It was an incredible honor to be invited to share my 20-year MS (multiple sclerosis) health journey along with three of the recipes from my newly released Clean Cuisine Cookbook on the Doctors TV Show a few weeks ago. What an amazing experience! I thought it would be fun to not only share the segment but also a few backstage photos below…

I was enormously grateful for the opportunity to even have 1 minute of national TV exposure, but because of the time restrictions on TV, I of course could not dive too deep into my MS journey and that’s what I wanted to do in the 5-part segment I share at the bottom of this blog post. I have also shared some additional links at the end of this post for those of you who are new to clean eating.

Clean Cuisine on The Doctors TV Show

My segment was divided into two parts and the link to the recipes I prepared can be found HERE.

Part 1:

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Part 2:

A Few Backstage Fun Photos

Ivy and Andy Larson backstage at the DOCTORS TV SHOW

We have never had our own dressing room for any TV appearance! I was already nervous the moment we walked through the studio door and I have to say, seeing our names on the wall like that did not exactly calm me down 😉

It only took 1,000 bottles of hair spray and 3 hours to make me look “camera ready” ha ha!

My nerves were still not settled by the time hair and makeup was done but thankfully I was able to use my meditation skills to calm myself down.

If you have been following Clean Cuisine for a while now you may recall me talking about the panic attack I had on live television on CNN back in 2005 when our first book was published. Boy oh boy! Having a panic attack on live television is not something you ever want to do, trust me. I was lucky that the camera didn’t catch it because thankfully they were focused on asking my husband (the doctor!), all of the questions for the first few minutes. While I was able to catch my breath and pretend to be ok for the rest of the interview, the memory of that panic attack has stuck with me for all these years.

I don’t like to take prescription medication unless absolutely necessary but in the past my husband would actually need to prescribe me a beta blocker to keep my heart from racing before any big public appearance. That all changed when I learned how to meditate correctly.

I have put my meditation skills to use many times since I have learned, but this Doctors TV show appearance was the first time I could really put my skills to the ultimate test. If I could calm myself down before a national TV appearance then I know it really works.

And thank goodness it did work because I did not have a beta blocker as a backup that day 😉

At first glance, it looks like a swat team swarmed in but these were just the folks helping to prep the stage for my segment. By the way, you would not believe how much time and effort goes into a 5 minute TV segment!

Ivy Larson on the Doctors TV show with clean cuisine cookbook

My dear friend Brooke Thomas (in the photo below to the right of me) from 360 Your Life drove in with her husband and daughter from Newport Beach to support us and took these back stage photos!

My 20 Year MS Journey

The truth is, while anti-inflammatory clean eating has played a tremendous role in helping me slow the progression of my disease (I have never needed to take any of the disease-modifying MS drugs), my MS journey has really gone far beyond food. I don’t ever want to give false hope or give the impression that it was just one simple thing I did to manage my MS symptoms.

I share my full MS story in a very lengthy (almost 40,000 words!) 5-part blog post in the link below that touches on the many, many things I have incorporated into my healing journey. One thing is for sure, it has definitely been a journey!

My MS Story (Part 1)

And finally, if you are new to clean eating and / or also have MS and are not sure where to start, here are a few resources below that might help you: