This Is MS Multiple Sclerosis Knowledge & Support Community

A few months ago, I had done some research on the Paleo Diet and my husband and I started following that diet for a while. I was doing fairly well, but we had a family crisis and we 'fell off the diet wagon', so to speak. It seems as though the Best Bet Diet is very close to the Paleo diet and is just slightly less restrictive in that some select grains can be eaten on the Best Bet Diet. Then, there is the MS Recovery Diet which indicates that it is also very similar to the Paleo Diet.

I am planning on starting one of these diets on Monday, can someone direct me toward a 'Best Bet Diet book'...or, is the MS Recovery Book the exact same diet as the Best Bet Diet? ????

Let me share one (or two) specific observation that is causing me confusion. Based on everything that I have read online about the MS Recovery Diet, eggs and yeast products are off limits. Based on everything that i have read online about the BBD, eggs / yeast are acceptable as long as you do not have an allergy to either.

There also seems to be a lack of information available around acceptable sweeteners. I tend to be all -natural and stick with Honey, Maple Syrup, and possibly Agave, and I stay clear of processed sugars, and ESPECIALLY artificially derived sweeteners.

When I did the Paleo Diet, my salad dressing consisted of olive oil and/or canola oil, combined with citrus juices (usually lemon) and a bit of fresh herbs from the garden. I stayed clear of all vinegars as I was not sure if they were acceptable on any of the diets.

Lastly, the latest findings with the Paleo Diet is that MS patients should stay away from potatoes and tomatoes due to the antigen receptors that are produced once digested. This information was still being investigated and was still in the initial stages.

Again, looking for information relative to the BBD ?

Ok, so the fact that I have had 70+ views on this post with no replies tells me one of two things:

A - I'm asking a stupid question.

OR

B - It is a valid question, but no one has the answer.

Or....
C - I'm just hanging around waiting to see the answer myself!

I know that you can go to the Direct MS website & get the BBDiet in some downloadable form along with some recipes. I have been considering to start the diet myself but, I honestly don't know where to start & have no idea what I'd eat because I obviously eat all the wrong things. It is going to take some very big imagination - a real learning curve for me. I've also just peeked into the Diets forum here & see all the positive feedback from those who follow the BBD.

So, I'll just hang around until you get some helpful comments! LOL

-- Thanks for your response.

I did view the information on Direct MS regarding the BBD, but I found some conflicting information. Example: One section indicated NO eggs, the other indicated eggs if you are not allergic.

My advice: If you're just starting out, then eliminate eggs. I don't think I'm particularly sensitive to them but I eliminate them from my diet because of what I read about on the 'concepts' section of the DIRECT MS site (it can be found in the science section of the site). Check that part out and you might come to a similar conclusion.
I could be wrong!

Ok, so maybe the diet should have a list of things that we CAN eat. Geez.

This reminds me of the elimination diet that I had to do when my daughter was born. I ate turkey sausage (homemade) and fruit in the morning. Salad with grilled chicken or salmon at lunch. Grilled fish and grilled veggies, with plain brown rice at dinner. That was the basic 'diet' with slight variations to keep me from going crazy.

At least on this diet it seems that I could have puffed rice cereal from whole foods (no sweeteners, etc) and plain rice milk. Or, am I mistaken?

Does anyone know if vinegars are acceptable? On the Paleo Diet, I was limited to a homemade lemon dressing which consisted of fresh lemon juice, herbs, and olive oil.

the vinegars that are okay:
distilled white vinegar

balsamic vinegar is made with flavoring from grapes - it does not contain gluten but some people have a sensitivity to sulfites which would be in balsamic vinegar

cider vinegar is made with apple juice

not okay:
malt vinegar - not distilled and therefore not gluten-free

I eat Puffins rice cereal and rice milk for breakfast a lot because it's so easy. It's also a good thing to have around in case you get hungry and are tempted to grab whatever everybody else eats that's lying around your house.

I'm starting to look at the different diets myself. I met with a nutritionist yesterday and talked with her about different diets. I'd caution you to stay clear of any diets that offer to "cure" your disease.

I just ordered a new book from amazon.com yesterday that had 75 recipes for MS patients - it was on clearance for $7. When I get it, I'll go through it and give it a review. I also have the Swank diet on reserve at the library and I am waiting for it to be delivered to my local branch.

One thing I talked about with my nutritionist yesterday is that taste plays a big component in any diet. You can find the "best diet in the world" but if you don't like the taste of it, you're less likely to stick with it.

We also talked about supplements and how they are secondary to having a balanced overall diet. One conclusion that we came to was that I should change the timing of my vitamin D3 supplement. Vitamins A, D, E, and K are "fat soluble" vitamins, so you need to eat them at a time when there is some fat being ingested or already in your system. I've been on 20,000IU a day and my low vitamin D 25,OH level hasn't budged a bit (it actually went down a point, but that could be due to machine calibration). Therefore, I am changing it from taking it in the morning (where I eat a very low fat breakfast) to dinner time, when my meal contains more fat.

On sort of the same idea, it's important to document what you've eaten and how you have felt afterward. My therapist introduced me to a great journal (as it's really important to journal how you feel every day - especially when it comes to applying for any type of disability insurance later on) called "memory minder", or now I think it is called "health minder". It has an outline of a body for you to shade in any areas that are bothering you that day, a place for the day's weather, your diet for that day, and a listing of different body systems so you can write any symptoms you are experiencing. I just ordered two of them from amazon yesterday, too, as they are on sale right now for $14 and change. (Each book is good for three months' of journaling.)

So to sum it up, (and admitting that all of this is relatively new to me and I don't claim to be an expert in any way), I think you need to find what works for you - and it may not be one particular set diet but rather "a little from this one, and some more from that one". By journaling, you'll be able to see if there's a trend of you feeling worse after consuming certain foods, and then you can eliminate your "trigger" foods from your diet.

I hope that helps! Best of luck to you!

jenn

Thank you for your response .... I am going to research the inflammation diet as well. As for which 'diet' I am going to start with. I see that there are essentially foods that are just BAD on both of the diets. I"m going to start by cutting out that list of foods, and introduce the shared good foods.

I will still reasearching what diet makes more sense. The Best Bet Diet (very Paleo-like) seems to have quiet a bit of science behind it that is specific to MS and the reduction of new lesions, while the inflammation diet seems to be a good overall diet to reduce all inflammation aligned to multiple diseases.

In case you or anyone else is interested, there is a seven part series on YouTube that reviews the science behind the Paleo Diet. It is very interesting if you have the time to view. I will say, that there are certain foods that are specifically tied to the science/rationale outlined in this series. While, other foods, the doctor just seems to say that the paleo cavemen did not eat them so neither should we -- that I don't buy in to as easily as those foods that have the science backing up the rationale.

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhkmDHLCUEs

Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkrcnzye1oo

Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7iN9YyYrhI

Part 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QQLKRzlM4c

Part 5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gPqjKAnue0

Part 6: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tcV26pyJcA

Part 7: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzyreAZzif0