Can
Multiple
Sclerosis weight loss help reduce MS symptoms or reduce how
severe our symptoms of Multiple Sclerosis symptoms can become?
Certain types of toxins have been found to increase how much Multiple
Sclerosis can attack and cause damage to our nerves throughout our
bodies. These toxins are often called neurotoxins, because of their
effect on the nerves. Unfortunately, it has also been found
that the more body fat that we have, this can actually help our bodies
to store the neurotoxins within the excess fat cells in our body.
Finding ways to help us to lose the extra weight can be a very
challenging task, since once the symptoms of MS appear, there are too
many MS symptoms that can make it much more difficult for us to lose
the weight that we need to lose to help reduce the effects of Multiple
Sclerosis on our bodies.
Some
of the MS symptoms that can get in the way of those of us with Multiple
Sclerosis from losing weight are ms fatigue, ms depression, our over
reactions to heat and the way that our bodies can't handle strenuous
exercise without it adding to the fatigue that we often already have a
problem with.
About
2 years before I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, my first
symptom of Multiple Sclerosis that came and went was incredible
fatigue. (This was much more than just pushing it too hard
and not getting enough sleep.) I also had a problem at that
point of not being able to lose weight. No matter how I
dieted or tried to eat healthier or no matter how much I exercised and
stayed very physically active most days of the week, I just kept
gaining weight and I had no idea what was really going on at the time.
I'm not totally positive about this, but there is a
strong possibility that the excess weight that I was carrying around
with me at the time, just added to accumulating the neurotoxins in my
system that just increased how quickly my case of Multiple Sclerosis
went down hill very rapidly.
The reason I have this idea at all is because after was initially
diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, one of my main doctors did some
drastic changes on my diet that helped me to lose 110 pounds within 9
months! I didn't feel as sick as I had with the large number
of Multiple Sclerosis symptoms that I had started with after I lost the
large amount of weight.
I have done some of my own research, both on-line and off-line that
more and more doctors are discussing how Multiple Sclerosis weight loss
is becoming more of a hot topic because there has been a pattern
emerging that losing the excess weight really does help to reduce
how often and how severe the broad range of MS
symptoms that many of their MS patients are experiencing!
So -- what can we do to lose the excess weight for helping with
Multiple Sclerosis weight loss?
There are several things that can help, including:
* dietary changes
(cut out sugar, white flour and yeast for at least a year -- you can't
cut them out even longer if you are getting good results still)
Just
cutting out these 3 things is much harder than you can imagine, but it
can help tremendously with losing weight.
After
one year of cutting out all of the sugar, you can try replacing the
sugar with low glycemic index substitutes, like agave nectar (this is
nectar from a plant) or stevia (also plant based, but it has a slight
liccorish taste) or using fruit to substitute for the sugar (no sugar
added).
Cutting
out gluten can also help (wheat, rye, barely, spelt and oats).
Replace the gluten grains with non-gluten grains (whole
grains) -- these include amaranth, buckwheat (not related to wheat)
millet, quinoa, rice (whole grain brown rice), teff
Cut
out totally all pork products, shellfish (shrimp, crabs, clams,
scallops, oysters, etc.) -- these types of meats contain high levels of
toxins, including mercury that is known to attack nerves.
Cut
out red meats (including beef and lamb) for at least 2 years.
This has been found to help reduce the effects of Multiple
Sclerosis on the body.
Add
in large amounts of green leafy vegetables to your diet including kale,
beet greens, spinach and very green romaine lettuce. Add in beets and
carrots to diet -- more raw than cooked.
Add
more berries to your diet (high in antioxidants that help to boost the
immune system).
The
easiest way to add more greens and vegetables to your diet is to juice
them or grind the whole food (like with a kitchen appliance that can
handle grinding whole foods. Drinking the kale, beets and
carrots can help to get the vitamins and nutrients into your system
quicker without over taxing your digestive tract.
Other
things that can help with Multiple
Sclerosis weight loss can include:
*
reducing how
we over react to stress
*
prioritize
what we do each day and break things into smaller tasks,
that you want to do or need to do, to reduce how much you overtax your
system.
I
have listed quite a few things that helped me with losing the excess
weight that I carried around with me, when I was first diagnosed with
Multiple Sclerosis that may be able to help you too, but I won't
suggest trying all of this at one time.
The
best place to start is to cut out sugar, white flour and yeast.
These are tough enough to do on their own.
The main MS diets suggest cutting out or changing much of what else I
have listed above in varying degrees, but finding what works for you is
the most important of whatever you decide to do for your particular
case of Multiple Sclerosis.
I would recommend that whatever you decide to do that you find a
doctor, nutritionist or whatever type of medical practitioner that you
have access to -- to work with you for finding dietary changes that can
help with getting more of your Multiple Sclerosis symptoms under
control and reducing your over reactions to stress.
