Today is the Best Day Ever!

I was reading thru some postings on the MSWorld website this morning and this line jumped out at me:

"It seems there is NOTHING anyone can do about MS, there is no cure RIGHT NOW... " 

Yes, there is no cure right now.  That sucks.  But there IS something anyone and everyone can do about their MS -  it's called 'change how you eat'.

Having followed the diet for three weeks now, I realize that I am becoming very in tune with my body and the signals it sends.  I'm beginning to understand how important it is to listen to my body because when I do, I am able to better control my MS symptoms.

I've figured out that my body knows it needs fuel long before I actually feel hungry.  The first few weeks of the diet I ate often, as suggested, but I waited till I was hungry to even start thinking about getting myself some food.  And by that time, I was tired, my legs were heavy and my balance was way off.  Then almost as soon as I had eaten, those symptoms would disappear and I would feel re-energized.  Until I got hungry again, felt tired, etc. And so the cycle went.

It took me till the end of Week 3 to figure out that my body was telling me it needs a consistent supply of energy to keep me feeling good.  Now I make sure that I'm eating something every 2-3 hours and I keep food with me - easy stuff like almonds and pumpkin seeds or a blueberry muffin, anything portable - so that I can keep my fuel supply consistent.

***Did I just say Blueberry Muffin?? Yes, I did.  A delicious, gluten free, dairy free, soy free, sugar free, egg free homemade blueberry muffin.***

Keeping myself consistently fueled has really made a difference.  I have more energy and just feel better overall.  I don't experience the lows and highs of fatigue and weakness throughout the day.  I can go an entire day feeling great and only get 'tired' at the end of the day, when my body needs sleep. 

I also suspect that keeping my body consistent has to make a difference in the healing process. I'm no longer putting my body through the roller coaster of exacerbating and then subsiding symptoms.  Instead of wasting energy on that roller coaster ride, my body can just focus on healing.

And speaking of healing - my symptoms continue to dissipate.  I wake up feeling so well rested and energized that I told my girlfriend I almost feel like I could run a marathon (who am I kidding, I couldn't do that before MS - but you get the point).  I am in awe of my left foot - the toes that I couldn't move three weeks ago are wiggling like nobody's business. 

The sensation is back on the bottom of my foot - and interestingly, it's coming back the exact opposite of how it left.  When I first began to lose feeling on the bottom of my foot, it felt almost like walking on a grate - and then just went numb.  Well, the grate feeling is back.  So I'm guessing that the next step might be complete restoration of feeling - but hey, if that doesn't happen - having any sensation at all is still pretty amazing.

The MS Recovery Diet is changing my life.  It is giving me back my life.  I no longer accept that life with MS is one big downhill slide.  There may be no cure, but simply changing how I eat is proving to me that there is something I can do about this shitty disease called MS.

Someone once said "Today is the best day ever!"  And every day, it really is.

Joe