How Food Can Reduce the Symptoms of Multiple Sclerosis

Transcript:

JOANN: Welcome to Dishing Up Nutrition, a program brought to you by Nutritional Weight and Wellness; a company specializing in life-changing nutrition and nutrition counseling and nutrition classes. My name is Joann Ridout. I'm a Licensed and Registered Dietitian nutritionist working in our Maple Grove and Wayzata offices.

Today's show is about how food can reduce the symptoms of MS or multiple sclerosis. And that might be a new thought for you today. So stay tuned. I'm very excited to share a very compelling success story with you today from a client who has put her multiple sclerosis symptoms into remission. But before I introduce our guest, I would like to introduce my cohost, Britni Thomas. She's also a registered and licensed dietitian who works out of our St. Paul and Lakeville offices. Good morning, Britni.

BRITNI: Good morning Joann. I'm really excited to be here today to hear Tina's story because MS affects so many people and it can be so devastating. So I think Tina's story will give some people hope.

JOANN: Absolutely. And yes, it's great to be here. I'm so pleased to introduce our guest this morning, who has a very impressive story of her own multiple sclerosis diagnosis and remission. Tina Beehler is a registered nurse, so she really understands this stuff, a long time client and has been a nutrition educator for Nutritional Weight and Wellness also. So good morning, Tina.

TINA: Good morning.

JOANN: And welcome.

Tina’s MS story

TINA: I'm just sitting, going to sit here and pretend we're on a couch catching up. I haven't seen you guys in a while, so this is really fun. And my hope is that my story may help someone who has MS. Or if any of the listeners have a friend or a loved one with MS.

JOANN: That's right. So I met you with Tina when we were, went through teacher training together in 2013. So three years ago. It was really good to get to know you then, and to hear your amazing success story. I was always very impressed by how dedicated you were to this healing process. So I'd like you to share your story with our listeners today.

TINA: Well, it started back in 1998. I was at the health club as usual at the time. And I was working out on the StairMaster when all of a sudden my arms just gave out. It was very sudden. They just hung on the side of my body. They went limp and I thought immediately, oh my goodness. I think I have MS. I had had a background in neurology back in 1982. When I graduated from nursing school, I worked in a small four bed neuro ICU and neurology unit in St. Paul. And I thought wow this happened so suddenly, and I couldn't even lift up my water bottle at the time.

JOANN: How scary.

TINA: It was really scary. And then I thought, how am I going to drive home? And suddenly after like maybe a few hours went by, I was able to get the strength to somehow manage the steering wheel and drive home.

And over the course of the next few days, the strength eventually came back in my arms. I still always had an ache in my arms though. And I happened to be at the doctor for something else, another unrelated condition a few days later. And I told him what had happened. And I, and I said, I think I have MS. And I'll never forget. He looked at me up and down and then patted me on the back and said, “Oh, you don't have MS.”

So I thought, okay. I let go of all my worry. Years went by. And I had had some like optic migraines where my, my words were a little blurry when I would read. I had some occasional dizziness and it wasn't until spring of 2002 that my older sister came to my house in tears, because she wanted to tell me that she was just diagnosed with MS.

And I remember hugging her and thinking, I'm so glad it's MS and not like a brain tumor or something. So then her and I had a discussion thinking that maybe I should really go in and get checked by a neurologist. So I did. And they did the MRI and found four lesions in my brain, which is scar tissue. In MS what happens is it's like an electrical cord where they're the rubber coating. Your body eats away, the rubber coating is like the myelin sheath and your body will attack itself when it's an autoimmune condition. It attacks itself. And then the bare wire exposed as like your nerve. And then your body says, whoops, and it puts a scab over it. And that scab was what was preventing my arms receiving the message from my brain to move. And then left that ache.

