[mrsD]

This is a recent article in Science News regarding using
replacement of 4 key lipids to help remyelination:

http://www.sciencenews.org/view/gene...s_may_fight_MS

(I hope this link works, as I have a membership) Science News has opened its online access to non members recently.

This is the core of the article in case you cannot link to it:

Steinman and his colleagues conducted tests in mice with a condition similar to MS and found that injections of the lipids over several weeks could limit severity of the disease and even reverse some symptoms in the animals. The four lipids — abbreviated as PGPC, azPC, azPC ester and POPS — share a similar phosphate group, to which the rogue antibodies bind.

Other tests in mice showed that side chains of fatty acids, attached to the lipids like fingers on a glove, “keep the myelin-making cells alive and reduce the inflammatory response,” Steinman says. “It turns out that the side chains are imbued with protective properties.” They repel inflammation and even kill the T cells that trigger it, the researchers found...It could be that people with MS, who lack adequate supplies of these lipids and their protective fatty acids, fail to keep up with the destruction caused by antibodies and inflammation.

[Dejibo]

I crave fats. this is why I cant do the Swank diet. I am miserable on it and want FAT! I want avacado, i want milk, I want cheese, I want olive oil, I was real butter. I would not be able to keep myself from crying in a corner without fats.

its rumored that 95% of the fats we eat go to our brain. Its the sugar that we convert to fat that gets stored as fat in our bellies. Whether sugar in the form of MSG or sugar from cane, our bodies want to store it for future use after it converts it to fat.

Mmm...avacado!

[mrsD]

Here is a more detailed article I just found with names for the lipids:

http://www.lipidmaps.org/update/2012...s.2012.18.html

[Mariel]

Dejibo, some of the fats you list are "good fats", like avocado and olive oil. Swank did not limit olive oil or other "good fats", in fact he suggested adding them to make up for the loss of saturated fat. I must admit, however, that he did limit some items which are high in good (unsaturated) fat, such as avocado and nuts. He recommended slight consumption of nuts (I don't have his book here, which I lost in the Los Alamos fire in 2000, so I can't look up how many nuts he recommended). This post reminds me that I am out of walnuts, which are a good source of unsaturated fat, especially if you can't eat fish oil, as I can't. I do tend to skimp on these unsaturated fats because they, too, can be hard to digest (for me) and fattening. But I must get open my new bottle of olive oil and start using it. I also use a small amount of peanut butter, which has good fat, but limit how much.

I understand that we all have different metabolisms, and you may need more fat than other people. Part of this is because I have porphyria and must have a diet balanced between protein, carbs, and a little fat. The carbs do tend to go to one's waist, and that isn't ideal, but it is the metabolism I was given. I'd rather eat high protein but can't. Must be balanced. I manage to control weight by eating very little fat, but that can be negative, I understand this. Can't win.