Paleolithic Diet

[MellyNJ]

Hi there!

I have been reading up on the "Paleo" diet and was wondering if you recommend this for someone with MS. I have read that they say certain foods, such as potatoes, should be avoided by people with auto-immune diseases.

thoughts? Is anyone out there on the paleo diet?

[Sequoia]

There are a few people who post on this forum who are on the Paleo Diet, and there has been some general discussion of the diet as well. If you do a search for "Paleo Diet" and specify posts, not threads, you should get a good list of posts.

We also have members who follow the Best Bet Diet and the MS Recovery Diet, which are outgrowths of the Paleo Diet.

[sengelhardt]

I started the Paleo lifestyle about 6 months ago, shortly after being dx. When I found out about my dx, I started researching anything I could do to possibly help myself. That's when I found out about Paleo and figured it was worth more research. So, I bought the book by Robb Wolf, read all the way through, looked into websites, blogs.. etc. It made sense to me, mostly.

I still eat dairy, but very limited - not on purpose, its just never been a big food source to me anyway. I cannot live without the occasional wedge of brie cheese, or tall glass of chocolate milk! I have now, in the past couple weeks, started eating rice again. Maybe one serving a week.

But the scientific data from this diet cannot be ignored, wheat, grains and gluten are damaging to our digestive tracts, so it makes sense why this is the main focus of what to avoid. The other items like nightshades and legumes are recommended to be avoided because they are believed to cause an immune response.. which could be bad for auto immune people.

I personally have lost 39lbs since going paleo. If you are looking to loose weight.. you have to be careful when researching, a lot of these blogs encourage gluten free baked goods, which just end up putting the weight back on. But if you don't want to loose weight, by all means eat them as you wish, instead of the wheat and gluten processed stuff.

I cannot verify their claims of reversing MS.. but I can say I have ton more energy, sleep better at night and overall, just feel better.

Follow the directions, and go through the 30 day program - those first two weeks, as you rid your body of wheat and carbs, is TOUGH.. but it can be done. If you have to occasionally eat a carb, sweet potatoes are great subs. Good luck if you go for it!

[BigA]

I don't follow the Paleo diet - I follow a version of the Swank diet for MS.

I would say that whatever diet you follow, do a good job of it. Don't become gluten free and then go out an eat some sort of gluten-free fried chicken with quinoa breading. If you're going to eat meat, consider how little is actually allowed under an MS diet.

We tend to want to believe that adding one ingredient (i.e. blueberries, broccoli, etc), or that removing a single ingredient (i.e. corn syrup, trans fat) means we're suddenly eating healthy. It's not the case. Most of what normal people eat is not good for us whatsoever. Anything fried, anything with unlabeled "vegetable oil", etc.

I recommend you do a diet. You will feel better and any of the diets, if done properly, tend to lower inflammation - which is very important for us. You will also be less likely to add another disease to the list that you're already suffering with.

Here's the diet I follow. It's pretty simple and is probably the most extensively researched of all the MS diets, being primarily based on Roy Swank's work of 50 years.

http://www.overcomingmultiplescleros...gram-Overview/

[nutritiontara]

Everybody makes good points; decide on a plan and follow it (diligently) for a minimum of 60 days and see how you feel.

The biggest (and most annoying) mistakes some of my clients make is "trying it" for a few days or weeks and then claim it didn't work for them.

Every decent nutrition plan advocates the addition of LOTS of vegetables. Those are the most ant-inflammatory foods we can consume. It takes alot of work but I aim for 8-10 cups of vegetables/day.

[BigA]

Can you give some tips on incorporating more vegetables into our diets? I eat about 6 cups, so I'd be interested. Thanks.

[sengelhardt]

Can you give some tips on incorporating more vegetables into our diets? I eat about 6 cups, so I'd be interested. Thanks.

My typical day starts with a green smoothie - several large handfuls of spinach, blueberries (or peaches/mangos) and protein powder. If not a green smoothie, I munch on carrots and celery and maybe bacon. Another yummy breakfast is romaine wrapped turkey bacon- you can add tomato for a 'blt'.

Snacks throughout the day are carrot sticks, celery, cucumber, broccoli, cauliflower,

Lunch usually involves left overs from the night before - some meat, and two veggies. Or a big salad.

Dinner is normally a 'meat' and two - three veggies. My typical meal includes (usually) at least one leafy veg (turnips, collards, kale, mustard greens), then either zucchini, fresh veggie sticks, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, cucumbers, mushrooms.

Last night was grilled pork chops, grilled zuchinni, apple sauce and peas. My plate was mostly zucchini and chops, but I did have a small serving of apple sauce and small spoonful of peas.

I focus on my veggies more than anything else, ensuring I get as many as I can in any given day.

I make shrimp or chicken alfredo that I serve over broccoli instead of pasta, or I make zucchini 'noodles'. I make meatballs with mushrooms and zucchini chopped up tiny and mixed in, then the sauce is tomato based with more mushrooms, zucchini and carrots food processed and cooked in.

Once you focus on all the veggies you like, and then learn different ways to prepare them, it makes it a little easier.

[BigA]

Thanks, but that sounds more like the atkins diet, I'm not sure there are 9 cups of vegetables in it and it doesnt' sound healthy for anyone, especially someone with MS.

