MS Diet (Need recipes for my mom)

sarahbear1981

Two years ago, my mother, who is a cancer survivor, was diagnosed with MS. As a result of this disease, she has lost all sight in her right eye and much of the sight in her left eye. Her health continues to deteriorate and she is now suffering from cluster headaches (think migraines times ten). Then we found a great book called Minding My Mitochondria and it has a new type of diet and since my mom has been following it she has felt sooo much better. There are recipes in the back of the book for her to use. However, I am looking for additional recipe for her to use so she doesn't get tired or quit the diet.

These are things she cannot consume:
Sugar,
artifcial sweeteners
gluten,
barley,
rice,
pasta,
any dairy at all,
and no pork or red meat.

Mainly her diet consists of fruits, veggies and turkey, chicken, fish like tilapia or salmon (no tuna). I know this is asking alot but if you have a recipe that fits this bill would you please share it? Also, my mom loves cheese and half and half, which she can no longer have so any suggestions on replacements would be great! Oh and any desserts you can think of as well. She will be so happy to have some new recipes. Thanks in advance!:flowerforyou:

sarahbear1981

Bump?

spngebobmyhero

A lot of people with MS have great results with the paleo diet and the restrictions that you have listed sound very similar to the foods eaten on this diet. Paleo is no gluten, diary, legumes, limited nuts and seeds. It also cuts out added sugars. Red meat and pork are eaten, but this can easily be cut out according to restrictions. Is grass fed beef okay, or no red meat?

Check out:
Robbwolf.com
nomnompaleo.com

sarahbear1981

grass fed beef is okay, thanks I will check those out.

sarahbear1981

Anyone else have ideas or references? I would appreciate the help

sweet110

I concur with googling paleo websites for recipe ideas. There are a zillion sites, personal blogs, etc. You'll find more than enough things to try. But, to start you out with some basic suggestions:

1. When I gave up dairy, I found it alot easier when I added in coconut fat (coconut milk, coconut butter/manna, coconut oil) to my diet. Similarly, avocado can satisfy one's "cheese tooth".

2. Desserts: egg custard. You can make it with coconut milk and there are paleo recipes that use blended bananas in place of a concentrated sweetener. I know the diet you're talking about, and the author doesn't eat eggs because she's separately allergic to them, but I think they are "okay" to eat. Also, baked apples are really yummy. Although traditional recipes tell you to add sugar, they are plenty sweet without any added, in my opinion.

3. Tubers. White and sweet. When all you want is a piece of cake, oven roasted sweet potato will save your life. When all you want is a piece of bread, roasted potato wedges will save your life (although, I can't remember, can you eat nightshade on this diet? If not...white potatoes are out. Double check.)

4. Pasta substitute: zuchinni "pasta." I use a vegetable peeler, but you can buy a nifty gadget to make it quicker (although I find the peeler to be easy enough).

Good luck. I'm not sure if the diet will "cure" your mom's MS. But I have every confidence that she will feel better on it.

lvansevenant

Hey, I have MS also. Certain diets are promoted as effective therapies for MS. Some people may find they help, though this hasn’t been proven conclusively for people with MS. Myself I dont find the diets help anymore then normal healthy eating.

However, a healthy diet is good for everyone, and many people with MS find it a good way to manage their health.
Some special diets may be harmful because they include potentially toxic amounts of certain vitamins, or exclude important nutrients.

The ‘Swank Diet’ is perhaps the best known diet associated with MS. It increases the amount of polyunsaturated fatty acids eaten and reduces the amount of saturated fats. Saturated fat is cut to 15 grams or less per day and, as well as recommending fish, the diet adds vegetable oil and cod-liver oil every day.

The Swank Diet is named after Dr Roy Swank, who developed the diet in the 1940s. The largest research trial of his diet had a number of shortcomings and research has not shown defiinite benefiits from this particular regime. However, following this or a similar diet would not generally be considered bad for health.

Cutting down on meat and dairy foods to reduce saturated fats might leave a shortfall in protein, so it’s important to find alternative sources such as fish, beans and pulses.

Cod-liver oil has a blood-thinning effect and should be taken with caution if you take aspirin, anti-coagulant medications (for example, warfarin) or have a bleeding disorder.

If you are diabetic you should also speak to your doctor before taking cod-liver oil. This diet can be low in energy and unless care is taken to maintain energy intake, it may not be suitable if you have high energy needs or are underweight.
The Best Bet Diet

The Best Bet diet recommends avoiding several different food types, including all dairy, grains and red meat. Fish, chicken and turkey are recommended for protein. It also recommends having allergy tests to discover other foods to be avoided and includes a list of 18 recommended supplements.

Currently, research doesn’t suggest that there are benefits for MS from taking large numbers of supplements or from cutting out any of these food types completely. It’s also worth remembering that taking supplements can be expensive.

Like the Swank Diet, this diet can also be low in energy so care should be taken if you have a high energy need or are underweight.

Feathil

This woman lists the most useful items to use in recipes, but not the recipes themselves... Kale seems to be a super food but I need to find it in my local shops. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLjgBLwH3Wc

Di3012

Anyone else have ideas or references? I would appreciate the help

Hi

Has she tried Quorn? It tastes like chicken and the texture is like chicken, but it is a plant-like food.

You can get it in mince form or solid like a lump of meat.