I’ve heard so much about his famous MAV diet sheet. Can any one of his patients plz type out or attach his sheet somehow in this thread?
Doctor surenthiran's MAV diet sheet
This is what he noted down on a piece of paper for me
He calls them the 6 C’s
- Cheese ( + dairy products)
- Caffeine (Now on decaff only)
- Chinese food (MSG – Soups, crisps, processed meats)
- Citrus Fruit and Drinks (+ Pineapple and Banana)
- Chianti + Red Wine
- Chocolate
Yeast: Marmite and fresh bread
Regular Sleep
Regular meals
No Undue Exertion
AVOID STRESS
Thanks Robert – I like that list and his 6 Cs. Short and sharp.
ALL of those items is directly applicable to me and I would say are the MAIN ones I should pin on the fridge. I blow it with the fruit, cheese and caffeine occasionally and pay most of the time.
S 
Thanks robert
Hi Robert.
I’ve been doing the diet for a while now, but I think I’m perhaps not strict enough now?
I’ve given up Caffeine so tea coffee and fizzy pop.
Also have given up Citrus Fruit and Drinks (+ Pineapple and Banana), Chianti + Red Wine and Chocolate.
I am struggling with dairy products what exactly does this mean?? I gave up yogurt, milk and all cheese but should i be taking it further e.g. so no cakes and biscuits?
I’ve stopped all takeaways so no Chinese food for me lol but I’ve struggled with crisps, I seem fine with walkers they say they have no MSG apart from the cheese an onion, but are all crisps a no go.
How about soup I’ve been having the ones from the fridge with a sell by date they say they contain no preservatives?
Also do you know what he means by processed meats is that like sandwich meats packaged is deli meat ok?
It was hard doing what I’ve already done diet wise.
I’m afraid I’ll have nothing left to eat soon ha ha.
What do you think???
Hi Twister
Dr S is a big believer of the diet and wants his patients to be as strict as possible.
No Diary means no milk, cheese and butter. But then he said to me a small bit of butter on your sandwiches / toast is fine and a small bit of semi skinned milk in your decef tea and coffee is fine.
Yes you should really be having no cakes and biscuits. Rich tea, digestive biscuits and party rings are ok though i think. You just need to be careful there not pact with preservatives. I would stay clear of cakes though
Pringles are high in MSG. If you want to be safe I would stick to plain walkers, plain hula hoops and plain kettle chips.
I have fish and chips as my take away 
I think it means bacon, ham and and cheap processed food like chicken nuggets etc.
It can be hard but don’t worry too much about it. Nobody is perfect on the diet. I have bacon at the weekend for example and the odd biscuit.
Dr S is stripping out all the food that he believes can act as a trigger. When your better he will gradually introduce the foods back in
Have a look at my diet uk thread it might help you
https://www.mvertigo.org/t/diet-uk/4725
(Edited by @turnitaround fixed the link, old, broken link was: http://mvertigo.cloudapp.net/t/diet-uk/4725)
I try and be really strict in the week and relax slightly at the weekends. Everyone has different trigger foods you might find you’re ok on some stuff and other stuff makes your MAV worse.
Heal your headache book is good for advice on the diet.
I miss chocolate so much i dont think i can compromise on it :?
Sorry but I really don’t understand why people don’t bother doing the diet at 100% to start with.
I know it is hard to start with, and it is a big shock to the system and a slog to find alternative things to eat at first, but if you really feel so bad a, why wouldn’t you do the diet at 100% for just 12 weeks of your life. It is worth it if it might fix you.
You then slowly start reintroducing a food at a time to see what effect it has on you, if you wish. Or if not, you keep certain things out.
It is such a simple concept- to restrict what you put in your gob :). I know I felt horrendous when I started the diet, that I was so desperate that I would have eaten nothing but a lettuce leaf if it meant I would stop spinning just for 3 minutes.
I now still stick to the diet for the most part, even though the only thing I found that affects me instantaneously is cheese or cream. The diet made me realise how much crap I was putting into my body- yeast extract isn’t on Dr S’s list but I read about it in heal your headache and decided to get it out of my diet. Its artificial and it made me realise how much junk goes into food.
Caffiene is horrendous for you too. So I keep that out. Other things I keep out because I just went off the taste and didn’t miss them after so long without them.
I bring chocolate back in because like you Blondie, I can’t live without it! But I didn’t eat it for a good 9 months- even if it was on top of a biscuit or something. I wanted to get rid of these spins. And it worked. When I bought it back in, I found it didn’t make a difference.
I also reign the whole diet back in as strict as to the letter, when I am in a bad patch as I believe it helps. Not a chocolate passes my lips. Maybe it doesn’t help and it’s just a placebo but it’s good to feel I’m actively doing something to help myself.
But when I started yes, I didn’t eat biscuits, or cakes because the are made with egg, or they are made with butter or they contain milk.
I really believe in the beginning, you have to be strict, I know its a bind and a chore, but you have to start from a clean slate in order to then bring foods back in to know which might be affecting you in a negative way.
If anyone needs any help in finding snacks they can eat that don’t contain bad stuff on the banned list, I can recommend lots. I spent many evenings crying in the aisles of the supermarkets because I was dizzy and every frigging ingredient label contained banned stuff!
Fyi Walker’s ready salted crisps are a food on the ok list, fruit (other than those on the banned list) are good as are all veggies.
You can get a lovely fresh pasta in Waitrose that doesnt contain egg.
Cereal bars are good.
There are some good biscuits in the ‘free from’ range in many supermarkets.
Soba noodles are loverly!
Sweetened soya milk is better to adjust to than unsweetened.
PURE range of butter/spread in place of butter is good.
