As we mentioned in the forward, our son Mathew’s diagnosis with MS is what led us to develop the Best Bet Diet and start our charity Direct-MS. We are so proud of Mathew for his commitment to diet and exercise and how he has controlled his symptoms for over 24 years since his diagnosis. Mathew has decided to share his story around the world to help others with MS. He has developed a website MShope.com where he freely provides the strategies he has used to live a drug-free, healthy life.
Being a filmmaker, he has also made an award winning documentary called Living Proof about his experiences with MS and his journey to find answers and hope. The response from the documentary has been extremely positive and Mathew has received many heart warming messages about how the film has made an impact on many lives.
You will find many inspiring testimonials in this section of the book written by people affected by MS who have greatly benefited from using nutritional strategies. It is these stories that keep us motivated to share information about the Best Bet Diet and we hope they will inspire you to implement and stick to the nutritional strategies and to stay in the best health possible.
“My teenage years were overloaded with typical teenage unhealthy fare. Though I was an athlete, my diet throughout high school consisted of “multiple colas a day, high dairy, high fat foods with huge amounts of mac and cheese, ”not to mention" enormous quantities of chocolate milk.
I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1995 when I was 19. One day when, while kicking a basketball, my foot suddenly went numb, followed by nerve sensitivity, which quickly progressed up into my chest. A subsequent MRI revealed numerous lesions on my brain and spine.
My neurologist’s predictions were vague and suggested disability in my future. However, he emphasized there was no need to consider jumping off a bridge, just yet. At that time there were no pharmaceuticals available for MS so I did not face the big question of “to use or not to use”. Within a week, we had gotten hold of books by Roy Swank and Judy Graham and a common theme was that diet played a major role in MS. This gave us the first major ray of hope.
My father is a research scientist and he plunged into the MS scientific literature to understand what drives MS and how dietary factors might be involved. Based on this research, he devised a science-based, dietary regimen that subsequently became known as the Best Bet Diet. The basics included no dairy, no gluten, no refined sugars, no legumes, low saturated fat, lots of vegetables and fruits, as well as various supplements.
I recognized I only had two choices: radically change my diet or end up in a wheelchair. Happily, my MS symptoms disappeared after about 4 months on the diet and over the next few years the only times I experienced the return of some symptoms were once when I had a bad flu. In 1999, my father realized that vitamin D was a big factor in MS and I started taking 4000 IU a day. Over the last 24 years I have been symptom-free, and I have to emphasize “You gotta go all in” and that there are no cheat days.
To me, there is no doubt that my nutritional changes have played a very significant part in keeping MS in remission, but I would add that so too have physical fitness and mindfulness. It’s YOUR health and YOUR responsibility. It’s on YOU. The choices YOU make are the ones that set the course for YOU and your future. My Dad once told me ‘You are either getting better or you are getting worse.’ I have made the decision to get better every day and with every meal. I hope you will do the same.”
– Mathew Embry
“I was diagnosed with MS in 2000. Eighteen years on I ran the London marathon fuelled only by the Best Bet Diet.
On the build-up to my diagnosis (1997–2000) I was experiencing a range of symptoms from optic neuritis to ‘disconnected legs’, tingling sensations and severe fatigue. My mood changed dramatically and depression set in. When I managed to lift my head from the shock and fear of what was happening, I began to research MS and what I could do personally to take control. The doctors only seemed able (and willing) to prescribe drugs that claim to treat the symptoms without reference to the cause.
In 2000 I was fortunate enough to find a doctor here in Scotland who practiced ‘Environmental and nutritional medicine’ and after a battery of tests I embarked on a highly personalised supplement and diet regime. This had an immediate effect of lifting my mood, clearing the ‘brain fog’, reducing the tingling and lifting my energy levels. Around the same time my wife found Ashton’s website and the Best Bet Diet. Scotland and Canada are the MS capitals of the world. My personalised approach mirrored the Best Bet Diet in every respect. Reassurance in itself!
Two years on the dietary approach had turned my life around. Infuriated and inspired by the failure of the medical profession (supported by many in the MS ‘support’ organizations), I cycled 1003 miles from Seattle to San Francisco to raise awareness and funds for the dietary approach to MS. I had the great pleasure of inviting Ashton and his wife Joan to Scotland to speak on their groundbreaking research. Information on the dietary approach is now given to all new MS patients at Scottish hospitals. This evidence based, scientifically authentic approach is helping to establish the Best Bet Diet, Direct-MS and MS Hope as a ‘go-to’ source of help for those of us living with MS and those who support us.
