Does Being Gluten and Dairy Free Help?
Today’s post is not about those sub challenges though, it is about my MS and if I feel any difference. Have my symptoms gotten and better? Do I feel like I have more energy? Can I think more clearly? All important questions and all relevant to MS.
Other Factors
Before I answer those questions, however, there are a few things that need clarification. First, this is not a scientific experiment. I am not in a lab, gluten and dairy are not scientific controls, there are other variables at play. For me there are two other variables that I know directly affect my symptoms – weather and weight. Cold weather irritates my symptoms as well as weight. The colder it is and the more I weigh the greater my symptoms get irritated. These are important to acknowledge because they may make me feel better or worse, regardless of the effects of being gluten and dairy free.
So what symptoms do I have? My symptoms include weak legs, weak knees, balance issues and touch sensitivity. The weakness and balance issues what they say they are but the touch sensitivity may need explaining. One of my earliest symptoms was my pinky toe on the right foot started becoming sensitive to touch. It did not matter what touched it – a sock, shoes, blanket, my hand – anything and everything irritated it. Imagine trying to keep your feet warm in the winter when you cannot let anything touch them? It is a challenge.
These two factors – weather and weight – need to be taken into account when judging if being gluten and dairy free is having positive results. It matters because when I started this challenge it was cold. When it drops into single digits that is cold for me. Some of you may laugh because your highs are below zero – and I do not mind you laughing – all I know is my symptoms do not like cold weather. I also had gained about 10 pounds before starting this challenge due to a back injury I incurred in late October. 10 pounds may not seem like much but it does make a difference for me.
After 25 days the weather is getting warmer and I have lost about 7 pounds. Both of these have helped with my symptoms. So when I answer the question regarding the gluten and dairy free diet I have to acknowledge those other factors.
Answer to the Question
Does a gluten and dairy free diet help with my symptoms? My preliminary answer is yes, I believe it does. It is not a whole lot, my symptoms have not all of a sudden disappeared but the diet does seem to help a little bit. However, it takes between 20-30 days for the diet to start making an impact and I am in the middle of that transition period at day 25. I have 35 more days to see if this trend continues. A lot can happen in 35 days, the positives of my progress I may originally contribute to the diet may end up being more weather or weight related. Again, this is not a scientific experiment, this is just me trying out the diet for 60 days. There are many days still left and I will keep you up to date on the progress.
Until next time keep up your challenges, you can complete them. And if you are not currently attempting anything it is never too late. You do not have to wait until January 2019 to start, you can start this coming Sunday. Or you can start next week, just do not think you have to wait until a magical day of the year, every day is that magical day. This is Gabe singing off, adios.
Attempt it. Chance it. Try it. Get to It![/cs_text][x_custom_headline level=”h2″ looks_like=”h4″ accent=”false” class=”cs-ta-center”]Recipes[/x_custom_headline][/cs_column][/cs_row][/cs_section][cs_section parallax=”false” separator_top_type=”none” separator_top_height=”50px” separator_top_angle_point=”50″ separator_bottom_type=”none” separator_bottom_height=”50px” separator_bottom_angle_point=”50″ style=”margin: 0px;padding: 0px;”][cs_row inner_container=”true” marginless_columns=”false” style=”margin: 0px auto;padding: 0px;”][cs_column fade=”false” fade_animation=”in” fade_animation_offset=”45px” fade_duration=”750″ type=”1/2″ style=”padding: 0px;”][x_image type=”circle” src=”https://gettoitmovement.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/ham-sandwich.jpg” alt=”” link=”false” href=”#” title=”” target=”” info=”none” info_place=”top” info_trigger=”hover” info_content=””][/cs_column][cs_column fade=”false” fade_animation=”in” fade_animation_offset=”45px” fade_duration=”750″ type=”1/2″ style=”padding: 0px;”][cs_text]I have not had the time or motivation to cook some extravagant meal. This time I went with a basic ham sandwich on gluten free bread with regular potato chips (most flavoring has dairy). The bread was decent, small loaf and expensive but decent. It did mold after 4 days so be aware of that.[/cs_text][/cs_column][/cs_row][/cs_section]