I know absolutely nothing about food. I have come to realize this in my quest to help Sarah keep her MS at bay through diet. I was/am totally that urban mom who thought she was so hip because she bought organic food for her children, not knowing anything about the nutrients or vitamins that were being consumed, but just thinking that because it was organic it must be good. Oh, how wrong I was...I was not hip chic, but in some cases, a sucker for good advertising.
When Sarah was released this last time from the hospital I felt a paralyzing urgency to fix her diet immediately. I felt that if I did not do so RIGHT NOW that I was dooming her to a world of blindness, and the Western medical world, some of our friends, and family would have said, "Told you so, you should have medicated her from the beginning". Two weeks ago was one of the darkest times of my life since Sarah's diagnosis because I felt solely responsible for her health and care. Bob and I were (and are) on the same page in terms of her care, but I am the primary cook and grocery shopper in our family, and therefore I felt that the knowledge of her diet should come solely from my research (and a decision would be made on our new diet by the whole family based on the research I had done). That burden was crippling me to the point that going to the grocery store was (and still is) sending me into a tiny anxiety attack.
To compound my stress is the fact that with the exception of taking a Vitamin D supplement there is contradicting advice regarding diet and MS, and just diet alone - EVERYWHERE!!!! How is a person with little knowledge of diet and nutrition (I would put myself a little bit ahead of the game in some respects) supposed to make the best decision for the health of her family if every piece of advice has counter advice!?
My sister pointed out to me one night after I had expressed my anguish over making the right decision for Sarah, in terms of changing our diet, that even if it takes me 6 months to figure things out - she will be okay. She won't have lost her vision in that short amount of time (I was told by one doctor that she would lose her vision by the age of 28 if I did not medicate her. Another nurse told me that if I did nothing she would lose her vision by age 15. This is mostly where my panic was coming from.) She is, of course, right about this. My panicking and feeling like if I don't make dietary changes right this second aren't helping an already stressful situation.
So, I formed a game plan. I am going to read as many books as I can get my hands on regarding MS and diet. I have begun to research some online articles as well regarding the same topics. Then, as a family, we will be making some decisions - obviously, not everyone holds equal weight when it comes to what we choose to do, but we want everyone to be involved none-the-less.
The first book I read was, The MS Recovery Diet, by Ann Sawyer and Judi Bachrach. It basically said to eliminate eggs, yeast, legumes, dairy, and gluten from your diet. It also mentioned eliminating red meat and most sugar too. I will be completely honest, I began to think that the only foods that we would be eating is bark and tree leaves when I saw that list. I slowly, saw that there are some foods that can still be eaten by eliminating these foods, but this would be a complete turnaround from our current diet. We are a gluten family, and eat pasta, pizza, and bread a lot around here. I make breakfast most days of the week from scratch, but we eat pancakes, muffins, waffles, french toast - all things that use gluten, sugar, eggs, and dairy. I just finished the book this afternoon, so I have to take some time to absorb what I have read, but it looks pretty ugly. I can be sure that if we try and implement this new way of eating over the course of a couple of months that I will lose every pound that I have gained back since Sarah's diagnosis.
There are a couple of other books I want to read too - I don't know if they will be as extreme as this - but I will certainly find out. I will be also learning about nutrition not related to MS as well - what nutrients and vitamins do I need as a human being to survive at an optimal level? Not only what foods should I be eating, but more importantly WHY should I be eating them. Do they provide Iron, Vitamin K, Omega-3's? What is their value once the food items enter my body?
I feel very much like I have to know my stuff, not only for my sake, but so I can present information to critics who may not understand why we have chosen to start with our diets and exercise as a way to help Sarah become healthy again. Mostly importantly though, at the heart of all of this, is that I have to know my stuff in regards to nutrition because this may make Sarah better - not cured - but better. At the end of the day, I will do just about anything to make her feel better. I want her to live her best life, and if this is the way that I can help her to make that happen then so be it.
What this means for you, my dear reader, is that you get to go on this odyssey with me. I am going to be bouncing ideas off of you, and sharing what I learn along the way. I will be relying on your support to point me in a new direction if I get stuck. There is so much information out there, and I want to soak it all in, please share with me what you know. I may choose to use your information or I may choose to pass on it, but having access to as much information as I can is truly important to me right now.
Off to more reading!
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