Sunlounger,
a low fat diet is a mistake that many vegans make, and 100% raw is another one in my opinion. The cellulose in many vegetables is only broken down when cooking and preferably with steam cooking for greater digestibility.

Essential fatty acids are so-called because they are........well.........essential for health.

The Economist recently ran an article on the evolutionary role of cooking. According to Dr. Richard Wrangham, of Harvard University, cooking alters food in three important ways.

#1. It breaks down starch molecules into more digestible fragments.
#2. It "denatures" protein molecules, so that their amino-acid chains unfold and digestive enzymes can attack them more easily.
#3. And heat physically softens food. That makes it easier to digest, so even though the stuff is no more calorific, the body requires fewer calories to break it down.

This means that in the stomach and small intestine, where it can be absorbed, cooking increases the share of food digested from 50% to 95%. This is supported by a study in which rats fed on softer pellets (similar to what happens to food after you cook it) weighed 30% more after 26 weeks than rats fed the same weight of standard pellets. The difference was because the rats expended less energy digesting the softer pellets. So think about that for a moment. Making food more digestible (as in cooking) increases the body weight of rats by an astounding 30% in as little as 26 weeks.

Sometimes less food equals greater weight gain, because the digestive apparatus handles the food better rather than being overloaded.

Try eating only two meals per day that are properly combined; skip breakfast and eat only lunch and dinner. This will provide more rest for digestion. Never eat after 6.00pm and not before 11.00am the next day. This will help you to gain weight. Eat only according to the demand for food and not because it is meal time.
I have known people who have eaten like a horse and still remained underweight because of a crowded nutrition. Metabolism, the usual excuse does not apply here.

Forget the weights and try to do some rebounding: if you are unable to do that, then try and do some isometric exercises instead (you can do these sitting down). The latter two will help you regain healthy weight.

MS is a very debilitating disease so if I were you I would supplement your diet with Vitamin D3 at very high doses...........
http://www.vitamindmscure.com/

http://www.webmd.com/multiple-sclerosis/news/20090428/high-doses-vitamin-d-cu...

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/04/100429153955.htm

http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/vitamin-d-status-associated-with-disability-in...


A Physician who cured herself of MS and so can you............
http://foodfreedom.wordpress.com/2012/01/28/doctor-cures-her-multiple-scleros...


Chrisb1.

the one and only way, you are gonna gain weight is eating more, period

you cant escape the 2nd law of thermodynamics, you need to eat more calories that you burn

meal timing/meal frequency/meal macros are irrelevant in terms o changing body composition, the name o the game is calories in versus calories out

find high calorie foods, if you are a vegan maybe peantut/almond butter, rice, starchy vegetables like corn potatoes

if you wanted to stray a little from the vegan thing, a gallon of whole milk/day would do the trick lol but is up to you

6'2 130's is near skeleton condition time to knock down a couple thousand cals/day, serious

I understand the LFRV part but I would personally add a little more fat to your diet such as raw nuts. You didn't mention if you are high carb or not but I would eat tons of yummy medjool dates. They will make your brain happy too!

~ Loosie ~

Hello sunlounger,

I have a lot of admiration for you, since I am trying the lfrv, and manage to be on it like around 80% of the time, while my aim is 95-100%. I would not be concerned with a slow rate of weight gain, I would be rather focused on keeping the good results of the fasts for gradually reversing MS.

With no hint of any disrespect, I do not necessarily share Chris' opinion on cooking, and the referenced study results, although certain aspects of it, like digestibility are probably worth considering. The fact is, for example, humans are not designed to eat grain in its natural form, we have certain amounts of ptyalin - enzyme that breaks starches, but breaks them incompletely. Cooking makes grains somewhat consumable for us, but not necessarily digestible; Gluten enteropathy now is estimated to be very frequent -despite cooking the grains-, while at least 50% of the population have negative effects from cooked grain-potato-corn products, without them being necessarily Gluten intolerance.

My strict affiliation is to the fact, that enzymes in food are destroyed above 40-42 degrees Celsius. These enzymes make food naturally digestible. I personally prefer to break the cellulose by juicing the vegetables, which breaks the cells mechanically rather than heating the produce. In health food stores the enzyme Cellulase is made available, and I have short experience with it for nut culturizing/predigesting, which is rather positive.
You can add enzymes and probiotics to soaked and sprouted nuts, keeping them raw, but making them "culturized" and further even more digestible. Ref: Lou Corona and liferegenerator in "gorilla milk for strength and power" on Youtube.

For these reasons I prefer very much juicing carrots or broccoli for examples rather than steaming them. Second I prefer soaking nuts (it washes away the enzyme-inhibitors and leaves the enzymes in them to act) for 8 hrs, almond -24 hrs -; soaking and sprouting my seeds and grains, rather than cooking them. Sprouting is especially beneficial for MS, as per Dr Emilova experience. You can sprout any edible plant - alfalafa, lentil, quinoa, beans, brown or wild rice, nuts - and not only it is extremely healthy, but also very cost-effective. From one cup of dry grain, you get 4-5 cups sprouts, which really fills you up quickly. Sprouting increases vitamin C 500 times, increases vitamins B group few hundred times also, it also predigests the seeds/grains. Sprouts are also rich in D-xylose, a simple sugar, which requires no digestion to be assimilated and is crucial in initiating connective tissue build (including skin and joints). Needless to say you want to chew sprouts well (20+ times each spoonful) to sweetish puree or blend before consuming, which does not exclude chewing totally. E.g. last week I had no other overt starches other than carrot - cabbage juice and sprouted lentil. Together with good amounts of fruit sugars from bananas for energy and serotonin production. If you eat just fruits for a day or even portion of the day, as fruits are supposed to be eaten alone, not combined, you can eat as often as every 1.5 hours - 2 hours as per you hunger. I am only 115 pounds, but it is usual for me to have 6-8 bananas, or 4-5 apples, or 500-600 g berries, spread through the morning with no stomach problems and having lots of energy, while not putting on weight. To put weight you may need to have more than that and/or be less active, stay warm and conserve nerve energy.

