As many of you know, my former career was that of a chef. It’s been fun gathering some of my old skills and tricks of the trade to help people living with our disease. The program will include tips on shopping and building a healthy and useful pantry, nutritional tips from a dietitian from the clinic as well as myself and another former chef living with MS doing our bit. I know that we see comments about how difficult it is to put a meal on the table for our families (or even just ourselves) after a day of living with MS. It’s one of the things that many of us feel we are judged upon by family and by others. If once we where the go-to for family holidays and events, but we can hardly wait for pasta water to boil, we feel like we’ve let people down or that we are somehow diminished from our former selves. I suspect that we judge ourselves too harshly on the matter but it’s not the first (nor only) time that’s happened… For many of us cooking a healthful, satisfying and sometimes even gourmet meal was a way of saying “I love you” to those gathered at table. Some of us feel like not being able to cook like that any longer has taken away our ability to say that. Not True! We are masters of adaptation (or at least apprentices) after living with multiple sclerosis for a while. Why is it that we fight the need to adapt in the kitchen? If we are expecting too much from our bodies; we must have “the talk” with ourselves. If others are expecting too much, it can only be because we let them. Remember, no one knows what it’s like inside of your body. If the family is expecting more than you can deliver then you must let them know what expectations are reasonable and which ones have MS has thrown to the compost heap. This weekend’s program is being recorded and will be edited and eventually posted on the clinic’s website. When that happens, I’ll be sure to let you know. So, What’s for dinner (or, what’s not?)… Wishing you and your family the best of health. Cheers Trevis Don’t forget that you can also follow me via our Life With MS Facebook page, on Twitter, and our new group on MS Connection.org. Check out our bi-monthly blog for the UK and look for our Very Special new monthly blog for the National MS Society.
