The basic rules of the diet are no sugar, no gluten, no wheat, no dairy, no soy, no alcohol, and nothing fermented. Instead, the goal is to focus on eating 60% vegetables, 20% protein, 10% carbs, and 10% good fats.

That said, it’s not an easy diet to adhere to in our sugar and flour-laden culture and there are many potential potholes to fall into for those who try. I should know, I’ve fallen into most of them since I started this diet in 2007. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if some were actually named after me.

A few weeks ago I began offering private coaching sessions to help people implement the diet, and what I found is that the major mistakes people make seem to be universal. Which is why I thought it would behoove (love that word!) us all to call them out, so that if any of these sound all too familiar, you can climb out of that pothole and get back on the road to recovery immediately.

1. Swapping Pastas:

Pasta is yummy. When you decided to go on the Candida diet and therefore gluten-free, you were probably thrilled to discover that you could substitute regular pasta for rice pasta. It’s not quite as good but once you get used to it, it still does wonders to scratch the itch for a bowl full o’ carbs. It’s easy and quick to make and it feels familiar, so if you are anything like I was when I started this diet, you probably started cooking it every night, or every other. This diet thing ain’t so bad, you’re thinking as you scarf down the spaghetti or the penne or those squiggly ones whose name I forget. However, you are headed down the wrong road.

Rice pasta, though gluten-free and “legal” for this diet, is stripped of all nutrients. It’s also still just a carb, and a bowl of it will spike your blood sugar like nobody’s business, especially if you don’t eat it alongside a protein. In other words, party time for the Candida. Eating rice pasta frequently will seriously slow down your healing, so keep it to no more than once a week max and always eat a bit of animal protein with it to slow down the spike.

2. The “I Love Sugar” Reality Distortion Field (AKA Selective Label Reading or The Carob Chip Debacle):

I am a sweet-tooth. When I first started this diet, my sugar cravings were intense. Like, fetal position I-woulda-eaten-my-own-arm-if-it-were-made-of-sugar intense. As such, I was constantly on the hunt for “legal” options that could satiate me. In the first edition of Ann Boroch’s book Healing MS, she included a recipe for carob-chip cookies that called for unsweetened carob chips (in later editions she eliminated this). So I bought them, and found that they were actually quite delicious straight up, without the cookie. So I started eating them right out of the bag as a snack.

Sure, I read the ingredients on the back. I read that they contained nonfat milk (illegal!), whey powder (illegal!) and that they contained 7 grams of sugar per serving. But hey, if you look at the front, it says “unsweetened”. Therefore, I concluded, the amount of sugar listed on the back must have been incorrect. They must have been referring to some other sort of sugar, some sort that wouldn’t effect me at all. I thought, eh, what’s 7 grams anyway, that’s nothing! And I purposely ignored the serving size, which was 2 tablespoons. “I’ll only eat a few anyway” I said to myself.

However, since I seem to be confessing my ugliest moments here, you should know that I typically ate half the bag in one sitting. So let’s do a little math. There are 18 servings per container. 7 grams of sugar per serving. That’s 126 grams of sugar in the entire bag, so in one sitting I was eating 63 grams of sugar. 63 grams. Do you know how many grams of sugar one should be eating on this diet? 5 grams per day max! Hey, no biggie, I was only eating 12 times more sugar than I should have been. Never mind the fact that I was eating the other half of the bag later in the evening…

So what’s the moral of the story here? No matter how healthy you think something is for you, always read the grams of sugar on the back, and remember to multiply it by the serving size. Reality distortion is not useful in this context. Better to spend a few days in the fetal position and push through the sugar withdrawal than to do what I did and fall prey to supposedly “unsweetened” carob chips, or some other such false god…

3. Indulging in High-sugar Fruits and Veggies:

Just because something doesn’t have a label on it, doesn’t mean you can delude yourself into thinking it’s low in sugar. Well, you could, but that would be dumb. I should know, I’ve been dumb a lot in the past 5 years (see above). Here are some common culprits that novice Candida dieters tend to indulge in, convincing themselves that they are fine because they are nature’s own – sweet potatoes, potatoes, butternut squash, carrots, bananas, coconuts, dates, figs, sweet apples (like Fuji and Gala), pineapple, honeydew, strawberries, cherries, or any of these in the dried fruit varieties (for exact grams of sugar per fruit or veggie, go to www.dietfacts.com). At least in the first three months of the diet, you should stick to low-sugar fruits like organic berries and green apples, lemons and limes, and stay away from the high-carb veggies, choosing green veggies instead. And whatever you do, avoid dried fruits where the sugar content is significantly higher and many include sulfur dioxide, which is bad.

