By: Lauren Corwin
The world of science is forever changing. New things, ranging from Earth's geologic history to extraterrestrial life forms, are discovered daily, but why hasn't human genetic disease causes been on the top of the list? The answer: So many combinations of outside influences that interact with genes make it hard to find cures for genetic diseases. Outside influences could consist of temperature, location, and believe it or not what you eat.
And that's what Debbie Heath believes to be the cause of her Multiple Sclerosis, a combination of genetics and nutrition.
Back in 2007, Debbie was diagnosed with Relapsing MS. Her reaction to the diagnosis I found to be quite comical. "Well, Montel Williams has it, so, he's still alive." When asked what she believes to be the cause of her MS, her reply was extremely intriguing. "I think it's a combination. I think that we are born with something in our genetic makeup that turns it, but I think if we eat properly, we'd still have MS and have that potential, but we wouldn't have the effects of it." Being interested in this topic, I asked her to further explain. "It's more of what we don't eat," she said, "As I child, I hated vegetables and I think growing healthy, not farm sprayed, but natural vegetables that come from the Earth has beneficial things in them that we are supposed to have, but are not getting."
During our conversation about how the food she eat affects her MS symptoms, she made a discovery of her own. "That tingling feeling, like pins and needles, I'm having right now, but I just ate that pizza, which has gluten in it, and I haven't had that for a week and a half when I was on my gluten free diet. It's just hitting my now that there's a connection." The tingling feeling Debbie describes is quite common among people with MS, along with headaches, fatigue, and clumsiness.
To combat her symptoms, Debbie reilliterates her point about eating healthy. "To try and change my diet," Debbie said,"I'm reading this book that says to comb
at autoimmune diseases you should eat nine cups a day of vegetables."
From her struggle she has learned that "eating nutritiously is probably something I should have done all along, but nobody taught us that. I mean, our parents, the school, I mean hot lunches, think about it. I've learned that nutrition is a big part of our lives so we need to pay better attention to it."
Preventing MS is the big picture now, but curing it would also be an exquisite power to have. So many things are being done about finding the cure and helping people who do have MS. Debbies' golf outing, "The PMS Foundation" (Play fore the cure of MS) raises money annually and donates a small portion of it to the University of Michigan's research center. "Most of our golf outingproceeds go to helping people in the community who have MS. But, as for the cure, I don't know if there will ever be cure for MS."
If you'd like to donate to the PMS Foundation or play in the annual outing on July 19th, you can contact Debbie Heath at 231-762-4381. To learn more about Multiple Sclerosis, visit the National MS Society.
And that's what Debbie Heath believes to be the cause of her Multiple Sclerosis, a combination of genetics and nutrition.
Back in 2007, Debbie was diagnosed with Relapsing MS. Her reaction to the diagnosis I found to be quite comical. "Well, Montel Williams has it, so, he's still alive." When asked what she believes to be the cause of her MS, her reply was extremely intriguing. "I think it's a combination. I think that we are born with something in our genetic makeup that turns it, but I think if we eat properly, we'd still have MS and have that potential, but we wouldn't have the effects of it." Being interested in this topic, I asked her to further explain. "It's more of what we don't eat," she said, "As I child, I hated vegetables and I think growing healthy, not farm sprayed, but natural vegetables that come from the Earth has beneficial things in them that we are supposed to have, but are not getting."
During our conversation about how the food she eat affects her MS symptoms, she made a discovery of her own. "That tingling feeling, like pins and needles, I'm having right now, but I just ate that pizza, which has gluten in it, and I haven't had that for a week and a half when I was on my gluten free diet. It's just hitting my now that there's a connection." The tingling feeling Debbie describes is quite common among people with MS, along with headaches, fatigue, and clumsiness.
To combat her symptoms, Debbie reilliterates her point about eating healthy. "To try and change my diet," Debbie said,"I'm reading this book that says to comb
at autoimmune diseases you should eat nine cups a day of vegetables."
From her struggle she has learned that "eating nutritiously is probably something I should have done all along, but nobody taught us that. I mean, our parents, the school, I mean hot lunches, think about it. I've learned that nutrition is a big part of our lives so we need to pay better attention to it."
Preventing MS is the big picture now, but curing it would also be an exquisite power to have. So many things are being done about finding the cure and helping people who do have MS. Debbies' golf outing, "The PMS Foundation" (Play fore the cure of MS) raises money annually and donates a small portion of it to the University of Michigan's research center. "Most of our golf outingproceeds go to helping people in the community who have MS. But, as for the cure, I don't know if there will ever be cure for MS."
If you'd like to donate to the PMS Foundation or play in the annual outing on July 19th, you can contact Debbie Heath at 231-762-4381. To learn more about Multiple Sclerosis, visit the National MS Society.