Swanky Swank

Long time no talk.  

I kind of got busy and lost my motivation for blogging.  This past year has been... interesting.

I'm inspired again, and taking a slightly different approach to blogging (I'm sure there will be plenty of rants in the future)


I recently discovered the SWANK diet.   I was developed for patients with Multiple Sclerosis.

There is no medical evidence to show that this diet has any benefits, but there are a lot of people around who say that it has helped them feel better... and sometimes feeling better is better than medical evidence (as long as all nutritional requirements are being met).

The basis of the diet (taken from Wikipedia) is: 

1. Saturated fat should not exceed 15 grams per day
2. Unsaturated fat (oils) should be kept to 20-50 grams per day
3. No red meat for the first year; after that, a maximum of 3 oz. (85 grams) of red meat per week
4. Dairy products must contain 1% or less butterfat
5. No processed foods containing saturated fat
6. A good source of omega-3 (oily fish, cod liver oil, cod liver oil tablets, etc.) along with a multi-vitamin and mineral supplement are recommended daily
7. Wheat, gluten or dairy product quantities are not restricted. But foods which cause allergies or reactions to an MS sufferer should be avoided^[3]

My comments

1.  Very good rule,  Saturated fats should be minimized in general.

2. This is below the recommended intake of fat, however #6 will bump that up, so it should be okay.

3, I don't eat meat anyway, so that is easy.

4.  But... cheese... :(   0% fat yogourt I can do, 0% fat cheese should be interesting. 

5. I rarely eat processed foods anyway so this should be okay.

6.  Eating flax seeds and chia seeds are going to have to satisfy this.  Oil supplements and I do not get along. 

7.  I need to greatly restrict my wheat and gluten intake.  I feel better when I don't eat them, and I get migraines when I eat it often.  I've been gluten free before, it requires more effort and full time student + working full time makes life a little hectic.

I'm going to post recipes (I know, every blog posts recipes these days).  Of Vegetarian, Swank, Gluten Free, Processed Sugar Free recipes.   (Chocolate free too, I'm allergic)

Stay tuned!

If you want to learn more about the Swank Diet,  this is the link: Swank MS Diet

Stay Healthy!

Elyse