hi all,
just wondering if other people’s ms is effected by certain foods?
ive noticed recently that Indian food which I adore makes my hands swell up the next day and makes me feel wobbly and a bit weirder than normal.
ive tried to do some googling and getting mixed messages on foods to eat and foods to avoid.
louise xxx
hi louise when i was first diagnosed 9 years ago, i tried to cure myself with a strict diet for ms (the best bet diet). no dairy, no wheat, no legumes (still don’t even know what legumes are), i ended up hardly eating anything. now i eat whatever i fancy because my appetite was ruined. i HAVE to eat before taking my tecfidera. i also have a tipple, usually gin and tonic. was very happy to read that dark chocolate is good for us so a square of that as well. my son had a stern word about the best bet diet, saying that the fatigue wasn’t being helped by my near starvation. good lad that son of mine! basically use your common sense, eat a balanced diet and enjoy your life. carole x
Hi Carole and Thankyou,
im glad you have said you still enjoy your gin as I don’t like the idea that my pint of cider and I would have to part and I am a somerset girl so it is the law lol.
im not thinking of becoming a food nun as I like food way too much and chocolate is also compulsory just wondering really if some foods cause people to feel differently, my husband thinks that some Indian spices are quite inflammatory and some have the opposite effect just would be nice to know which ones to avoid.
im now going to google legumes!
have a lovely day xxxxx
A legume is a simple, dry fruit contained within a shed or a pod. The most well-known legumes are peas, beans, peanuts, soya and alfalfa. I can tolerate peas love them but soya give me awful stomach ache and bloat so its off my menu and beans not green ones the ones for baked beans lol.
Curries are high carbohydrate and a lot contain peanuts in some form or other so therefore a legume. Rice and flat breads are high in carbohydrate.
the best diet for MS is paleo to be honest as it really helps inflammation. High carbohydrate and legumes are bad for inflammatory illnesses. Also gluten is bad for us.
If i skip gluten it helps, i do tend to follow a bit of paleo and instead of rice i use caulflower rice which is quite palatable.
the spices in curries are good for us not bad, i.e. tumeric is good. Its the accompaniements bad.
I eat well a mix between gluten free, paleo and mediterean and if i eat too much stuff with gluten my legs burn like mad. so yes food does have an affect on us without doubt.
Hi Thankyou for your reply, I agree lots of carbs is not good, I did low carb high fat a while back but got so bored.
i don’t like rice, peas and beans so they are easy to avoid.
just had an interesting conversation about chilli which is in my fave Indian and apparently it raises body temp which ms does not like so that may be a big clue I’m the puzzle.
looks like it’s mild and less carbs for me for a while.
xxxx
I’m ok with a small amount of chilli but anything too hot makes me feel awful. My son brought some dried chilli flakes and we added them to one or two different things, I must admit I really enjoyed the flavour they added to the dishes but I felt so awful they are now off the menu for me
For mee a nice balance diet no e numbers no ready meals etc plenty chocolate no alcohol feel really dreadful after even a small glas off wine .The worst off all for me is sweetners.
A legume is a plant that sets nitrogen leaves the ground richer than it was before it produced it’s crop pes beans clover etc
Balanced for me too, fish three times a week, meat once, loads of fruit, herbs, green stuff, veg, no bread unless I go up the road and fetch one roll, not supposed to eat cheese, had to cut my marg out and olive oil, I am supposed to eat nuts and dried fruit but I can only do that in small amounts otherwise I feel sick. I have also found that I cannot eat salads unless in small quantity, I used to eat whole platefulls and really enjoy them but body says no now. Doctor keeps giving me blood tests so I can’t cheat very often or he will rub his big belly and tell me off for bad eating habits, cholesterol blah blah. I only have one over-ready meal a week on my worst day.
I do enjoy naughty things, can’t drink hardly as I feel terrible for days and I do substitute some sugar for sweeteners although this is to lose weight only. They make me feel a little odd and I do remember being sent a link some years ago about MS sufferers staying away from sorbitol I think it was or one of those as it stirred things up a bit! (I should check this, I could be wrong about which one it was).
There are quite a few things since MS that I cannot even smell without feeling ill, so I stick to my good things that I know and love and do not venture to try new things, in case it lays me out for days on end. Funny enough though, a friend helped me out last week and I offered to cook, he wanted a curry so we ordered in (not something I would do for me or eat one out). I loved it, he then sent me a text at 5.30 the next morning asking if I was rushing about as he was and it woke him up. No was my answer, I was fine.
