A user asked for more info on the topic of healthy diet I mentioned here, *admin edit*
Since my PN symptoms started, I have read many books on reversing and preventing disease. Several doctors have discovered that patients can reverse disease with a combination of diet, exercise, stress management, & social support. I believe that diet is the most important of these, as it is the one most emphasized by many of the doctors involved. Diseases/conditions reversed and prevented with diet include obesity, heart disease, many cancers, type 2 diabetes, autoimmune diseases, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol.

My logic is that what prevents and reverses these diseases could quite possibly reverse peripheral neuropathy as well. I don't know this for a fact, but I think it's the best shot those of us with peripheral neuropathy of unknown cause have. I have read of several cases of dramatic improvement using similar lifestyle changes, and have experienced improvement myself. Yes this is only anecdotal evidence and does not prove anything. I have some support for my position from Dr. T. Colin Campbell in The China Study:

"PRINCIPLE #7--Nutrition that is truly beneficial for one chronic disease will support health across the board." p. 237

I believe exercise is also quite important in reversing disease, so don't count it out. It's just that I find diet emphasized more in the literature that I have read. Your best bet is combining diet, exercise, stress management, & social support.

There is a vast amount of evidence showing that unprocessed plant-based diets, and eliminating animal products, reduces disease and increases lifespan in humans. The books I recommend below will point you in the direction of this evidence. Some lifestyle practices cause the expression of genes in a good way that reverse and prevent disease. Other unhealthy choices do the opposite. We are not a slave to our genetics.

According to Dr. Joel Fuhrman, leafy greens such as romaine lettuce, kale, collard greens, Swiss chard, and spinach are the most nutrient-dense of all foods, so he recommends eating a large quantity of these foods. This is what I am beginning to do. One of his main points is eating high nutrient-density foods in order to obtain a high nutrient to calorie ratio. This also means avoiding processed sweeteners and concentrated fats such as cooking oil.

From World Health Organization: "Households should select predominantly plant-based diets rich in a variety of vegetables and fruits, pulses or legumes, and minimally processed starchy staple foods." (http://www.fao.org/DoCREP/004/Y2809E/y2809e00.htm, chapter 2)

Assuming that most of us are overweight, he insists that you do not need to go hungry on a plant-based diet in order to lose weight. You can actually eat a larger volume of food than you did before on the standard American diet, it's just that plant foods have much lower calorie density than the oils and fats in an unhealthy diet. He covers this topic in-depth.

You will find objections to the whole foods plant-based diet I propose. Of course those involved in the poultry, beef, pork, and dairy industries will object because this challenges their very way of life. But there are no doubt more objective parties that have come out against this as well. I think that many people don't want to believe vast dietary changes can help them because this requires a great deal of work and committment. And meat tastes good. This is only human nature.

So if you are skeptical, I ask you to check this out yourself. And I invite you to join me and see just how much better we can make our neuropathy.

Here are a few websites for more support. There are many more.

http://www.pmri.org/ -- Preventive Medicine Research Institute
http://fatfreevegan.com/ -- healthy recipes
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Eat-2-Live/ -- good forum for support, recipes, etc.

Recommended reading:
Eat To Live, Joel Fuhrman, M.D.
The China Study, T. Colin Campbell, M.D.
The Spectrum, Dean Ornish, M.D.
The McDougall Program, John A. McDougall, M.D.
Foods That Fight Pain, Neal D. Barnard, M.D.
Forks Over Knives, editor Gene Stone
Healthy Aging, Andrew Weil, M.D. (condones some meat, especially fish)
Anticancer, David Servan-Schreiber, M.D., PhD
Deep Nutrition, Catherine Shanahan, M.D. (condones some meat)

*admin edit*

Ron