Fulenn's MS page New: before/after pics on page 15

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Re: Fulenn's MS page

Postby fulenn » Tue Jul 10, 2012 10:20 pm

Rest of the day went well. I walked 1 mile on the treadmill and worked with the hand weights and leg weights, too.

moonwatcher, my daughter smiled when I told her that you voted for the butternut squash, too. We didn't make it tonight, but will have it tomorrow night. The pressure cooker ended up with risotto in it instead.

We ended up buying a sandwich with meat on it for our guest this evening, she is only 13 and was hungry for her regular food. She did try the risotto, though, and enjoyed the fruit salad. Her mother and I talked for a while when we picked her up today and it turns out that mom is off of gluten, she feels better and doesn't get stomach aches any longer, though she did say that she does not have Crohn's (sp?) disease. She said she will be interested to see how things go with this woe. It's nice to meet someone who doesn't have a problem with trying something different. :)

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Read my journal about tackling Multiple Sclerosis with a plant-based McDougall diet in the journal forum on this site, Fulenn's MS Page.

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Re: Fulenn's MS page

Postby fulenn » Wed Jul 11, 2012 12:57 pm

Here is a picture of todays lunch:

Image

It is rainbow chard, onion, tomato, with nutritional yeast on top, red cabbage and a dill pickle spear on the side. The sweet potato is still in the convection oven, so I will eat it when it is finished.

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What if love really IS the answer?

Read my journal about tackling Multiple Sclerosis with a plant-based McDougall diet in the journal forum on this site, Fulenn's MS Page.

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Re: Fulenn's MS page

Postby moonwatcher » Wed Jul 11, 2012 2:51 pm

Looks really pretty on the blue plate. Blue plate special. :)

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Re: Fulenn's MS page

Postby lmggallagher » Wed Jul 11, 2012 3:00 pm

fulenn wrote:
My mother lives 1000 miles away, so she never really saw what was going on with me until this summer. As soon as she saw, she was 100% behind me. My girls and I visited last month for 3 weeks and she graciously asked me how to cook McDougall, bought and cooked most of the food for us, and never, not even one time, complained about it. :) I am very, very lucky to have someone like her.

I hope everything turned out well for you with your cancer scare. Fulenn


Fuelenn - your Mother sounds completely wonderful - actually perfect - she coked McDougall for you, WOW! I am so glad you got to have 3 weeks with her, it must be hard to be separated by so many miles!

Cancer is all behind me I am 15 years in remission. Thanks for the well wish. :-D

Your lunch looks great - so absolutely colorful! All that color has got to be the highest end of nutrition, yay!
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Re: Fulenn's MS page

Postby moonwatcher » Wed Jul 11, 2012 5:07 pm

Thanks for telling me about your daughter smiling. Was in a hurry earlier and missed that one. Also good to hear about the Mom who is open to changes in eating. All good. And I agree with Michelle, that is great about your Mom.

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Re: Fulenn's MS page

Postby never give up » Thu Jul 12, 2012 9:36 am

Hi, I agree that it is interesting that we made it here together around the 12 year mark. I tried replying yesterday and when I hit preview it went to places unknown and I couldn't find it again :crybaby: :) Just know that you gave me a great deal to think about. Especially the part about the isolation and what moonwatcher wrote about the book, chronic disease and peoples reaction. I read and reread what each of you had written and the points that were made. After I gave up in frustration with the computer, I spent the day analyzing the whys of my feelings of isolation to see if it is something I can change.

I think that here (on the computer) is my only option, at least for now. My "world" gets smaller and smaller, but it is out of necessary. My energy is spent mostly on just getting through another day. I have my DH here at home and close family on the phone. It is rare to have human contact any place except the doctors or grocery store. I don't like it that way, but it is what it is. I think that this WOE is helping with my energy level already though!!! (I haven't been able to explain it otherwise.) My DH had some time off and we actually did some staycation things and had some fun!!! Another very foreign word. Last time we did things like that was so long ago I can't even recall when or what we did!!

fulenn and moonwatcher thanks for the encouragement to start a journel. I am doing it on my own (not on here). I also have Crohns disease and trust me when I say that the issues I have to track I would find hard to put "out there". BM's are not polite dinner conversation material. :lol: I have also had different cancers and am in the watchful waiting stage for that.

I think you a providing a wonderful service here fulenn and moonwatcher! Where Dr McDougall is doing the MS study I had hopes of finding a place to follow peoples journey with MS and this WOE. Because of his study, I was really surprised not to find a discussion group, or something similar, dedicated to MS and his diet. Then you came along. :D What you are doing is just so encouraging and informative! I am certain that if other people with MS can find this page that it will help steer them to this WOE.