And then so, so I had four lesions and then I had the spinal tap and that was conclusive that I did have MS. And so immediately I started on Avonex, which is a drug that you give yourself with a shot, and it's a, it's a bigger needle. It goes in your muscle. And I would take that once a week. And then my kids were seven and 10 at the time. And I've trained them to give me my shots, because I, even though I'm a nurse, you, you don't want to do it to yourself. So I did that. Right. And then it was years, a few years later, my daughter came to me and wanted to do something like Weight Watchers or Jenny Craig. And I thought, no, she's a teenager. It just really was disturbing to me. And so I had heard this lady on the radio; this was about 11 years ago, named Darlene Kvist.

And I thought, you know, she really makes a lot of sense. So I, I thought, you know, if Mackenzie is having some nutritional things, let's go see her. So we placed a phone call to Nutritional Weight and Wellness. And this was like, by pure luck. I felt like I hit the jackpot. Dar had an opening the next day. I think there was a cancellation.

JOANN: That never happens.

TINA: It never happens. And so Mackenzie had filled out her health history and it's a very extensive appointment. And I was very impressed as a nurse. We spent two hours with Dar and very extensive health history. And on it, my daughter put that I have MS. My sister has MS. My mom had fibromyalgia and my brother had alopecia. So we had, and we had all these autoimmune diseases in the family, and my niece has Crohn’s. And there's just so much in our family.

JOANN: Right.

TINA: And Dar looked at us and said, “You know, there is a link between autoimmune conditions and gluten sensitivity. And I remember I got very angry at her because I thought, wait a minute, I'm here for my daughter, not for me. So, so then Dar calmly explained the science between it; gluten sensitivity and autoimmune diseases. And it really made sense to me. And so literally it was like black and white. My daughter and I went home, cleared all the products of gluten, fake foods out of my pantry and kitchen, and never looked back.

BRITNI: That’s wonderful.

TINA: Yeah. Yeah. It's been wonderful. And then since then I, my MRIs, I would go back for yearly MRIs and my doctor, my, I, my, I never got any new lesions. And my doctor had said, “Wow, you're doing so good. What are you doing?” And I said, I'm taking my medicine. And he said, “No, you're doing more.” And I told him how I ate this way. And also, and then I do yoga most days. And so he said, “Just keep doing what you're doing.”

JOANN: Right. Wow. You have a very impressive story.

TINA: Oh, thank you.

JOANN: And as a registered nurse, it must've been really scary to have a real thorough understanding of this disease and to find out you had four of these lesions.

TINA: Well, I guess I was initially grateful that I knew my enemy. You want to find out what's wrong.

JOANN: Absolutely.

TINA: And I was grateful that I felt like I could do something. And I felt grateful that I didn't lose my vision, which could happen in MS or the strength of my legs. I just felt very fortunate and I felt very lucky to have met Dar so early on in my diagnosis.

JOANN: Absolutely. So you've gotten to a place where you don't have more lesions. That's fantastic. So it looks like it's about time for us to take our first break and you are listening to Dishing Up Nutrition. Here's some interesting data about multiple sclerosis from the MS Society. About 2.3 million people worldwide have MS and this is only an estimate, since often it takes many years to diagnose MS.

And I think in your case, Tina, four years was actually kind of a short time for, for you because it was, you know, you found out in 2002. It often takes very many years and in the past, researchers have ignored the possibility of nutritional healing for the disease. But recent research supports the fact that the Western diets that are high in inflammatory sugar, processed food, trans fats, do increase the likelihood of developing the disease. And demographic data has also shown the prevalence in the U.S in the areas where we don't see the sun much.

And there is a strong connection between vitamin D deficiencies. So the lack of sunlight, poor intestinal health and we do happen to have vitamin D on special this month. So that's a great connection as well. So, we'll be right back after the break.

BREAK

BRITNI: Welcome back to Dishing Up Nutrition. I am Britni Thomas and I am here with Joann Ridout, and we are both registered and licensed dietitians. We are here today with special guest, Tina Beehler, who is sharing her remarkable success story in her personal recovery from MS. If you have questions for Tina today, please call us in studio at (651) 641-1071. So before the break, Tina shared how she got diagnosed and how this way of eating has stopped her brain or stopped her body from attacking itself. So she's been able to put her MS into remission, which is very amazing.

