MS & Diet

If there’s ever a post title to scare people off, it’s this one.  The support group I attend has had dieticians visit and lecture us on how to eat.  Every member of that group is now of a singular opinion: if we never hear from another dietician, it will be too soon.

There are entire books written on the topic, one of which I wrote about in a less than positive light in a previous post.  Actually, the post was unequivocally condemnatory.  From what I saw in it, the book was as worthy of censure as anything I’ve ever read.  Then there’s the book called “The MS Recovery Diet”.  How cruel a title is that?

The whole diet and MS thing was driven home again for me this weekend when I endured yet another sermon from a prophet of the dietary religion.  Hellfire and brimstone that would have made Jonathan Edwards blush.

Remember when there were four food groups: meat, dairy, grains, and fruits and vegetables?  There are now a few dozen versions of that list.  Grains tend to be left off many of them.  The ancient reference to bread as the staff of life has been reversed.  It’s now the curse of death.  Or at least a big butt.  To gluten or not to gluten?

Meats are also questionable.  Between fat, cholesterol, sodium, and the current carnivore-as-murderer ethos, it’s best to eschew meats, too.  Dairy’s in the same sinking boat.  Besides all the calories, fat, and additives, eating dairy is exploiting poor helpless animals, you steenkeeng species-ist!

That leaves fruits and veggies available.  But, uh-oh!  Not all fruits and veggies are created equal.  Fruit with high sugar content should be avoided, sugar being the antichrist of the dietary religion.

What’s left?  Kale.  The superfood.

OK, there are a few more choices, but the dark green leafy vegetables are definitely the superstars today.  Legumes are always a nice choice, too.

Have we gone too far?  I’ve heard of children as young as five years old checking their cereal for trans-fats.  I don’t know what you think, but that ain’t natural.

At the aforementioned MS & diet talk, the speaker waxed eloquently on the advantages of seafood.  But not the fatty kind such as tuna because it might contain mercury.  Except those fatty fish contain more vitamin D, thought to be beneficial to those of us with MS.  So how about salmon?  Great!  Except, not from certain locations.  Ecuador is good, China is bad.

Most of my friends with MS have enough to worry about without having to track down the country of origin of their salmon.

Then there’s the uncertainty factor.  To have MS is to live with a sword of Damocles hanging over your head.  Now we’re supposed to deal with the proliferation of diets and ever-changing research thereon?  The fish oil that we’ve all been taking?  Oops.  Turns out scientists think it might not be so helpful after all.

What’s a fella to do?

Hey, if you want to survive on legumes and kale, more power to you.  My own dietary plan was summed up by Jesus in His so-called sermon on the mount, where he said:

Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?

Here’s a thought: What if the stress we put ourselves through by counting calories and avoiding trans-fats and changing to the latest diet fad causes more damage to our health than the foods we’re obsessing over?  Wouldn’t it be strange if what Jesus said was true?

I’m not saying that diet isn’t important.  That would be foolish.  But I’m a big believer in “moderation in all things.”  Also, if you ain’t movin’, the diet just might be a waste of time, or worse.

As I’ve mentioned before, I’m a writer and recently finished a novel.  Now I’m going to write a new book.  And I’m putting it here, now.  The title is, “How to Lose Weight and Be Healthy”.  Here it is:

Page 1: “Eat less”

Page 2: “Exercise”

If you read that, you owe me $12.95.