[Sequoia]

Thanks, but that sounds more like the atkins diet, I'm not sure there are 9 cups of vegetables in it and it doesnt' sound healthy for anyone, especially someone with MS.

I'm wondering if Tara meant 8-10 cups of vegetables, or 8-10 servings. The USDA guideline for a vegetable serving is 1/2 cup, except for leafy greens which is 1 cup.

As for whether sengelhart's diet is healthy or not, I agree that it sounds kind of like Atkins in that it may include too much meat & fat (according to my non-professional understanding of good nutrition). However, the MS Recovery Diet in its strictest form is basically lots of vegetables and a modest amount of white meat poultry, fish, or game...which is pretty close to what Tara recommends.

In other words, vegetables + protein can be healthy if the quality and proportions are right.

Just for purposes of comparison, I eat more vegetables than anything else, but I also eat a substantial amount of whole gluten-free grains. My primary protein source is legumes (I don't eat any animal foods), making up about 5% of my total daily intake. Essentially I follow macrobiotic principles, with a little tweaking to acommodate MS.

[sengelhardt]

Thanks, but that sounds more like the atkins diet, I'm not sure there are 9 cups of vegetables in it and it doesnt' sound healthy for anyone, especially someone with MS.

Maybe I should exchange the word meat with protein.. When we do eat meat it is all free range grass fed meat which is higher in Omega 3 fatty acids, which are great for heart health. Our meat also includes poultry, Elk, Bison, not to mention, its not a large serving, but you need that fat and protein to help build muscle and give your body an energy source to burn. Also our 'meat' includes salmon or tuna several times a week. Atkins and Paleo have a lot in common, but there are several key differences. Maybe you should buy a book and or do some more research on Paleo -its pro meat.

When you add up the serving size for my typical day, breakfast is atleast two cups of spinach, snacks (which I bring with me to work, two sandwich bags full) end up with two cups of veggie snacks during the day. Lunch has normally two cups of veggies (more if it is my big salad), then supper concludes with atleast another 2 cups of veggies easily. So thats 8 cups of veggies, which a serving since per the Standard American Diet is 1/2 cup. If you saw our serving on the plate you would understand. Its not a large slab of fatty low quality meat with two spoonfuls of veggies, its mostly veggies with a serving (3-4oz) of high quality, good for you fat, high protein 'meat'. My bacon that I eat on occasion, is nitrate free, and it is only once in a while. Not to mention but I have a wide range of veggies on any give day making sure I get plenty of fiber, vitamins, nutrients and minerals.

Yes the apple sauce and peas aren't 'paleo' but I include things like this from time to time just for a change.

Maybe some good things about meat should be mentioned:

it is rich in iron, zinc and selenium, phosphorus content present in meat gets much more easily absorbed than that present in cereals and legumes, Vitamin A, B and D, it is high in essential amino acids, and of course protein. if the right meat is chosen, pasture raised, grass fed, your omega 3 consumption is increased rather than the omega 6-9 thats found in lower quality meat and nuts.

[BigA]

I don't think early man ate Bacon or butter and in any case, I don't believe we can know what they ate or whether it was healthy or not.

Besides, early man would have been running miles each day finding food, not sitting at the table and consuming large amounts of meat and fat.

Grass fed beef is certainly better than corn fed and small amounts are probably healthy, but not a meat fest.

[lovejoy]

i do the atkins and all i know is that is has lowered my blood pressure, my glucose and has brought my cholestral within the proper limits and you do eat about 6 to 8 cups of veggies a day i also do the green smoothy from time to time

[chalknpens]

Menu, please ... not Diet

I know that in the larger scheme of things, the word diet means food intake to a scientist. But in the real world, the word diet means a temporary reduction of food to lose weight, a change that you plan to reverse once you've lost the weight. It is why so many people "yo yo" up and down the scales.

I chose a different menu. I grew up in a meat and potatoes house with milk as a reward for cleaning your plate, and something for dessert with each meal. I'm from a large family and dinner was a noisy, competitive setting.

When I was going through diagnosis I made a different change ... I gave up the "my people are round" excuse for carrying extra weight. I read up on foods and headaches, and I decided to go vegetarian. I stopped eating meat, most dairy (kept yogurt, organic) and all fried foods and flaky pastry. On this new menu, I lost fifty pounds in a year, have kept it off, and did this not to look better, but to be an easier lift in the nursing home should I ever have to be there.

This menu change annoyed some relatives, who claimed I needed meat and dairy to be healthy. But God's truth, I never had a headache after dropping meat and dairy and fried and flaky, and I had had migraines nearly every day for years before that. I think the migraines are why I have "innumerable" lesions and widespread white matter disease.

It's not a diet ... not a temporary change ... and I have read pro-vegan books that make me feel a lot better about my choice of menu. It's better for me, for the planet, and for the factory-farm animals. But it's my choice, and I don't push it at others in my family. Wish they would stop pushing meat and dairy at me.

You have to change your mind set. Diet's are for teens. They can lose and regain weight quickly ... fad diets come and go quickly. When they grow up, they will know better.

[BigA]

chalknpens,

that's great. So many people walk around with too much weight and the excuse it's their genes. Well, it could be but we won't know until we try a new way of eating.

Isn't it interesting that your relatives objected? That's because even without trying, you stood there as a sign saying they had no excuses as well.

Good for you!