Nearly 20 years on from diagnosis, Ashton’s work and the Best Bet Diet continue to keep me (and so many others I’ve connected with) well and happy. Last week I ran my latest half-marathon. In the face of a devastating diagnosis the Best Bet Diet lets you do the most important thing of all, take personal charge of your future.”
– Alan Caldwell
“I am a 54-year-old male and I was formally diagnosed with multiple sclerosis at the age of 28 in 1992. Initially, I was diagnosed with relapsing-remitting MS but this soon progressed into secondary progressive MS. Being of Ukrainian descent, my diet was premised upon wheat and dairy with ample saturated fats. In 1996, upon reading The Best Bet Diet essay, I revised my diet to exclude certain dietary proteins. Incorporating the Best Bet Diet necessitated fundamental changes in my food consumption. It was with great fortune that my spouse also bought into this strategy as she was the primary food preparer. Her commitment to ensuring my dietary restrictions were satisfied contributed greatly to my improved health and independence.
Very soon after adopting the BBD my digestive processes improved considerably. I achieved consistent and proper bowel movements and I was no longer plagued by intestinal gas and bloating. Within weeks of implementing these changes, I noticed improvements in my wellbeing and mental abilities such as memory, comprehension and acuity that I attribute to a reduction in nerve inflammation. My oppressive chronic fatigue was also reduced significantly as was the numbness that was present throughout my body.
Overall the BBD provided stability in the progression of my MS. My improvements and stability allowed me to return to the work force, after a three-year hiatus, and to embark on having what turned out to be a family of three children.
I was, and still am, hampered by deficiencies that I attribute to nerve damage. The diet revision has not improved my right leg impairments which affect my mobility profoundly. Despite this inability to walk properly, I continue to feel well and maintain an optimistic perspective because my disease has not progressed since I adopted the dietary measures.”
– Nick Topolnyski
I had my first MS exacerbation in 1997 but I was not diagnosed with MS in December 2015. My symptoms before starting an anti-inflammatory diet included numbness, tingling, pain, impaired vision, skin pain, phantom sensations and incontinence.
When I was finally diagnosed with MS, Melissa and I had spent ten years together developing many rituals around dinner. We planned each meal, prepared it together, and always ate the same thing. Changing my diet following my diagnosis in the winter of 2015 meant challenging our dinner rituals. At first, I withdrew, becoming focused on what foods I could and couldn’t eat … and I did so at the expense of our shared sense of having dinner together. As the diet became more natural to us, Melissa and I began to find ways to share dinner once again. We roasted vegetables, made soups, and steamed veggies of various kinds. Melissa adapted without completely abandoning the foods she needed and loved, and I sometimes ate things that weren’t on her plate. Most importantly, we came to enjoy dinner together once again. Starting a new diet can seem like a challenge of will power. But it can also challenge relationships, and to succeed at this diet it’s been important for me to have support, understanding, and commitment at multiple levels.
After strictly following my anti-inflammatory diet for over three years now, it’s become a natural and vital part of how we live. Results from religiously following an anti-inflammatory diet, reducing stress, increasing rest, and increasing vitamin D levels: No new exacerbations and no new lesions. I am currently leading a very physically active life and enjoy full mobility. I have some residual symptoms from my many years of exacerbations, but I see them as part of who I am.”
– Spencer Schaffner
My earliest years in life were spent on a farm in rural Ontario where I developed a fondness for dairy products and sugary treats. I was diagnosed with MS in 1992 at the age of 24 while doing graduate studies. I continued consuming a highly inflammatory, non-compliant diet for many years, even though I had read Dr. Embry’s writing in 1997 or so. I lacked discipline back then and paid a heavy price with my health. Months after CCSVI treatment in 2010 many of the typical symptoms of MS slowly returned – the brain fog, fatigue, lack of motivation. Since adopting the Best Bet Diet and other lifestyle changes, I have experienced a major shift in fatigue levels, improved ability to think, and increased motivation and ability to exercise. Diet was the game-changer that I needed to be a healthier me.
