Which one?

[LisaDG]

Swank diet, MS Recovery Diet, low carb, gluten free, no sugar, high fat... all of the above!? Uggghh!

Do I need to try each one to find what works best? Opinions anyone. Please. Thanks!

[Sequoia]

Swank diet, MS Recovery Diet, low carb, gluten free, no sugar, high fat... all of the above!? Uggghh!

Do I need to try each one to find what works best? Opinions anyone. Please. Thanks!

It is hard to know which dietary path, if any, to follow. The best advice I can give you is to follow Tara's recommendations. She's highly qualified and she's right here with us, ready to answer any questions you might have.

That means going gluten free, eating high-quality fats only, lots of veggies, moderate amounts of high-quality protein, dairy products in cultured form only, legumes in sprouted form only...and I'm probably forgetting something.

Swank Diet: good but somewhat outdated IMO.

MS Recovery Diet/Best Bet Diet/Paleo Diet: good IMO.

There are other MS diets that are good, but those are the two you mentioned.

Low carb: not a good idea IMO.

High fat: not a good idea IMO.

Low sugar: pretty much all the nutritional authorities, mainstream and alternative, agree that reducing sugar contributes to good health.

Following anti-inflammatory principles in your food choices is also a good idea whichever diet (if any) you adopt.

[nutritiontara]

Swank diet, MS Recovery Diet, low carb, gluten free, no sugar, high fat... all of the above!? Uggghh!

Do I need to try each one to find what works best? Opinions anyone. Please. Thanks!

It depends on where you're starting from:

Sounds like you're pretty new in being more discerning about your diet.

Lets talk about the basics:

Stabilize blood sugar; eating smaller, more frequent meals. I recommend 4 meals/day. Carbohydrate foods in the daytime and less at dinner. As we can burn off carbs in the day when we are more active. Having a good protein snack in mid-afternoon (meal 3) as to not overeat at dinner (meal 4).

Content; well here's the big debate.
But every diet agrees on adding more vegetables.
Vegetables; raw, lightly steamed or fermented should be in every meal. I advocate the eating of "clean" animal products but they are the side dish in a meal, vegetables are the main dish.

Water; I put water in the nutrition category.
First thing in the morning when you get up and between meals. I recommend measuring out the daily amount. Ya never drink as much as ya think you do.

Fats; another big debate.
But I think most programs agree on Omega 3 ftty acids. Flax and hemp seed oils, fatty cold-water fish, avocados, tree nuts and quality fish oil supplements.

Bottom line - ideally; nothing with a label. But that takes time and I've yet to meet anyone that is 100%, myself included.
Everyday you make better choices your body will begin to crave better choices. It takes a lot of time, planning and effort.

I was just reading on some cancer stuff. One practitioner said, "chemotherapy is easy", it's the complete change in nutrition and lifestyle thats hard..........

Find what works for you. It is something you have control over. Good luck

[bammaw]

"clean" animal products?

Tara, what is/are "clean" animal products?

[Sequoia]

Tara, what is/are "clean" animal products?

I'm pretty sure Tara meant organic grass-fed beef; organic free-range chicken and their eggs; organic wild-caught (not farmed) salmon and so forth. In other words, animals which are not raised in feedlots, cages or tanks, and are not given feed containing hormones or other undesirable ingredients.

[bammaw]

I'm pretty sure Tara meant organic grass-fed beef; organic free-range chicken and their eggs; organic wild-caught (not farmed) salmon and so forth. In other words, animals which are not raised in feedlots, cages or tanks, and are not given feed containing hormones or other undesirable ingredients.

Thank you Sequoia!

[LisaDG]

It depends on where you're starting from:

Sounds like you're pretty new in being more discerning about your diet.

Lets talk about the basics:

Stabilize blood sugar; eating smaller, more frequent meals. I recommend 4 meals/day. Carbohydrate foods in the daytime and less at dinner. As we can burn off carbs in the day when we are more active. Having a good protein snack in mid-afternoon (meal 3) as to not overeat at dinner (meal 4).

Content; well here's the big debate.
But every diet agrees on adding more vegetables.
Vegetables; raw, lightly steamed or fermented should be in every meal. I advocate the eating of "clean" animal products but they are the side dish in a meal, vegetables are the main dish.

Water; I put water in the nutrition category.
First thing in the morning when you get up and between meals. I recommend measuring out the daily amount. Ya never drink as much as ya think you do.

