Lifestyle vs Multiple Sclerosis & More

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This is Dr. Saray Stancic. She’s another from the ranks of “doctors who got a serious illness and it completely changed how they view the treatment of serious illness”.

In her case, Stancic was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, and wasn’t impressed with the results from the treatments offered, so (after 8 years of pain, suffering, and many medications, only for her condition to worsen) she set about doing better with an evidence-based lifestyle medicine approach.

After 7 years of her new approach, she would go on to successfully run a marathon and live symptom-free.

All this to say: her approach isn’t a magic quick fix, but it is a serious method for serious results, and after all, while it’d be nice to be magically in perfect health tomorrow, what’s important is being in good health for life, right?

If you’re interested in her impressive story, check out:

Doctor With Multiple Sclerosis On The Collapse Of US Healthcare

If you want to know what she did, then read on…

Six key lifestyle changes

Dr. Stancic credits her recovery to focus on the following evidence-based approaches:

The plant-centered plate

This is critical, and is the one she places most emphasis on. Most chronic diseases are exacerbated, if not outright caused, by chronic inflammation, and one cannot fix that without an anti-inflammatory diet.

An anti-inflammatory diet doesn’t have to be 100% plant-based, but broadly speaking, plants are almost always anti-inflammatory to a greater or lesser degree, while animal products are often pro-inflammatory—especially red meat and unfermented dairy.

For more details, see:

Anti-Inflammatory Diet 101 (What to Eat to Fight Inflammation)

Movement every day

While “exercise is good for you” is in principle not a shocker, remember that her starting point was being in terrible condition with badly flared-up MS.

Important to understand here is that excessive exercise can weaken the immune system and sometimes cause flare-ups of various chronic diseases.

Moving thoroughly and moving often, however, is best. So walking yes, absolutely, but also don’t neglect the rest of your body, do some gentle bodyweight squats (if you can; if you can’t, work up to them), stretch your arms as well as your legs, take all your joints through a full range of motion.

See also:

The Doctor Who Wants Us To Exercise Less, & Move More

Mindful stress management

Stress in life is unavoidable, but how we manage it is up to us. Bad things will continue to happen, great and small, but we can take a deep breath, remember that those things aren’t the boss of us, and deal with it calmly and conscientiously.

Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction is of course the evidence-based “gold standard” for this, but whatever (not substance-based) method works for you, works for you!

About MBSR:

No-Frills, Evidence-Based Mindfulness

Good sleeping habits

Getting good sleep can be hard for anyone, let alone if you have chronic pain. However, Dr. Stancic advocates for doing whatever we can to get good sleep—which means not just duration (the famous “7–9 hours”), but also quality.

Learn more:

The 6 Dimensions Of Sleep (And Why They Matter)

Substance intake awareness

This one’s not so much of a “don’t do drugs, kids” as the heading makes it look. Dr. Stancic assumes we already know, for example, that smoking is bad for us in a long list of ways, and alcohol isn’t much better.

However, she also advises us that in our eagerness to do that plant-based diet, we would do better to go for whole foods plant-based, rather than the latest processed meat substitutes, for example.

And supplements? She bids us exercise caution, and to make sure to get good quality, as poor quality supplements can be worse than taking nothing (looking at you, cheap turmeric supplements that contain heavy metals).

And of course, that nutrients gained from diet will almost always be better than nutrients gained from supplements, as our body can usually use them better.

And see also, some commonly-made supplements mistakes:

Do You Know Which Supplements You Shouldn’t Take Together? (10 Pairs!)

Human connection

Lastly, we humans are a social species by evolution; as individuals, we may enjoy relatively more or less social contact, but having access to such is important not just for our mental health, but our physical health too—we will tend to deteriorate much more quickly when we have to deal with everything alone, all other things being equal.

It doesn’t mean you need a busy social life if that’s not in your nature, but it does mean it’s incredibly beneficial to have at least a small number of people that you trust and whose company you enjoy, at least relatively accessible to you (i.e., their life need not revolve around you, but they are the kind of people who will generally happily spend time with you and provide support when needed if they can).

As for how:

How To Beat Loneliness & Isolation

Want to know more from Dr. Stancic?

We recently reviewed this very good book of hers, which goes over each of these six things in much more detail than we have room for here:

What’s Missing from Medicine – by Dr. Saray Stancic

Enjoy!

