Almost Vegan

After diagnosis, I found Dr. Jelinek's diet in a book and began to follow it. His is more strict than I could do, but I'm coming close:

No meat, no dairy, no eggs. Suppliment with fish, fish oil, flax oil.

I'm now reading "The China Study". It's the most comprehensive study of diet undertaken and makes a pretty convincing arguement to stop dairy and reduce meat and animal fat.

I gave up Red meat and dairy first and gradually have been eating less and less chicken and turkey. Yesterday, I actually consumed no animal products.

But why? There is research which shows it slows MS. Also, why not limit the number of diseases we have as we get older? We've already got a very serious one.

[Sequoia]

I've been a vegan for most of my adult life, with a few "looser" periods of lacto-ovo vegetarianism. I got into it for spiritual/ethical reasons, but the health benefits are a close second.

I have Dr. Jelinek's book, and think it's one of the best there is on living with MS.

I will say that I feel much better physically when I follow strict vegan guidelines...plus my conscience doesn't bug me!

[CocoH]

Whether it helps your MS or not, it is certainly a very healthy lifestyle. You continually impress me with your diligence and determination!

[BigA]

Whether it helps your MS or not, it is certainly a very healthy lifestyle. You continually impress me with your diligence and determination!

You should do it too. It's really not as difficult as you think. I'm not hungry either.

[CocoH]

Tell me more.........
What DO you eat? It seems so restricting but I know it's just an adjustment....

[newme]

I am not a vegan - just a vegetarian wannabe.

The key is to learn a new way to cook. There are a lot of recipes out there and, with a little research and creativity, you can make almost the same food you are used to.

I am always aware of preparation time and number of ingredients since standing and remembering are two of my limitations. But I have a new slate of recipes that have quickly become favorites.

And as a side note - we are saving a lot of money at the grocery store. Spending our per pound money for squash or tofu is much better than spending it for meat.

[Sir-Voor]

B12

I’m not a vegetarian (nor nutritionist) but I have been doing food nutrition research lately, and can tell you vegetarians and especially MS vegetarians need to keep there B12 levels up.
B12 is needed for myelin production and meat seems to about the only natural source for B12.

Not to say eating meat is the only way to get B12, I myself eat meat and need B12 injections.

I just wanted to give herbivores a heads up.

[Sequoia]

I’m not a vegetarian (nor nutritionist) but I have been doing food nutrition research lately, and can tell you vegetarians and especially MS vegetarians need to keep there B12 levels up.
B12 is needed for myelin production and meat seems to about the only natural source for B12.

Not to say eating meat is the only way to get B12, I myself eat meat and need B12 injections.

I just wanted to give herbivores a heads up.

You're pretty much right, Sir-Voor. There may be small amounts of B12 in a few items of non-animal origin, but not reliably and not in sufficient quantity, especial for people with MS.

I get my B12 from sublingual tablets, as do many vegans. Some also eat nutritional (not baker's!) yeast which has been fortified with B12.

Thanks for bringing that up!

[BigA]

Tell me more.........
What DO you eat? It seems so restricting but I know it's just an adjustment....

That's the almost part. I haven't yet developed dinner recipies yet, but breakfast and lunch are the easy ones:

Breakfast: Oatmeal or Cereal with Almond milk. If still hungry, toast with jam

Lunch: Mixed giant salad, carrot, apple, rye crisp, bananna. Otherwise, panfriend noodles and vegetables (depends on what's in fridge).

Dinner: Ah -this is the difficult part. Starch (potato or rice), Vegetable and then sardines, fish or sometimes chicken breast. Now I'm trying to find a vegetarian substitute. So far this week, vegetarian chile as a main dish. I'm working on new dishes.

But this week, aside from 3 cans of sardines, I've had no animal products.

[BigA]

That's the almost part. I haven't yet developed dinner recipies yet, but breakfast and lunch are the easy ones:

Breakfast: Oatmeal or Cereal with Almond milk. If still hungry, toast with jam

Lunch: Mixed giant salad, carrot, apple, rye crisp, bananna. Otherwise, panfriend noodles and vegetables (depends on what's in fridge).

Dinner: Ah -this is the difficult part. Starch (potato or rice), Vegetable and then sardines, fish or sometimes chicken breast. Now I'm trying to find a vegetarian substitute. So far this week, vegetarian chile as a main dish. I'm working on new dishes.

But this week, aside from 3 cans of sardines, I've had no animal products.

I did make sushi with imitation crab meat also. I just have to figure out a few new main dishes, but overall the amount of animal products I'm consuming has dropped significantly. The easiest is giving up dairy.

I'm getting hungry talking about all this food!

[CocoH]

It's helpful to see what someone else is eating. Thanks for the info! You've made some impressive changes!

[BigA]

I'm cooking cauliflower and lentil curry right now. Pretty delicious. I had to have some animal protien yesterday and had a can of tuna. Can't do it all in one day.

[newme]

Cauliflower and lentil curry sounds delicious!

Yesterday I had a craving. So I had a grilled portabella with soy cheese and the fixings (tomato, pickles, onions, etc). With a side of french fries. I did have it with a whole wheat bun so that is a little bit of a cheat for some diets.

It is all about the fixins for me!

[BigA]

Cauliflower and lentil curry sounds delicious!