JOANN: Yes, it's truly amazing. And before the break also, Tina was talking about the lesions that are the acute inflammatory lesion on the brain or the spinal cord. And that lesion is a collection of immune cells that attack the myelin sheath. And that myelin sheath is a protective coating around the nerve, much like an electrical cord. So just to clarify that a little bit; but researchers don't know exactly what causes the breakdown of the myelin sheath, but they do know there can be a family connection. We know that there's definitely an inflammatory connection, environmental factors, nutritional deficiencies, and Tina, you actually had these lesions for many years. So, but you have no new lesions now. That's fantastic. And I bet your doctor was surprised.

TINA: Very pleasantly surprised.

JOANN: Absolutely.

TINA: And so what I did was this year I did, I always try to do New Year’s resolutions that are pretty easy. Like one year it was no, don't use tow ropes anymore when I'm skiing, because I hate tow ropes. That was easy. This year was…

JOANN: But you are skiing. That's important, important to note.

TINA: Oh thank you. And so this year I had been kind of at an urge of another doctor because the medicine that I was taking was so toxic on my liver, my liver labs were always higher. My white counts were low. She just was kind of urging me to my, my main neurologist was retiring and I didn't want to get passed off on just anybody at his practice. And so she found me a neurologist at the University of Minnesota who has taken patients off medication in the past.

And so my New Year's resolution was to make an appointment, which I did. I went in. I saw him last March. He had three criteria. And the first two criteria I meant it has to do with how long you've had the disease and if you've had no remission. And the third criteria was you're turning 55 or you're 55 years old. And I thought, oh I'm turning 55 in May. So that would be perfect.

JOANN: It was.

TINA: It's fun to get older, right? So, so he told me the plan was to go immediately off my medication and then to do MRIs every six months. Instead of yearly, he wanted to monitor the activity in my brain. My first MRI then since being off the medication was in September and it showed no new lesions and no new activity. So it was excellent. And it was so good that he said, I don't even need to do the next six month MRI. He's got me coming back in a year.

BRITNI: Wow.

JOANN: Wow.

TINA: Yeah. So I'm really thrilled and it's, my body feels so good being off that medicine too.

JOANN: Oh, I bet. That's, that's fantastic. So a few weeks ago we talked about stroke recovery, and today we're talking about the healing, the inflammation affecting the brain and the spinal cord. So anti-inflammation is a key component to the healing process we're talking about. You want to talk more about that, Tina?

TINA: Well, I kind of thought it kind of skimmed over it at first; how in my first visit, Dar explained the science between autoimmune diseases, inflammation, and gluten sensitivity. And she taught me then how to eat to control inflammation in my brain and my body.

JOANN: Right. And it's so impressive. You followed this plan, this healing plan so closely. You eat animal protein, healthy fats, lots of vegetables. So we basically recommend that diet, that our grandparents and our great grandparents ate years ago. We use real food. So can you talk about that a little more?

Eating Real Food to Heal Multiple Sclerosis 

TINA: Yes. From the very first day of meeting with Dar, I really took this food plan very seriously. And after we removed all the gluten and dairy from our home, and not only gluten and dairy, but all the fake and processed foods. Those were out the door as well.

JOANN: Right.

TINA: And so I only eat real foods in balance. I always eat a protein, a healthy fat, and I healthy carbohydrate with my meals. And basically real food is food that my grandparents would have recognized, or they wouldn't have recognized all these foods that are out there right now, all these processed foods.

JOANN: Exactly.

TINA: And my husband was very supportive of everything.

JOANN: That's great. So how did your teenage children at that time react when you change the foods at home?

TINA: Of course my teenage daughter was on board because wherever she had wanted to go to, she was asking for help. And I think it was really important for her to hear this message from someone other than me, especially teenagers.

BRITNI: Absolutely.

TINA: You guys see that too?

JOANN: Very true.

