In doing some more reading of the MS Recovery Diet, I’ve decided to take a step back.  I was going all out and cutting out all five of the main triggers at once but not quite doing it all the way.  The book recommends that you start by eliminating gluten for a couple weeks and see if that makes any difference, and then taking out dairy, and so on.  It also says that it may take a while to notice any differences, and that keeping a food and symptom diary will help.

My revised plan is to stay gluten- and dairy-free, and keep to 15g or less of saturated fat a day.  I’ve already spent a bunch of time and money on the gluten-free part, and it’s pretty easy at this point to stay dairy-free.  For now I won’t worry as much about the legumes, eggs, and yeast.  Among other things, that will make baking a lot easier!  Just try finding or making a decent bread that does not contain gluten, eggs, or yeast!

I’ll also start being more mindful of my symptoms and how I’m feeling on a day to day basis, and keep track of it here as well as the food.  Hopefully that will make it easier to notice any possible correlations.

hemp protein shake (frozen pineapple, TJ’s vanilla hemp protein, Silk unsweetened coconut milk, water, SP Fiber) [2.5g]

Snack:

Rice Dream carob-covered “ice cream” bar [4.5]

Lunch:

Spinach salad w/ two leftover chicken fingers (cubed), 2 tsp pumpkin seeds, 1/2 apple (cubed), and a drizzle of honey mustard [1g]

1/2 pomegranate

Dinner:

tuna salad w/ celery, green onion, pickle relish, made with dairy-free, soy-free, egg-free mayonnaise! [1.5g]

rice crackers

Snack:

dairy-free egg-free chocolate pudding from Cooking Free by Carol Fenster [2g]

Total sat fat: 11.5g

Notes:

I went to a local health-food store, and unfortunately the prices were quite high, so I wasn’t going to buy anything.  But I felt kinda bad about that, so I picked up a single Rice Dream frozen treat.  As I was rather mindlessly munching away on it, and thinking “this doesn’t really have any flavor”, it occurred to me to check for saturated fat grams.  Yikes! 7!  Good thing I only ate 3/4 of it.  Totally not worth it, since it wasn’t that great anyway.  And carob is a legume.  Lesson learned:  always read the label before you buy!

The mayonnaise is homemade.  I will post the recipe after I see how it holds up for a couple of days.

My 11 yr old son, who has never before shown any interest in cooking, was flipping through Carol Fenster’s book, and decided to make the chocolate pudding.  It was really good!  We made it with coconut milk, which has 5g sat fat per cup, so I’m going to guess 2g for what I ate.

• 8 cups peeled, seeded winter squash, cut into 1" cubes (I use butternut)
• 1 medium onion, cut in wedges
• 1/4 cup apple cider
• 2 Tbsp EVOO
• 1 Tbsp brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg or ginger

In a greased 3 qt baking dish, combine squash and onion.  Combine remaining ingredients and pour over veggies, tossing to coat.  Bake uncovered at 450°F for 35 minutes or until tender, stirring twice.  Makes 8 servings.

{Winter squash can be difficult to peel.  That’s one of the reasons I like to use butternut, as it has a smooth surface, and not ridged like some others. I use a vegetable peeler and have to make 2-3 passes to get down to the flesh.  Also, some stores sell squash already peeled and cubed in the produce section.}

TJ GF granola [1g]

almond milk

Snack:

organic tortilla chips [.5g]

2 T Wholly Guacamole [1g]

1/2 tropical smoothie made w/ water

sm apple w/ almond butter [.5g]

Dinner:

salad w/ tomatoes, bell pepper, cuke, red onion, sunflower seeds, vinaigrette [1.5g]

1 slice Little Caesar’s pepperoni pizza [5g], and of course it contains wheat, dairy, soy, and yeast

Snack:

puffed millet cereal w/ nectarine and 1/2 c TJ’s vanilla coconut milk [2.5g]

Total saturated fat: 12g

rice krispies w/ half sliced banana and almond milk [0g]…just realized that rice krispies have malt flavoring and are not GF [0g]

Lunch:

Romaine Rice Tuna Salad, made with spinach [1.5g]

Snack:

shake w/ frozen strawberries, 1/2 banana, 1 c rice milk, TJ’s Hemp Protein

Dinner:

turkey cutlet [.5g]

cider-roasted butternut squash [.5g]

Snack:

corn chex

almond milk

1 double chocolate cookie (freshly baked! couldn’t resist) [3g]  

Total saturated fat:  5.5g

Toasted two pieces of Ener-g Rice Mix bread from last night, with a little smear of Trader Joe’s raspberry fruit spread. [1g]

3/4 c TJ’s GF granola, 1/2 c almond milk [1g]

Lunch:

1/2 c Cashew carrot ginger soup, rice crackers [2g]

med Honeycrisp apple w/ 1 Tbsp almond butter [.5g]

Dinner:

big colorful salad w/ dijon vinaigrette and 2 Tbsp sunflower seeds [2g]

Pamela’s chocolate chip cookie and 1/3 c almond milk [1g]

Notes:

The rice bread is so crumbly that it didn’t work well in the toaster; it fell apart too much.  I’m hoping there are better bread options out there, because this just does not have the best taste or texture.

Total saturated fat: 7.5g

Some of my fat g tallies are guesses, like how much is in a slice of that rice bread or in however much dressing I drizzled on my salad (I don’t go overboard).  When I can, I get the info off the package and measure out my serving.