4. Vegetables Shmegetables:

Speaking of veggies, the Candida diet is so restrictive that it’s easy to put all your attention on what you can’t eat and very little on what you can and should. But this diet is not meant as a short-term fad-diet plan but rather a comprehensive revision of your eating habits. A lifestyle revision. As such, it’s crucial to not just take away what you can’t have but add in what you need more of. In other word, veggies. Yes, veggies. Your diet should consist of 60% vegetables. Your cells will be so thankful, they’ll do a little dance and sing your name. And when you do eat your veggies, remember that they are best eaten raw, then lightly steamed or sauteed, then frozen, and last (and best avoided) canned. Throw some organic kale (nature’s ultimate superfood) or organic baby spinach into a smoothie, make a salad, sautee some greens with onions and garlic and a bit of olive oil, make a curry sauce with a coconut milk base, or my favorite, make a soup! I eat tons of veggies in my soups, and you should too. Soups are fast, easy, delicious, and a great way to get lots of veggies in the winter months when salads are too cooling. Pick yourself up a soup book and get started, but remember to buy organic fruits and veggies if you can and substitute heavy cream for canned coconut milk and cow’s milk for unsweetened almond milk (or hemp or coconut).

5. Nut Butter Mania (and other severe quantity distortions):

In 1999, before I knew I had MS, all I knew was that something was very wrong, and in my search for an answer, I happened upon Dr. Crook’s book The Yeast Connection. I did my best to go on the diet then, but in hindsight, it might be more accurate to say I went on an unsweetened almond butter diet instead. The beauty of almond butter (or any of the “legal” nut butters like unsweetened sunflower butter) is that they are primarily fat, so they fill you up quickly, solving the what do I eat problem quite well. And, spreading them on a rice cracker with some stevia or xylitol sprinkled on top is a great way to satiate a sugar craving, as well as making for a really yummy and addictive snack. The problem, however, is that your diet should consist of no more than 10% of this kind of good fat. Too much and you’re sludging up your system and way overdosing on saturated fat. Mine was more like 90%. So eat your nut butter in moderation (as in, no more than two tablespoons a day) like all your foods. Moderation is key. Speaking of which…

6. Getting Caught in a Rut:

Because this diet is so limiting, it’s easy to find a few meals and snacks that work and stick with them. That’s good. It’s impossible to maintain this diet without enjoying what you eat, so finding dishes that work for both your taste buds and the diet is great. However, variation is essential. Most people with MS and other autoimmune diseases have food sensitivities, and eating the same thing every day is a recipe for developing more. Additionally, switching things up will limit the effects of whatever mistakes you may make, like eating veggies that are too high in sugar. If you combine a less-than-excellent food choice with extreme repetition, you’ll end up with a diet that’s not helping you heal at all, and you’ll wonder what the problem is. Plus, when you vary your food you vary the nutrients your cells receive, and that’s always good. Variety, as they say, is the spice of life.

7. Don’t let your partner go on the diet with you:

Seriously. They mean well, of course. They want to show solidarity. And that’s beautiful. However, what most people don’t realize is that sugar is a drug. A really intense drug. And the withdrawal from it will transform your loving partner into a bad, bad person. An irritable person. A cranky person. A person that cannot lovingly support you, because instead they want to join you in the fetal position and cry for brownies. So politely decline their offer, ask them to eat their treats when not in your presence, and accept their calm and still-sugar-addicted love and support. Then, once you’ve mastered the diet, if they’re still interested, you can gracefully show them how it’s done and bring them delicious sugar-free smoothies while they jones, silently thanking yourself for having already made it to the other side.