TINA: And my son was a little different. He was not quite a teenager. And he, he gave me a little belly aching at the time, but he did eat the Nutritional Weight and Wellness way when we were at home because that's all I had. And I was always cooking. But I know that he would sneak out for pizza or fast food when he was with friends.

JOANN: Of course.

TINA: But now he's, he's 22 and he knows what to do. And he, he has it down, pat. He manages his own psoriasis really good by eating food in balance.

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Fats are healing for our cells

JOANN: That's excellent. And so we know the importance of those healing fats, the right kind of fat like butter, coconut oil and olive oil, olives, avocado, nuts. Those fats are so important for healing your cells and your brain. So Tina, what are your favorite fats that you include?

TINA: Well, my recent favorite, I end up having favorites for a time. I love unrefined coconut oil for my cooking. I even will rub that on my face. It's great for skin.

JOANN: It is good.

TINA: I use olive oil on my salads and I even bring, I have a little mini bottle that I put olive oil in that I bring to restaurants with me.

JOANN: Great idea.

TINA: And yeah, and I love ghee. I've been really into ghee lately, so I'll put that on my quinoa and food. And I always have nuts like pecans, almonds, macadamia nuts. I love sunflower seeds on my salad and olives are very great portable healthy fat.

JOANN: Excellent. And Tina mentioned ghee, just to mention what ghee is, is clarified butter. So it's, it's butter that, that's just cooked further down and clarified. So, but Tina, why do you measure those fats so closely? I know you do. We’ve talked about that. And we talk about measuring a lot at Nutritional Weight and Wellness, but we're not your typical diet. Well, so you measure.

TINA: I do. I always measure, I've been eating this way for about 11 years and I still measure my food. I want to make sure that I'm including enough healthy fats because my myelin sheath is made of fat. And in the eighties and nineties, I was on the no fat. So I did no favor to my body. And so I always think when I'm eating this delicious fat, that it's so good for my myelin sheath and the cells in my body. And so I measure to make sure I'm getting enough. And I probably overdue on the fat. I usually will have like two tablespoons of, of a ghee in my coffee and you know, over measure just to make sure that I'm getting enough fat.

JOANN: That, that's fantastic. So with that, what does a typical day of food look like for you? So what do you, what do you do for breakfast in the morning?

TINA: Well, for, for my one cup of coffee, I will do two tablespoons of MCT oil, which is a medium chain triglyceride oil. And you guys have done shows on that oil in the past. And then I will add two tablespoons of ghee and two tablespoons of full fat coconut milk from the can to it. And I'll blend it up in my magic bullet. I add the English Stevia, Stevia that you sell, the drops. They're so delicious. You can get those at Nutritional Weight and Wellness.

JOANN: Right.

TINA: And a blend that my Magic Bullet and while I'm drinking that I will have breakfast. And typically it could be some coconut oil in my frying pan. And then I'll add about three cups of cooked spinach or raw spinach. It cooks down. And I love spinach in the morning because it, it, you can get a large volume in very little, few bites after it.

JOANN: Absolutely. It cooks down.

TINA: Yes. Yeah. And so then I'll add some scrambled eggs. Sometimes I'll do leftover vegetables from the night before. Brussels sprouts are really good, the roasted Brussels sprouts leftover.

JOANN: Those are great.

TINA: Yeah. So I'll have that for, for my breakfast and lately I've been into quinoa too the morning and too for breakfast. And I might also add a very small chopped apple and heat that up in the microwave, add some cinnamon. It kind of reminds me of my oatmeal days and I'll have that with my breakfast, with my eggs and spinach also.

JOANN: Quinoa is a great substitute. I've done that too.

TINA: And I do large batches. I just made a batch last night. And when I'm done cooking it, I will take my half cup measuring cup and put them in little bags and freeze them. So I have it ready to go.

BRITNI: Wonderful idea.

TINA: Yeah. And yeah. And it's great to go to a dollar store and get those measuring cups to have enough in the spoons. But then like for, for lunch, typically it could be leftovers from the night before. I'm really into like soups and stews, the chili recipe. I love the Weight and Wellness Way Cookbook that you guys have. The chili recipe is amazing.

