Blog

2021 Summary and update

January 2, 2022
This year I was carnivore for the entire year, started my health coaching certification through Chris Kresser's ADAPT program, started taking bio-identical hormone replacement therapy and started taking low dose naltrexone. That is a lot considering I was on *nothing* before. Now I have a weekly injection of estrodoil (or whatever it's called!) and then progesterone for the last 14 days of my cycle, DHEA every morning and then a 4 days on 3 days off schedule with the LDN. I'm on the f'ing pharma wheel now (eye roll emoji). Despite the horrible attitude displayed in the last sentence, I ... Continue Reading

2020 Update

May 20, 2020
Hello from the 2020 Covid quarantine. I am doing really well, still med free and still using diet and lifestyle to control my MS symptoms. Full disclosure, I can't run or sprint anymore. I don't think I can walk more than two miles at a time, I haven't officially measured. *BUT* these are skills I'm working on regaining. I still work full time, run a household, cook all the meals (I am still eating that chili!!!), lift weights, etc. Last year I did some major soul searching about starting meds because of the progression I was feeling in my legs. Just ... Continue Reading

2019 Gift Guide for People With Multiple Sclerosis

December 3, 2019
Give a Great Gift to a Person With Multiple Sclerosis! Gift giving is a huge pain in the butt unless the receiver has a known hobby that requires tons of ever evolving gear. Giving a gift to a person with a disease is even harder because their limitations are usually unknown to anyone who is not extremely close to them. I am hard to buy for on both levels so this year I created a list of gifts I would love to get. The person in your life with Multiple Sclerosis may like this stuff as well. Membership to an MS ... Continue Reading

2018 Update

January 23, 2018
I want to update you all on my progress in using diet and lifestyle to control disease. I've had MS for eleven years now. I started using diet and lifestyle to control my disease about seven years ago. In the first three years after my DX (diagnosis) I had rapid decline. It was leg weakness that motivated me to try a radical diet overhaul. I was about to go on Tysabri but I said to myself, let me try this diet and lifestyle thing for thirty days and see what happens before I commit to a monthly infusion of an ... Continue Reading

Natural born loafer

December 5, 2016
I am what I like to call a natural loafer. I would rather lie on the couch and read, no matter what. It doesn’t matter how nice it is outside, it doesn’t matter that I did it yesterday, it doesn’t matter that dinner’s ready. So it’s weird that I ended up married to my husband who is an extroverted athlete. While I was busy failing the President’s Physical Fitness test in gym class, he was busy getting picked first and making the all star team. But, the stars aligned and we are together. The stars aligned further and we created ... Continue Reading

Smashing Conventional Wisdom Part 2

February 3, 2013
If I wanted this blog post to be 3 days long instead of 2 parts long (check out part 1 HERE) I would go into the horrific conventional wisdom regarding fat. Instead of discussing fat (which is a good thing and an integral part of my diet), here is my latest myth of conventional wisdom that has been busted. I prefer to shop hungry and cook hungry. I posted this revelation on my Facebook page and people were outraged. Only .5% of commenters concurred with me. That made me realize there is a caveat. I have to be in a really good place ... Continue Reading

Smashing Conventional Wisdom Part 1

January 30, 2013
****if you are looking for information on my MS symptoms or how I got started on this lifestyle check out the earliest blogs***** I came to this lifestyle with a lifelong weight problem. It was my Multiple Sclerosis that motivated me to adopt the paleo (or whatever you want to call it. Seriously, you can call it anything) diet but in the background was always my obesity and lack of athletic prowess. I tried to lose weight my whole life. I read tons of articles about food and followed the recommendations. I went to Weight Watchers at least once a year. ... Continue Reading

Radio commentary link

September 28, 2012
Here is a link to my radio commentaries about using diet and lifestyle to control my health. Commentary Continue Reading

Moving farther away from Multiple Sclerosis

September 10, 2012
A couple of weeks ago my legs were a little floppy. I reflected on a summer of deteriorating resolve. There was a lot of corn, booze, gluten exposure (though I wouldn't actually eat it), dairy. Sooo much cheese. Gluten free pretzels. Like I can just eat cheese. I really can't. I started thinking about the concept of reintroduction. I have had only partial success. With weak, floppy legs and a bit of a fat roll I put myself on a '30 day strict phase.' I am on day 10, feeling awesome, really thinking about how things can deteriorate. You don't start ... Continue Reading

So Jack Osborne has MS

June 18, 2012
All day people have been clamoring to let me know that Jack Osborne has MS. They want me to contact him and let him know about the autoimmune protocol of paleo. Which is sweet. In the beginning I thought I could tell Montel Williams, Neal Cavuto and Ann Romney about it and that they would listen and be better. I left messages for them on their facebook pages (like I did for Jack Osborne) and their Twitter and there was absolutely no response. Not even a blip. There's a lot of reasons for that, the main one being that these ... Continue Reading

Gluten free in Wilmington, NC

March 15, 2012
It's ironic that I am gluten free because one thing I did when I first moved to the South was make regular trips back to NJ for car loads of my favorite bread. I make a perfect grilled cheese sandwich. As a cook, bread was my favorite medium. When I was struggling to make ends meet, turning bread into toast and adding butter made things OK. In fact, when I found out that I was allergic to gluten and it was causing a host of problems in my body I said I am not giving it up. Then my legs ... Continue Reading

Guest blog post from Rachel Sanders. Our first guest blog post!

