My family and I have succeeded and failed at making diet changes that reduce our narcolepsy symptoms for about 7 years now.

We’re fully aware of how difficult dieting is for sleepy people.  BUT we’ve spent the last 7 years making each dietary change narcolepsy friendly.  We put in this effort because, darn it, the right diet changes can be hugely beneficial and are worth doing.

But in order to stay on track and reap the benefits, we HAD to find ways to make them sustainable and EASY… NARCOLEPSY easy.  By this I mean that each step has been broken down into bits that are easy to understand, easy to integrate, and easy to build on.  We’ve cut corners everywhere possible so we get the core benefit without the extreme focus and exhausting effort.

My nickname has been Madcap Gina since before I can remember.  It’s because I’m always coming at things in zany, eccentric, and unconventional ways.  ALWAYS.  I’m no different in my approach to diet changes.  If going from A to Z won’t work for me who says I can’t go from B to X to O to A, etc., etc.?  If it works, why not?!

So that’s exactly what I did with diets that have a positive impact on narcolepsy.  I flipped our goals and dreams around and broke them down into the steps that would impact me and my family the most without having to make the sweeping changes most full on diets require.

 AND THEN I TOOK THIS APPROACH TO THE NARCOLEPSY COMMUNITY.

In 2016 I had the honor of presenting at the annual Narcolepsy Network conference to over 200 people.  You can watch that presentation here.  The reaction of the doctors, patients, and supporters in attendance was overwhelmingly positive because what I said to them that day just made common sense.  I wasn’t selling them snake oil (a cure), but rather I was talking about some simple ways to mitigate (make less) narcolepsy symptoms and their impact on our lives and our health.

Since 2016, I’m now a regular speaker at the Narcolepsy Network conference and have had the pleasure of speaking for Narcolepsy Ireland, Sleep Tampa Bay, Narcolepsy Atlanta, DFW Narcolepsy Friends, and Wake Up Narcolepsy.

These organizations have trusted me to speak because I’m not out here just making stuff up.  Rather, I’ve done my best to pull together quality resources and research.  Diet for Narcolepsy:  A Science-y View from 30,000 Feet is a series I wrote that helps explain all the bits of science that I feel impact us as people with narcolepsy.  In this three part series I detail the impact on our orexin/hypocretin (Part 1 – Orexin), what a carbohydrate control diet can do for us (Part 2 – Carb Control), and why I see gut health as an integral part of the plan (Part 3 – The Gut Connection).

I believe that there are several diets that have a positive impact on narcolepsy symptoms:

Low Carb (dubbed Diet Basics here on this site)

Keto/Ketogenic Diet

Gluten Free Diet

Dairy Free Diet

AIP (Autoimmune Protocol) Diet

Gut Health Diet

There are others of course, but these are the diets I’ll focus on since, in my opinion, they are the most impactful.

I strongly encourage you to start with the Diet Basics series and then work your way through the others once you’ve mastered the basics.  Why?  Well, with the basics under your belt you’ll have already done more than HALF of the work you will need to do for the other diets…no kidding y’all.  And guess what?  You may get all the benefit you need and want from the basics without ever having to do the harder diets.  I say this with confidence because a large percentage of the people I’ve worked with over the past 7 years don’t need to do the drastic diets to get mega benefits and positive impacts on their symptoms as well as a reduction in their medication dosing and dependence.

Are you ready?  Ready for change?

Ready to start living your life rather than surviving it?

Ready to join me on a path OUT of narcolepsy and INTO life? 

Well come on, let’s go.  No excuses… come on now, let’s RIDE!

XOXO,

Madcap Gina