JOANN: It’s a great resource.

TINA: Yeah. So I always do big batches. And then for dinner, we will do some healthy proteins. I like cod, salmon. Once a week, my husband will, I call him the meat fairy. He will grill, he'll grill a bunch of food. Like I'll bring chicken breasts and we'll have some steaks and hamburgers, just a variety of different things he'll put on the grill. And then we have those in our refrigerator for the week. So it's easy to grab and sauté our fresh vegetable. I also cook sweet potatoes, maybe like six at a time.

JOANN: Sure.

TINA: And then, so we always have that. So it's easy to have a good quick meal. And then for, yeah, for snacks, I like those Thousand Hills beef sticks and the Ferndale Market cranberry sticks are really good for protein. And then I'll do like nuts. And then I like to, I always have chopped up veggies. So I'll have those for a snack too, or, or the Wellness Whey protein shake.

BRITNI: Sounds great.

JOANN: You've given us some great options. It's time to take another break now. You're listening to Dishing Up Nutrition. My name is Joann Ridout and I will be teaching the Menopause Seminar next weekend with Darlene Kvist and Kris Kniefel on Saturday, November 19th. Are you looking for a natural way to manage hot flashes, mood swings, and weight gain without using hormone therapy? Maybe you're struggling with insomnia, incontinence or osteoporosis.

Learn how nutrition can naturally minimize your symptoms and protect you from long-term health problems, such as diabetes, heart disease, osteoporosis, and cancer. Last I checked, there were still only a couple openings available for that seminar. So if you want to attend call the office at (651) 699-3438 today and sign up and if you don't get in right now, we do have another one coming up in February. So stay tuned. We'll be right back.

Menopause Survival Seminar

BREAK

BRITNI: Welcome back to Dishing Up Nutrition. My name is Britni Thomas. I'm a registered dietitian and I am here in studio with Joann Ridout, who is also a registered dietitian. We are here today with special guests, Tina Beehler, and she is sharing her story about her recovery from multiple sclerosis. So if you have any questions for us in the studio today, please call at (651) 641-1071. So before the break, Tina was sharing what a typical day looks like for her, with her eating.

JOANN: That's right. And, and it, it, it is a contrast to what we've heard in the past about how we should eat. So I was looking at diet information from the MS Society. I saw a wide variety of information; things like the Paleo Diet, which would be probably more on track or Mediterranean diets. And even some of those outdated low-fat recommendations are still there. So big contrast from what, from what we've put form, what we're talking today.

Stay away from refined oils and trans fats

BRITNI: And we do know that it is so important to avoid those refined oils and stay away from the trans fats.

JOANN: Right.

BRITNI: They do a detriment to our bodies. So that means getting rid of the bakery cakes, Halloween candy. So just throw it away. No French fries, no margarine, no Coffee-mate, no fast foods, because these are all very inflammatory producing foods. And the sad thing is, is a lot of restaurants use them too.

JOANN: That’s right. So Tina, I've heard you say that you eat so carefully that you seldom go out to eat. Can you share more details about that?

TINA: Well, like Britni was saying, there are so many trans fats out there that restaurants use to cook their food in. And if you start asking the server what they cook in, they don't even know, they usually go back to the kitchen and they'll come back and tell me things like canola oil, soybean, oil, cottonseed oil; all of those things are trans fat, which I need to avoid. I need to have real fat in my body for my myelin sheath. And so when I go out, I'm really careful. We tend to go to reputable places where we know they use good fat. Like we've maybe been there in the past, or I will call ahead of time to find out.

JOANN: That’s a great idea.

TINA: Sometimes. Yeah. And if they say that they use those trans fats to cook the food in, usually I can get something, even if you're at some remote restaurant, they usually have a burger. And you could say, could you just broil that please? Not use any oil on it.