8. Going out to eat is not synonymous with “Let’s Binge!”:

Even in a restaurant, it’s possible to make sound choices that are within the bounds of your diet. You will probably not be the beneficiary of an entirely organic meal, however, in most restaurants you can eat wisely and not throw yourself far off course. Get a piece of roast chicken. A piece of fish. In a Thai or Chinese place, go for steamed veggies with brown rice. When ordering a dish with sauce, always make sure it’s gluten-free. Lucky for us all, g-free is in full effect these days, so yours will likely not be the first request they’ve had (remember that soy sauce has gluten in it). Make sure your sauce or salad dressing is not dairy based. Whatever you do, don’t order a bowl full of pasta or a heaping pile of cheese on your meal, just because you can. You’ll eat the meal in a few minutes, but regret it for days. Trust me. I speak the truth.

9. One Drink to Take the Edge Off:

No. Don’t drink alcohol ever. If you have MS, alcohol is like pouring acid on your nerves. Even if you’re doing everything else right, one glass of wine or beer or hard liquor can and will set you back significantly. It is multiple sclerosis’s #1 enemy. And incidentally, a close and well-loved friend of Candida, since most alcohol is also high in sugar and beer is just a cup full o’ yeast. In fact, some recovering alcoholics discover that their alcoholism was in part a severe craving caused by systemic Candida overgrowth. So don’t be seduced, no matter how tempting. And if you find yourself at a bar, ask for a glass of water with lemon or lime and think about how relieved your myelin sheath is that you made the right choice and spared it mass destruction.

10. Just One Piece Won’t Hurt, and Anyway I Feel Fine…:

NOOOO!!! Don’t do it!!! It’s essential to remember that when you’re not symptomatic, that’s when it’s most important to remain on the diet, because that’s when your body has the chance to do the deepest healing work. That’s when it has the chance to begin reversing your illness. I know how challenging it is to be so consistently disciplined with your diet. I know you “deserve” a piece of chocolate cake. So do I. In fact, by now I’d say I deserve a visit to Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory, but hey we all know what happened to Augustus Gloop because he couldn’t resist, remember? Do you want to end up getting sucked into the inner plumbing of that wacko’s factory? No you don’t. So let’s stop talking about that right now.

But one more thing…if you go for the treat every time you feel symptom-free, you’ll never reach that next level. So next time you witness your arm reaching for that cookie, do a little intentional hallucination and watch as it turns into repulsive little Candida critters and fungi and oversized parasite cells with evil brows and drool coming out of their mouth because they’re so happy you’re finally going to feed them! See them and remind yourself that you’re not in the business of furnishing their apartment in your gut. No you are not. Now put the cookie down. Slowly. Very good. And to avoid this in the future, order yourself some sugar-free gluten-free muffin and cookie mix from Namaste Foods so you’re not without options next time a craving should strike.

Do you want to be a Goddess (or God) of diet as well? Click here to get the details on booking a private coaching session with me to help you implement the diet with grace and ease and get on the road to health now!

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This is a disturbing but essential piece of education by Robyn O’Brien at TedX Austin (2011) for anyone living in the United States and especially those with a chronic illness. Please watch it.

Of course, if you are living with a chronic illness the stakes are always higher, and if you’re anything like me you loathe this time of year because it forces your willpower into overdrive. Which is why it is at this precise time that I must push my creativity. I must challenge myself to find small but significant ways to feel like I am treating myself, so I don’t fall off the wagon and into a chocolate pecan pie.

This week’s answer: Cocoa Cream of Quinoa. It’s a delicious breakfast or late night treat that approximates the feeling of drinking hot chocolate, but instead of a cup full of sugar and dairy it’s very healthy, very delicious, and 100% sugar and dairy free. This is actually a new, more indulgent version of a recipe I shared in the Autoimmune Warrior Bootcamp, spruced up for the holidays. To me, it feels decadent. If you are used to eating sugar and chocolate and cake, your taste buds will most likely disagree and you will think I’m a deprived and sad creature. But the fact is, it keeps me away from the pie.

One of the benefits of cutting sugar out of your diet is that it takes a lot less to satisfy that sweet tooth. Which is a good thing, so don’t judge me. One woman’s blech is another woman’s yum.

