“Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food”

― Hippocrates

In optimal conditions our body’s immune response is a marvelous system, protecting our body against foreign invaders (such as bacteria, viruses, environmental pollutants, etc), injury, and infection. For some people, however, this system has a few flaws.

My hubby is one of them. Instead of fighting foreign matter, his immune system aims at its own tissues, resulting in severe damage to his body and the development of an incurable, yet manageable, autoimmune disease called Multiple Sclerosis or MS for short

As stated by the American Autoimmune Related Diseases Association (AARDA), autoimmune diseases are the number two cause of chronic illness, which can affect nearly every organ or part of the body.

Worldwide, an estimated one in ten people is currently struggling with an autoimmune disease of some sort. More than 100 autoimmune diseases have been identified and new ones, including some very exotic and rare diseases, are popping up every year.

Not sure what an autoimmune disease is? You might have heard of some of these: lupus, type 1 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, Sjögren’s syndrome, multiple sclerosis, Crohn’s disease, celiac disease, ulcerative colitis, and chronic inflammatory bowel disease (IBS). Just to name a few.

When an Autoimmune Disease Turned Our World Upside Down

In 2007, I was just finishing up some experiments in the lab for my thesis (studying the synthesis pathways of cancer- and infection-fighting compounds in certain plants) at the University of Belgium, when I received a short and frightening phone call from my husband to come home as fast as could.

A colleague had just brought him to the doctor (and home afterward). The doctor had urged him to go to the emergency room asap because something really bad was going on.

I think I never rode my bicycle as fast through the city center as that day. I managed to do the 10 km (6.2 miles) in less than 30 minutes during rush hour! I am sure I missed a few red lights and was probably not being the safest driver on the road. Luckily, I managed to get home without ending up in the hospital myself. We do crazy things when our loved ones are in danger, right?

When I arrived home, we immediately jumped into the car and drove off. Though he had been feeling a strange sensation in both his legs the whole day, he could hardly use his legs or stand up by the time we arrived in the hospital.

THE VERDICT – MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS

After spending a whole week in the hospital and multiple Hellraiser-like tests and MRIs, not knowing what was going on, Multiple Sclerosis was the final verdict.

Though my husband didn’t fully realize what that meant at that time when the word MS was dropped into the room our whole world collapsed. We had a neighbor with MS in a wheelchair and my dad’s cousin lost most of her eyesight and feeling in both hands after a really bad episode or flare-up.

I once did a full study on MS during my studies and knew what was going on. Since MS comes in many forms and gradations, I was smart enough to keep my mouth shut and not frighten my husband even more with the knowledge of what might or might not happen to him.

What The Heck Is Multiple Sclerosis?

For reasons that are still unclear, in people with MS, the body attacks its own fatty insulation material (myelin) that coats and protects nerve fibers in the brain and spinal cord.

Just as with the electrical wiring in your house, the insulation of our nerves is important to make sure electric signals are transported correctly and the information arrives at the destination. MS targets the central nervous system (CNS) and causes damage to important cells and tissues – altering, slowing, or stopping nerve transmissions. Hence all the neurological issues people with MS experience.

After we got the final verdict, all the other odd neurological episodes he had experienced in the past suddenly made sense. How were doctors able to miss the link all these years. Systematically they failed to link lesions (or scars) on his brain and spine tissue, an epileptic attack, and a whole week of losing the feeling and taste in his tongue and left side of his body to a neurological disease.

Every time he was released from the hospital with the words: “You are fine. Not sure why this has happened, sir! But Don’t you worry!”

Meds Don’t Cover Your Back, WHOLE FOODS do!

Though our future didn’t look so bright, we never gave up. Love gets you through the most perilous situations. But how we reacted to the disease and made peace with it is a story for another time.

In today’s article, however, I want to focus on how we got rid of pharmaceuticals and let food (and lifestyle) be the one and only medicine.

Our journey of managing MS started at the pharmacy. The power of the white coat, as some like to call it, was still very strong at that time. I studied pharmacy and biology and the young and maybe naive person I was believed meds are created to make people better. The pharmaceutical world, however, is controlled by governments, banks, and other well-paid people who aren’t looking for a cure. Managing symptoms is what they are after. Also a story for another time.

I just want to say that when the doctor told us weekly expensive interferon shots – which made him sick every week – were the only answer to manage his disease, we blindly believed him and fell into the expensive chemical trap.

Since his immune system was too active, attacking his own body, the meds were there to suppress his overactive immune system. Makes sense, right? Only later we started to ask questions like why is this happening and shouldn’t we be looking into finding the root cause and start treating the real issue instead of shutting up the immune system which plays an important role in our daily life.

His immune system was constantly put to rest, therefore he caught almost every germ that passed his body. Also, even though taking these meds, he still got some weird neurological issues from time to time. It’s what they call MS flare-ups.

Time for CHANGE

Though we were mostly cooking at home, the Belgian cuisine is rich in meat, butter, cream, and cheese. And let’s not forget the wine or famous Belgian beers that go with that meal.

Though my health wasn’t as bad, I wasn’t the most healthy girl either. I inherited high cholesterol levels and heart rhythm disorder from my dad’s side and was slightly overweight.

My little family was struggling. The more I thought about it, the more I realized these meds weren’t the answer. Though the medical world does many wonderful things, it messes up a lot of things too.

Meds like the interferon shots my hubby was taking may cover you for a certain percentage (around 30-40%), but they don’t tackle the issue or root cause. Though it is still unclear what causes MS, food, stress, and other lifestyle factors seem to be important triggers that cannot be ignored.