And then I usually do carry around that little bottle of olive oil in my purse. So I have that for, for a healthy fat or for salads. Usually a lot of these places maybe have a bar and you could get like a like olives or something for a healthy fat.

JOANN: That's right.

TINA: Yeah. Yeah. So you just have to be careful and don't be afraid to ask questions.

JOANN: Absolutely.

TINA: My husband will have breakfast with his brothers on Saturdays up at our farm and he brings his own butter for them to cook his eggs in.

JOANN: Oh wow.

TINA: Yeah. And then they even keep it there and put it in the freezer and we'll use that to make his eggs.

Oh, nice. Only in a small town. Right. Right. So some of the better restaurants are now using butter more, olive oil and coconut oil. And one of these better restaurants is the Sassy Spoon. That's a small restaurant in south Minneapolis. One of our former Nutritional Weight and Wellness employees, Tamara, opened this great little restaurant with menu options that are very healthy, very tasty. And she often caters for staff functions at nutritional weight and wellness. And the pulled pork and ginger coleslaw are a couple of their signature items that are excellent. And Britni, you've been at some of those events too.

BRITNI: Yes. And I've been to the restaurant. It is delicious and everything there's gluten-free.

JOANN: Yes.

BRITNI: It, it feels like you have multiple options and sometimes that's just not the case.

JOANN: Right.

BRITNI: And did you know that they sell frozen food items that you can take home?

JOANN: Isn't that nice?

TINA: It is. And in fact, my mom and I were there last August for the first time. My mom is gluten-free also, and we felt like we had died and gone to heaven because we were able to pick from the menu. We felt like restaurant critics. I remember I ordered the chicken curry and my mom got, the pizza is made with a, is it Yucca or Yuca? How do you pronounce that? It's a root vegetable.

BRITNI: I think it’s yucca. I'm not sure.

TINA: Of the crust. And so we split our dishes and they had riced cauliflower for the curry. It was just so delicious. We were so happy. And then we noticed as we were leaving, there was a little sign on the wall that talked about selling frozen shepherd's pie and bone broth frozen. And my mom was going to be having surgery, a right total shoulder repair. And she bought several frozen shepherd's pie and the frozen brown bone broth to put in her freezer, along with her collection of other things she had made to prepare herself for when she got home from surgery. So it was wonderful.

JOANN: And your mom has been so successful with this food plan also. I've seen her success story on our website too. Do you think she would mind if you shared more?

Amazing weight loss testimonial

TINA: Not at all. We're all very proud of her. So about five years ago at the age of 72, my mom lost 72 pounds after taking the Nutrition for Weight loss program. It was very life-changing for her. And she honestly thought she was kind of a yo-yo diet or throughout her life. But she honestly thought at 72 that she was going to be heavier for the rest of her life. And so she, she ended up taking the class and kind of did it childlike. She literally did everything Angela, her teacher told her to do. She didn’t question it. And so she learned batch cooking, which she still does to this day, where, like I talked to her yesterday and she just made omelets for the week. So she can just heat that up for breakfast; just eat an omelet. She loves the batch cooking.

And Angela also taught her how to make bacon. And my mom would go to Costco and get the three packages of the uncured bacon. She would make three packages of bacon, bake them, pour the bacon, grease in a jar and use that bacon grease over her vegetables. She lost 72 pounds eating bacon and all the grease. Yeah. Every year. And so just very proud of her. She's recently downsized to an over 55 building, which my niece says reminds her of her old sorority house. It's just so fun. She has a great time there.

And honestly, if she had not lost all that weight, she probably would have needed to move into an assisted living facility, but she's just rocking it. And she did so good after her right total shoulder, we were just at the doctor for her three month visit. And he said, she's doing better than most people do at six months.

JOANN: Wow.

TINA: And a lot of it is I think that nutrition.

JOANN: Yes; that healing fat.

TINA: Yes. Yeah. So it's awesome.

