What exactly is an anti-inflammatory diet? And what is it doing for you when you are living with MS? And most importantly, how close is your diet right now to be considered an anti-inflammatory diet? What are the changes that you need to make to help reduce inflammation in your body? Let's open up this discussion so that you can help to reclaim your body, mind, and life from multiple sclerosis.

Body, mind, and life from multiple sclerosis? Welcome to my MS podcast. I'm your host, Alene Brennan. Okay, my friends, welcome to episode two of season four of my MS podcast. And as we know, this season is all about MS and nutrition. So today we are talking about anti-inflammatory diets, because one of the things that I hear most often is people complaining, rightfully so, about how strict and rigid some of the MS nutrition protocols can be.

You want to do. Some people don't want to take it to that level though. And they're just saying like, hey, Alene, I know that I can be eating a little bit better than I am right now, but I'm not quite sure what the best first steps are to take. So that's why I think it's going to be helpful for us to have a discussion around anti-inflammatory diets. Like, what exactly is an anti-inflammatory diet? What are you eating? What are you avoiding?

To lower inflammation, such as vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, fatty fish, and good old olive oil. It also prioritizes reducing the intake of foods that can trigger inflammation, like fried foods, processed foods, and foods with a lot of like added sugars in it. So on paper, this kind of seems like the obvious way to eat, but clearly it's not a reflection of the standard American diet or the SAD diet as it's known as, which is basically

American diet typically starts off with a breakfast that is loaded with sugar, whether it's obvious sugar like a donut or a muffin or dousing waffles and pancakes with maple syrup that is more high fructose corn syrup than anything else, or it's taking what we think is a quote unquote healthy cereal, but it's really just loaded with sugar and then putting skim milk on top of it.

And then lunch rolls around and you're having some fast food, a hamburger, fried chicken with some fries, wash that down with some sweetened iced tea or soda as well. And then you're mid-afternoon, you're reaching for chips or a candy bar or another soda or a sports drink. And then by dinner, some fried chicken or a big plate of some cheesy pasta without a vegetable in sight. And if there's still room, or maybe if there's not. It might be topped off with some sugary dessert like ice cream, cake, pies, whatever it may be. And again, there may even be some evening snack with chips, ice cream, candy. You get the deal. Now, if you're listening to this podcast, my guess is that isn't your starting point. You're not the extreme of the standard American diet, but you don't feel like you could consider your diet anti-inflammatory or therapeutic. So let's focus on our discussion today on taking your diet today, which again is not the standard American diet, but it's not quite a therapeutic diet. It kind of falls somewhere in between, and you just want to figure out how to level

the harder it can be to get started because it feels like too big of a leap from where you are now to where you want to be. I'm all for setting big goals. I'm all for it. I love setting big goals and dreams in life. However, it's most helpful to get you started to identify one simple step to take first. I always recommend going one step at a time. So start with the one of these elements that I'm about to share that feels like it has the path of least resistance. You want to create a quick and easy win for yourself. So again, as I share these five elements, see which one stands out to you as the one that you're either most interested in and or feels like one that would be easiest for you to start today. That's the key. What is something that you're like, oh, all right, like that's pretty easy. I can start with that today. Once that kind of like light bulb moment goes off or once that one kind of like jumps out to you, that's it. That's the one.

Number one, emphasize whole foods. Whole foods are fruits, vegetables, high quality protein, and healthy fats. This is basically the cornerstone of an anti-inflammatory diet. Eat whole unprocessed foods. Now you've likely heard this a hundred times before, but I always want to encourage you to not just keep consuming more information, but to identify again how you can start putting it into action. So maybe you have heard this again, a hundred times before, but pause for a moment now and identify where in your diet do you lean on processed foods?

So if it's something that's convenient like that, I'm far more likely to do it. If I know the peppers are already cut and in the fridge and I can just grab them and again, keep the day going, I'm far more likely to choose that in the moment than if when I'm hungry in the middle of the day, when I have a lot of other things that are going on, I'm not as likely to chop up a whole pepper at that point.

It's a whole food. So can you start with that? Or if you tend to snack on a lot of candy, whether it's in the middle of the afternoon or in the evening when you're watching TV, can you swap that out for some fruit, some berries, or even here's a great example. One of the things that I leaned on a lot when I was trying to cut some of the processed sugar out of my diet,

Okay. So that is the first step. Emphasize whole foods, specifically the vegetables, fruits, high quality protein, and healthy fats. If you're wondering about healthy fats, that is basically some avocado, some olive oil, nuts and seeds are a great source of healthy fat. So that's kind of the realm of those healthy fats if you're just a little gray on that area there.

And reduce omega-6 fatty acids. Omega-3 fatty acids are known for their powerful anti-inflammatory properties. They are essential fats that your body cannot produce on its own. So we must get them through our diet. And they can be found in fatty fish like salmon, mackerel, and sardines, as well as in nuts and seeds like flax seeds, chia seeds, walnuts. So

Chia seeds are a great thing, a great and easy thing that you can add into your smoothies. Add one to two tablespoons in. If you haven't had them before, start small. I recommend that with everything. But they have a lot of good omega-3 fatty acids in them. They're a great source of fiber. They are something that you can add into your smoothie. And when you blend them up, you don't know they're in there. So your body gets the benefit, but you don't really taste anything different in your smoothie.