Yesterday I had a craving. So I had a grilled portabella with soy cheese and the fixings (tomato, pickles, onions, etc). With a side of french fries. I did have it with a whole wheat bun so that is a little bit of a cheat for some diets.

It is all about the fixins for me!

For my diet, the frenchfries and the soy cheese would be banned (no milk products, no fried foods).

But you just made me hungry... I think I'll have a baked potato with dinner.

[nutritiontara]

We are physiologically designed to eat meat. That said, modern farming practices are ruining the planet and our health. "good" vegetarian choices would be mushrooms, tree nuts, some seeds and for legumes, sprouting the legumes makes them a great vegetarian protein. Legumes are about 20-25% protein and when sprouted it releases the enzymes for digestion.
If you consume a lot of soy I wish you would read the following article. Amongst myself and many of my colleagues, the position on soy has done a 180. I have copied an article I give to many clients on the dangers of soy. Once again we have taken a concept and destroyed it/ overdid it.

*** Permission to post article granted by moderator to Nutrition Tara***

Article:
Why You Should Avoid Unfermented Soy
By Sally Fallon & Mary G. Enig, Ph.D.
Cinderella's Dark Side
The propaganda that has created the soy sales miracle is all the more remarkable because, only a few decades ago, the soybean was considered unfit to eat - even in Asia. During the Chou Dynasty (1134-246 BC) the soybean was designated one of the five sacred grains, along with barley, wheat, millet and rice.
However, the pictograph for the soybean, which dates from earlier times, indicates that it was not first used as a food; for whereas the pictographs for the other four grains show the seed and stem structure of the plant, the pictograph for the soybean emphasizes the root structure. Agricultural literature of the period speaks frequently of the soybean and its use in crop rotation. Apparently the soy plant was initially used as a method of fixing nitrogen.
The soybean did not serve as a food until the discovery of fermentation techniques, some time during the Chou Dynasty. The first soy foods were fermented products like tempeh, natto, miso and soy sauce. *(These are acceptable forms of Soy to consume)
At a later date, possibly in the 2nd century BC, Chinese scientists discovered that a purée of cooked soybeans could be precipitated with calcium sulfate or magnesium sulfate (plaster of Paris or Epsom salts) to make a smooth, pale curd - tofu or bean curd. The use of fermented and precipitated soy products soon spread to other parts of the Orient, notably Japan and Indonesia.
The Chinese did not eat unfermented soybeans as they did other legumes such as lentils because the soybean contains large quantities of natural toxins or "antinutrients". First among them are potent enzyme inhibitors that block the action of trypsin and other enzymes needed for protein digestion. “trypsin inhibitors”
These inhibitors are large, tightly folded proteins that are not completely deactivated during ordinary cooking. They can produce serious gastric distress, reduced protein digestion and chronic deficiencies in amino acid uptake. In test animals, diets high in trypsin inhibitors cause enlargement and pathological conditions of the pancreas, including cancer.
Soybeans also contain haemagglutinin, a clot-promoting substance that causes red blood cells to clump together.
Trypsin inhibitors and haemagglutinin are growth inhibitors. Weanling rats fed soy containing these antinutrients fail to grow normally. Growth-depressant compounds are deactivated during the process of fermentation, so once the Chinese discovered how to ferment the soybean, they began to incorporate soy foods into their diets.
In precipitated products, enzyme inhibitors concentrate in the soaking liquid rather than in the curd. Thus, in tofu and bean curd, growth depressants are reduced in quantity but not completely eliminated.

Soy also contains goitrogens - substances that depress thyroid function.
Additionally 99% a very large percentage of soy is genetically modified and it also has one of the highest percentages contaminations by pesticides of any of our foods.
Soybeans are high in phytic acid, present in the bran or hulls of all seeds. It's a substance that can block the uptake of essential minerals - calcium, magnesium, copper, iron and especially zinc - in the intestinal tract.
Although not a household word, phytic acid has been extensively studied; there are literally hundreds of articles on the effects of phytic acid in the current scientific literature. Scientists are in general agreement that grain- and legume-based diets high in phytates contribute to widespread mineral deficiencies in third world countries.
Analysis shows that calcium, magnesium, iron and zinc are present in the plant foods eaten in these areas, but the high phytate content of soy- and grain-based diets prevents their absorption.
The soybean has one of the highest phytate levels of any grain or legume that has been studied, and the phytates in soy are highly resistant to normal phytate-reducing techniques such as long, slow cooking. Only a long period of fermentation will significantly reduce the phytate content of soybeans.
When precipitated soy products like tofu are consumed with meat, the mineral-blocking effects of the phytates are reduced. The Japanese traditionally eat a small amount of tofu or miso as part of a mineral-rich fish broth, followed by a serving of meat or fish.
Vegetarians who consume tofu and bean curd as a substitute for meat and dairy products risk severe mineral deficiencies. The results of calcium, magnesium and iron deficiency are well known; those of zinc are less so.
Zinc is called the intelligence mineral because it is needed for optimal development and functioning of the brain and nervous system. It plays a role in protein synthesis and collagen formation; it is involved in the blood-sugar control mechanism and thus protects against diabetes; it is needed for a healthy reproductive system.
Zinc is a key component in numerous vital enzymes and plays a role in the immune system. Phytates found in soy products interfere with zinc absorption more completely than with other minerals. Zinc deficiency can cause a "spacey" feeling that some vegetarians may mistake for the "high" of spiritual enlightenment.