January 15, 2012
The Paleo Diet/lifestyle/ theory has become part of the daily routine in the Sanders' household. I'm the trailblazer by far. My husband, Bryan, being not far behind and having no complaints. Our four kids: Ella (10), Coleman (8) Thomas (4) and Andrew (2) are along for the ride and they are (almost) enjoying it. I bought Robb Wolf's book a couple of years ago after hearing about Whitney's success on the diet. I dabbled in it but was overwhelmed at the time with other stressors and pushed it aside. I knew after reading bits and pieces I would pick it back ... Continue Reading

Neurologists: a necessary evil?

December 28, 2011
I have been procrastinating about getting an updated MRI because I always think I am pregnant. If there is any chance I am pregnant, I don't want to subject myself to gadolinium or the MRI machine. I had my yearly appointment scheduled with Dr. Mark Skeen at Duke University Medical Center the first week of January and planned to have my MRI the minute I got my period this month. Things have not worked out that way! I really like Dr. Skeen. Of all the MS Dr.'s I have been to, he has the best personality. Last year when I told ... Continue Reading

The distraction phase

December 13, 2011
I am a dog person all the way. My relationship with dogs has evolved and matured my whole life. I didn't learn how to properly treat or interact with them until a long way into the whole experience. It took a professional dog trainer to finally explain the true essence of training and then hours of internet research to learn the details. Like everything else, I had to wade through layers and layers of conventional wisdom to get to the truth and the heart of the matter. Sound familiar? The same thing has happened with nutrition and exercise. Conventional wisdom (i.e. marketing) was the lazy way out. I have ... Continue Reading

Thanksgiving and the AIP

November 20, 2011
I love Thanksgiving and I love turkey dinner. The first year of eating this way on Thanksgiving was ridiculous. My mother traditionally makes a lot of gluteny things for Thanksgiving. There's cannelloni for the first course, bulgur wheat stuffing with apricots, traditional bread stuffing, Paul Prudhomme's oyster dressing, and we always had crescent rolls. On top of all that there was also mashed potatoes, broccoli souffle, and corn. I can't eat any of the things I just mentioned. Not one thing. And that was my Thanksgiving every year. Imagine the table that first year when i brought my own food! It ... Continue Reading

More thoughts about broth and meat and the end of sugar…for now.

September 19, 2011
So I tweeted Robb Wolf asking if he thought a week of broth and meat is overkill and got no response, same with Kresser. No response. Balanced bites did respond saying that a week of broth and meat is overkill. That I should just keep doing what I am doing and that will be good. So I put it out there as an open question to the world of facebook to see what others would say. I got literally half and half responses between doing it and not doing it. From credible sources at that! Considering my confusion, I have ... Continue Reading

Why broth and meat week? Is it feasible?

September 14, 2011
I feel awesome right now. Far away from Multiple Sclerosis. I still get trace reminders of my symptoms, but none of the scary ones. And only when I eat foods I am reactive to more than once. Believe me I have broken down and eaten 2 slices of pizza. Thrown my hands in the air and said 'is it really the worst thing in the grand scheme of things?' And it's not. But the next day, I do it again. And that is the worst thing. Slippery slope my friends. So I don't do it often but when I do, ... Continue Reading

What is the autoimmune protocol of paleo?

August 5, 2011
A popular saying in the paleo world is: my paleo is your paleo is my paleo is your paleo. It means that everyone has a different take on what is paleo and what isn't. And if that's not confusing enough, there is also the autoimmune protocol. So let's first identify what paleo is and then explore the more restrictive AIP (autoimmune protocol). I like Kurt Harris's Paleo 2.0 manifesto Here the best. I like Loren Cordain's book The Paleo Diet and Robb Wolf's book The Paleo Solution the best. They explain everything with science, bio chemistry and anthropological speculation. But here ... Continue Reading

Farmer’s Market Buzzkill

July 9, 2011
The town where I live is both charming and mediocre. The beachtown culture is 'laid back.' The farmer's market reflects that. This morning, every stand had nightshades galore and autoimmuners can't eat nightshades (tomato, potato, eggplant, peppers, tobacco). I am not a farmer, that might be the only thing that grows in this soil, I don't know. There was some kale, cabbage and squash. I got a red cabbage and some kale. And those are my vegetables this week. I'll get some squash on Wednesday at the food co op. I am thankful this town at least has a farmer's market, ... Continue Reading

How did I make the connection between the paleo diet and the MS Diet book?

June 16, 2011
How did I make the connection between the paleo diet and the MS Diet book? And how did I actually start doing it? It all comes down to Crossfit. My box (what we call the gym), Crossfit Wilmington (CFW), is an amazing place that encouraged me to eat paleo and work out optimally. I am really lucky to have found it.  Or I should say, I am really lucky my sister forced it down my throat. My sister is and has always been uberfit. She went from beating our friends’ dads in arm wrestling as a child to varsity everything to ... Continue Reading