growing & eating healthy

[Daedae]

hey you guys, i've had MS for 5 years now and I'm currently taking Tysabri and i've been small my entire life, but my doctor is saying i cannot lose anymore weight due to the fact I'm on Tysabri. And i do eat alot, maybe not the healthy stuff like i should, but i was wondering if anyone knew things that were healthy and also help me gain weight too?

[emwojcik]

Hi Daedae,
I have had a similar problem (I was Dx in 2013, after a couple years of symptoms)--I'm not on Tysabri, but Copaxone definitely did a number on my appetite, and I was already fairly slim to begin with. In fact, at my physical today, my doc told me not to lose any more weight, too. Here's what I've been doing, because while I like to eat, I can also forget and skip meals and I don't eat a ton when I do sit down. So it's all about maximizing the food you do eat.

If you eat dairy, getting in the habit of full-fat Greek yogurt with fruit, honey (or something, maple syrup?), and nuts or seeds on top is a good breakfast. I've also been doing a lot of thick-sliced toast with avocado and hot sauce (i like heat) on it, and when I have time, maybe also a fried egg on top. I still work, so if I don't have time for these, I'll do either a peanut (or almond)-butter sandwich with banana, or a smoothie with yogurt (or almond/nut butter or both!), lots of frozen fruit from the freezer aisle, and orange juice or full-fat milk. This is also a good place to throw in a handful of nuts or protein powder--high density/calorie foods with low sugar, and easy to consume on the go.

I still work, and I've found keeping bags of those same kind of high-cal/low sugar foods to just snack on mindlessly through the day helps: trail mix (heavy on the nuts, lighter on the M&Ms), dried fruits like apricots or raisins/cranberries, granola, wasabi peas, hard boiled eggs, string cheese--anything I can just munch on without working too hard. I'm not really a lunch kind of person, but having that stuff around helps me remember to just keep eating. If you don't work anymore, stocking up the same snacks at home can be helpful.

I try to do the same with dinners--lots of protein (though I don't eat red meat, so it's a bit harder)--but I will say, I also eat dessert every night. It's probably not the healthiest thing but I figure if we have to spend so much of our lives monitoring our health and being careful and medicated and poked and prodded, then the least we've earned is something sweet at the end of the day. And since I'm supposed to try and keep my weight up anyway, what's the harm?

Anyway, hope this helps--food is tricky when you're trying to gain weight while being healthy. Trust your body's signals (hard to do sometimes with MS, I know) and try not to obsess. Good luck!

[Muffkin]

hey you guys, i've had MS for 5 years now and I'm currently taking Tysabri and i've been small my entire life, but my doctor is saying i cannot lose anymore weight due to the fact I'm on Tysabri. And i do eat alot, maybe not the healthy stuff like i should, but i was wondering if anyone knew things that were healthy and also help me gain weight too?

Since being diagnosed, we started eating Paleo so I don't have to take any drugs. We've found that foods that are really good for you, but are calorific are sweet potatoes, meat, eggs, avocados, and nuts (we aren't allowed peanuts, but the calories are high if it's something you enjoy). Those are just a few ideas that may help. Good luck to you

[Mamabug]

I like some of the above suggestions and would echo those:

• full-fat Greek yogurt (plain, unsweetened).
  
  • I love it with frozen blueberries on top. Sometimes I add some ground flax seed.
  
  
• avocados
• eggs
• smoothie with protein powder.
  
  • Can add lots of other things. I put flax seed, cacao powder, cinnamon, berries and lots of greens, such as spinach or kale, in mine.
  
  
• trail mix
• string cheese
• sweet potatoes
  
• meat
  
• nuts

​Full-fat cottage cheese is good too. And canned tuna. I eat a lot of vegetables, too, but, you're asking about high-calorie foods and they aren't very high calorie. My meals are mostly protein and vegetables.

I don't usually drink fruit juices because of the high number of calories that come from sugar. I'm careful not to over-do fruit, either. The sugar is healthier because you get fiber too, but I usually limit my fruit to between 1/2 serving to two servings per day.

In addition to being careful about sugar, I'm also careful about other carbs, especially those that have gluten, including those that come from grains other than the gluten ones. I also limit potatoes and corn, because of the carbs. Especially corn, because of being genetically altered.
In addition to a little bit of fruit, I try to get most of my carbs from vegetables.