
There is no specific diet or dietary supplement that is proven to help everyone with MS. However, many people with MS have found benefit in switching to a healthy diet, from small changes to radical overhauls. Currently, more than half of people with MS are following a diet or taking a dietary supplement. Maintaining a healthy diet is helpful for everyone. If you have MS, you may find a healthy diet helps with some of your symptoms, or reduces the impact of MS on your life. There are several diet plans where their advocates claim to have cured their MS or made a significant improvement to their symptoms or relapse rate. In this page we will evaluate the evidence for all kinds of diets on MS and MS symptoms, as well as giving you some ideas to help with improving your diet in general. The best approach to changing your diet to manage MS is simply to try it and see. Expensive ingredients or supplements are rarely necessary, and you will stick to a diet better if it is easy for you to find and prepare. Do stay safe with dietary changes, especially if you intend to cut out whole food groups or change your diet radically. Discuss your plans with a dietitian, doctor or MS Nurse, and be careful not to leave out essential nutrients.
When I booked my ticket to visit Machu Picchu, I had a meltdown. It was 3 am on a Tuesday morning and I’d already put in my notice to quit a job I loved. I’d been planning the trip nonstop in my head for weeks, every detail was organized, but pushing the button on my computer was proving harder than expected. I looked at my cane — the cane that supported me through the toughest years of my life, that I’d wanted to get rid of SO BADLY, and suddenly, was afraid to leave. Morbid obesity was my lifelong excuse for why I couldn’t do the things I wanted to do, the reason I couldn’t live the life I envisioned for myself. I always believed I’d have to lose the weight first, before doing anything else. Then I could live that life. As soon as I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, I immediately regretted that I didn’t live the life I’d wanted before, obesity be damed. As soon as my illness took over, my hopes of living that dream life were crushed. My life felt like it was over before it ever even began. My body broke down around me and I desperately wanted to escape. Popping prescriptions became my new normal, but they didn’t help me much with my symptoms.
The CNS is made up of the brain, spinal cord, and optic nerves. The exact antigen—the target that the immune cells are sensitized to attack—remains unknown. This is why many experts consider MS to be “immune-mediated” rather than “autoimmune. When a person has MS, the immune system attacks patches of the myelin sheath, a fatty substance essential to the functioning of the nervous system. As a result, individuals have mild to severe impairment of the limbs, weakness, and visual and sensory losses as well as bladder and bowel malfunction. While years ago physicians believed that people with MS would inevitably need to use a wheelchair at some point in their lives, the Multiple Sclerosis Trust states that treatment options are now improving, so most people with MS will not need to use a wheelchair at any point in their lives. For many individuals with MS, symptoms can be abated and the disease progression can be significantly slowed by making health-promoting food choices. There is ample evidence that diet quality has an impact on symptom severity and disability. In fact, food choices can have a significant impact on the quality of life of MS patients. It is important to note that no singular diet has stood out from the rest regarding its effectiveness in slowing or reversing the progression of MS. There is evidence, however, in favor of low-fat, plant-based diets ; a high-fat, moderate protein and very-low-carbohydrate ketogenic diet; and a modified Paleo diet.