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  • Build Strong Feet: Exercises To Strengthen Your Foot & Ankle

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    A lot depends on the health of our feet, especially when it comes to their strength and stability. But they often get quite neglected, when it comes to maintenance. Here’s how to help your feet keep the rest of your body in good condition:

    On a good footing

    The foot-specific exercises recommended here include:

    1. Active toe flexion/extension: curl and extend your toes
    2. Active toe adduction/abduction: use a towel for feedback this time as you spread your toes
    3. “Short foot” exercise: create an arch by bringing the base of your big toe towards your heel
    4. Resisted big toe flexion: use resistance bands; flex your big toe while controlling the others.
    5. Standing big toe flexion (isometric): press your big toe against an inclined surface as forcefully as you can
    6. Foot bridge exercise: hold your position with the front part of your feet on an elevated surface, to strengthen the arch.
    7. Heel raises: which can be progressed from basic to more advanced variations, increasing difficulty
    8. Ankle movements: dorsiflexion, inversion, etc, to increase mobility

    It’s important to also look after your general lower body strength and stability, including (for example) single-leg deadlifts, step-downs, and lunges

    Balance and proprioceptive exercises are good too, such as a static or dynamic one-leg balances, progressing to doing them with your eyes closed and/or on unstable surfaces (be careful, of course, and progress to this only when confident).

    For more on all of these, an explanation of the anatomy, some other exercises too, and visual demonstrations, enjoy:

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    Want to learn more?

    You might also like to read:

    Steps For Keeping Your Feet A Healthy Foundation

    Take care!

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  • 10 Simple Japanese Habits For Healthier & Longer Life

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    You don’t have to be Japanese or live in Okinawa to enjoy the benefits of healthy longevity. A lot of it comes down to simple habits:

    Easy to implement

    We’ll not keep the 10 habits a mystery; they are:

    1. Start the day with hot water: drinking hot water in the morning helps with hydration, warming the body, and aiding digestion.
    2. Enjoy a hearty breakfast: Japanese breakfasts are traditionally filling, nutritious, and help promote energy and longevity. Typical components include rice, miso soup, fish, and pickles.
    3. Take balanced meals: Japanese education emphasizes nutrition from a young age, promoting balanced meals with proteins, fiber, and vitamins & minerals.
    4. Enjoy fermented foods: fermented foods, such as nattō and soy-based condiments, support digestion, heart health, and the immune system.
    5. Drink green tea and matcha: both are rich in health benefits; preparing matcha mindfully adds a peaceful ritual to daily life too.
    6. Keep the “80% full” rule: “hara hachi bu” encourages eating until 80% full, which can improve longevity and, of course, prevent overeating.
    7. Use multiple small dishes: small servings and a variety of dishes help prevent overeating and ensure a diverse intake of nutrients.
    8. Gratitude before and after meals: saying “itadakimasu” and “gochisousama” promotes mindful eating, and afterwards, good digestion. Speaking Japanese is of course not the key factor here, but rather, do give yourself a moment of reflection before and after meals.
    9. Use vinegar in cooking: vinegar, often used in sushi rice and sauces like ponzu, adds flavor and offers health benefits, mostly pertaining to blood sugar balance.
    10. Eat slowly: Eating at a slower pace will improve digestion, and can enhance satiety and prevent accidentally overeating.

    For more on all of these, enjoy:

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    Want to learn more?

    You might also like to read:

    How To Get More Out Of What’s On Your Plate

    Take care!

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  • Ham Substitute in Bean Soup

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    It’s Q&A Day at 10almonds!

    Have a question or a request? You can always hit “reply” to any of our emails, or use the feedback widget at the bottom!

    In cases where we’ve already covered something, we might link to what we wrote before, but will always be happy to revisit any of our topics again in the future too—there’s always more to say!

    As ever: if the question/request can be answered briefly, we’ll do it here in our Q&A Thursday edition. If not, we’ll make a main feature of it shortly afterwards!

    So, no question/request too big or small

    I am interested in what I can substitute for ham in bean soup?

    Well, that depends on what the ham was like! You can certainly buy ready-made vegan lardons (i.e. small bacon/ham bits, often in tiny cubes or similar) in any reasonably-sized supermarket. Being processed, they’re not amazing for the health, but are still an improvement on pork.