Mr Waitrose has delivered my super healthy food and I have eaten - er all the nasty stuff first. Oh well, the thought was there. Now I left with all the green things. I keep buying glace cherries to make a cake then eating them out of the container. Bad girl!
Hi! You have now given me a craving for glacé cherries, I so love them.
my husband has ruined my new day new diet by taking me out to lunch so will try and have good intentions tomorrow and start again lol.
i too find some smells of certain foods make me feel funny and so glad you enjoyed your curry I think the moral is all things in moderation from now on and the odd treat when I want and not to stress about it all too much.
enjoy those cherries (it’s fruit so that is good!!)
xxx
Yey to chocolate xxx
Hi Louise, just a tit bit of spices & their properties, a lot found in Indian cuisine,
Turmeric contains curcumin which is widely considered an anti inflammatory & has been used for many years as such (amongst other things)
Ginger, scientific studies prove this is a very effective anti inflammatory
Cinnamon, again widely used
Garlic is proven
Cayenne,contains natural components called capsaicinoids
Chilli powder is considered a powerful anti inflammatory spice as are black pepper & cloves.
The MS Trust have said that there is no evidence to suggest that MS is related to food allergies, I only add this so you may want to explore further as to why you have reacted to certain food groups as you have. Sometimes there is a response to something when other factors are at play, not necessarily related to MS. That’s not to say, if something else is amiss, the MS will feel a whole lot worse. Sometimes though, takeaways etc, will use ingredients that may exacerbate problems, they cater to our tastes & may have added something they would not normally use in their menus at home. Get checked out, hope this helps!!! Tracey x
One thing that you can say about all the diets is that they are all more or less different, and they will all cure/beat/overcome MS.
Now my logic says if one of them is right, all the rest are wrong. So which one is right? And if all but one is wrong, how do you know that they are not all wrong?
Yes, we do know that some of us have a bad reaction to certain foods - what we do not know is whether it is us, or has our medication had a part to play?
Much has been made of the beneficial effect of Simvastatin, without any mention of the fact (yes, a real fact) that you should not mix Simvastatin and grapefruit juice!
If a particular food group has an adverse effect on you, then stop eating it! (Or drinking it).
Geoff
aspartame is the bad sweetener. somebody mentioned sorbitol but that one doesnt sound so bad. sorry for the random placing of this reply
If one or more off those diets cured ms why are we on here?
I know, I was just asking if people found some foods that made their symptoms worse and it cannot be cured by diet xx
I may well be wrong, but … My thought. Yes I have ms, but that does not make me immune to anything else going wrong with this amazing body of mine.
from what I have read ms and diet are relatively unconnected, obviously eating a healthy diet is good for one and all and some foods help with the stomach dealing with DMD, for me I stick to an egg & toast for breakfast, and I am never having colliflower cheese for tea again. Other people find other foods work for them.
so I suppose my point is, if you didn’t have ms would you ask for allergy testing or just avoid a food causing you probs ? You are still you.
P.s. A friend of mine who has not got ms reacts to anything with chilli in. My memory of the symptoms she talked of sound smiler to your reaction.(she only ‘swells a little’ with a small amount,but feels really unwell with a large amount). We haven’t had a long conversation about it, it was only that I first of suggested a meal at our local Indian, she was not keen,I then suggested she came for a chilli at mine, so she explained. I made a lasagna in the end, it was a shame as my hubby dose a great chilli.
I think cauliflower is just wrong. And I will never eat cauliflower cheese, under any circumstances. Luckily my OH also hates the vile vegetable.
Sue
Oooohhhh now now Sue cauliflower cheese is gorgeous love it love it with lashings of HP sauce on it . I reckon your mum or dad used to make you sit at the tea table and not get down till you had cleaned your plate . I think you have been mentally scared pmsl .
Loving it Iain xx
Yes cauliflower cheese and brown sauce is amazing but there is no way ever I would eat mashed potato or baked beans!!! They are the devils spawn!!! Xx
I have words to describe the experience of ingesting cauliflower cheese (see Brain Fog thread in reference to Advocaat & Baileys), however there is a time & a place, & it’s dinner time. If cheese must be added to a vegetable, Stilton & broccoli soup is perfectly acceptable, (my preference anyway) xx