So I want to share this quick and delicious recipe with you in the hopes that it might help you stay on track with your healthy eating commitments as well, and help us all stay symptom-free and vibrant throughout the holiday season.

Cocoa Cream of Quinoa

Ingredients:

1/3 cup Ancient Harvest Quinoa Flakes (available in most health food stores and online)

1 cup unsweetened almond milk (Blue Diamond or Pacific)

1 teaspoon raw cacao powder (available at Whole Foods and online)

2 droplets full NuNaturals Liquid Stevia (available online and in some health food stores)

Directions:

Pour almond milk in saucepan, cover, and heat on high until boiling. Quickly add quinoa flakes (before the milk overflows). Reduce heat to medium and stir frequently for 90 seconds. Turn off heat, add stevia and cacao powder and mix well. Serve and enjoy! And play with the amounts of stevia and cacao powder until it’s exactly how you like it.

Did you make it? Did you like it? Share your thoughts in the comments section.

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Photo by ontheflyrecipes, Flickr

1 1/2 cups unsweetened almond milk (or unsweetened coconut or help milk)

1 full dropper of NuNaturals vanilla stevia

1 teaspoon of organic extra virgin coconut oil

1 teaspoon of raw almond butter

1 fist full of organic spinach or organic kale (kale is a bit more bitter but the Rolls Royce of greens, spinach is also excellent for you and nice and mild in taste)

1 fuji or gala apple (if you’re in the first 3 months of the Candida diet, substitute for a Granny Smith, it’s lower in sugar)

1 shake of sea salt (preferably pink Himalayan sea salt)

Mix it all up in your blender (or your Vitamix, if you should be so lucky) and enjoy health in a glass!

And play around with this to find a combination that you like best. You can add half a cucumber for a really fresh crisp springy taste, try unsweetened sunflower butter instead of almond butter, or make it sometimes without the nut butter, use berries or a pear instead of an apple. Go where your mood takes you. Live on the smoothie edge!

The Facebook status message you see above is a real message taken from my newsfeed two days ago. It was posted by someone in the MS community regarding an upcoming MS walk.

Please take a moment to read it now and call out (if you’re at work do it in your head so your co-workers don’t think you’re hungry) what is wrong with this picture.

Yes, you’re correct. Pancakes. And also hot dogs.

This is such a perfect example of the sad state of our MS culture and the culture of autoimmune illness in general. We are walking to cure MS, but we’re eating pancakes and hot dogs before and after. And we are tragically ignorant about the fact that these foods we are putting into our bodies are what’s helping to keep us sick.

The irony of any sort of MS event serving pancakes and hot dogs is deeply disturbing. As is the thought of people with MS who are suffering and who genuinely and intensely want to find a cure, but don’t realize that they are probably making their symptoms worse every time they eat a meal.

This is not the fault of the person who wrote this status update. This update is just a glaring symptom of a broken system called conventional medicine. Doctors are not taught about nutrition in med school. Many if not most doctors actually do not believe that the food we eat has anything to do with our diseases. I have heard that this is beginning to change – that medical schools are now teaching classes on nutrition.

However, even doctors who do believe there is some correlation are severely underestimating the depth and breadth of that connection. Most doctors just don’t get it. And therefore most patients just don’t get it.

Announcing the first Autoimmune Warrior Bootcamp: 7 Weeks to a Diet, Detox, & Nutritional Makeover for Total Recovery

Since releasing my e-book last month I have received many, many inquiries about the details of naturopath Ann Boroch’s recovery plan, which I discuss in the book. It’s obvious that those who believe they can heal their autoimmune illness at its root cause by addressing diet, supplements, detox, and beliefs are hungry for the information and guidance on how to make these major changes successfully. Because our doctors don’t know.

I have personally seen incredible results since working with Ann in 2007 when I was diagnosed. Because of my work with Ann, I have confidently moved forward without ever going on any of the MS medications. And I have been healthy and relapse-free for nearly 4 years, until my recent relapse in December. You’re probably saying to yourself right now, well, if you had a relapse on her recovery plan, then it obviously doesn’t work.