Hope you all are having a great day
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Re: Fulenn's MS page

Postby moonwatcher » Thu Jul 12, 2012 10:40 am

Hi fulenn and never give up--

never give up, I'm always so glad to see a post from you! Thanks for sharing all of this. You made me laugh about the BMs, etc. With irritable bowel issues of my own, it's one of the reasons my journaling stays off line as well. :-)

I think it's good to meditate on the isolation, and to accept that, as you say, "it is what it is." And to bloom where you are planted, which is exactly what you are doing. In time, you may well experience some expansion of that. I have. And the internet is a part of it. But I've also learned to value the quiet life I have, and to honor the pace I need to go with, and within that to honor the "expanding" that comes from being okay with that. So even though, fulenn, you are able to celebrate NOT taking a nap, I celebrate that i take one each day, and relish it, because it affords me more energy to have a day filled with meaningful activities, at whatever level I am up to. So it's ALL GOOD.

Okay, gals--I am off to a you pick flower farm!! A friend is taking me out there. So I have a beautiful field trip today--a rare occasion, speaking of the wide world.

more later and hugs to you both, and Michelle, too--

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Re: Fulenn's MS page

Postby fulenn » Thu Jul 12, 2012 7:25 pm

Sounds like you are both doing well, never give up and Moonwatcher. :) Hope the trip to the flower farm turned out well.

The girls and I went bowling today, then we went to get some things for one of the girls birthday party next week. We got home and are making fajitas: bell peppers, tomatoes, onions, portabella mushroom strips. Mmmm!

I got out of the house without eating lunch, so we stopped by the store and grabbed a bag of baby carrots--that did the trick. I need to start having something to take with me, but at least there are grocery stores pretty much everywhere. I started eating raw, whole bell peppers after an emergency snack in the car was really good, now I eat one almost every day with breakfast.

Energy levels are staying up, I seem to be averaging 9 hours of sleep between any naps and my regular nights sleep. When I get about that much at night, I don't seem to need a nap the next day; when I get less than that, I make it up with a nap. This spring I was often sleeping 12 or more hours per day!

I have been walking every day this week and lifting weights every other day. Only about 1 mile and only VERY light weights.

Fulenn
What if love really IS the answer?

Read my journal about tackling Multiple Sclerosis with a plant-based McDougall diet in the journal forum on this site, Fulenn's MS Page.

My blog: http://fulennskitchen.blogspot.com
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Re: Fulenn's MS page

Postby moonwatcher » Thu Jul 12, 2012 7:57 pm

HI fulenn,

I snack on carrots between meals, too, and they really hold me over. Plus, I love the crunch. This is the second reference I've read in a week to someone who likes to snack on a whole raw bell pepper. so maybe I'm being given permission to do that, too. I really like peppers raw, and often end of crunching on them in my salads instead of using them in a recipe cooked. The fajitas sound great!

I am curious--lots of your meal plans are the veggies. Do you regularly eat beans and whole starches too. I know you mentioned risotto. And also something made from wheat, so I am assuming you don't need to be gluten free like I do.

Sounds like you had fun with your girls. That's great. And a birthday party--though they can be a lot of work, I really remember my son's parties with such fondness. Special times. Glad you can enjoy them.

That's great about the improving rhythm of sleeping and going throughout the day. The dog and I walk a mile every day, sometimes longer. That is great about the weights, no matter how light!

best,

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Re: Fulenn's MS page

Postby fulenn » Thu Jul 12, 2012 10:34 pm

Just lost my post! I'll try again:

moonwatcher, I absolutely do eat starches and am sorry to anyone who reads this who has not seen what an important part of my diet this is. I start almost every day out with a bowl of oatmeal (and recently, a bell pepper). The rest of my eating involves sweet potatoes, brown and white rice (mostly brown), and sometimes whole grain pastas or corn tortillas. I fix beans in my pressure cooker once a week or so and serve them over rice, with kale or other greens in it, and, like today, cold out of the refrigerator for a quick snack. :) I guess I think of the starch as the base of the meal, and, like the plate, just assume it's there before I start dumping veggies and such on it.

never give up, I know exactly what you mean about just trying to get through the day. This way of eating has helped me be able to do more than that because of the increase in energy and the decrease in several of my other symptoms. I hope it will do the same for you. I had a great time looking for the right color of mint green balloons for my daughter's birthday party today because I haven't been able to do much with the children for the past few months. I don't even like shopping!

