The Art of Getting Well: Maximizing Health and Well-being When You Have a Chronic Illness
I was excited when I saw the strong customer reviews for Ann Sawyer's book, but disappointed to actually read it. (Judith Bachrach is also listed as author, but it seems to come mostly from Sawyer.) Her claim is that finding the right diet can resolve nearly all MS symptoms, but she doesn't tell you how to do it. It's not really a diet; it's an approach to figuring out your own healthy diet. This is a good idea; I just don't think it will work for many people in this form.
Could be I'm a bit jealous. I've had MS for 30 years, and it's kicking my butt pretty good right now. My first book, The Art of Getting Well, is largely based on my experiences with MS (along with interviews with 30 other people with chronic illness.) My book has never sold in anything like the numbers that MS Recovery Diet is selling. But I think I'm being objective - I'm still looking for help, too.
The basic dietary advice is given in a few pages. You have to consider stopping any or all of the following: dairy products, grains that contain gluten, eggs, legumes (beans) and yeast, in that order of probability. But that might not do it, so you need to test yourself for food allergies, either through blood tests or an elimination diet.
Well, I've done all those things and seen very little difference. Sawyer and Bachrach say you can determine what foods to avoid by closely monitoring yourself after eating. If a food makes you feel bad, get rid of it. The problem is that, for me and for many people with MS, the worse symptoms might not come on for two or three days after eating (or being exposed to cold, or getting stressed, or whatever the problem is.) So it's very hard to tell which food, if any, is causing problems.
There's a lot of scientific language in this book, but I would class much of it as pseudo-science. For example, they talk about allergenic food damaging the blood-brain barrier, but give no idea how that could happen or any studies to back it up.
The book is filled out with many chapters on what MS is, the history of MS, the history of medical treatments and dietary approaches, success stories of people who have used their approach, and lots of recipes. The success stories mostly fall within the range of the natural variation of MS. The recipes might actually be useful to someone who wants to try this approach.
I support people trying dietary approaches for their MS. I agree with the authors that the medications don't work well, and that many other things (diet, Vitamin D, digestive enzymes, Chinese medicine to name a few) can help. But be careful! When you've got advanced MS, you have fewer sources of pleasure in your life. Making yourself crazy about food and depriving yourself of things that give you pleasure is not likely to help.