And they have omega-3 fatty acids, which are also essential in the diet. So we do need them. The difference is that the modern diet of today, our standard American diet, is overloaded with them, especially in all of the processed and fried foods that use oil that is high in omega-6. So this balance that we're trying to maintain of having more omega-3s and less omega-6s, we still need them. But again, the diet is just overloaded with them.

Eliminate or at least reduce your intake of fried and processed foods. So I'm sharing what I'm considering like the five elements, but you can see how they really overlap because number one is eating more whole foods. And then this other one here of limiting the omega-6 fatty acid exposure is telling you that you can do so by eating less processed foods. So it's kind of like they're all intermingled. Like by doing one, all right. And that also rolls me right into this next one here, which is number four. So number one is eating more whole foods. Number two, increasing the omega-3 fatty acids. Number three, reducing omega-6 fatty acids. Now, number four, increase antioxidants. Antioxidants play such an important role of neutralizing what are called free radicals,

in antioxidants. Again, these are things that you've likely heard before, berries, nuts, leafy greens, and other brightly colored vegetables and fruits. This is why on The Wall's Protocol, we focus on those nine cups or even just set aside the quantity, focus on the variety of them. So we focus on those deep leafy greens, high in antioxidants. We focus on the deeply colored,

can maybe add berries into your smoothie. Or if you don't do it already, actually, you know what I've done a lot that I really enjoy? I like putting berries in my salad, especially in the spring and summer. So kind of as we're creeping into springtime and some of the fruit starts becoming more in season, that's a great thing to add into your salad. It just kind of mixes it up a little bit and adds more antioxidants in there. Or you can always use berries as a snack.

All right, so number five is all about gut health. We wanna make sure that we're including some good fiber, probiotics, and prebiotics. The health of the gut microbiome is intricately linked to the immune system and inflammation. A diet that is high in fiber from fruits and vegetables, as well as some good fermented foods, such as sauerkraut or kimchi or pickles,

vegetables, and fruits, which are high in fiber. If you're focusing on getting those omega-3s in through the chia seeds, there's another great source of fiber. So you'll see, again, they're all connected. So it seems like there's five different things, but by doing one, you're getting, you're almost like crossing off the list of all five of them by just focusing on more whole foods. All right, so now the million dollar question, as I said, is always, when will I see results?

Some answer here. So I'll break it down like this. Some people will feel improvements within the first couple of weeks, especially when it comes to energy, pain, stiffness, sleep, digestion, and mood. So within the first couple of weeks, you can experience some relief; others might take a few months to see more noticeable changes. But if there's one thing that I have learned about the body in this whole journey that I have been on is that it will heal on its own time. We can't try to force a timeline on our body's ability to heal. We simply need to support it with the right tools, i. e., healthy foods, and then be patient with it. This isn't about a quick fix to symptoms. That's a great perk, but we're also looking at the long-term benefits as we're managing a chronic illness. We need a diet that not just makes a difference in our body today, but we want to think about creating a healing environment in our body for the long game. And then the other thing I want to just remind us and me of is that stress can create inflammation in the body. So managing stress is just as important as the foods that we choose to eat.

how can you gamify it? Like maybe you give yourself one point for every time you eat a vegetable. And then once you've reached X number of points, you get a reward or like a prize, like going to the dentist when you're a kid. It could be something that you've been wanting to buy, or maybe it's a little mini spa night that you create for yourself. It's whatever is most meaningful to you. My point, have fun with it. Don't make it feel like this is punishment. Allow it to be light and easy and personalize it to work for you. And then don't lose sight of the changes that are happening in your cells and in your body just by changing the food on your plate. That's really empowering. And that can be motivating in and of itself. All right, now I'm gonna wrap this by tying this back to MS. I mean, this is my MS podcast, and the goal is to reclaim your body, mind, and life from multiple sclerosis. So what can this anti-inflammatory diet do for MS? The two biggest benefits I see are, number one, it can help to modulate the immune system. Basically, bring it back into balance so it stops attacking your own body. And number two,

So in the short term, we're looking to reduce and eliminate symptoms. And in the long term, we're trying to create a healing environment in your body that encourages this disease to remain stable. So let's do a quick recap here. The five key elements to an anti-inflammatory diet are

I want you to identify that and I want to know what it is. Send me a note, either an email or DM on social media, What is the first step that you're taking? I want to help cheer you on. And of course, if you have any questions on getting started or need support, reach out to me, let me know. I always have lots of resources that can help to make this journey just a little bit easier. And that's what we're all trying to do, right? Well, my friend, we've reached the end of this episode. Pick one lesson from today's discussion and put it into action now. It's time to reclaim your body, mind, and life from multiple sclerosis. And for more resources, events, and programs, head over to Alenebrennan. com. See you on the next episode of my MS podcast.