January 22, 2016

plate of food with meat and salad

Today begins the rest of my life

I am so tired, wanting just to cry, tired.

I cant remember your name, but you just told me.

I wake up and need to shake my hands and feet to wake them up.

Sometimes I wake during the night and cant feel my arms. It scares me.

We were walking on a tour, and my feet began to burn. But the soles of my shoes were still cool. The next day, my feet were numb. Google. MS symptoms.

Reality check.

I have MS and my symptoms are not going away.

Decision time.

Swank will be tough. I love red meat and have fought low iron for decades. My family hate fish. Type A personalities dont do things by halves, but we also dont rest. But (and there is always a but) … it is becoming clear I dont have a choice.

So, those words and feelings were true on 22 January 2016 when I I got Swanked. But, how I did i do it, and what is the advice I give those to-be-Swanked?

Preparation; Planning; Diary; Motivation; Support

Preparation

Taking control, means being in control. Focus on what you can do - what you can eat.

15 grams of saturated fat per day equals 3 meals of less than 5 grams of saturated fat.

That gives us a meal limit.

So, let’s work through some typical meals and swankify them as necessary. The following is what has worked for me.

  • Coffee - found out that ‘light milk’ actually has 2% saturated fat. Assuming each flat white coffee has 100ml milk, each coffee is suddenly 2 grams of saturated fat! Easy decision to switch to skim milk at 0.2% saturated fat. (Tip: ensure your takeaway is skim not just light milk. Not all cafes are enlightened, but to keep you as a customer, they may be)
  • Breakfast - calculate the saturated fat of your typical weekday breakfast and a weekend breakfast. For example, when I do eat breakfast, it is usually 2-3 slices of gluten free bread with flax seed oil and a topping. Or it is 1 cup of rice bubbles with 1/2 cup skim milk and honey. Once you know the saturated fat content of your typical meals, things get easier.
  • Lunch - again, calculate the saturated fat for your typical ‘at home’ and ‘at work’ and ‘going out’ meals. For example, at home an egg white omelette with mushrooms, english spinach and tomatoes is sat fat free! At work, cucumber sushi is cheap and filling. Going out is more difficult, but grilled chicken breast (ensure it is grilled and not fried), with extra salad instead of chips, with the dressing on the side.
  • Dinner - I am now used to ‘swankifying’ family meals. Pasta dishes - are now tomato based, and use turkey mince instead of veal. The photo above was my version of the kebab I made for everyone else (remember, i am gluten free as well as low-sat fat). Brown rice to fill me, slow cook chicken in low-fat greek yoghurt spice mix. Everyone else added sour cream, bread, hummus, etc.

Planning

I dont know anyone who isnt busy. And given my life (husband, kids, work, study), the only way my house keeps ticking along is to plan a week’s meals every weekend. Sunday is my day of choice. I love my local markets, start with proteins and (based on price), pick out Sunday roast (family tradition), Monday, Tuesday, you get the idea. Friday is usually left overs and Saturday is ‘fend for yourself’.

The weeks I dont plan and shop, I really do pay for it during the week. What’s for dinner? Dunno. What do we have? Dunno. Then there is the half hour on the way home at the shops, along with everyone else who is just picking up a couple of things on the way home. Planning and doing a week’s shop does save time and will save money - try it for a couple of weeks and you wont go back.

Keep a diary

We are not perfect. And our eyes will deceive us. For the first couple of weeks, try to prepare all your meals. Just until you get confident with what you can and cant eat.

Keep a diary - not only of your diet, but also your symptoms. How are you feeling? For me, the insomnia was the first to go. Just that alone is worth the effort for me. One week every month, keep a diary. Recalculate the sat fat content of your meals. Are you resting? Are you having enough ‘good oils’.

Stay motivated

This isnt just about fitting into a new pair of jeans. This is about saving our lives. So it makes sense that we reiterate why … again … and again … and again. This interview with Roy Swank was aired on the 5th Estate on 16 May 1989. At 18 minutes, it is my required viewing every couple of months.

A long discussion with Dr McDougall and Roy Swank recorded in 1990. Professor Swank talks through his research and why his protocol works. I’ve watched it once, but promised myself that I will watch the hour and a half discussion again if ever I want to give up.

Stay connected

I couldnt do this without real and virtual friends. Only my closest friends know about my multiple sclerosis. For everyone else, I just say that I have a couple of auto-immune diseases (true), that I am treating with diet (also true) and that I am taking the advice of a new doctor (true). Very few people care enough to ask for more information and usually I can redirect them.

But, there is strength in having a team around you.

I thoroughly recommend the Swank MS Diet and Lifestyle face book groups - there is a public page and a closed group and the MS Recovery face book group that also has a public page and a closed group.