This week we are joined by Clinical Nutritionist/Nutritional Therapy, and Lifestyle Medicine Practitioner, Lorna Ryan, for Nutrition and Hydration Awareness Week. Today’s topic is Foods for Daily Life.
The following information should not constitute medical advice, dietary advice, or treatment. Individuals should consult a healthcare professional before making changes to their nutritional plan.
“Food basics to support your health when living with EDS or HSD do not need to be complicated, labeled ‘super foods’, be expensive, or difficult to cook.
Someone with EDS or HSD still requires the overall nutrient intake of the basic foods. Adaptations would only be relevant for the individual according to their clinical presentation and the symptoms they experience.
Unprocessed foods can be found commonly in your local community and you can be confident that by rotating choices regularly these foods will provide proteins, fats, carbohydrates, fiber, vitamins, and minerals (nutrients) your body requires (outside additional needs due to deficiencies or medical issues).
As a basic guide, we want to be choosing something to eat from each base group (with ethical/religious considerations made to animal products of course):
- Fruits from every color group such as oranges, berries, cherries, apples, grapes, pomegranates, melon, papaya, mango, olives, and capers
- Vegetables that grow above the ground such as leafy greens, peppers, asparagus, and root vegetables that grow below the ground such as parsnip, radish. carrot, sweet potato, and Look to rotate the color of your vegetables.
- Whole grains including rice, wheat, buckwheat, quinoa, and oats.
- Legumes including all beans, lentils, peas, soybeans, and peanuts.
- Nuts including almonds, walnuts, pistachio, hazelnuts, and brazils.
- Seeds such as pumpkin, sunflower, and chia.
- Oils such as olive and
- Red meats such as beef, lamb, venison, and goat.
- Poultry including chicken, quail, turkey, duck, and eggs of each bird.
- Oily fish such as mackerel, salmon, and herring.
- Herbs including basil, thyme, rosemary, dill, and
- Fungi including all types of mushrooms (that are edible).
Clinically, supporting an individual with co-morbidities of EDS or HSD, we take our basic foods and adapt portion size, portion frequency, and meal timings to suit individual cases. For instance, with POTS, adaptations may be made to limit postprandial hypotension and ensure adequate sodium intake, with gastroparesis we may aim to limit fiber intake per serving and opt for foods that are nutrient-dense, small volumes, and easy to digest such as sprouted vegetables, quail eggs, and rice.”
Tomorrow we will talk about nutritional goals! Watch Lorna’s talk on nutrition and hydration now, in full, here.
Lorna Ryan is a Clinical Nutritionist/Nutritional Therapy, and Lifestyle Medicine Practitioner who has a clinical practice based in London, UK, and online internationally. Lorna is the Chair of the Diet and Nutrition Working Group of the International Consortium on the Ehlers-Danlos Syndromes (EDS) and Hypermobility Spectrum Disorders.