Inspired by the story of Terry Wahls (see links to her books below) – a doctor with progressive MS – who changed her diet to a whole food diet which got her out of her wheelchair. After reading her story, we were convinced that there were better ways than taking meds to manage my hubby’s disease.

In a nutshell, the Wahls Diet avoids wheat, grains, legumes, and dairy and emphasizes leafy greens, sulfur-rich vegetables, colorful fruits and vegetables, organ meats, and fish

A paleo-based diet rich in organ meat, however, wasn’t our cup of tea. Too much meat for this animal lover. Plus, my husband doesn’t like organ meat at all.

The good news, according to Terry, making the change to a Paleo-like diet that incorporates a lot of myelin-boosting foods such as liver is only needed when you have a very bad, progressive form. It is perfectly feasible to manage MS through a wholefood vegetarian diet that eliminates dairy products. 

MS comes in so many gradations, so it is all about finding out what works for you.

Confused by all the healthy eating info out there and eager to help my husband manage his disease and prevent it from getting worse, I decided to take up a 4-year after-work/weekend holistic health and nutrition course to nurture us back to health. Best decision ever!

Preventing and Reversing An Autoimmune Disease with REAL Food

Step by step, or should I say bite by bite, we implemented the things I learned. We both started to feel better. My hubby’s MS flare-ups stopped, my heart rhythm condition and cholesterol improved and I lost a few pounds too.

We became less stressed, took up daily-ish exercising, stopped eating that much meat, and incorporated green smoothies into our life. Gradually we eliminated most processed foods, dairy, gluten, and meat and increased our intake of fresh veggies and fruits. Things started to get better and we saw some major improvements to our health.

Although he was still taking the weekly shots, he just felt better. His body was able to cope with the meds and he didn’t get sick all the time. His body was slowly healing itself from the inside out. And what was more important, No more MS flare-ups or neurological issues.

Time To Throw Out The Meds and Let Whole Foods Do Their Magic

Since it was always our dream to travel and live abroad, we moved to Cambodia in 2014. Moving out of Belgium and Europe, however, also meant goodbye to cheap medicine and health care. The weekly interferon shots came at $1200 a month, but Belgium health care had our back so we only paid about $10-15. But this was all going to change.

Not willing to pay $1200 and no health insurance that wanted to cover his disease for a reasonable price, he decided he was ready to quit his meds from one day to the other, trusting the power of whole foods, exercise, and stress management.

One day he told me:

“This is our dream and we are not gonna let MS ruin all the fun. I’ll quit my meds and we’ll see what happens! If we have to come back then at least we lived our dream for a while…”

And that’s what we did… fast forward to today… we are still living our tropical dream in SE-Asia. No flare-ups, no meds, no other complaints. He hasn’t felt better in his entire life.

Though MS is still incurable, for now, changing diet and exercise can make it go away and improve the quality of life!

When it comes to food I’m an advocate of a whole food – mainly plant-based – diet eliminating all processed foods. Though I eat a vegan diet myself, organic lean meats and fish can be part of a healthy diet. However, they shouldn’t be on the menu every meal or day.

Though Terry Wahls proved a very strict Paleo works well to treat autoimmune diseases, Paleo isn’t the only way. After doing some more research I found a wholefood, plant-based lifestyle that can do the same.

If you are interested to learn more, read “The China Study,” a book by T. Colin Campbell and his son Thomas M. Campbell II. 

In the early 1980s, a nutritional biochemist named T. Colin Campbell (Ph.D. of Cornell University) formed a partnership with researchers at Oxford University and the Chinese Academy of Preventive Medicine. Together they embarked upon one of the most comprehensive nutritional studies ever undertaken. The project spreads over more than 30 years and is known as the China Project.

The researcher compared the diet of rural Chinese (low in fat and high in dietary fiber and plant material) with the rich diets of the Western countries (animal-based diet). This allowed the researcher to compare mainly plant-based diets with animal-based diets.

After reading the books of Terry Wahls and Campbell combined with my studies and experience, I concluded that it is all about how much and what we eat.

Ever, since the world started to rely on more convenient foods – such as ready-made dinners, tomatoes in cans, cereals, fat-free yogurt or cream, etc – numbers of many diseases, have gone through the roof.

Since we experienced the many benefits of eliminating processed foods and choosing real foods instead we have seen dramatic improvements to our health.

Though we still eat gluten-containing products on occasion, the focus in our diet is on eating whole foods. Over time we eliminated dairy from our diet (a culprit of many of our modern diseases) and started to consume less meat and fish. 

My hubby still has some organic meat or fish on very rare occasions. These days we mainly live a 100% plant-based or vegan life and feel great.

And of course no or close to no processed foods like canned tomatoes, chickpeas, baked goods, refined grains, refined sugar, etc.

Combined with a daily-ish exercise routine (5 times a week) of somewhere in between 20 min to 1 hour, we have never felt as good as we feel now. And most importantly, we haven’t taken any meds to control our health issues since we moved to Cambodia in 2014. No issues whatsoever. Impressive, right?

Well, you can achieve the same.

With this story I want to show you a possibility, another way, to fight disease but it will require some, maybe even a lot (depending on your current lifestyle) effort to make the change. Take it easy and let the food do its healing magic!

Ohh and something else! Get stress under control, move to another country or quit your job if must. But stress and health or autoimmune disease don’t go well together!

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Small note: though I have a scientific and holistic background, I’m not a doctor. If you have MS or any other disease please do not stop your medication from one day to another without getting proper medical and nutritional advice.

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Are you struggling with an autoimmune disease too? How are you managing your condition? Let us know in the comment below!