A Return to Clean Eating

I recently started eating clean again after a long headlong swan dive into eating garbage. This started when I was hospitalized a year and a half ago. My white blood cell count (my immune system) was so low I couldn't eat anything fresh. I couldn't even have fresh flowers in my room. The technical name for this is neutropenic. 

As we all know, hospital food isn't great to begin with. Now that my diet was even more limited by my eating restrictions it was horrendous. I believe I ate eggs for a month straight - horrible, nasty, rubbery, hospital eggs. After I was released I still had months of chemo. This lovely chemo did a few things, killed my cancer (yay) and made meat taste like dog food, Alpo dog food to be exact. How do I know this? Hey, I was a kid and grew up with two German Shepherds, you figure it out (smile). I ate what I could. I craved cucumbers and tomatoes, man I could have eaten a whole field of them, but surprisingly enough, you can't live off of cucumbers and tomatoes. So, I ate a lot of crap. Anything I could stomach really. 

Once my chemo was finished and I was declared in remission (Feb 21 baby!), my ability to taste food slowly started to come back. Now when I say slowly, I mean at a painfully frustrating pace that would test Korean baby Jesus himself. I decided in September that I could try to eat clean again. It wasn't until September that I could stomach meat without thinking of Alpo (laugh).  

I was following the paleo diet before my cancer diagnosis and I'm back to that. I have to tell you I feel so much better. Not only do I just feel better with the clean diet but my blood sugar, which went insane with the chemo, has corrected itself. Needless to say I will eat as clean as I can from now on. 

Natural medicine?! Moi?

The title is a bit cryptic yeah? I wanted to express that I am on a MS medication and I would never change. As well, no one should take what I say as medical advice and you should always, I repeat always, talk to your doctor about any supplements or natural medicine you want to take. 

With that being said, I have found some things that help me manage some side effects associated with MS and high blood sugar. 

Fatigue

First of all food! Heavy foods make me sleepy, and meals that are high in carbohydrates make me sleepy because of the blood sugar spike and fall. Saying this I try to keep my meals pretty balanced and/or follow a low carbohydrate diet. While I was going through chemo all bets were off on this one. I ate what I could. Since meat literally tasted like dog food it was hard to find a good balance. I managed mind you but it was HARD. So I totally understand when things are in your way like work, kids, school, and just life in general. It really is worth it to take the time to try to change your eating habits even if it's just a little at a time. 

A vitamin B Complex and B12 - This helps me a lot. I'm low on B12 so I take a liquid supplement (under the tongue) always take a liquid or a pill you can put under your tongue (sublingual) because your stomach acids will eat most of the B12 and you won’t get the benefits.  

Exercise - This has worked the best for my MS fatigue. If you're in a flare it's better to rest and you have to know your limits. If you can only sit in a chair and raise your arms for 10 minutes that should be your exercise. My honest recommendation is to find a Physical Therapist who understands MS and that MS does not mean you'll be disabled, and work with them to set limits for yourself. 

Blood Sugar

Cinnamon - Yep, that little spice helps with my blood sugar. However, I don't use to it sprinkle on food I actually take tablets that have cinnamon in them. Cinnamon dramatically helps my blood sugar and unless you’re allergic to cinnamon, I have never heard of someone ODing from cinnamon consumption (smile). 

Fenugreek - I can tell most of you are like "Huh?" but it is real and it is out there. Fenugreek is a common Indian spice and is used a lot in curries and other Indian dishes. If you’ve ever had Indian food the likely hood that you've had this spice is 100%. Fenugreek has actually been studied and has been proven to work on blood sugar. I use it in some of my foods, like chili and tomato soup, but I also take it as a supplement (because I love Indian food but not everything should take like Indian food). You can buy it at any local vitamin store; I get mine from The VitaminShoppe. 

Exercise - I don't have to explain this one right? Good. 

Those are a few things I use to help me manage my MS and my blood sugar. I'm also a bit more of a hippy and use meditation and other herbs for other things. That's for another post (smile)