Third point is, you do not want to consume animal protein or fats with MS, as you do not consume them anyway, (I read articles on them triggering MS attacks). However, besides saturated and monounsaturated fats of Avocado, you want to include seeds high in Omega fats, especially Omega 3 (ground flax seed, chia seeds, black raspberry, properly produced and stored flax seed oil), Omega 6 (coconut oil and ground sesame, sesame oil), especially after a fast, as to allow your nerves to re-myelinate. After all the central problem in MS is inflammation and demyelination. This will help restore the fat covering of the nerves. Flax seeds are also powerful anti-inflammatory and cleansing food. You need to consume also food rich in phosphorus to make Omega 3 even more ready to absorb. I came up with something as modified Budwig recipe, where I would keep the fresh ground flax seed and flax seed oil from the recipe, but will stir them with phosphorus rich ingredient other then dairy.
Ref. phosphorus rich vegetables:
http://nutritiondata.self.com/foods-011121000000000000000-w.html


Last but not least you never ever want to cook plant oils, and Omega oils, because cooking them generates to trans-fats and damaging oxydation/saturation/free radical formation. Cooking saturated fats is acceptable, and every type of fat has "safe" temperature margin.
I would also be very cautious about food combining, even in lfrv, since bad combinations are also possible in it.

Below is a citation from rawfoodexplained.com
"... But despite these exceptions, starchy foods are not ideal for humans. Unlike sugars from fruits, which pass almost directly from the stomach to the small intestine for absorp­tion, starches must be converted to Sugar for the body to unlock their energy potential.

Most animals secrete starch-splitting enzymes called amylases, derived from the Latin word meaning—you guessed it—starch-splitting. In humans, starch digestion begins in the mouth: Our saliva contains an amylase called ptyalin, from the Greek word ptyalon, meaning saliva. Ptyalin, also called salivary amylase, changes starch chemically into maltose, a complex sugar.

Many other animals, such as pigs, birds and other starch eaters, but not humans, secrete other additional amylases to insure complete starch digestion. To be sure bf adequately digesting the starch we humans consume, we must chew our food very, very thoroughly so it becomes well-mixed with saliva.

The starch that's converted to maltose by salivary enzymic action is further broken down in the small intestine by the enzyme maltase into the simple sugar, dextrose, for the bloodstream can absorb only simple sugars, never starches or complex sugars. (Dextrose is dextrorotatory glucose.)

Only 30 to 40 percent of the starch eaten can be broken down by ptyalin in the mouth. If starches are eaten with (or close in time to ingestion of) acid fruits (citrus fruits or tomatoes) or with protein foods, the ptyalin in the saliva that's swallowed with the food cannot further break down the starch into simple sugars.

This is because ptyalin can only act in an alkaline environment and the stomach environment becomes acid when proteins are consumed. The acids in fruits will also inhibit the secretion of ptyalin. Hence, you should take care to eat starchy foods (if you eat them at all) with vegetables and not with acid or protein foods to insure the best possible digestion.".

I would suggest to anyone with chronic condition to check their water - distilled, alkaline, negative - ORP water, is the healing, hydrating water and it is not less important than the food we eat. Our bodies are 75+ % water.

Hope this is useful,
DL

Thank you very much for your reply Loosie2 ,loki2, DesertLili and chrisb1,

I am extremely grateful for all the information you have all provided me.

Regarding a diet of adding a small amount of lightly steamed vegetables, I completely understand the reasoning for this and have read what Dr. Joel Fuhrman recommendations are sometime ago.
http://www.drfuhrman.com/faq/question.a
... 6&qindex=4

I do think that for regaining the weight,that eating 20% cooked would definitely help and I have given it some serious thought.I feel once recovered from my M.S, returning to an 80 % raw and 20 % cooked would probably be best.

I'm determined to stick to a 100% LFRVD, although not ideal for regaining weight,it's does seem most benificial in the long run for fighting illness.

Dr Terry Wahls the lady with M.S, that you kindly put a link to chris, I followed her restricted paleo diet for some time and it did not stop me getting worse.

I think it's fantsatic what she has done and the diet recommendations are mostly good compared to standard. But there are many people trying her diet now,some for a few years and she is the only one who has come forward public ally that has fully recovered or greatly benifited.

I have taken everything you have kindly posted on board DesertLili and it's been of such great help and interest to me. I have a few questions if you could answer and will mail them over. As there not really related to this original query of regaining weight.

Kind regards,

sunlounger

Thank you, Chris and all! It is a stimulating and inspiring learning curve for me too.

You are very welcome, sunlounger. Please, do not hesitate to query, I would provide timely answers, according to my knowledge.

Take care.

DL