OMS Diet Motivation & Support

Oh I can totally relate (as all the above posters). When I found OMS first (before diagnosis) I thought oh wow! That's so restrictive, I think I will turn to Swank instead.
No cheese?? They must be joking!

And here I am two and a half years later not a molecule of cheese has knowingly passed my lips. Do I miss it? I am not sure... not really. Yes the first couple of months were hard, ecpecially when socializing but this has all disappeared. There are many amazing recipes, alternatives, even when eating out. Yes it is harder work but you start enjoying it. A lot. I do.

I'm going to have to agree with all the previous posters

When I was first diagnosed with MS I was pretty depressed and I still get depressed sometimes, but OMS was the first thing that gave me hope. I have been doing the OMS diet for almost 2 months now and it was really hard to give up cheese and other yummy fats at first but its steadily getting easier. And I must say I definitely feel better eating a mostly plant based diet. Between that and starting a workout regimen I have so much more energy and I'm losing weight (which in my case is a good thing)! And it does make me feel like I have some sort of "control" over my life again.

If you feel like you can't go cold turkey and go completely OMS right away, try changing one thing at a time to make it more of a gradual transition.

I also was diagnosed in January like Kmratliff and I do feel pretty the same, down, angry and actually with less hope than a month ago. I cry a lot. Im up and down constantly, I hide my red face, so my kids won't see my, I prepare food for them thinking "I can't do it". I'm just to weak. Ordinary weak human being. And MS is like a dark cloud that slowly covers my soul. And its getting bigger. When I first discovered OMS there was so much hope with me. I was actually very happy. Here it is the cure! The answer! Something that I can change so easily. The sun, the exercise - thats what I wanted to do anyway always. But more I read and more I found out about food restrictions, more helpless I felt. And then more confused. How am I supposed to eat fish daily if my mercury levels are almost over limit (i did the test). Some say: you don't have to it fish. But there is no other meat I can! I can eat soy products, but in US most of it is GMO. And why I can not have even one egg a week? And how I will pay for all that organic stuff...? And how people on MS diet can check that what helps is the diet indeed? How to know? And lastly WHY my neurologist, when asked about the diet, any diet for MS, said it does NOT help...?! But, yes, despite my pefect exam, he wants me on medication ASAP... I'll have to decide until next week.....Im sooo confused...more and more. Those thoughts to leave that all... diets, doctors, medications and run somewhere just to forget are... with me constantly.

It does get easier it's a shock the diagnosis. I don't eat meat or soy and don't eat fish everyday, it's fish 2-3 times a week. Plenty of resources and help on feeding a family plant based on engine2diet and there's Forks Over Knives. We don't need meat to get our protein, it gets easier as we learn more about real food and not the typical American diet. It is rare to find a neurologist who buys lifestyle changes but then it's rare to find a cardiologist who will tell their patient to change their lifestyle to fix their heart so please don't be put off what you can do to help your body because we can.

It's easy to get overwhelmed by diagnosis then the information overload OMS program facts.

Take a deep breath, relax, and work out YOUR priorities, good nutritional food is not the standard supermarket American fair, overrefined over processed bad ingredient foods are so simple to buy, heat and eat, but are definitely not the best you can do for yourself.

Look to doing better with what you can afford, perhaps consider going with a CSA or local gardening club, the more fresh fruits and veg you can get and eat, the better you'll be doing for yourself. Beans and fish are sources of protein that work with the program.

Good luck, but take the time to work out what matters long term for you, then take steps to move that way with your life.

I questioned everything, (still do a lot of the time), but I haven't felt as good as I do on the OMS diet, over the last 25 - 30 years. It may not be "the cure" for every problem, but it sure helps having the best diet, (IMO), that you can, and working from the diet on out.

Thank you! I hope Ill get to that point of clarity and positive thinking, one day, sooner than later hopefully. For now I'll just take day by day. I.

Regarding the last post.

The type, amount and persistence of pollutants in animal protein and vegetables are different. You don't hear about people becoming mercury poisoned from eating too much broccoli. There are not upper tolerable limits put on kale or blueberries as there is on fish.

Also, by buying organic produce you are avoiding GMO because the organic standard does not allow genetic modification.

And last thing.

OMS and ketogenic diets consisting of MCT's like coconut oil and palm oil are 100% incompatible.

Ketogenic diets are scientifically supported for intractable cases of epilepsy and not much else. They cause very serious side effects.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4325592/
https://www.deepdyve.com/lp/elsevier/su ... WK63iPSt2S
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11575609

Here is an intersting article supporting why saturated fat is inflammatory and is very bad for folks with MS.
http://m.neurology.org/content/82/10_Supplement/P6.149
CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that dietary saturated fatty acids may directly influence neuroinflammation in a p38 dependent manner. These data corroborate the hypothesis that nutritional habits associated with a “Western” lifestyle may contribute to MS prevalence and severity.

Also, I want to add that I am not suggesting folks ignore Jelinek's recommendations to eat fish on a regular basis unless they feel ethically or philosophically opposed to doing so. I just don't agree with the statement that if you are concerned about contamjnants in fish, you might as well also be afraid of veggies because everything is polluted.