Nutrisclerosis. You don't have to say it loud.

Re: Gluten free in Wilmington, NC

Great blog, I'm amazed at where gluten is in our life today. Thank you for your blog, reseach and sharing of information. I know I'm naive, but, I so wish our doctors shared this information. Amazing what it would do for everyone....Some people will only listen to doctors.

Re: Gluten free in Wilmington, NC

hi,

I have had multiple sclerosis probably several decades, although diagnosed only fifteen years ago. From the beginning, I searched for nutritional health and ended up following the low-fat swank diet. After a couple of years on it, I began to cheat. It was just too low-fat for me. I eventually ended up full time in a wheelchair and gain 50 pounds over five years. A year a go I tried Atkins again and this time research to find out if it really was bad for your heart. Of course, I found out the opposite and found myself constantly reading and researching about low-carb diets. I totally cut out sugar-- except for a few unknowing episodes when I thought something was sugar free and it was not. I did not lose very fast, so five months later decided to totally cut out wheat. I came across such a wide variety of diets but had not yet come up with the suggestion that I might be allergic to wheat.

A couple of months ago, I began to notice that I was going 6 to 8 hours at night without having to go to the bathroom-- and anyone with MS knows that this is amazing. I also began to get some movement back in my toes. At that point I did not think I needed to totally get rid of wheat. Once in a while I would have a little bit, a few bites really. That was when I noticed that my bursitis in my shoulders, which for a couple of years had been very painful when I woke up in the morning, was almost gone; however, if I ate wheat, it always came back. Now I am as dedicated to being gluten-free as I am to being sugar-free.

The other thing that I sometimes read is people going dairy free. When I read this, I always close my eyes and look for someone who does eat dairy. I don't want to give up butter, cream, and cheese. They make my life worthwhile. Now I have come across information that says once you have cut out wheat, you might become lactose intolerant. I am willing to cut out anything that makes my disease worse.

I would like to come up with my own best diet for multiple sclerosis. I appreciate your blog and check it regularly. Keep up the good work.

Re: Gluten free in Wilmington, NC

This is the first time I have ever commented online for anything. That's how moved I am to thank you for your blog. I have only read two pages so far and I can't wait to read the rest of it! I am so encouraged by blogs like this but especially yours because I am from North Carolina and when I lived there (in a rural part of Johnston County outside of Benson) I truly thought my only options for food were restaurants and Food Lion. I am very interested in how you discovered your many excellent food providers in Wilmington. I moved to Dallas a few years ago and have been shopping exclusively at Whole Foods (or Whole Paycheck as I like to call it). My next step is to find a few farmers' markets that I like.

I was diagnosed with MS in 2004 and I took Avonex for a couple of years, but the side effect of feeling like I had the flu for 16 hours once a week made me question the trade off. My symptoms are so mild I sometimes think I just have a severe B12 defiency. I stopped taking the Avonex injections and started cutting out packaged/processed foods and eating more wild caught fish and hormone free chicken. I look forward to learning more about the paleo lifestyle (I hate the word diet) and ways to find healthy farm fresh foods in urban settings.

Now on to more of your excellent blog...thanks for sharing!

Re: Gluten free in Wilmington, NC

I had my first symptoms at the end of December and my second set of symptoms at the end of last month and was officially diagnosed. Both attacks came with harsh cold/ allergy like symptoms (the first set came after I had post-nasal drip/ chest congestion and the second set came at the worst point of a cold/two weeks of allergy-like nasal congestion, itchy mouth and cough). I had an allergy test done last Thursday where they told me I was allergic to dust, tree pollen, ragweed and dog. They also tested me for different foods but didn't find any thing in that respect. Did you get allergy tested using the standard scratch test or the chemical allergy testing? And did you have triggers for new attacks (not flares) similar to how I've had colds before each new attack...or did they seem to occur randomly?

I have been taking black seed oil (Nigella Sativa) for over two months...it has many, many health benefits and there have been several accounts of it reversing autoimmune disorders including arthritis and MS. I have also been trying to eat raw honey daily as it also has many health benefits, one of which is reducing allergies. Thanks for your blog! It's very helpful...I also LOVE bread...I tried giving it up for a week or two along with other grains but have gone back to it a little.

Re: Gluten free in Wilmington, NC

Refreshing to find your blog. I reversed rheumatoid arthritis on my own after refusing drugs which often had lethal side effects and medical treatment which was merely for assessment purposes as far as I could tell. Instead, over a three year period, I researched what foods caused flareups in others, tested them on myself and changed my diet accordingly. After being in complete remission for 3 years, I discovered Art Ayers PhD blog "Cooling Inflammation" who claims that a diverse diet maintains a strong immune system which is largely centered in our gut flora (bacteria). Briefly, some gut flora needs to be present for other flora to establish itself because that is how humans evolved and how they utilize the nutrients in the foods they consume. I was able to add back the foods I was previously sensitive to and that caused RA flareups in a matter of weeks. It sounds daunting, but in reality was very simple: while maintaining an anti-inflammatory, low-carb diet, I diversified my diet concentrating on strong plants (resistant to insects and disease - like herbs, spices and foraged plants and wild berries) while continuing to try the problem foods until I could again tolerate all of them (the prerequisite gut flora was now available to them).

Most science and medical bloggers I read are adamant that at the very minimum everyone should give up wheat (99% of the world's wheat is now a mutant variety humans never evolved to utilize - therefore it causes havoc in our intestines which leads to leaky gut and all manner of dis-ease). My own "remission diet" was essentially anti-inflammatory and low-carb with the exception of a few starchy vegetables and buckwheat (not a true grain but a fruit). I had already given up wheat years before to lose weight which eliminated many other aches and pains as well so I was never tempted to return to it.

From my initial research I soon realized ALL inflammatory degenerative diseases are the same and can be reversed and cured in the same way (including Alzheimer's one man claims). The name of the disease merely indicates our individual genetic weaknesses imo.

Good luck trying to get your message out. I was never successful in doing so and Dr. Ayers appears to have limited success as well - to my amazement people actually prefer drugs and operations to changing their diet. Drugs and operations are BIG business so there is enormous pressure to keep these simple dietary cures suppressed imo.