WATER IS FREEEEEE
You can do it if you put your mind to it. And know that it wont be forever xxx
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I know what your saying its so hard because I have a family of five to feed and my oldest son is a fussy eater so everyday I do two separate dinners one for him and one for the rest of us.
Ive cut out all the 6 C’s so far but am finding it difficult I wont lie Im now under 8 stone and getting worried if I lose anymore weight Im going to look so dreadful everyones commenting on it already as Im usually 9 stone.
Im at a loss of what I can and cant eat in regards to dairy I like cakes and things but havent touched anything remotely nice in weeks. I went on holiday in May when I was well again and ate anything I wanted and was fine so Im not sure what to believe but dont want to make myself worse either.
hi - think people intepret the diet differently, its up to you in the end i guess.
I also see Dr S, and he did tell me yeast extract was no good (so no marmite), and fresh yeast not great, so fresh bread wasnt good.
My philosophy is to eat as fresh as possible, that way you are avoidng much of the MSG and preservatives nd know what you are eating
I make my own cakes/biscuits, and do use butter, eggs etc in them but know exactly what is in them.
Have been off cheese, red wine, chocolate, citrus, MSG (if possible), red wine and most alcohol for nearly a year now. Will need to try chocolate though as do miss it.
Snacks are hard - i go for Kettle chips, plain ones as do like them, plus carrots/apples etc.
It has to be a bit trial and error when it comes to cakes/biscuits etc - better if you can make them yourself.
Eggs?
Guys I can’t seem to find my Heal your headaches book from Bucholves but I remember it not have eggs written on their as part of his restricted diet?
I believe its only Dr Surenthiran that provides eggs.
Nabeel
Hi
Thanks so much for posting this!
I’ve been trying to follow the diet without really understanding it and since reading anything of length is still a challenge I haven’t been able to get “the book”
I’m pretty much stuck at home and I closely monitor my cooking although I’ve got some questions if you don’t mind.
I thought it was aged cheese. I’ve been eating mozzarella only. I’m guessing now this is bad because it’s dairy?
I make my own chinese food with organic soy sauce…is that bad?
Can someone explain the fresh bread to me? Is it the yeast? Is it the flour? I typically don’t eat a lot of yeast bread but have been purposefully been eating more homemade muffins and scones thinking its the yeast. Is that a good alternative?
Since I’m a 24/7 symptomatic person, I never noticed that I’ve have felt any better or worse based on what I eat or don’t eat but I’m willing to try anything. How can you tell if a certain food is a trigger?
Thanks a bunch!
Judy
Thanks Robert
I’ve been doing the diet since day 1! It’s been hard but think I’ve found giving up tea was the hardest!
I’m dizzy 24/7 so sometimes it is hard to notice if food makes it worse or not but I stick with it.
I think we doo interpret the list dif so was really great to hear some advice in what I was struggling with getting to grips with I.e the diary stuff the crisps and the soup.
There is only couple things I need to iron out to be on it strictly now.
Thanks everyone for their helpful comments we need to stick together.
I must say I’m always a bit reluctant to post and ask for help.
I’ve fallen down on soup and having the odd fairy cake which I now know was wrong. I too would do anything to feel better and stop the spinning!
Good look everyone with your diets lets hope it pays off good Shopping/ cooking is no fun when your dizzy ironic isn’t it.
I feel really bad, like I scolded everyone for not sticking to the letter on the diet! ! Which is not what I meant to do…
— Begin quote from ____
and having the odd fairy cake which I now know was wrong Missmoss.
— End quote
What I meant really, was that if you do the diet to the letter for a few months, you’re then on a complete clean slate so that when you reintroduce each food, you can tell which are giving you a reaction if any, and hopefully, you find no reaction, so you can eat what you like!
I can see now u were trying to help, im just thankful we have this site for support.
Here’s hoping with diet and medication we all get back to ourselves soon.
hi
just to confirm, the Dr S diet sheet i have includes the 6 c’s’as mentioned, but also -
under the cheese/diary ‘c’ - it says yoghurt, fresh cream, sour cream, buttermilk - but I thought butter and milk were ok in moderation?
fresh baked bread - becasuse of the fresh yeast
eggs
regular sleep/meals/exercise
avoid stress.
obviously not everything on the list is a trigger for all, so its a bit of trial and error.
I’m still trying to figure out exactly which diet most of you tried and/or stick to. I have “Heal Your Headache” book, but it’s copyright is 2002, so I feel it’s a bit outdated. I also have “The Migraine Relief Diet” by Tara Spencer which was published in 2016 and has more foods to avoid. So basically, now I’m jut confused… Help? 
Hi there. I see Dr S too and follow his diet as listed above. He says other diets are too restrictive and stressful to follow. He lists the main ones. The diet and nortriptyline have done me well. Perhaps have a go with this one for a while and become more restrictive later on if you feel it necessary. It did take me some time though to start getting anywhere with it so give it time. Hope it helps.
The links not working for me ;(
So is Dr S fine with milk? I’ve been following the heal your headache diet (which I follow as strict as possible since 5/29/17) but in that book he says milk is fine just avoid age cheeses and yogurt. I had given up milk as well for about 5 1/2 months and then I realize that milk was allowed on the diet so I’ve gone back to drinking it and I haven’t noticed a difference
@ni_sm, I fixed the broken link in @robertgreen99’s post as it was in a format used before mvertigo was on the current Discourse engine, should work now.
Also attaching a link to Dr. S’s sheet here:
6Csdietandlifestyle.pdf (405.3 KB)
I’ve gone through phases with the diet. It’s not always been obviously helpful but other times it has been. Presently I’m doing pretty well but don’t restrict milk.
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