But the cool thing is that my recent relapse was actually further evidence and proof of how well her plan does work, because for several months prior to my relapse, I had essentially abandoned it. I started to allow many foods into my diet that were not supposed to be there. I had stopped taking my supplements for financial reasons. I stopped exercising. And I was under enormous emotional stress when I left my family and friends and a long relationship and moved across the country to a place where I had no support system.

So as much as it just plain sucked to experience a major flare-up, I was secretly quite satisfied by the evidence of the logic of my body, and that I had once again proven that I had chosen the correct course in 2007 to treat my illness. Because as soon as I strayed from that course, MS came and bit me in the ass. So to speak. And as soon as I got back on the diet and supplements, my flare-up subsided and I began to recover.

Which is to say that I am even more confident and even more resolved that Ann’s recovery program is a safe, effective, and fabulous way to treat your MS, or whatever autoimmune illness you have.

So when I started getting all these inquiries about her program, I approached Ann about working together to offer a live, weekly online training program. And she thought it was a great idea.

So we’re going for it!

And I’ve been hard at work over here making this happen so we can launch the program as soon as possible, which is why I haven’t posted much this past week. But the good news is that in gearing up for the course, Ann and I will be discussing via Skype some of the major issues that I know you are all dealing with, and we’ll be recording those conversations and making them available to you as online videos as early as the end of this week. So keep an eye out for the first of those.

And if you think you might be interested in the course, please comment here and tell us what you most want and need right now on your own path to recovery.

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My daughter is sitting at the kitchen table sorting her candy. Five lollipops in various shades of red. A Kit Kat bar with a red heart on the wrapper. Fun Dip, cherry-red of course. A big plastic heart filled with chocolate balls. And a box of those little heart-shaped hard candies with the messages on them. Remember those? They used to say things like “Kiss me” and “Be mine” but they’ve been updated to 2011 and now bear more innocent, tender messages such as “Holla” and “Text me.”(I’m not joking.)

This bounty of sugar laid out before my daughter was all sent home from school with her in her Valentine’s Day goody bag. And here, my dear ones (it is V Day and you should know I love you all) is the problem.

What the @%$# are we teaching our children?!!!!!

Public School Stinks

My daughter is 5 1/2. And as she begins her journey through our public school system, the pathetic and shameful truth of what we call education is the US is becoming my reality. For one, we somehow got the notion that educating our youth should be isolated to what can be learned in books about a very limited bunch of subjects (while ignoring many essential topics required to succeed in the world). We don’t even acknowledge what is actually being learned alongside academics and I daresay even more intensely than it.

For example, my daughter is being taught a policy at her school called “hands to yourself.” She said to me one day, “Mommy I wanted to hug Eliana but I got in trouble because of ‘hands to yourself.’” I get that the school decided this was a reasonable policy to keep children from hitting each other, but I wonder if there could be a more effective way to control the rampant pre-K violence while not making a taboo of children’s natural desires to express their affection for one another in a healthy manner (such as a hug).

But of all the lessons not in the lesson books that my daughter is learning, the one I abhor most is how she’s being taught to eat.

School lunches: Despite all the evidence of the ill effects of milk, milk remains the only option for a drink with lunch. Not even organic milk. Just plain old hormone-riddled, bovine growth hormone infested, calcium-leeching milk. The main dish is either chicken nuggets (not organic of course), what is mysteriously known as “steak sticks”, mac and cheese, or pizza. The sides are either corn or cooked-to-death green beans and carrots.

A nutritional nightmare that exists as a result of government recommendations and regulations. And who influences those regulations? The deep and very motivated pockets of the dairy and meat industries.

The Tidal Wave

When my daughter came home from school today with her sack of sugar, high-fructose corn syrup and Yellow #5, I was overcome with a wave of sadness and rage.

Sad because I wish, I really, really, really wish, that my child didn’t have to grow up in a world so ignorant about food that we’re willing to poison our children and imprint them with horrible eating habits that become their idea of normal by the time they’re age six.

Angry because I can see the future like a tidal wave coming at my daughter and I am just two tiny hands and a whisper, trying to hold it back.

If our entire culture is telling her it’s okay to eat dairy and meat filled with antibiotics and candy filled with sugar and chemicals, how can my voice be enough to sway her in another direction? I think of how I’ve suffered, the many years I spent flattened out on a couch or a bed with no idea what was wrong, meanwhile eating every variety of cheese and bread and sugar, and nobody even knew to tell me to stop! No one said hey, try a vegetable! No one said, maybe it’s the donuts!

