Superfoods and super-bods

OK ladies (and gents), lets be real here. I have been on western medication to treat MS for over a decade. In this 10 year time period there has been some excellent advances in neurological science and treatment technologies. Despite this groundbreaking science, do you honestly think its plausible that cold pressed juices and alkalized water, grass fed meat and almond turmeric lattes, coupled with resistance training by an #instafamous personal trainer will arrest disease activity on my brain?

Seriously?

I'm going to assume that deep down, you know this isn't the case. I'm going to assume that you accept that there is no substitute for western medication when it comes to a very serious, chronic illness like Multiple Sclerosis. What I also know is that we are all members of this version of the 21st century. If you don't start the day with a kambucha and spend at least the first 3 hours of each day in the latest on trend , start-up non-mainstream active-wear #aimin #helloparry you'll likely be exiled. I know, because I am one.

What I have learnt throughout my own journey is that being healthy and being fit is very important. While you are in remission, eat well, move your body as much as you can. Build yourself strong and physically resilient. If you relapse your body will be stronger to weather the relapse. Find a method that suits you and your version of healthy and strong.

But can we all please stop carrying on like its because of a clean lifestyle you're doing well? Trust me, that has definitely helped. But the stark reality of illness and disability is the disease will run its own course. This we know. This we can not control. I can attest to this because you'd be hard pressed to find a cleaner liver than I have been. Chlorophyll, chia seeds and coconut water, Greek yogurt and berries, 2 superfood smoothies a day (macca powder, acai powder, cacao powder, vital greens, #isagenix protein) lean meat and green vegetables, peanut butter protein balls, 5-10km run a day. For 2 years. And I loved it, I was happy because I was physically strong. And that's all you should need to get out of a lifestyle choice. For you and your happiness, and I 100% encourage it.

What I discourage though is the belief that this has kept you in remission. Being healthy and driven is aspirational for anyone. Full stop. The fact that you also have a chronic disease is ancillary to the fact that everyone should want a healthy strong life for themselves. Granted, us sickies have an altered perspective about using everything we can in our bodies as we know first hand what life feels like when you lose that ability. And this is good to use as the driving force to spur you on, but this really needs to be tempered with reality.

Why? Because there is a fine line between building your body strong, and being reckless. I pride myself in making the right choices for my body and the right choices for me and my husband's quality of life. I'm proud that my family trust me, to make the right choices for me and they don't tell me what I should or shouldn't be doing. They let me decide. I get to control my life choices, and this is a great space to be in.

But, when you're mid-way through a 12 month treatment cycle of lemtrada, have taken on a rewarding full-time management role with a new engineering company in Sydney, just returned from a quick London visit and have spent the weekend in Melbourne with your husband - and you collapse, mid-flight, literally in the isle of the plane - its hard to ignore that fairly solid feedback your getting from your body.

Stop. You are doing too much to your body.

If and when you relapse, there is a very practical reason for having a well rounded diet which includes everything in moderation. Anything strict creates unnecessary stress and anxiety for everyone around you. If you are a #rawfood or #paleo subscriber, your body will be extra sensitive to a wholemeal dinner roll you get served with your pumpkin soup in hospital. Depending on your treatment pathway and your level of medical insurance, if you're admitted to hospital, many (private) can and will cater to most dietary requirements, but what for? The blueberry friand that gets put on your morning tea tray with your peppermint tea will cause you all manner of distress, if you're strict about refine sugar/ wheat. When your husband triumphantly brings you home, to a stocked house full of ready-made meals from an organic green grocers, because he has tried so hard to guess what food you may or may not feel like - don't crush his spirit. Accept the dairy milk coffee, sit in the sun with him and eat your bloody muffin. Dairy, wheat, refined sugar and all. Why? Because we need to remember, not everyone gets to sit up. Not everyone gets to chew and swallow. Not everyone gets to go home to the sun with their husband. Practice gratefulness. Practice being humbled by the fact you got through it. You're alive, enjoy it.

Its highly likely also that there will be dishes of macncheese, lagsagna, casseroles etc for days in your fridge at home too. All of these will have been made from people that love you and your significant other, and want you to be nourished and cared for. No the meat isn't certified organic and the pasta is the most processed you'll ever find. So what. I often find myself looking down at a plate thinking, do I really want one of the last meals I can feed myself, to be about the origins of the ingredients? Eat your food, be grateful someone that loves you has made it, with your recovery and best interests in mind. Be content you're in your home and feeding yourself. Also take solace in the fact that you are making an active choice to not be a boring punish harping on about your food choices. Shut up. If your life's work has culminated in conversations you have about which farmers market you source your food from, well heck that is quite easily one of the more pathetic things you could have amounted to. Get a grip on what's really important in life. I'm fairly certain no one has ever died form eating macaroni cheese for a week, or eating apple pudding for breakfast. And I very much doubt it'll take off now.

I encourage everyone to keep an open mind to all types of treatment options and pathways. I get involved in all of it. Acupuncture, naturopathy, kinesiology, juice cleanses, float baths, meditation, massage therapy. But without western medication, these alternative options are really like using bicarb soda to clean the bathroom, when really you just need bleach. If eating well and thinking right does cure Multiple Sclerosis, we just have to look at the billion dollar medical industry and countless research hours spent still toiling to find a cure, to know, matter of factly, that no amount of kambucha can in fact arrest this disease. Western medication is vital, proceed as your western doctors advise. The extras are great and I encourage getting involved and trying some alternatives that you respond to, though be sure to keep your neurologist informed of what additional therapies you're getting involved in, if that's the way you chose to go.

Lastly, and most importantly, stop preaching clean living as the cure. You are not only boring, but your'e also putting yourself at a real disadvantage when it comes to recovering form a relapse. Everything in moderation is anyone's recipe for a fulfilling life.

Work out your limits and be guided by that. And eat the muffin. Drink the beer. Enjoy the people that you are sharing these moments with. And be bloody happy.