The way I eat is a hodge-podge of ideas and theories taken from many different diets, my upbringing, and different philosophies I’ve encountered. It’s also the result of lots of experimentation and elimination dieting. I am calling my diet “The Crazy Bunny Diet”. It might be more descriptive to call it the Crazy Bunny, Crow, and Cat Diet, but that just doesn’t roll off the tongue.
The “Crazy” is because I don’t eat sugar in any form, or grains (I do miss the sugar part, and corn chips, but oh well). The “Bunny” part is because the vast majority of what I eat is vegetables (at least 80%, way more if you count nuts). The “Crow” part would be eating the occasional egg. And the “Cat” part would be because I eat fish, poultry, and a little red meat. So there it is, the Crazy Bunny Diet!
How the Crazy Bunny Diet evolved… It began with Dr. Terry Wahls. The main point of her diet is veggies and fruit, with some meat (emphasis on organ meats) all to support your mitochondria. Hello 9 cups of veggies every day! I combined Dr. Wahls with Dr. Roy Swank who advocated a diet that attempted to eliminate saturated fat. So I eliminated all dairy, and most meat, with the exception of fish and light meat poultry. Next came the MS Recovery Diet. This diet has similarities to the first two, but also works on the premise of avoiding foods that are known to cause allergic reactions; dairy, grains with gluten, legumes, soy, eggs, and yeast. But the most important point from this diet is to figure out and follow what works for you specifically. So out went wheat, sugar, beans and most grains. I have also incorporated pieces from the Anti-Inflammatory Diet. It’s fun to know how inflammatory a food is, and of course, there’s an app for that. I also mixed a sprinkle or two from The Paleo Diet, SCD (Specific Carbohydrate Diet), Ketogenic Diet, Blood Type Diet, and I’m sure there are more that I’m not remembering at the moment.
There is also the Raw Food way of eating. I have discovered that I love eating Raw, it gives me great amounts of energy. I incorporate as much raw as I can into mine and my families diet. Someday I may try to go totally Raw (although I think I’ll always eat a little meat), but it’s just not practical with young kids.
I also looked back at how I ate growing up. My wonderfully-hippie mom was all about whole grains, fresh veggies, milk from our own goats, and avoiding refined sugar and flour. We were vegetarian for my early years. My mom made her own tofu! One of the big correlations I draw in the cause of my MS is that my MS didn’t become aggressive until after I veered away from the way I had eaten the majority of my life. I went from eating little dairy, no milk, no red meat or pork, and rarely fried foods; to whole milk, ice cream, bacon and donuts (not all the time of course, but I would indulge in these treats on a regular basis). Three years into eating that way was when my MS reared it’s ugly head, coincidence?
Five years into eating this way, I have brought some foods back: the bean category, and taken others out: the nightshade family. I do allow a little fruit, but I have to remove it completely whenever I feel myself over indulging. I eat chocolate on occasion, and drink wine sometimes. Temptation is always in front of me, and it is a constant battle to remind myself to make healthful choices. But like any habit, or exercising any muscle, the more you practice the easier it gets.
*Disclaimer! I am not a doctor, and I am not a dietician. I happen to have MS, which is what started this quest for a better diet. What I write is a compilation and distillation of some of the things I have tried and found helpful for me. If there is anything here that speaks to you, that is great. But, you are your own best practitioner. Listen to your body. Make the choices that are best for you. Use your own best judgment. No two people are the same, and there is no one-size-fits-all of anything!