In fact, I remember my mom used to be so sad for me that she would bring me home special sugary treats several times a week to cheer me up. And it wasn’t her fault. She didn’t know either. Our culture just doesn’t know. And the sad truth is that if the multi-billion-dollar dairy and meat and processed food industries have it their way, we never will. But what about the CEO’s of those companies? Don’t they have children? Don’t they get it?

I don’t know. What I do know is that my daughter is given gummy bears every day at school. Every day.

So what will it take for a change?

Well, we’re headed there. Obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and chronic illness are at record highs. 10,000 people will be diagnosed with MS this year in the US. I challenge you to convince me that our diets don’t have something to do with it. But though we’re building toward it, we’re apparently not quite at the crisis point yet. Our collective pain hasn’t yet reached a paradigm-shattering scream.

So until then, I’ll continue whispering my wisdom into my daughter’s ear – secret tales of spaghetti squash, sweet potatoes, cacao nibs, chia seeds, kale, organic berries, green juices, young coconuts, wild rice, quinoa, avocados, smoothies, almond milk, and other natural, healthy, organic earthly pleasures with which she may one day (universe willing) delight her vibrant, illness-free self.

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Apples, blueberries, nectarines, bell peppers, spinach and cherries. Dirty. Potatoes. Dirty. Grapes (imported). Dirty. And just when you thought it was safe…Kale and Collard Greens! Dirty!

Dirty as in pesticide-riddled. Dirty as in poison. This is the Dirty Dozen(TM) according to Environmental Working Group’s website www.foodnews.org. So if you plan to eat any of the above, only buy ORGANIC. Otherwise, you can probably save yourself the trip to the grocery store and just take a swig of some Drano.

Here’s what EWG says:

“The growing consensus among scientists is that small doses of pesticides and other chemicals can cause lasting damage to human health, especially during fetal development and early childhood. Scientists now know enough about the long-term consequences of ingesting these powerful chemicals to advise that we minimize our consumption of pesticides.”

Gee thanks. And, like, duh? Why didn’t they catch on to the whole “chemicals shouldn’t be eaten” revelation 30 years ago, when I was a wee thing in New Jersey happily downing strawberries with sugar all those evenings after dinner? Well whatever. I ate them all the time and look at me, I’m fine! Oh wait…

But anyway. The good news is there’s also a Clean 15. The fifteen foods you don’t need to buy organic because they won’t kill you quite as quickly. I would tell you what those 15 are but I think the Environmental Working Group wants you to go to their website and sign up to get that list yourself, so I won’t give it away here. Ok maybe just a hint. The first one rhymes with shmonions.

Now as many of you know, after crossing paths with the esteemed Dr. Terry Wahls I have become a kale-aholic. And I have taken to espousing the many benefits of kale on this website as well. So let me just reiterate. Apparently, if you can’t buy your kale organic, you’re better off not buying it at all. I will double-check with Dr. Wahls on that and get back to you, but I am guessing that even though kale may make your mitochondria dance, your liver and other assorted toxin-removal systems in your body will not be in the mood to party.

By the way, this pesticide-guide is based on data from nearly 89,000 tests for pesticide residues in produce conducted between 2000 and 2008 and collected by the US Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration. Head over to www.foodnews.org for more info and for your list of the Clean 15. They’ve also got a very cool iPhone app with their lists, so you can reference it at the market if you’ve only got so much cash and need to make a decision about what to buy organic and what not to.

Until next time, I leave you with this…”An apple a day keeps the doctor away…” (and other assorted painfully outdated and now blatantly untrue and outright dangerous rhymes meant to keep us healthy.)

Addendum: I just spoke with Dr. Wahls about the organic vs. non-organic kale issue and here’s what she had to say:

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Photo by Nostromoo, Flickr

Summer’s here but do not fear – if you’re on a no-sugar diet, you can still drink lemonade! It’s so easy.

One glass of filtered water, a couple ice cubes. The juice of half a lemon. Liquid stevia drops (alcohol free) to taste.