Fats; another big debate.
But I think most programs agree on Omega 3 ftty acids. Flax and hemp seed oils, fatty cold-water fish, avocados, tree nuts and quality fish oil supplements.

Bottom line - ideally; nothing with a label. But that takes time and I've yet to meet anyone that is 100%, myself included.
Everyday you make better choices your body will begin to crave better choices. It takes a lot of time, planning and effort.

I was just reading on some cancer stuff. One practitioner said, "chemotherapy is easy", it's the complete change in nutrition and lifestyle thats hard..........

Find what works for you. It is something you have control over. Good luck

Thank you for your thoughts on this. I have some experience in going gluten free and almost completely diminishing all sugars mostly just to be supportive to my brother who was diagnosed with diabetes last year. He found it helpful to have someone else eating his new diet and sharing info. so I volunteered knowing it would be me good as well. Now I want to take some more positive steps.

I have found a place here in Indiana that sells beef, chicken, pork, lamb etc... that is all "clean". We are going to visit them next week to check them out but am pretty excited about it. The cost for their products is well in line with grocery store prices and even lower when buying in bulk...not to mention the lack of garbage that is injected and fed to animals then sold in regular grocery stores.

Have a great holiday!

[Twenty Miles]

My experience:

Absolutely no Gluten
Very low Saturated Fat and Hydrogenated Fats
No Legumes
Increased Good fats
Very limited Dairy
Very limited Sugar
Good supplements including lots of Vit. D
Plenty of Water

[storyteller58]

My experience:

Absolutely no Gluten
Very low Saturated Fat and Hydrogenated Fats
No Legumes
Increased Good fats
Very limited Dairy
Very limited Sugar
Good supplements including lots of Vit. D
Plenty of Water

Just curious, why no legumes?

[Sequoia]

Just curious, why no legumes?

Here's a link to an older post on this forum which explains the theory behind eliminating legumes clearly.

http://www.msworld.org/forum/showpos...0&postcount=10

Tara permits legumes, but recommends that they be consumed in sprouted form.

[LisaDG]

Please forgive my ignorance but what does "in sprouted form" mean?

[Sequoia]

The beans have to be soaked, rinsed, then allowed to sprout. Detailed instructions are available on the Internet. That's if you do it yourself. Otherwise you can buy some kinds already sprouted, such as mung beans.

There's also a brand of tofu that's made from sprouted soybeans.

[BigA]

According to reasearch and Swank's trial, Saturated fat is the single most important element. After that, we know vitamind is important.

After that, it's speculation as far as I'm concerned. This is the plan I follow.

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

If you really want to dig in, look at the paper by clicking on the pdf icon. This is the most comprehensive explaination about how MS is caused period. I think it will be a landmark paper. It focuses on the body not being able to process fats correctly.

http://www.overcomingmultiplescleros...heart+disease/

But I think you will do well on any diet as long as you follow it carefully and don't cheat. Don't let "Small amounts of grass-fed lean meat" become a steak or, hamburger in a restaurant or potroast at your aunt's.

[LisaDG]

Update

I thought I would give a short update on changes I have experienced in the last month since the original post.

I read and read and read and decided to go gluten free, eliminate the skim milk I was drinking, try to eliminate dairy all together and add more/new fruits and veggies.

I have succeeded at the gluten free part. I have succeeded at the milk part and am now drinking Plain Almond Milk (Silk). It is awesome and I would drink it even if I didn't have MS. We love it. I already ate quite a bit of fruits and veggies, just increased it a bit. The dairy part... well... let's just say I have cut it back to only eating about 1/8 of what I used to. I haven't eliminated it all together.

Changes have been... within the first week of no gluten and Almond milk..bloat gone completely. By week 3...noticed that I wasn't so hot all the time. Heat is my biggest enemy and I am typically hot all the time unless in the pool. The relief is so wonderful. As of today, I feel pretty great. I feel like I have more energy or maybe don't get so devastatingly tired. I haven't changed anything else. All the same supplements, same exercise etc. I do realize that change in energy could be just a cycle of the MS as well but whatever it is...I'll take it.

This is working for me and may not for anyone else but just in case it may help someone... there is my not so short update.

[diomed]

Speaking of exercise, how does one do that when they are very disabled with MS? I get tired so easy just from walking to the bathroom that I don't even know how I should work out.(this is coming from a former work out queen). It sucks. I am so scared of getting fat and eating the wrong things, I don't eat much at all. However, I actually am never that hungry. This disease sucks. I have had to give up literally 90% of the things I love to do.