BRITNI: Well, I think it is time for another break already. I am Britni Thomas and I'm here with Joann Ridout and our special guest, Tina Beehler. Tina is sharing her amazing story about her recovery from multiple sclerosis. And if you are struggling with an inflammatory disease like mass fibromyalgia, or heart disease, osteoporosis; any other inflammatory condition, we would love to help you. Call the office: (651) 699-3438, and you can sign up for a nutrition consultation. Joann or I would be happy to meet with you and set up in an anti-inflammatory food plan that's individualized to you. If you have questions for Tina today, call us in the studio at 651-641-1071.

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BRITNI: Welcome back to Dishing Up Nutrition. In our Nutrition for Weight Loss program, we look at many aspects of why people have a slow metabolism and we give helpful tips to correct a deficit or give individual solutions to help achieve a better metabolism and weight loss. Lack of sleep is a key reason for increased cravings and slow metabolism. Adults need seven and a half to eight hours per night of sleep and teenagers need at least nine hours. So if you struggle with lack of sleep, cravings for sweets or a slow metabolism, I encourage you to sign up for our Nutrition for Weight Loss program.

Our next series starts the week of November 28th. We'll be at several locations: St. Paul, Maple Grove, North Oaks, Eden Prairie, and Rasmussen College for people living in the Lake Elmo and Woodbury area. But for people living in New York, California, Mississippi, Florida, Canada, Great Britain, Australia, or anywhere in the world, we are now offering our Nutrition for Weight Loss program online for your convenience. It's a great series, whether you're in the classroom or online. Call 651-699-3438 to ask questions, or just go online to weightandwellness.com to sign up.

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BRITNI: So during the break, we had some questions about the restaurant we were talking about. So it is called Sassy Spoon and it is located at 5011 south 34th avenue, Minneapolis.

TINA: And just a few blocks east of Lake Nokomis.

BRITNI: Yep. And they are open for lunch and dinner and then breakfast on weekends.

JOANN: That's right.

BRITNI: So, you know, here at Nutritional Weight and Wellness, we really teach people what foods to eat and how to avoid those processed foods. Because we do know that all that sugar causes swelling and inflammation in all tissues in our body, including brain, our brain tissue

JOANN: That's right. And those sugary processed foods are even more tempting and hard to avoid on vacation. Because sometimes when we're out of town, we don't have the right foods handy, our eating schedule’s off track. So when I'm working with clients, they often wonder what to eat on vacation and become a little panicked at what am I going to do? How am I going to keep this going? So Tina, tell us what you eat on vacation.

Planning and eating healthy when traveling

TINA: Well, it starts with when I'm going on vacation or traveling, my eating plan doesn't go on vacation. I stick to the Nutritional Weight and Wellness way of eating. And it involves planning, planning, and more planning. So what I usually do is I make sure on the morning of travel, that I do get a good breakfast in. At home I try to cook it.

But if, if you have an early flight, like a 6:00 AM flight, I will make a little bagged breakfast the night before, including like some hard-boiled eggs, maybe some vegetables, like celery sticks, radishes, something that's easy to eat, and then either some nuts or olives. And then I'll eat that at the gate or on the plane.

And then I always carry Epic bars with me in my purse. They are like actual protein, meat bars.

JOANN: Yeah.

TINA: I like the turkey and they come in bison flavor. And so then when you're on the plane, if you're doing a long flight and they're selling the snacks, which I could never eat, I have that. And then usually there's, I'll bring extra fruit along and have that and then with like nuts or something.

And then in my suitcase, I will pack olives, like cans of olives, but they also have now olives to go, which make it very easy for travel. So I'll bring that along. And then, and then like the healthy fats are hard to get when you travel. So I make sure I have the olives and then those little nut butters; Justin's has a portable nut butter, like an almond you can bring along. And then when I get where I'm going, I'll try to get to a grocery store and get some things for my hotel room for snacks. Usually the hotels sometimes have a fruit bowl or something like that. So you just have to continue this when you're on vacation.

JOANN: Yes.

BRITNI: Absolutely.

JOANN: That's right.