I think maybe I should be keeping track of protein, too.  I don’t think I’m getting very much.

shake (raspberries, rice milk, TJ’s vanilla hemp protein) [0]

Snack:

Cashew Cookie Larabar [1.5 g]

Lunch:

Chipotle salad w/ chicken and fresh tomato salsa, drizzle of vinaigrette [3g]

Snack:

1 oz (14 chips) organic corn tortilla chips w/ 2 Tbsp Wholly Guacamole Classic [1.5g sat fat total]

Dinner:

1 slice Columbus herbed turkey breast [0g]

1 slice rice quick bread made with Ener-g Rice Mix [<1g]

1/2 pomegranate

Notes:

I bought three different brands of gluten-free baking mix yesterday.  The Ener-g Rice Mix is my first foray into gluten-free baking.  I used the quick bread recipe on the box, but instead of 2 eggs, I used 2 Tbsp ground flax+6 Tbsp warm water as a replacer, and it seemed to work fine.  It smelled okay while baking, but the flavor will take some getting used to.  The bread is quite crumbly, and tastes like there’s too much baking soda in it.  I think it might be pretty good toasted with a little jam or almond butter.

Breakfast:

TJ’s GF granola, almond milk [1g]

Lunch:

Pacific Natural Foods Cashew Carrot Ginger soup (different, and tasty!), rice crackers [3.5g]

clementine

Treat:

Up until a month ago I was drinking iced coffee w/ whipped cream and sprinkles every afternoon.  I used Maxwell House French Vanilla Iced Latte mixed w/ skim milk, and light whipped cream, so the calories and fat weren’t really an issue.  But now I’m dairy-free (boo hoo!).  A couple of weeks ago, Aldi had bottles of their knock-off of Starbucks Frappuccino in fall flavors, and I just couldn’t resist getting the pumpkin spice.  It’s been in the fridge all this time, but I cracked it open this afternoon and am currently enjoying 1/2 of it (about 5oz) with the whipped cream and chocolate sprinkles.  Ah, heaven! [2g]

Dinner:

DeBoles Multigrain “spaghetti”

pesto (used recipe in MSRD; basil, garlic, salt, EVOO, sunflower seeds, pepitas)

The spaghetti was not so good; it broke up into 1” pieces on its own, and was just kind of a mushy blob.  It says to rinse it in cold water when it’s done boiling, but I didn’t want cold spaghetti, so used hot water; maybe that had something to do with it.  I actually didn’t love the pesto either, but maybe it would be better on something else.

I’m guessing on the fat content, but based on the amount I actually ate, I’ll put it at [2g sat fat].

Snack:

corn chex [0g]

rice milk [0]

Shake made w/ frozen pineapple and banana, water and oj, and TJ Hemp Protein.  It tasted pretty good, but this time around, maybe because I used water instead of rice milk, I noticed a bit of an aftertaste.  [0g sat fat]

Snack:

1 Cashew Cookie Larabar [1.5g sat fat]

Lunch:

salad w/ 2 cups spring mix, radish, red bell pepper, grape tomatoes, 1 Tbsp pumpkin seeds, dijon vinaigrette from SPPP guide book [approx 2g sat fat from seeds and dressing]

1 oz (14 chips) organic blue corn tortilla chips w/ 2 Tbsp Wholly Guacamole Classic [1.5g sat fat total]

Snack:

3/4 c Trader Joe’s Gluten Free Cranberry Maple Nut Granola w/ 1/2 c almond milk [1g sat fat]

Dinner:

salad w/ 2 cups romaine lettuce, grape tomatoes, 1 tsp sliced green onion, 2 tsp Chipotle’s vinaigrette, a couple of blue corn chips crunched up on top [<1g sat fat]

Snack:

honeycrisp apple w/ 1 Tbsp almond butter [.5g sat fat]

1 Pamela’s chocolate chip cookie [1g]

Total saturated fat:  8.5g

Breakfast:

Shake w/ 2 scoops Complete, 1 scoop Fiber, frozen raspberries, 1 cup rice milk, 5 drops chocolate stevia.  It turned out a little too sweet with both the rice milk and stevia (even though the rice milk is unsweetened).  Next time I would just add cocoa powder and no stevia.

Lunch:

Craig and I went to Panera.  I got You Pick Two with 1/2 Café Salad and 1/2 Sierra Turkey sandwich, with water to drink.  After three weeks of no bread, the asiago focaccia was like manna from heaven!  Of course, the sandwich contained all 5 of the restricted ingredients on the MSRD (gluten, egg, dairy, soy, and yeast).  The 1/2 sandwich is listed as having 6g saturated fat.

The café salad’s only issue was the reduced fat balsamic vinaigrette, which I used very little of.  It contains soy, and 1g sat fat.

Then, we went to Starbucks, where the guy talked me into trying the new Salted Caramel Mocha Frappuccino.  Detailed ingredient lists don’t seem to be available, but I know it had milk, and oodles of sugar.  And since I forgot to request fat-free milk, my frapp had 2g sat fat.  Oh, and it was delicious!

My daily saturated fat allowance on the MSRD is 15g, and lunch took up 9g.  I’ll probably go vegetarian for dinner.

Snack:

Shake made with frozen mixed berries, 1/2 frozen banana, rice milk, and Trader Joe’s Organic Vanilla Hemp Protein Powder.

I bought this hemp powder a while ago, and couldn’t stomach the flavor.  Now that I’m done the SPPP, I really don’t want to keep using the Complete because it contains a soy ingredient.  Since the Complete also contains hemp protein and I really don’t mind the taste now, I figured I’d give TJ’s another try.  And guess what?  It’s pretty good!

Dinner:

chicken rice soup

rice crackers

gluten-free chocolate chip cookie (Pamela’s Products, 1g sat fat, does contain egg and soy)

candy corn

Snack:

1/2 cup organic honey’d cornflakes

1/2 cup almond milk