    Alternatively, you can make your own seitan! Again, seitan is really not a health food, but again, it’s still relatively less bad than pork (unless you are allergic to gluten, in which case, definitely skip this one).

    Alternatively alternatively, in a soup that already contains beans (so the protein element is already covered), you could just skip the ham as an added ingredient, and instead bring the extra flavor by means of a little salt, a little yeast extract (if you don’t like yeast extract, don’t worry, it won’t taste like it if you just use a teaspoon in a big pot, or half a teaspoon in a smaller pot), and a little smoked paprika. If you want to go healthier, you can swap out the salt for MSG, which enhances flavor in a similar fashion while containing less sodium.

    Wondering about the health aspects of MSG? Check out our main feature on this, from last month:

    What’s the deal with MSG?

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    Dr. Devi’s Spectrum of Hope

    This is Dr. Gayatri Devi. She’s a neurologist, board-certified in neurology, pain medicine, psychiatry, brain injury medicine, and behavioral neurology.

    She’s also a Clinical Professor of Neurology, and Director of Long Island Alzheimer’s Disease Center, Fellow of the American Academy of Neurology, and we could continue all day with her qualifications, awards and achievements but then we’d run out of space. Suffice it to say, she knows her stuff.

    Especially when it comes to the optimal treatment of stroke, cognitive loss, and pain.

    In her own words:

    ❝Helping folks live their best lives—by diagnosing and managing complex neurologic disorders—that’s my job. Few things are more fulfilling! For nearly thirty years, my focus has been on brain health, concussions, Alzheimer’s and other dementias, menopause related memory loss, and pain.❞

    ~ Dr. Gayatri Devi

    Alzheimer’s is more common than you might think

    According to Dr. Devi,

    ❝97% of patients with mild Alzheimer’s disease don’t even get diagnosed in their internist offices, and half of patients with moderate Alzheimer’s don’t get diagnosed.

    What that means is that the percentage of people that we think about when we think about Alzheimer’s—the people in the nursing home—that’s a very, very small fraction of the entirety of the people who have the condition❞

    ~ Dr. Gaytatri Devi

    As for what she would consider the real figures, she puts it nearer 1 in 10 adults aged 65 and older.

    Source: Neurologist dispels myths about Alzheimer’s disease

    Her most critical advice? Reallocate your worry.

    A lot of people understandably worry about a genetic predisposition to Alzheimer’s, especially if an older relative died that way.

    See also: Alzheimer’s, Genes, & You

    However, Dr. Devi points out that under 5% of Alzheimer’s cases are from genetics, and the majority of Alzheimer’s cases can be prevented be lifestyle interventions.

    See also: Reduce Your Alzheimer’s Risk

    Lastly, she wants us to skip the stigma

    Outside of her clinical practice and academic work, this is one of the biggest things she works on, reducing the stigma attached to Alzheimer’s both publicly and professionally:

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    Want more from Dr. Devi?

    You might enjoy this interview:

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    And here’s her book:

    The Spectrum of Hope: An Optimistic and New Approach to Alzheimer’s Disease and Other Dementias – by Dr. Gayatri Devi

    Enjoy!

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  • The Uses of Delusion – by Dr. Stuart Vyse

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    Most of us try to live rational lives. We try to make the best decisions we can based on the information we have… And if we’re thoughtful, we even try to be aware of common logical fallacies, and overcome our personal biases too. But is self-delusion ever useful?

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    Click here to check out The Uses of Delusion, and optimize yours!

    Don’t Forget…

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  • 100 No-Equipment Workouts – by Neila Rey

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    For those of us who for whatever reason prefer to exercise at home rather than at the gym, we must make do with what exercise equipment we can reasonably install in our homes. This book deals with that from the ground upwards—literally!

    If you have a few square meters of floorspace (and a ceiling that’s not too low, for exercises that involve any kind of jumping), then all 100 of these zero-equipment exercises are at-home options.

    As to what kinds of exercises they are, they each marked as being one or both of “cardio” and “strength”.

    They’re also marked as being of “difficulty level” 1, 2, or 3, so that someone who hasn’t exercised in a while (or hasn’t exercised like this at all), can know where best to start, and how best to progress.

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    Click here to check out 100 No-Equipment Workouts, and find the joy and freedom in not needing anything at all for full-body training!

    Don’t Forget…

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    Learn to Age Gracefully

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