BRITNI: Well, and you know, having being prepared for those snacks and cause I don't think people realize that most, most commercially prepared food is just full of salt, artificial ingredients, preservatives, bad fats. Now of course, when we are at home, not on vacation, you control what goes in your food. You can use quality ingredients like organic vegetables, grass fed meats, good quality fats. Because it is important to really limit your exposure to any preservatives and pesticides and things like that.

JOANN: That's right. That's really important. Tina, your success has been so amazing. I know you've talked about your friends and family being on board with this plan, but one thing I want to talk about briefly before we go off the air is I've heard you say you don't go anywhere without your DHA. One of the primary supplements we recommend for brain health and focus is DHA. DHA is the component of omega-3 fatty acids that's most similar to the fat in the brain. So it helps our brain communicate brain chemicals communicate better. So the Nutrikey brand DHA is extracted from seaweed. So it's a very concentrated source. So can you talk a little bit about the DHA supplement and how that's been helpful?

TINA: Well, when I, when I first saw Dar that was one of the supplements that she insisted that I took. So I take 800 milligrams a day, the two pills at breakfast, two pills with dinner. And that does help control the inflammation in my brain and my body. And she told me too, if when you travel, I usually bring all my supplements with I'll pack them in these little tiny Ziploc bags at Walgreens has. I love those. And she said, take that and make sure you get your bifidobacteria too for my gut health. So I always make that a priority.

JOANN: Right. You've been such an amazing example. Tina. You've recovered from your MS to the degree that those initial lesions have not grown and you have no new lesions. So that sounds like a miracle, but you've put a lot of hard work into that process in dedicating your time to preparing foods and eating foods that are healing your body.

BRITNI: Tina, you really are a fabulous example of what we teach at Nutritional Weight and Wellness. Change your nutrition to change your life and your health.

JOANN: That's right. So, and I'm happy to be with you today, Tina, to share your wonderful story of healing with our listeners, whether someone's trying to heal from heart disease, stroke cancer, or MS, or rheumatoid arthritis, this real food plan is the anti-inflammation approach. It is the key to healing your body and preventing disease. Tina, you have shown us that the, you can do this so naturally with the right food choices.

TINA: Well, thank you so much. And I just want to thank Dar. I'll forever be grateful to you for teaching me how to control the inflammation in my brain and my body. And I want to let our listeners know that if you have a loved one who has been diagnosed with MS, I want you to know that there is hope for you to live your best life and that you can learn to eat to prevent inflammation and your brain and body as I have done. I urge you to be proactive here. Could you see yourself listening to the past shows we've had about MS? Or could you see yourself to calling to make an appointment with one of our wonderful nutritionists here that could help you control your inflammation in your brain and your body? And could you see yourself having your own life changing experience? You really can do this.

JOANN: That's right. Those are great words of encouragement. So be sure to tune in to Dishing Up Nutrition next week. Brenna and Cassie will be talking about protecting your kidneys. Our goal at nutritional Weight and wellness is to help each and every person experience better health through eating real food. It's a simple yet powerful message. As you've heard from Tina today, eating food is life changing and we have just a minute or two here. Tina, I know you wanted to share your story about your husband. So please add that in.

TINA: Well, I'm so proud of him. A year and a half ago, March, 2015, my husband suffered a major heart attack while he was out of town traveling; made it back. He had quadruple bypass surgery, valve repair, and came home from the hospital and he went totally grain-free, but he ate the Nutritional Weight and wellness way at home with me. And he went off all alcohol, also no wine at night. And he ended up losing over 70 pounds from March when he had his heart attack until I remember I took his picture, July 4th, we were going to a gathering and he had his cute little skinny jeans on. And he's doing really well. It was very life-changing. I'm proud of you, David. I love you.

JOANN: That is such a great story in such a great example. One more great example that you've brought to us, Tina. Your friends and family have all been successful because of your success. So that's, that's great news. And thank you so much.

BRITNI: Thank you for being here.

TINA: Thank you for having me.

JOANN: Yes. Thanks for listening. Have a wonderful day, everyone.

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