Food, Exercise and Rest. Improve Your Brain Health and Get Stronger to Fight MS

Today’s article is centered on a topic that has been part of my MS management strategy since the month of being diagnosed. It’s the first thing that came to mind: how can I take care of my body in order to minimize the possible effects this condition might have on me at some point.

It might seem like common sense to eat well, get your body moving and having a good night’s sleep, but in dealing with MS, they become crucial, as your body is attacking itself and needs all the help that it can receive in order to have a chance to fight back.

MS is primarily or at its early stages an inflammatory disease. To me it makes a lot of sense to do your best to reduce that inflammatory state. All these three elements are potent inflammation fighters, if used right and on a regular basis.

FOOD

Our bodies constantly renew cells, giving us new tissues, organs and a whole new body in just a few years. This is why what we eat it crucial to our health. 

Imagine your body as a dirty glass, the dirt in it being all the junk and processed foods we have, all the toxins and damage done by intestinal inflammatory processes throughout our lives. And now imagine opening the faucet and letting fresh water pour over the glass. What happens? At first, nothing much, the water fills the cup and then overflows. But if you let it on, the dirt will finally clean away, it will melt and let the glass cleaner. Not entirely clean, there will be harder bits remaining (scars), but you’ll end up with a clearer vessel. 

Eating healthy foods and as little processed or cooked as possible will get you similar results. Stick to it, make it part of your identity. Train to battle MS.

EXERCISE

Exercise is another must-do when your body faces getting weaker. Long story short: MS aims to get us totally paralized. There! I’ve said it! It gives me chills everytime I think or say it, but it is a fear I understood I must face from this year onwards. It has been at the back of my mind for a while now. But you know what they say about your “enemies”: keep them closer than your “friends”. And this year I will do just that: face my fears, say them out loud.

It’s the same thing as when my mother and I took our first airplane flight together. It was a first for the both of us, but she was more scared than I was. I don’t know exactly why, but heights don’t scare me. Not being in control does. So, she was so anxious about turbulences and getting safe to our destination and although I tried to calm her down, she had her fears. So I decided to say her (our) fear out loud: “What is the worst thing that could happen? The airplane falls down and we die. That’s it! Can we prevent it? Can we do something about it? Then why bother? Worrying is of no help. Just enjoy the ride!”. She looked surprised and a bit shocked, but in the end she agreed with me.

Likewise, what is the worse that can happen with MS? You can become paralyzed, have major pain or die. Can you prevent it? Can you control it? Can you do something about it? No, but you can make the ride the best it can possibly be. The ride is your life and you can help yourself by moving your body. Do whatever you can do. 

We all have different capabilities and MS affects us in different ways. There are MSers who do thriathlons and others who are bed bound. There are people who are afraid to get heated up or to get out of the house. There are people who have pain and decide that they can’t push through.

But YES, YOU CAN! YES, YOU CAN! “Use it or lose it” one expression used to say. I’m not mean, I’m not forcing you do do anything that you can’t or don’t feel comfortable doing. It’s just that I saw it to be possible. I see examples of people that do it. Of course that at the same time there are people who can’t. There are all kinds of situations. There are all kinds of snowflakes. #NoTwoTheSame, as Shift.ms says.

Our bodies are made for movement. As long as you can crawl, do that. Get better ar crawling. There is no shame in wanting to survive. There is no shame in wanting to live and get better. People make it so hard by having big egos, by being so influenced by what other people say about them, about being judged.

It might sound unbelievable to you, it might seem like I’m B.S.ing you, but little by little, I come to understand that there is no ego, there is nothing to be ashamed about. It is all in our minds. We humans are independent beings, and when we face losing that, we get scared, we refuse to accept it. But at the end of the day, who are you to feel that way? There are thousands of people going through the same battle everyday. Some push through. Be one of those people. Constantly. Make it a life quest: "Be on top of all my struggles!"

Be dignified enough to push through the struggle. It’s the hardest thing you might need to do, but it’s why God allows you to live. To make a difference, to be humble and to be more open to what others are going through. We are so selfish and think that our lives are the most impacted ever.

Open your eyes and see how many are in the same or even worse situations. Stop complaining and start acting and doing something to fight back. Get on that eliptical and peddal for as long as your body alows you, stretch your upper body half while sitting in the wheelchair, smile if you are bedbound.

You are a wonderful human being. Don’t feel sorrow. We all face the same end. There’s no need to make the road there even harder than it is. Cry, hit something, yell, journal, confess to a priest, pray, get it out of your system.

And then smile. It calms your soul.

REST

Sleep is the key element that binds the first two together. We eat, we move, but the body needs to rest and recuperate after all this effort. It needs to regenerate the organs, to recharge your energy supplies and to tend to the body. 

We sleep in 1 and a half stages. It has been recommended to sleep at least 5 stages like this, meaning a minimum of 8 hours a night in order for sleep to be efficient.

Of course, when you have MS and fatigue as a symptom, no amount of sleep can make you feel rested, I agree. But you must go with the flow. Do your best in managing your daily activities and hacking the life out of your tasks, as to help the body recharge. I’ve writter about this here. I will also come back with even more details about sleep and how well it correlates to what you eat and how you move.

