Healthy Eating is an important factor in everyone's well-being, but it's especially important for people suffering with autoimmune diseases and other chronic illnesses, such as Multiple Sclerosis.
The old expression, "You are what you eat," is absolutely true. There has been a great deal of research that points to the benefits of eating healthy. This research also lets us know what we need to eat to improve our health.
Most of the research points to eating a low-fat (especially saturated fat) and low-carb diet. The Swank Diet, developed by Roy Swank, M.D., former head of University of Oregon's neurology department, focuses on a low-fat diet. He has had amazing results with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) sufferers. Dr. Swank has spent over 35 years treating his patients with this diet and has had very impressive results. The Swank diet consists primarily of grains, vegetables and fruits with about 20 percent fat by calories.
While this type of diet may be a little drastic for some, according to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society you can help your body and MS even if you make small changes at a time.
Simple Changes to Your Diet That Will Help Your Body and Multiple Sclerosis
1. Portion control - reduce the amount of food you eat. Pay attention to how much food is on your plate. It's important to know what healthy portion sizes are.
2. Change your eating habits slowly - make it a point to have a healthy breakfast. Instead of bacon and eggs on a bagel, have an egg white omelet on whole grain toast. Better yet, have a bowl of rolled oats with fruit. Once you're comfortable with eating a healthy breakfast move on to lunch, and then dinner. And, slowly add more fruits and vegetable into your diet.
3. Have snacks - snacks help curb the appetite and also keeps your metabolism going steady. The key here is to eat healthy snacks such as baby carrots, fruits, nuts, and low-fat yogurt.
4. Go lean - limit the amount of fatty meats you eat and pay attention to portion control. Chicken, turkey and fish are healthy choices.
5. Focus - it's important to eliminate distractions while you're eating. It seems if you're distracted, you will eat more and be less satisfied. So, pay attention to what's on that fork or spoon.
Along with the foods we should include in our diet, there are also foods that should be avoided to help our bodies function properly.
Foods to Avoid to help Your Body and Multiple Sclerosis
1. Sugar
2. Processed foods
3. Fatty foods
4. Super sized portions
5. White bread
According to Dr. Henry Zhen-Hong Lee, a NYS Licensed Acupuncturist and NCCA DPL Herbalist, sugar actually stops the immune cells from functioning. This is essential since you are then left with no line of defense.
All evidence points to the fact that improving your eating habits will improve your health. Start today to make slow and steady changes in your diet so you will reap slow and steady benefits to your overall health. And, remember to discuss all changes to your diet with your doctor.
If you'd like to learn more about Multiple Sclerosis you can visit:
National Multiple Sclerosis Society
http://www.nmss.org
PCRM (Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine)
http://www.pcrm.org/health/prevmed/multiple_sclerosis.html
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