Bulletin Spring 2018

Managing Stress
Everyday life can bring about a variety of stressful situations,
particularly when living with MS. It is important to find
effective strategies to help manage your stress and help you
deal with the challenges of daily life. This will be different for
everybody and can include catching up with friends, listening
to music, exercising, being creative, yoga and meditation.
Meditation is used to calm the mind and consequently relax
the body. When we are tense, we breathe from the chest
rather than the belly. One way to relax and reverse this style
of breathing is to sigh. Three sighs is a short meditation which
can be done anywhere and anytime and was adapted by
Eric Harrison from the Perth Meditation Centre. This simple
exercise allows you to purposely relax for a few moments.
Eating Well
Protein is one of the major building blocks in our foods, along
with fats and carbohydrates. Proteins are made up of chains
of smaller units called amino acids. When we eat foods
containing protein, enzymes in our digestive tract break up
these chains so that they can be absorbed into our blood and
used in our body.
Protein plays several very important roles in our bodies,
including; forming and maintaining cells, maintaining
muscles, being an important part of enzymes, which assist
many essential chemical processes in our bodies, and
forming blood cells. Adequate protein maintains lean muscle
mass which contributes to strength and stamina, reducing
the risk of falls and injury and improving independence and
quality of life.
Good sources of protein in our diet include:
• Lean meat, chicken and fish (unprocessed is best)
• Nuts and seeds
• Tofu and tempeh
• Beans
• Eggs
• Milk, yoghurt, cheese and dairy alternatives
People of different sex and ages need a different amount of
protein each day.
If you are a male, you should aim for:
3 serves if you are 19-50 years of age
2.5 serves if you are 51 or over.
If you are a female, you should be eating roughly:
2.5 serves if you are 19-50;
2 serves if you are 51 or over.
Here’s how to do it:
Breathe in deeply, opening the rib cage
Sigh: let the breath go without forcing it
Rest in the pause, feeling the belly soften
Wait until you really need to breathe in again
Take a second big in-breath. Feel the chest open further
Drop into the soft, loose out-breath
Pause again and wait
And a third time, feeling everything loosen
Let your breathing resume its natural rhythm. It will now feel
slow, deep and soft
Breathe naturally or sigh gently as you wish
If you are interested in further practice of meditation,
our counsellors are facilitating a mindfulness meditation
session on Thursday, 20 September in Nedlands.
For more information, please contact Sarah Lorrimar on
9365 4858 or sarah.lorrimar@mswa.org.au
Try this tasty protein-rich recipe
from LiveLighter
Lamb Tagine
Ingredients
• spray olive or canola oil spray
• 200g lean lamb, diced
• 1 onion chopped • 1 clove garlic finely chopped
• 1 tsp ground cumin • 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon • 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 1 tsp reduced-salt vegetable stock
• 1 400 g can no-added-salt diced tomatoes
• 1 carrot • 1/3 400 g can no-added-salt chickpeas, drained
• 8 dried apricots • 3/4 cup couscous (GF option:
• 3/4 cup boiling water • 1/2 lemon, zest and juice
• 1/4 cup coriander stalks and leaves, optional
Method
1 Spray a large non-stick pot with oil and place over
medium heat.
2 Add the lamb to pan and brown on all sides for 2 minutes,
stirring frequently. Remove from the pan and set aside.
3 Cook onion and garlic over medium-high heat for 3 minutes,
stirring often. Add spices and cook for 1 minute until fragrant.
4 Return meat to pan along with stock powder, tomatoes,
chickpeas, carrots, apricots and coriander stems (if using).
Season with pepper and stir to combine. Cover and allow to
simmer for 20 minutes until vegetables are tender and lamb
is cooked through. Check halfway through and add a little
more water if required.
5 In a medium heatproof bowl combine couscous, lemon juice
and zest and boiling water. Cover and set aside for 3 minutes
or until ready to serve. Fluff couscous with a fork to separate
grains and stir through half the chopped coriander leaves.
6 Divide couscous between serving plates and top with
remaining coriander.
MSWA BULLETIN SPRING 2018 | 19