I’ve always been impressed with Direct-MS and MS Hope because of the free advice that they offer. It’s easy to live a healthy, compliant life without spending hundreds or thousands of dollars – all it takes is an ounce of imagination sprinkled with a dash of creativity!”
– Christopher Alkenbrack
“I was diagnosed with RRMS in 1997 at age 21. My first symptoms included transverse myelitis which caused ascending numbness, starting on the pads of my feet and eventually reaching my ribs and aggravating my phrenic nerve causing severe abdominal pain. I also experienced two bouts of optic neuritis later in life and I have had numerous relapses since diagnosis. I would get home from working an office job and fall asleep on the couch. When I went to bed, I would struggle to fall asleep and when I did, I couldn’t stay asleep. I was tired all the time and frequently sick. My family life was affected. My friendships were affected. My livelihood was affected.
I wanted so desperately to continue my life, “business as usual”. And so that’s what I told everyone for nearly 2 decades. Yes, I was diagnosed, but I’m not going to let that slow me down. But it wasn’t business as usual. It was scary. It was uncertain. It was at times painful and depressing. It became apparent that not only were my decisions and the direction that I had been given endangering my health, but in fact I was a ticking time-bomb, heading down a very dark path.
I first heard about the Best Bet Diet while researching treatment alternatives online and started the diet in 2015. A month after starting the BBD program, I had my energy back, my mood and outlook improved, my wife of now 13 years said she’d never seen me better. The most difficult aspect, as well as the most surprising, was the backlash I faced from friends, some family members, coworkers and social media followers. Part of adopting this diet, fitness plan and lifestyle, will be testing one’s resolve. To me it was important to keep things in perspective. Not having cheese and dairy is easier than not being able to walk upstairs. Avoiding gluten and processed foods is far easier than life in a wheelchair. Being questioned about not consuming refined sugar or having dessert pales in comparison to not playing outside with our kids...these are the stakes that we are up against when living with MS. We know this and now we also know that we can alter the course of this disease. We owe it to ourselves. We owe it to our loved ones.
It is never to late to start. It is never to late to help a loved one start. There is literally no downside to following this proven program. I am not overstating when I say this program saved my life and my relationships. My results since beginning the BBD Program speak for themselves. My EDSS score has dropped from 3.5 to 2.5 and my last two MRIs have shown stability and no new lesions. I am in the gym daily, I follow the plan; I’m myself again and I have a positive outlook.”
– Mark Bennett
“This July 2019 I will be celebrating my thirty years of primary progressive MS (PPMS) at age 84 and in relatively good health for an old guy. Naturally, there’s a story behind it. My parents immigrated from Poland and I was born in America. I was a thin child (now a thin adult) that disturbed my parents because in the old country being thin meant sickness. Hence, I was brought up with a typical Polish diet, high saturated fat, dairy, eggs, rye bread, etc. that I enjoyed.
About a decade before my PPMS diagnosis I became interested in diet because my cholesterol level was over 300. I immediately took corrective action and eliminated eggs and reduced saturated fat from my diet. As the years progressed, I eliminate meat since it was not tasty.
I am an exercise fanatic, in fact, I’m an obsessive, compulsive, neurotic nut case, and noticed walking issues after exercising. And in 1989 I was diagnosed with PPMS. As an engineer I now had a problem I had to solve. My family physician provided me with sage advice. “I don’t know anything about MS, but I advise you to work on your overall wellness.” Finding data on MS was a challenge. I retired in 1994 due to draining fatigue.
In 1996, the internet started to bloom, and I learned about Ashton Embry’s BBD plan and was excited. It is based on data, an engineer’s dream. I adopted the plan, gave up my favorite food, dairy and lost about 35 pounds. The rest is history. With help of trainers I learned to walk 99% perfect gait of two miles and was able to swim three miles nonstop. I recently contacted one of the senior fitness instructors with my weekly exercise regime asking if I’m over doing it. Her response was yes, and she suggested I should reduce my exercise. My swimming from 1 hr. to ½ hour, reduce weight lifting reps from 50 to 18–20; bike ride from 45 to 20–25 minutes. I think it’s a reasonable plan for an old fart with PPMS. Finally, think diet, exercise and attitude. And for an old guy I’m doing okay and still exercise daily.”
- Irwin Mortman