Legal, refreshing, delish.

My daughter even loves it and I get spared the consequences of her on a sugar high! These days, I just carry an extra bottle of liquid stevia with me in my purse, so I’m always prepared for a sweetergency, thus preventing unintended dietary cheating.

Try it, do you like it? Tell me what you think.

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What, you may ask, has me so titillated?

Frozen wild blueberries with liquid stevia drops.

Wait, hear me out!

As most of you know, I adhere to a very strict diet, and don’t eat any sugar. So I’m always scoping and hoping that the gods will shine upon me with the inspiration for a new “legal” dessert. It all started yesterday at Trader Joe’s, when I picked up some frozen wild blueberries (about $3 or $4)  since I’ve lately been reading all the hoopla about how they’re nature’s antioxidant superfruit, chock full of anti-inflammatories (which is a really, really important thing for people with MS).

Then today, I found myself staring desperately at the open freezer, wishing ice cream were permissible to satisfy my sweet craving, when the divine did, in fact, shine down. Wild blueberries with drops of liquid Stevia (alcohol free). I swear I can’t take credit for this. Somewhere in the ether there is an angel, a muse, giggling.

Oh, the bliss. The ecstasy. The rapture.

Transcendent. Truly transcendent. And not only is it NOT BAD for you, it’s GOOD for you.

So rush now, all of you! Get thee to Trader Joe’s, or some other location where you can purchase frozen blueberries. And buy yourself some liquid stevia from your local health food store or online. Then, combine, and enjoy the magic. You can thank me (and my muse) later.

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When I was younger, I lived my life under the pleasant assumption that if something was available to me – to eat, to wear, to play with – then the adults who run this world must have already made sure it was healthy and safe for me. I believed that this mysterious group of adults was benevolent and all-knowing, and that they had my best interest in mind, of course.

Funny, huh?

We’re Killing Ourselves

The truth is I may still have been navigating my life with this naivete if I hadn’t developed MS and believed firmly in the power of my own body to heal and get back in balance. But something interesting happened when I decided to begin eating for the purpose of healing. I realized that there were nearly no restaurants, delis, or cafes where I could eat a truly healthy meal! And with that realization came the startling understanding that our country’s eating habits were killing us, and there seemed to be a tacit agreement between those of us consuming the food and those of us providing it to do nothing, despite mounting evidence of the dangers.

At the same time, I began educating myself about what a healthy diet really means by exposing myself to naturopaths, nutritionists, and books and articles about what foods help us thrive and heal and live long, vibrant lives. Part of this education involved understanding the incentives that keep our poor dietary habits in place despite the knowledge of a far better way, among them greed, gluttony, and ignorance.

Everyone’s Doing It

Have you seen the recent commercials and print ads for Dunkin’ Donuts? They’ve adapted the slogan “America Runs on Dunkin’”. It’s a brilliant campaign. In four words they are telling you that the whole country’s doing it and you should too, and a donut and a cup of coffee will provide all the energy you need to get through your day. They’re not just approving of this diet, they’re highly encouraging it, and they’re using the social proof of all of America to convince you of its merits. When I see these commercials, it almost makes me want to run on Dunkin’! And I know I won’t be running – or walking – anywhere if I switch to the Dunkin’ diet!

I could turn this into a really long post, citing all the evidence and causal links between our diets and our diseases, but you can find that information easily online yourself. What I want to bring your attention to is how easy and dangerous it is to buy into the logic that because these foods are everywhere, they must be okay. Because they are not okay.

If you have MS, you’re lucky, because you’ll likely experience acute symptoms in your body within a day or two if you eat the standard American diet versus a healthy diet designed for self-healing and longevity. I can tell you that after three years on a healthy diet, whenever I deviate I feel it. But if you don’t have a chronic illness, you’re damaging yourself just as much, but maybe the cause and effect isn’t quite so fast and obvious. Diabetes, obesity, heart disease, cancer, alzheimer’s. The chances of developing these conditions are all multiplied significantly by eating a poor diet. By eating the American diet.

When Dunkin’ Donuts tells me that America runs on Dunkin’ I believe them. Oh I know it. And that’s the problem. America runs on Dunkin’ but should you?

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