Sticking with the Overcoming MS Diet with Kim Vetner

Welcome to Living Well with MS, where we are pleased to welcome Kim Venter as our guest! Kim is a trainee facilitator for the Overcoming MS charity. In this episode she discusses her decision to take a disease modifying therapy, the power of meal planning and what to do if you eat something that’s not recommended on the program.
Watch this episode on TH-cam here. Keep reading for the key episode takeaways.
Topics and Timestamps:
01:04 Kim’s diagnosis and MS journey
03:36 Finding Overcoming MS and becoming a facilitator
06:45 Switching from a diet focused on meat to one focused on plants
07:38 Meal planning and grocery shopping tips
10:08 Making healthy habits stick
13:09 Mindful activities in the stress management pillar of the program
15:09 Choosing to start taking a disease modifying therapy
17:23 Diet and pharmaceuticals complement each other
Selected Key Takeaways:
Shifting from a meat-based diet to a plant-based diet
06:045 “South Africans do love their meat. There's a part of me that misses that a little bit. But the food that I eat now is just so amazing. It's so nutritious, so delicious. It's not just about cutting things out. It's about whole foods. So you're doing a lot more cooking.”
The life-changing power of meal planning
00:00 “I plan my meals out for the week and add the ingredients to my online shopping list. It takes the guesswork out of the evening meal. You look at your list. Are we having vegetable curry today? Are we having mushroom risotto? And you have the ingredients because you planned. It took me a long time to discover how powerful meal planning is and how it can change your life.”
Medication is a safety net that prevents further damange
15:09 "For a long time, I didn't want to take medication. I think I was nervous about the side effects. I thought, I'm doing okay just with changing my diet and my lifestyle. After chatting with my MS nurse one day, she said, it just really is a safety net. And what we want to do with the medication is to prevent future damage. It's an insurance policy. And so I have gone the medication route.”
Kim’s bio:
Kim Venter is a British South African currently living in London who was diagnosed with MS in 2010. Kim is a trained teacher, professional psychological counsellor and nutritional consultant who thoroughly enjoys working with people and helping them overcome various challenges in their lives. Kim is particularly interested in Health Psychology, which is to say exploring the impact on the mind of what is going in the body. She feels that this training has increased her awareness of the psychological impact MS has and how the food we eat affects the health of our minds. Kim is a facilitator for Overcoming MS.
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Overcoming MS is a positive lifestyle program that aims to help people live long, healthy lives without the usual problems associated with multiple sclerosis.
Find us on:
Web: www.overcomingms.org
Facebook: OvercomingMS
Instagram: OvercomingMS
Twitter: OvercomingMS