This is the million dollar question in the MS world, in every MS Facebook group I belong to I see this question asked over and over again. If I go back to 2017 when my walking started to worsen I purchased the Wahls Protocol book and the Overcoming MS book and I tried those diet albeit only for a few days but I knew I would struggle with the amount of green stuff I would be expected to consume and the lack of all the foods I loved. I was constantly frustrated with my bloated stomach and tried cutting out various foods but nothing ever really helped. I saw a dietician at the hospital and followed their advice by trying the FODMap diet. This helped initially but after a while I was back to the constant bloating... there is nothing worse than waking up with an almost flat stomach for you to then look 6 months pregnant by midday. I then went to see a food sensitivity consultant who used bio-energetic screening to determine what foods cause my body issues. I walked away with a very long list of foods to avoid and supplements to take but I just don't think my mindset was in the right place - I didn't believe that what I consumed would really make a difference and I was putting my faith in the Lemtrada treatment I had embarked upon. Roll on 4 years and my views have completely changed. Perhaps if I had stuck to the advice received I might have seen improvements, who knows, but if you are reading this and still think what you eat has no impact on your symptoms then please think again. Gillian Keith tried to tell us this back in 2004-2007 in her tv show 'You Are What You Eat' and I remember watching the show but at that point I didn't think I suffered from MS symptoms (although clearly I was), I wish I could tell my 26 year old self to do more research and not to bury my head in the sand and hope the MS never remerges. So please, if this is you, don't wait for your body to stop functioning before you do something about it. Be pro-active so that you don't have to try and reverse the damage done.
So, how are you meant to know what's the right diet? I am still learning this for myself but a good friend has been exploring her gut health and inspired me to do the same. I recently engaged an auto immune nutritionist (I found her on a website that lists registered nutritionists) to help me understand my body. What I am learning over time is just because the Wahls diet works for some people, it won't work for others and the same with all these diets. There are of course some underlying principles that go across all the diets like avoiding legumes and other inflammatory foods but we are all unique individuals. We should know this more than others because we know each of us have different MS experiences and symptoms so it makes sense that our bodies will react differently to food. As part of this journey, I've had to undertake some tests including a gut health stool sample (this was not fun!) - the sample is carried out over three days and be prepared for the fact that you will have to dissect your stools. Keep your fingers crossed that you don't have to repeat anything like I had to due to a lab mess up (this is rare). I also choose to have an antibody test, a viral screening test and a food test done. We are still waiting for the results from some of these tests. What I have learnt is that my gut health is not in a great place and that I have several viruses still within my body. So our initial focus is to remove the viruses through a detox of supplements but after a few days I had severe bloating and constipation therefore I had to stop taking the tablets so we could try and work out what was going on. As I am also doing the Coimbra Protocol, and it's still early days, we've had to rule out any issues with that so I also had to do a 24 hour urine test this week - I am just waiting for the results on this. My nutritionist also got me to do the baking soda test which is when you mix 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda with 4 ounces of water and drink it first thing before anything else - you then time how long it takes you to burp. It took me 4.07 minutes which implies I have low stomach acid. We have added some extra supplements to aid with this - digestive enzymes and Betaine HCI Pepsin and Gentian Bitters to support my digestive system. She is keen to improve my digestion before we focus on all the other things we need to look at. This is not a quick fix and you need to be prepared to cut out foods that don't agree with your gut. She has worked with many other people with MS and has seen positive results so I am really hoping that combining this with the Coimbra Protocol will help me moving forwards. We are hoping to start me back on a reduced version of the antiviral protocol on Monday so wish me luck!!
From a food perspective, I have recently cut out tomatoes and spinach on the advice of my nutritionist - this is because there are certain foods that people with auto immune diseases should avoid. There were other items on the list but I already avoided them. Cutting out tomatoes is a hard one for me as I love spaghetti bolognese - however because my health is more important than what I put in my mouth - I have stopped eating them. I discovered a recipe for a roasted red pepper sauce the other day and made that with chicken and it was really tasty. Next time I will try it with mince! I am also adding in some foods and they include stewed apples (which I don't like as a) they remind me of school dinners from my youth and b) I hate warm fruit) however, I have discovered if I get them soft enough that they bash up easily but aren't completely stewed and I add them to my porridge with cinnamon then it's okay I can handle it - in fact I will even say it's quite tasty. Just need to get better at making batches rather than doing it on the spot each morning. I've also started eating beetroot - apparently beetroot is really good for your circulation and we know people with MS typically having rubbish circulation - I don't particularly like beetroot unless it's in a crisp format however, I recently discovered pickled beetroot and I am a convert. They are amazing so every lunch time I eat about 6 pieces just off a fork. Yum! So my love of pickled cucumbers is nothing to do with the cucumbers I obviously just have a love of pickled food lol!!
As you can see I will do anything to help my MS and this time I am determined and ready to fight this battle head on so if that means no more afternoon tea, no more spaghetti bolognese meals and many other tomato based meals I love then so be it.... I want to be the healthiest I can be despite the MS within my body.
If you are looking to start changing the way you eat to help with your MS and aren't quite ready to do the evidence based approach bespoke to your body then check out the Best Bet Diet from MS Hope - I would say it's the easiest one I've come across.
Just a quick follow up on the Coimbra Protocol - I am 4 weeks in the process and I have been feeling pretty crappy in regards to my mobility over the last 10 days - having spoken to people in the dedicated Facebook group it is quite common to feel like this in the first few weeks and I think that combined with the heatwave we've been having has just made everything so much harder. Fingers crossed with the temperatures dipping things will be better moving forwards.
Will keep you posted - have a lovely weekend all.
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