Photo Credit: Unknown

This summer is going by in a flash. Here is what’s new in my world…

Big Ride Project News: Next week is the Tour of Utah! The Ride Project will have a booth (#20) August 17th – Tuesday afternoon/evening at the Prologue and will be at booth #32 on August 21st – Saturday in Park City. I encourage you to stop by and see these images up close or just  say hello. If you purchase a limited edition print at our booth, you will receive a $50.00 gift certificate to Cafe Trio in Salt Lake City. Cash or check accepted!

Team TLC Rides Again! – My wonderful friend and Sister-in-Law started Team TLC four years ago to raise money for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. I had the honor of riding with the team in 2008 on Martha’s Vineyard. This year she is taking the team to the NH Seacoast! Please support her efforts and donate money to this amazing team. They have already raised almost $2500! I love you TEAM TLC!!

Vitamin D – I’ve written about this magical vitamin a few times over the past year. Vitamin D is so important to your overall health, especially if you have MS and/or treat with Tysabri. 12 weeks ago my vitamin D levels came back low. I raised my daily intake from 4000 iu daily to 5500 iu daily, per my neurologist’s recommendation. I was just tested again after three months on the 5500 level and brought my levels up from 29 to 32. I am shooting for 50-80, so I am waiting to hear what the next step is. It will likely be a 1X weekly dose of 50,000 iu. Do you supplement with vitamin D?

JC Virus Antibody – I am participating in Stratify 1, one of the trials assessing risk factors for PML. I recently learned that I tested positive for the JC Virus Antibody. This isn’t good news, but it isn’t bad either. Just over 50% of participants have tested positive as well. According to a letter I received from my neurologist’s office…

“Our current hypothesis based on preliminary data to date, is that patients who have JCV antibodies may be at higher risk of developing PML, compared with patients who are negative. We do not believe that most patients who are JCV antibody positive will develop PML with TYSABRI treatment. The development of PML requires a convergence of multiple factors within an individual, in addition to infection with JCV.

If the current clinical studies confirm that 50% of MS patients are JCV antibody positive and if the false negative rate of the assay remains low, then the risk of PML in TYSABRI-treated patients who are JCV antibody positive may be approximately up to twice the current overall risk of PML with TYSABRI. For example, if the risk of PML in TYSABRI-treated patients is 1 in 1000 then the risk in TYSABRI-treated patients who are JCV antibody positive would be up to 2 in 1000. Again this needs to be evaluated in our on-going clinical studies.”

So, what’s new in your world?

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Last night, I went for a hike with my husband and dog. It was about 7:00pm, but still really warm. I haven’t been experiencing any MS symptoms lately so it really surprised me when my hands went numb up to my elbows and I got tingly from toes to knees. Right away, I knew I was experiencing MS symptoms triggered by the heat.

Overheating, from outdoor temperatures, increased activity and even running a fever can send your nerves into a frenzy. The statistics are all over the place but from what I’ve read, 60-85% of people with MS are sensitive to the heat. Symptoms can range from impaired vision or mobility to something more mild, like numbness and sensory issues.

According to the NMSS, “These temporary changes can result from even a very slight elevation in core body temperature (one-quarter to one-half of a degree) because an elevated temperature further impairs the ability of a demyelinated nerve to conduct electrical impulses.”

Don’t panic! It is important to remember that heat generally produces only temporary worsening of symptoms and does not cause more disease activity (demyelination or damage to the nerves themselves). This has always been a source of comfort for me, because I know I can still push myself occasionally, without worrying about a relapse or further MS progression.

10 Ways To Cool Down

1. Apply a cold pack to the back of your neck
2. Take a luke warm or cold shower
3. Drink something cold
4. Lie down
5. Slow down
6. Wear a cooling vest
7. Workout near a fan if indoors
8. Dip your feet in the water
9. Make homemade juice pops
10. Eat light, hydrating food

Of course, there are many more ways to cool down, but the most important thing to do is be aware of how you feel and be prepared to cool down. If you are going for a hike in hot temperatures, bring an ice pack. If you are going to spend a day at the pool or beach, jump in the water before you overheat. Cars get hot in the summer, so always bring cold water with you, even if you are just running errands.

How do you stay cool?

Good weather finally arrived in Utah. The snow is melting, cyclists are everywhere and the Utah MS ride is this weekend. Unfortunately, The Ride Project will not have a team at this year’s event. I don’t want to pain you with my list of excuses, but instead, will assure you that my focus right now is on my health and boosting photography sales so I can start sending checks to the Myelin Repair Foundation to support their research for  a cure for MS.

I will be featuring The Ride Project photography in a booth at two stages of the Tour of Utah, a fantastic cycling event, August 17-22 that attracts cyclist enthusiasts from all over. I can’t wait to show them my work and tell them about The Ride Project. If you are in Salt Lake City or Park City in August during the event,  stop by and say hi!

I want to continue to bring you great health and wellness information, especially about living with MS, so stay tuned for 1-2 posts a week. Please continue to email me or leave a comment with your blog topic suggestions, questions and guest post ideas.

