kristina stumbled upon Dr. Christopher Palmer while watching a televised Washington, DC nutrition roundtable. “He said he was treating bipolar and schizophrenia with a whole foods ketogenic diet,” she recalled. “I didn’t question him one bit.”
In fact, she ordered Dr. Palmer’s book before he was even done speaking and immediately made the next leap: increasing fats, cutting carbs, and transitioning into a therapeutic ketogenic protocol.
After just three days following a ketogenic diet, Kristina felt the difference. “I woke up and my head was quiet for the very first time in my entire life. That noise and racket and multiple thought processes and feeling of complete heaviness over my entire body that I’ve had since I was a little girl, was gone.”
Genevieve felt it too. She ran into her parents’ room just a few hours later, “Mom, Dad! All that noise in my head that made me feel like I was crazy? It’s gone.”
“She literally woke up a different human,” Kristina confirmed. “No manic episodes. No hallucinations. It’s been that way ever since.”
In total, Kristina lost over 100 pounds. Her son’s anxiety and ADHD symptoms began to ease, and his acne cleared. Her husband lost 70 pounds, and his gut issues completely stabilized. And Genevieve? “I feel like I’m normal for once.”
The Shape of Their Routine
Kristina’s approach to ketogenic therapy wasn’t about chasing perfection. With two young children and a busy life, it couldn’t be. It was about finding something that worked.
Initially, they tested Genevieve’s ketone levels multiple times a day to monitor her body’s response. But once they established a strong baseline, the structure became more flexible, and Genevieve learned to trust her own cues.
Some days, they lean more carnivore, other days, meals center around leafy greens and other vegetables. Together, they built a food system that felt intuitive, nourishing, and sustainable.
“I made a poster for the fridge with all the snack and meal options,” she said. “That way, the kids knew exactly what they could eat.” She wanted her family to feel free, not restricted.
The diet took a few weeks to get used to, but today, Genevieve can sense when she’s in ketosis and when she’s not.
In one telling story, they couldn’t figure out why Genevieve’s mood would crash during the school week. Her mood was stable over the weekends, her energy calm and even, but by Monday afternoons, the irritability would return.
“She was great Saturday and Sunday,” Kristina said, “and then Monday through Friday, she was on edge again. We were tracking everything, and it just didn’t make sense.”
Eventually, a staff member at school messaged Kristina. Genevieve had been secretly eating Cheerios in the lunchroom. “We had a long chat about it,” Kristina said. Genevieve laughed, “They’re just so good. I couldn’t handle it!”
But after they connected the dots, she quit Cheerios, and the difference was immediate. “I didn’t realize how much it was affecting me until I stopped,” Genevieve said. “That noise in my head came back when I was eating them. And when I stopped, it was gone again.”
Genevieve began listening to her body. She fasted naturally in the mornings, eating her first meal at school when her body signaled it was time.
Their days became simpler. Morning walks. Way less screen time—another trigger for Genevieve’s manic episodes. Dimmed lights at night to encourage natural melatonin production. Soon, Genevieve was dancing in the kitchen and grabbing her karaoke mic after school instead of asking for screen time.
“I used to meditate for two hours after school sometimes,” she said. “It made me feel calm.” While she found comfort in those long meditations early on, they gradually became less necessary as she began to feel like a kid again. These days, she spends more time enjoying the world around her and turns to meditation only when she needs a moment of calm.
Today, the entire family has successfully and safely transitioned off their medications.
“I would never recommend anyone come off medication without help. We didn’t do this without risk. But we had exhausted all other options. This saved us.”
Kristina wishes there were more physicians who understood how to treat the root causes instead of just prescribing medications to treat symptoms.
What Peace Feels Like
Kristina’s story started when she was a little girl, as far back as she can remember. “I struggled with crippling anxiety. I was vomiting before I had to go to school in the morning, like the concept of day-to-day life was just really hard on me.”
As Genevieve grew, the similarities between mother and daughter became impossible to ignore. It was like watching her own childhood, only louder, more erratic, and far more dangerous. And while trauma in Kristina’s early life certainly played a role in her mood disorders, something deeper seemed to be driving it all.
Now, the data speaks for itself: Kristina is down 100 pounds. Her son is thriving. Her husband’s GI issues are resolved. Genevieve is symptom-free. And the household, once ruled by chaos and fear, is grounded, peaceful, and present.
Their family moves to a different rhythm: morning walks, shared meals, deep laughter, and a kind of steadiness they’d never known before. “We have a whole different vibe in our house now,” Kristina said. “That in itself is a huge inspiration to me.”
This shift has been her reason to speak out. Her reason to share. Her reason to help others find their way to the option they may never have been offered.
“I really think we have a community of people within the mental health world that’s suffering,” she said. “And I’ve been a part of that community for a really long time. I always swore if I ever found a way out, I would help others try to do the same thing.”
Now, she is. Watching her daughter sing and dance, watching her son relax into himself, watching her family come together around a dinner table with calm instead of chaos, it’s more than a happy ending.
It’s a beginning.
For more information or to get started on your own Ketogenic Therapy, visit: https://www.metabolicmind.org/thinksmart/
