While there is no special diet required for people with Parkinson's disease, eating a well-balanced, nutritious diet is extremely beneficial. With the proper diet, our bodies work more efficiently, we have more energy, and medications will work properly.

This article addresses the basics of good nutrition. Please consult your doctor or dietitian before making any dietary changes. A registered dietitian can provide in-depth nutrition education, tailor these general guidelines to meet your needs, and help you create and follow a personal meal plan.

The Basics

* Eat a variety of foods from each food category. Ask your doctor if you should take a daily vitamin supplement.
* Maintain your weight through a proper balance of exercise and food. Ask your doctor what your "goal" weight should be and how many calories you should consume per day.
* Include high-fiber foods such as vegetables, cooked dried peas and beans (legumes), whole-grain foods, bran, cereals, pasta, rice, and fresh fruit in your diet.
* Choose foods low in saturated fat and cholesterol.
* Try to limit sugars.
* Moderate your use of salt.
* Drink eight 8 oz. glasses of water per day.
* Ask your doctor about drinking alcoholic beverages (alcohol may interfere with some of your medications).

Some of us may have thought Monosodium Glutamate is a preservative or contains some nutritional value. The truth is it does nothing to food aside from enhancing the flavor. In fact, MSG is an "excitotoxin" or neurotoxin that has a degenerative effect on the brain and nervous system.

Monosodium Glutamate enters the brain through membranes in the mouth and enters the bloodstream as foods containing MSG are digested. MSG is created artificially using processes that break down and change natural-bound glutamate, which the body produces, into free forms of glutamate. These free glutamates can sometimes enter the bloodstream up to 10 times faster than bound or natural glutamates.

Over the last fifty years, food processors have steady increased the amount of MSG added to foods. One of the primary and most consistent effects of MSG and other excitotoxins is triggering an insulin, adrenalin, fat storage and food craving response. That response is what causes the, "I'm hungry again an chihour after I eat Chinese food," quandary. It is also why some of us crave potato chips just after we take a full plate of it.


The affects of MSG are compounded by continued ingestion all day long, from a wide variety of different manufactured products. McDonalds, Burger King, Taco Bell, and many sit-down chair restaurants such as TGIF, Chilis, Denny’s and Applebees use MSG in abundance. At Kentucky Fried Chicken, MSG was found to be in every chicken dish, salad dressing, and gravy. And you’ll find it on the labels of many of America’s favorite foods, like, Doritos, Lays potato chips, Top Ramen, Hamburger Helper, canned gravies, frozen prepared meals, and salad dressings (especially the low fat ones). Countless restaurants receive many of their key entrees, sauces, salad dressings, soups and more from suppliers who offer pre-prepared, pre-packaged and ready to heat menu selections. These are the items to watch out for. If a restaurant isn’t purchasing fresh produce and ingredients, and preparing each dish from scratch, then you can count on them containing MSG.

MSG HAS BEEN FOUND TO CAUSE SERIOUS DAMAGE TO SEVERAL AREAS OF THE BRAIN:

It has been clearly demonstrated that free glutamate places humans at risk, and plays a critical role in the development of several neurological disorders, but the FDA dismisses much of this extensive research. Numerous complaints have been filed since its initial use began in the 1940’s. By 1948 many major food suppliers were using MSG, and since then, its use has doubled each decade.

According to Russell L. Blaylock, M.D., author of “Excitotoxins: The Taste That Kills”, “…excitotoxins play a critical role in the development of several neurological disorders including migraines, seizures, infections, abnormal neural development, certain endocrine disorders, neuropsychiatric disorders, learning disorders in children, AIDS dementia, episodic violence, lyme borreliosis, hepatic encephalopathy, specific types of obesity, and especially the neurodegenerative diseases, such as ALS, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, Huntington's disease, and olivopontocerebellar degeneration”.