Click here for other simple ways to help support The Ride Project!

What you might not know about Scott, is that he was diagnosed with MS at age 20, living his entire adult life with the disease. He became a serial entrepreneur, starting multiple companies and consulting for the Boston Consulting Group. After he left the business world, he made it his personal mission to find a treatment for MS, applying his past experience in creating the Myelin Repair Foundation. With the MRF, he is now able to make a significant impact on other people with MS around the world.

I love that Scott was recognized in this way, and it is clearly a well deserved award, but the benefit extends to all of us fighting MS. By winning this award, Scott Johnson brings mainstream awareness to Myelin repair. Before my MS diagnosis, I didn’t even really know what Myelin was and I think it is safe to say that most people don’t know what it is, and if they do, they don’t know how important it is to MS patients and others living with neurological diseases and conditions.

Hopefully with this awareness comes more support to the Myelin Repair Foundation in terms of donors and supporters and of course, more ideas, collaboration and research to bring us a cure! Thanks Scott and the MRF for all that you do!

Guest post by Wendy Booker

I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in 1998.  I knew nothing about the disease and like many of us could only recall several people severely disabled by this insidious illness. I thought I had better hurry up and do something outrageously out of character and decided to run the Boston Marathon. I wasn’t a runner, I wasn’t even an athlete.  I just knew that MS took away a person’s abilities and I wanted to use mine before I lost them.

Now, twelve years later, here I am back from my second attempt on Everest having climbed 6 of what is referred to as the “seven summits” as well as many other mountains around the world.

I am nothing out of the ordinary. I am self taught.  I learned the value of the therapies we now have available to us that weren’t available prior to 1993.  I learned about being committed to Copaxone and using the severe conditions on a mountain to highlight how easy it is to take a daily injection.  I learned that the benefits of MS therapy have been well proven and that I intended to push my MS to the extreme (even for someone not living with the disease).  I saw the mountains as an opportunity to tell the world what living with MS is really like.

Climbing a mountain, whether the mountain is 3000 feet or 29,000 feet is just like our daily climb with MS.  We are scared, it hurts, we’re dizzy, we feel sick and our bodies don’t feel like they are under our control.  We can’t always get to the top… we have to take a little longer, try a little harder and dig a little deeper.  And sometimes the mountain is bigger and more formidable than our MS will allow.  But you know what?  That’s okay because not only did we try.  And whatever we accomplish, we did it with MS so we are already a winner right out of the gate.

I am not here to talk people with MS into climbing a mountain, although I have always said since I started climbing that I would love the company! Far more important than climbing is that I want to educate, motivate and most importantly, encourage those living with MS to go after their own “mountain” whatever that mountain may be.  Maybe it’s learning a foreign language or volunteering in a school.  Maybe it’s going to the mailbox and using your walker instead of your wheelchair, and maybe you only get to the back door.  That’s okay!  Because not only did you do it, you did it with MS, and that small triumph is where you will feel and hear your soul.

I have climbed Mt. Everest twice but the summit eluded me.  But did it really?  I took MS as high as it would allow me to go and had to face the terms of my original mission - to see just how hard and how far I could push back. I had to face my own personal boundaries… the boundaries put upon me by MS.  Yet, I have no regrets. I have none of the ‘what ifs’.  Rather I have been able to experience an incredible journey with and for and despite MS and I’m not done yet!  MS may have altered the outcome of my original Seven Summits mission, but even more importantly it has whet my appetite for the next adventure around the corner.  Just wait and see what I plan to try next!

Don’t let your MS stop you, keep pushing, keep challenging your mind and body.  You will be amazed by what’s around the next corner too!

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Want to climb with Wendy or learn more about her adventures? Visit Wendy’s blog to keep in touch!

If you’d like to have your MS story featured  to inspire and educate readers, please email me: courtney@therideproject.com. It doesn’t matter if you have a blog or not, take MS drugs or not, are dealing well with MS or not, your story is important!

Parents, listen to your children. Teachers, listen to your students. Doctors, listen to your patients. Really listen.

Photo Credit: Click Here

Last week I gave you the first five of my top ten vegetarian cookbooks. As promised, here is the rest of the list.

6. Eat, Drink & Be Vegan: Great Vegan Food for Special and Everyday Celebrations This is my favorite cookbook for amazing hummus recipes. These are not your ordinary hummus recipes. Think Black Bean & Orange Hummus and Chipotle Lime Two-Bean Hummus.

7. Quantum Wellness Cleanse: The 21-Day Essential Guide to Healing Your Mind, Body and Spirit So, this isn’t exactly a cookbook, but it does contain great meat free recipes and recommendations.

8. The Kind Diet: A Simple Guide to Feeling Great, Losing Weight, and Saving the Planet This book is the best if you are considering a vegetarian or vegan diet. Not only are there great receipes, but cute Alicia Silverstone delivers great ideas to flirt with the idea of being kind to animals.

9. Veganomicon: The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook A staple on the shelf of most vegans, Veganomicon IS “the ultimate vegan cookbook” . Be sure to try the Broccoli-Potato Soup on page 138.