INSTEAD OF A CONCLUSION

Nobody said that you can cure MS by doing these three things. That would be just junk talk, delusional and counterproductive. When MS hits you, cause it will, it’s best to be prepared and a little more stronger than you were yesterday. You’ll get through it with possible less damage, you’ll raise up the chances of recovering faster after a relapse. 

These three are not miracle cures, are not whishful thinking, but ways through which you can take care of yourself, in which you can help your body cope with life with MS.

It’s like healing the wounded. It’s fighting back. It’s not giving up, accept your faith and drown yourself in anger and frustration. Be assertive! Take control of your life as well as you can.

Why give in? Why be a victim? Choose to live!

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Until next time, make the SMart Choices for your lifestyle.

Love,

Alexandra

How to Start Achieving Your Ideal Lifestyle by Making Smart Choices

Hey there! Nice to see you back here for another post! Today we’re getting deeper with the SMart. What was that again? We are getting deeper with the SMart Choice concept. I’m telling you more about how choices lead to change and how that leads to your desired lifestyle. Let’s get into it!

WHAT IS A CHOICE?

Life is nothing more than a sum of unpredictable events. Everyday you have to make choices, you have to pick the right things to suit your day and lifestyle. But what does it mean you can choose? It’s the action of mentally making a decision. You opt in for one way or another.

Every choice has a consequence and in time creates a habit. The effects of choosing can be immediate, short, medium or long term. But there is always a result of making a certain decision about that something in your life. Be it what shirt to wear today or to have or not to have breakfast this morning (and by the way, you totally should!).

As time goes by, every habit becomes automated. Think things like brushing your teeth twice a day, waking up at a certain hour or always adding honey to your tea. You do those things without even thinking, or while you’re thinking about something else. They’ve become second nature. Every habit eventually leads to a change in your life.

You make a choice, it becomes a habit and all of a sudden you live its consequences. It changed you in one way or another.

ABOUT HABITS AND THEIR QUIRKS

There are good habits and there are bad habits. Having one or the other is (you guessed it!) a matter of choice. You have the power to decide what, how, why and when you do. It has nothing to do with your willpower, but with repetition. Persistence is key. Do a thing over and over and it becomes second nature. It becomes who you are.

A habit is in fact the creation of new neural pathways in your brain. By making a choice and repeating it constantly for a certain amount of time, you signal your brain to learn it and make it part of your daily routine. You learn and then you master. But it does take time.

Studies say that it can last between 21 and 90 days, depending on its difficulty and on your resistance. What is that? It’s that little voice inside your head that tells you that you can’t do something, that it’s too early in the morning or that it can be postponed for a later day. It’s basically what you should call procrastination or not being in the mood to do a certain thing.

But it can be conquered. Through repetition. You try it again and again until it sticks with you. Let’s say you decided to quit sugar. You start by not eating any foods that contain it. A day, two, three, four pass by and you are making progress. But on the fifth you go out and a friend is having cheesecake for dessert. You crave it and give in, telling yourself that it’s just this time. And then you feel bad about eating it and ruining your progress. Stop it right now!

Allow yourself to feel bad about it, but don’t give up. Don’t use it as an excuse to quit. Enjoy that cheesecake today, it’s OK. The world as you know it is not over. But tomorrow start again. From the beginning. When you’ll understand that is OK to fail and that you have the power to choose what happens, you will persevere and achieve your goal. The simple thought that you can do it is your reward.

Let’s say that in reading this article you think about some bad habits that you are not so proud of. Your thoughts are something like: “How can I make good choices and have good habits if I do this and this all wrong?!”. There is hope for you, my friend!

Every bad habit can be replaced by a good one. Step by step. One by one. Every day, choose to do one thing the good way. Start with something small and easy. 

For example, you drink tea with two tablespoons of sugar. This time, put only one teaspoon. Repeat it daily and in time, when you got used to the one spoon, replace it with honey. Then repeat. And so on, until your brain learns and your taste buds get used to the change. To make it even easier, attach a new habit to one that is already established. It helps build the new one.

Decide what bad habits you want to change and work on them one by one. Don’t rush it and don’t do more habits at the same time. Take it slow and steady. In time, you’ll get to see results and will be happy how your life has changed for the better. Reward yourself for doing it, be kind to yourself. You’ll get there. Have faith!

HOW I CHANGED

In my case, after being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, I chose to get informed, to know my “enemy”, understand it and be able to make smart choices for my lifestyle. That included food, exercise and relaxation choices, very different from what I was used to up until then.

Those choices led to new good habits that replaced the old bad ones. Those new habits led to changing my lifestyle from the inside out. It’s a process. It didn’t happen overnight. After a year, I am only just begining.

But the results are worth it. I am more confident and have more self-worth. I am more self-aware, I am calm and getting in control of my emotions. My fitness has improved and little by little my body is getting stronger. Multiple sclerosis might “wake up to say hi”, but I know it now, I know that this too shall pass. I will adapt and overcome it. Always. When fighting a war, you have to prepare.

WHAT CAN YOU DO TO START?

Read as much as possible, be informed before you make choices, especially concerning your health and managing your multiple sclerosis. With or without a chronic illness, you must choose wisely. Have a purpose and work at it daily through your decisions. Remember, choices become habits that in time change your life. 

Go practice, make choices, create change!

I hope you enjoyed today's article. Leave a comment down below and let's talk. 

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As always, transformation starts from within.

With love,

Alexandra