Living
How I empowered myself with food
by Elizabeth Yarnell, ND, CLT
When I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis at
age 29 in 1999, the last thing
I was thinking about was what I
was eating. After all, what could a
degenerative disease that affected
the myelin sheaths on the nerves
in my brain have to do with
what was going into my mouth?
Quite a bit, it turned out.
Since then, I’ve become increasingly
aware of how the food I eat makes
me feel.
I spent my 20s as a girl on the
go, catching meals at restaurants
or fast-food joints, or simply
skipping meals altogether. I lived
alone and stocked my apartment
with such staples as Diet Coke,
Crystal Light and gummy bears.
My friends joked about my habit
of downing Tums as if they were
Tic Tacs. Even before my diagnosis,
I suffered from chronic constipation
interspersed with diarrhea.
My new fiancé (now husband)
was the first one to suggest that
my diet was less than admirable.
A competitive athlete, he was
already cooking with organic,
whole foods and was aghast at
my processed-food lifestyle. At
first I resisted his efforts. After all,
food was just sustenance. Then,
after my diagnosis, I started
learning more. MS became a
wake-up call to take care of myself
through caring about my diet.
We are what we eat
The human body functions
through a complex mechanism of
chemical and electrical interactions,
and vitamins, minerals and
nutrients play supporting roles
as catalysts, balancing agents
and igniters. Like running a car
without ever replenishing the oil
or power-steering fluid, when the
body does not get what it needs,
things start to go awry.
I came to the conclusion that
the best diet to keep my own
“engine” running was one of
clean, whole foods—mostly
plant-based—rather than a steady
diet of processed foodstuffs. I
started to eat a Mediterranean-style
diet of fresh vegetables, olive oil,
garlic and fish. My interest then
carried me even further: In 2006,
I became a certified nutritional
consultant, and in 2011, a
naturopathic doctor.
What I eat
As I remade my diet, I developed
a new vocabulary with words like
essential fatty acids, monosaturated
and unsaturated fats, antioxidants
and phytonutrients (see “A few
words to know,” p. 50). I ate
fatty fish like tuna and salmon
for their omega- 3 oils; avocados
brought delicious monounsaturated
fats; and fresh fruits, leafy greens
and vegetables offered fiber,
I spent my 20s as
a girl on the go,
catching meals at
restaurants or fast-food joints, or simply
skipping meals
altogether. I lived
alone and stocked
my apartment with
such staples as Diet
Coke, Crystal Light
and gummy bears.
My friends joked
about my habit of
downing Tums as if
they were Tic Tacs.
