There are several things I want to discuss regarding this challenge. The first thing, and main reason I took on this challenge, is did being gluten and dairy free help with my MS symptoms? As I have mentioned before, around day 25 I thought it was helping. Yet, as I continued on I noticed that my symptoms were fluctuating with the weather – with warmer weather my symptoms got better and colder weather they got worse. Those fluctuations are a normal thing for me, something I would expect to be less if the diet were working. This is not to say the diet did not help or did not work but that I did not notice any change in my symptoms.
I will not say that it did not help or that it will not help others with autoimmune diseases such as MS. I have heard too many stories of others who changed their diet drastically, including going gluten and dairy free, and that also changed the severity of their symptoms. People who were wheelchair bound now are able to walk around just as I can. And for me the diet change may have helped in ways I cannot visibly see. While the diet did not help with my symptoms as I had hoped, it may have helped in other ways that I cannot detect. So, does the diet help? I cannot say definitively one way or the other right now.
What about other benefits, are there any? Yes, I believe there are other benefits of a gluten and dairy free challenge. As my friend Yashema mentioned in my last post that for her she has a lot more energy now. Granted, her lack of energy could have be attributed to her allergies and after addressing them she regained it. However, I will not discount others’ personal experiences.
As for me whether or not the diet helped with my MS symptoms in particular doing the challenge has helped me in other ways. It really helped me see how often I impulse food buy and some of the reasons why. It has also helped me get back into cooking at home. There have been periods where I cooked a lot more at home and consequently did not eat out as much. I am headed back to that but this time with a better understanding of portions, not just in eating but also in cooking. It has also helped me with an overall sense of discipline – something I have been lacking for a while. So, even if the diet did not help with my MS symptoms it did help with other areas.
(I will caution, however, that there are many variables that affect our health and well being. It is not just food, not just exercising, not just our environment or pollution – there are many things that all work for and against our health. This needs to always be taken into account when determining if a diet or an exercise routine is working).
I have made it to the end of day 60, what about you? Have you completed your challenge(s)? Are you still in the middle of them? Have you yet to start one? It is never too late to start, keep going if you are in the middle of it, you got it, and if you have finished a challenge kudos to you! Keep going, you go this, I got this, we got this! Until the next 60 day challenge this is Gabe signing off.
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/2018/03/vegtable-teriyaki.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]For this week I made some vegetable teriyaki on jasmine rice. I based the teriyaki sauce on the chicken teriyaki I made earlier and went just with vegetables.[/cs_text][/cs_column][/cs_row][/cs_section]