10. How to Cook Everything Vegetarian: Simple Meatless Recipes for Great Food Did you borrow this book from me? It seems to be missing from my kitchen. I miss it.

Photo Credit

Objects may be smaller than they appear and that is certainly the case with this image and the actual size of Chia Seeds. They are really the size of a grain of sand. Have you ever heard the saying, green is the new black? Well, Chia Seeds are the new Flaxseeds. If you can get past the “Cha Cha Cha Chia…” infomercial theme song, they really are a great addition to your diet.

While Chia Seeds may be the new Flax Seeds, they are not new. There is evidence that the seeds were first used as food as early as 3500 B.C. The seeds were eaten alone and mixed with other seed crops, drank as a beverage when dissolved in water, ground into flour, included in medicines, and pressed for oil.

I first read about using Chia Seeds for endurance sports in this amazing book Born to Run, that made me want to be a runner, a barefoot runner. It still hasn’t happened, but it’s on my list!

Here are the top 7 reasons to eat Chia Seeds:

1. Chia Seeds are high in Omega 3 – 1 oz of Chia Seeds has 4915mg of Omega 3. Omega 3 fatty acids are loaded with protein which is great for healthy skin, hair, and nails. Chia Seeds are also high in calcium.

2. Chia Seeds are great for vegetarians because unlike Flaxseed, Chia Seeds can be stored for long periods without becoming rancid and don’t require grinding. The oil they contain does not go rancid because of the high level of antioxidants.

3. 1/4 cup of Chia Seeds has 160 calories and a whopping 11 grams of fiber.

4. 30% of the Chia Seed’s oil is Omega 3 oil. 40% of its oil is Omega 6 oil. This provides the nice balance for those who take supplemental Essential Fatty Acids.

5. You do not need to grind the Chia Seeds to digest. It is a relatively easy to digest seed, whereas flax seeds are not.

6. The Chia Seeds are great for athletes because they are highly hydrophilic. Being hydrophilic means it absorbs large amounts of water. Chia Seeds can absorb over 10 times their weight in water making them a great enhancer in hydrating our bodies. They absorb the water we drink holding it in our system longer.

7. Studies show that eating Chia Seed slows down how fast our bodies convert carbohydrate calories into simple sugars. This leads scientists to believe that the Chia Seed may have great benefits for diabetics.

How to use Chia Seeds

Add a scoop to your water bottle before running or working out.

Sprinkle on yogurt, salad, oatmeal or just about anything.

Try my favorite breakfast smoothie…..

• 1/2 cup soy milk
• 1 tablespoon soy yogurt
• 1 teaspoon – 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon peanut butter
• 1 tablespoon chocolate vegetarian protein powder
• 1/4 cup dry oatmeal slightly moistened with water
• 1-2 tablespoons Chia Seeds
• 1/2 cup ice

Blend all ingredients and enjoy!

Photo Credit

I love to cook and bake. I wish I had more time to do it, but when I do, I have some great vegetarian cookbooks to turn to. I recently read somewhere that if you are concerned about food labels and confused about the nutrition facts, you are eating the wrong foods. The foods you should be eating don’t come with labels.

The following cookbooks have great meat-free options that aren’t boring or bland. Please let me know if you try a recipe and what you like the best.

1.Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World: 75 Dairy-Free Recipes for Cupcakes that Rule: It’s no mistake that I started the list with a cookbook dedicated to cupcakes! My favorite recipe is for the Sexy Low-Fat Vanilla Cupcakes topped with icing and raspberries. Other flavors include, Margarita, S’mores, and Chocolate Stout and all dairy & egg free!

2. Skinny Bitch in the Kitch: I love those skinny bitches Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin. They have a no nonsense approach, “Kick-Ass Recipes for Hungry Girls Who Want to Stop Cooking Crap (and Start Looking Hot!)” Lentil Vegetable Soup and Peanut Butter Potato Chip Cookies are a couple that I love.

3.The Thrive Diet: What I most love about this book is that it is written by Brendan Brazier, a professional Ironman Triathlete. Are you surprised that an endurance athlete can Thrive on a plant based diet? Check it out and find a variety of vegan burger options, smoothies, soups and even pizza!

4. The Conscious Cook: Delicious Meatless Recipes That Will Change the Way You Eat: One of my husband’s favorite recipes comes from this cookbook. Gardein “chicken” scaloppini with shiitake sake sauce, braised pea shoots, and crispy udon noodle cakes. Yeah baby! I made a great egg and dairy free caesar salad from this book too….so good!

5.Vegan with a Vengeance : Over 150 Delicious, Cheap, Animal-Free Recipes That Rock: If you need a go to Vegan brunch book, this is it! Christmas morning, I served Isa Chandra Moskowitz’ Breakfast Veggie Chorizo & Scrambled Tofu, served with warm tortillas, salsa and fresh guacamole.

One more thing! I got the best rice cooking tip from a blog called Stone Soup. Instead of putting the rice in water and letting the water boil away, try this! I did it tonight and it came out so good and fluffy. The rice was good but the Stone Soup blog is even better.

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