For Tara and other nutrition-wise folks

[seattleinchicago]

Hi all,

Ok. Four months in, and I'm thinking about diet all over the place. I've been a vegetarian for 11 years, but I need to work on reducing my gluten and dairy consumption. Here's what I'm aiming for now. My plan is to move slowly in this direction and try to have most of the habits in place by the end of the year. If you have any thoughts, would you please share them? There's a dynamite MS nutritionist in Chicago that I plan to meet with as well.

1. Bump up my fish intake to at least 2 servings of good oily fish each week. I'm an environmental educator, so it's very important to me to eat sustainably sourced seafood. Luckily, a lot of the oily fish have good "green" fisheries.

2. Cut gluten and dairy down to no more than 1 serving of each per day. I am in the process of scheduling tests with a food allergist at Northwestern to see if I actually have any sensitivities or allergies to foods. If so, then of course I will cut those foods out. Otherwise, limiting my gluten and dairy intake seems adequate. I am a huge craft beer geek, so this is going to require some work.

3. Keep inhaling my cruciferous greens and "rainbow" of fruits and veggies.

4. Supplements. Here's what I am planning to take:
- a probiotic with acidopholis and bifidus (sp?)
- Vitamin D
- B complex
- Milk thistle (supports liver function, no known side effects or contraindications)
- a daily tablespoon of flax oil
- calcium/magnesium
- fish oil. Nordic Naturals recommends a specific combination for people who want extra support for their immune system and inflammatory response. I'm taking their EPAxtra and Omega Women's supplements at half dose (since I eat fish, etc). If anyone is actually willing to take a look at those and let me know what you think, I'd love to hear it.

5. Watch my saturated fats. I'm big on stuff like peanut butter: are "natural" saturated fats ever ok, or do those need to go, too?

6. Eat curry and spices, eat organic, etc.

I should say that I'm doing all of this in conjunction with my DMD.

Thanks, gang. You're awesome.

[Twenty Miles]

Hello,
Good stuff, I'll give you some of my opinion,

IMHO regarding gluten it is all or nothing. The theory in various ways is regarding gluten as an allergen and when treated as such any amount is bad. So, if you aren't going to eliminate....

[nutritiontara]

#2, as TM stated with gluten its all or nothing. At least eliminate completely for 60days and then rotate slowly in your beer. My gluten downfall.
#5, "natural" saturated fats? coconut and palm oils? I use a great deal of coconut oil with patients. It may increase metabolism and is directly absorbed into the bloodstream. Again, I wish we could get off the idea that saturated fats are bad for us. Hormone injected, grain-fed saturated fat is bad for us. There is a difference.
Rather than spend your money on allergy testing, spend it on better supplements: whole-food B complex and USP-grade oils to start.

[knuckle]

You are missing two very important supplements for MS: Curcumin and Alpha Lipoic Acid.

Curcumin, the active ingrediant in Tumeric, reduces inflammation and has been shown effective in preventing colon cancer and kills melanoma cells on contact. They now think Tumeric may prevent Alzheimer's.

People who live in Southeast Asia, where they eat alot of Tumeric have very low incidences of autoimmune disease, including MS.

Google: "curcumin multiple sclerosis" for more information as well as a study on how it reversed EAE (MS-like disease) in the mouse model.

Alpha Lipoic Acid (ALA) is a powerful antioxidant and helps prevent T-cell migration across the blood brain barrier, just like Tysabri. ALA functions to turn food energy into cellular energy and helps with MS-related fatigue, especially when combined with the supplement Acetyl L Carnitine (ALCAR).

Google: "alpha lipoic acid multiple sclerosis" for more information.

[Twenty Miles]

Knuckle,
The curry listed usually contains turmeric.

Regarding turmeric, I used to take it every day until I found out it is a high oxalate food. I feel better without it.

[seattleinchicago]

Thanks, everyone. I really appreciate your advice!

I will try a 60-day gluten elimination. That said, I'm comfortable just limiting my gluten intake. With its microscopic inclusion in so many foods, I'm ok with letting go of the big ones (bread, pasta, beer, etc). If it is all or nothing, well, cutting back dramatically seems like a good idea for people like me who don't have known gluten sensitivities but mistrust its heavy presence in our diets. I will continue to read up on it, though. Since we do most of our own cooking, maybe it won't be so difficult to eliminate. I want to do the allergy tests for a number of reasons, one being that any positive result would be a serious kick in the tail to make that huge dietary change - so I probably will get tested since my insurance thankfully covers it.

Thanks for the note on saturated fats, Tara. I won't worry about the way I include coconut and nut oils in my diet now! How do you find the USP-grade oils out there?

We eat a lot of curry, so my current turmeric intake actually is pretty high. What about ALA - any foods it's in naturally?

[seekhelp]

detox options

I recently read an article on ACTIVATED CHARCOAL it is for internal and external natural detoxification. before reading the article I had never heard of it. Tara can you shed some light on this for me? if somebody knows something please tell me. thank you all.

[nutritiontara]

Charcoal is an absorbent. Used for poisoning. Some people use it to maybe sop up gas?? I used to us it for transit tests; beets work just as well. IMO its gimmicky and unnecessary.

[seekhelp]

thanks Tara for clarifying this for me. i was totally convinced i had something here. An MS. colleague of mine emailed me the article. it was from a 'Wellness Research & Consulting Inc. their link was
( http://www.alsearsmd.com/content/index.php?id=113 ) this was their September 2010, issue #54 and the heading was '' Gluten and other health messages " if it's not too much trouble could u please check them out for me? thanks for giving a confused gal a little more peace of mind

[Sir-Voor]

I’m not into cutting gluten or dairy, but have replaced 2% cow’s milk with almond milk and rice milk.
It was a real easy adjustment, I still eat cheese but now my dairy intake is in balance and not a major part of my diet.

I’m not 100% sure, but I’m fairly sure that the reduced fat content is a big plus in switching.

Almond milk taste kind of like a malted milk and rice milk has a sweet taste, both enjoyable.
P.S. a recommend the relegated ones in with the regular milks, instead of the expensive small boxes that normally in the organic health foods.

[Sequoia]

I’m not into cutting gluten or dairy, but have replaced 2% cow’s milk with almond milk and rice milk.
It was a real easy adjustment, I still eat cheese but now my dairy intake is in balance and not a major part of my diet.

I’m not 100% sure, but I’m fairly sure that the reduced fat content is a big plus in switching.

Almond milk taste kind of like a malted milk and rice milk has a sweet taste, both enjoyable.
P.S. a recommend the relegated ones in with the regular milks, instead of the expensive small boxes that normally in the organic health foods.

Anyone buying rice milk or (especially) almond milk should read the labels carefully. Several brands contain sugar or other sweeteners, sometimes a lot. Almond Silk, one of the most widely distributed brands, is highly sweetened.

[Sir-Voor]

P.S. a recommend the relegated ones in with the regular milks, instead of the expensive small boxes that normally in the organic health foods.

OooPs! I meant refrigerated ones with the regular milks.




Sequoia, That cautionary tip about reading labels is so true, and it goes for all foods.
I don’t have many times at the store I have seem so called healthy foods, and when I read the ingredients I find it is full of corn syrup and chemicals.

Example "roasted garlic Triscuit wheat crackers" has MSG and other chemicals that plan Triscuits don’t, and low fat peanut butter that is loaded with corn syrup.