I have found that, out of the past 5 1/2 weeks or so, this past week has been the hardest for me. I got into a new habit before vacation, my family and I stayed with it completely while we were gone for 3 weeks, but coming home I almost went back into my bad habits without thinking about it--I actually went to Target and stood in front of the Gardein section of the frozen foods intending to pick out a couple things to help out during the week. I haven't done that for weeks! I didn't get anything, just asked myself what I was doing. But I had to reestablish good habits. Now it is easy again.
Do remember that the habits of mine have cut out several items that seem to help me feel better with the MS, no avocadoes, nuts, nut butters, almost no breads, no fake meats (which I ate a lot of before), no soy products except for soy sauce and tempeh; I am really trying to only have foods that are as close to their natural forms as possible, thus all the fruits and veggies. But it is still a starch-based diet.

Fulenn
What if love really IS the answer?

Read my journal about tackling Multiple Sclerosis with a plant-based McDougall diet in the journal forum on this site, Fulenn's MS Page.

My blog: http://fulennskitchen.blogspot.com
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Re: Fulenn's MS page

Postby moonwatcher » Thu Jul 12, 2012 11:29 pm

hi fulenn,

Thanks for describing more of what you eat, what has helped you, etc. I think it's good for others who come across this just starting to see what works for you and what doesn't. I really have to keep those high fat things to a bare minimum. My main "fat" is 1 tbs of golden flax seeds a day. I divide it up into a teaspoon at a time on oatmeal, salad. I sometimes add minuscule amounts of nuts or nut butter to a sauce or whole dish. And I rarely eat avocado, and if I do, only a bit. I think it is really important to keep those very very low or not eat them at all, if one can't do that. (I always keep in the back of my mind Dr. Swank's meticulous measuring of all that stuff, and how he eventually came to saying it's best to keep your saturated fat (from high fat sources) to 5 grams or less. That's not very much at all. Two teaspoons of peanut butter is 5 grams. I never have that much at once, but the two teaspoons might go into a sauce that I put little dots of on a salad or stir fry. I don't HAVE to do that, though, and I don't always. That feels good. At that small amount, I'm fine. But I wouldn't be if had much more. The tablespoon of flax is a day is just right for me. I guess what I'm doing falls within the "1-2 oz of high fat seeds or nuts a day" that Esselstyn, Novick and McDougall all say is okay, though that's not what is emphasized. But I'm not even eating 1 oz a day. 2 oz of ground flax is 6 tablespoons--I know because I measured it on my food scale! :-) For me, the flax does seem to help. But I just need a small amount. (1 tbs a day is what Esselstyn recommends.)

That's interesting how you "caught" yourself at the grocery case and sort of woke up. :)

It is so nice for you to be able to do more than just get through the day. But yes, we all know what that's like, it seems. Here's to many more good days for all of us.

Mint green balloons!! Hooray for birthday parties and being able to enjoy the "little things" like that.

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Re: Fulenn's MS page

Postby moonwatcher » Thu Jul 12, 2012 11:35 pm

just wanted to add that I totally agree on the whole foods thing. The less bread and refined anything I eat the better. Thanks again. :)

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Re: Fulenn's MS page

Postby fulenn » Fri Jul 13, 2012 6:31 pm

Today I walked a mile with my youngest daughter at the track. Am hoping to walk again this evening with DH.

My oldest daughter has been wanting polenta, so I made some for lunch today and we poured some of the eggplant stew from the other day on top. Here is a picture:

Image

B-oatmeal, blueberries
l-polenta, eggplant stew, kale and romaine salad
s-watermelon
d-don't know what we ae doing yet--still not hungry after the polenta :)

Fulenn
What if love really IS the answer?

Read my journal about tackling Multiple Sclerosis with a plant-based McDougall diet in the journal forum on this site, Fulenn's MS Page.

My blog: http://fulennskitchen.blogspot.com
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Re: Fulenn's MS page

Postby moonwatcher » Fri Jul 13, 2012 6:34 pm

Thanks for your updates fulenn. That polenta topped with the stew looks yummy. Reminds me how comforting and filling polenta is. :)

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Re: Fulenn's MS page

Postby fulenn » Fri Jul 13, 2012 11:56 pm

I ended up eating a sweet potato and a romaine lettuce salad with raw veggies on it for dinner. I also went on a walk with DH and was easily able to walk another mile. I think I will keep trying to do that for a few days and see how it works. Also, I plan to keep doing the weight lifting every other day.

Fulenn
What if love really IS the answer?

Read my journal about tackling Multiple Sclerosis with a plant-based McDougall diet in the journal forum on this site, Fulenn's MS Page.

My blog: http://fulennskitchen.blogspot.com
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