It’s been ages since my last blog post, but I have a good
excuse… shortly after my last post I found out I was pregnant expecting twins
and now my life is very full on looking after my two little cuties! Many people
asked me if I was able to stick to my diet during pregnancy so I thought it was
about time I wrote a blog post J
MS studies have shown that women often suffer from MS
relapses shortly after birth, thought to be a result of the changing hormones, and being aware of this, I was determined to do everything I could to ward off
a pregnancy-related relapse.
To begin with I had pretty horrific morning sickness and
very little energy (normal twin pregnancy stuff I think, rather than
MS-related!) I continued with my diet, tweaking some aspects to make it
pregnancy/baby-appropriate and lower maintenance - as I don’t have much time to cook
anymore!
These are my current diet “rules” (not that different from
my original set of rules).
Avoidance of foods that potentially cause or worsen MS:
I’m still strictly avoiding:
- Gluten
- Dairy
- Alcohol
- Caffeine
- Animal fats
- Red meat (I ate some chicken during my pregnancy mainly due to peer pressure from my mum(!) but am meat-free again now)
Abundance of foods that promote healing of the body or have
natural anti-inflammatory properties:
I’ve continued to eat or drink quite a lot of these to help
my body repair itself:
- Loads of veggies of all colours
- Avocado
- Turmeric
- Fish (especially oily fish)
- Coconut oil
- Olive oil
- Nuts (but not peanuts)
- Water and lemon water
During my pregnancy, and in the months since with two little
babies, I’ve found I need all the energy I can get! I’ve been eating loads of gluten free oats in all different forms- porridge, oat cereal, flapjack, and oat milk.
For anyone trying to follow this sort of diet and needing
some “low maintenance” tips, here are a couple of new staples that require (almost)
zero preparation that I’ve found useful to have in the fridge!
- A gluten free oat cereal
- Gluten and dairy free oat flapjacks
- The “Easy Bean” range of pre-cooked plant-based meals (like a ready meal but without the bad fats, preservatives etc therefore much healthier)
- Pre-cooked rice you can microwave
- Pre-cooked quinoa you can microwave
- Pre-chopped veggies if I'm really short of time!
- Hummus
- For a treat, chocolate oat milk
My twins are four months old now, and since most
pregnancy-related MS relapses occur within the first three months, I think I
have managed to avoid it! J
I definitely think my diet has played a big part in this, as has my continued reliance
on yoga and meditation to keep a positive frame of mind (more on that another day maybe J)
