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The good news is yes ... alcohol is OK as long as I'm careful about the source. I've been told that vodka, gin and sambucca are yeast-free and gluten-free, so I'll celebrate with a few homemade screwdrivers - vodka and orange juice - while I read my birthday emails. I've had loads wishing me well - including one from Ashton Embry, the Canadian scientist behind the diet - so thanks to you all. Special thanks to Jean Crosbie of Cumbria, who's invited me round to try the meals from her "Best Bet kitchen". If I can make it up there I'll certainly pop in. She's also sent me some really useful advice about baking my own bread - from next week I'm definitely doing that.

All help is much needed and gratefully received, as getting a good variety of food is a major problem on a restrictive diet. However, I think I have a potential ace up my sleeve. I cultivate an allotment. It's all organic, too. Among the harvest - just started - are a number of things that are allowed on the diet. Courgettes and sweetcorn are great for stir-fries or risotto. Then there's tomatoes, beetroot and cucumber for salads; strawberries, raspberries and blackberries for summer puddings. So I think there's potential there for more varied meals as summer goes on. And it's good to be out in the fresh air.

One of the key features of the Best Bet Diet is taking supplements and vitamins - most significantly vitamin D3, known as the "sunshine vitamin" - in large amounts. When I say large, I mean large. The recommended daily intake of vitamin D is 200 IUs; I'm taking 4,000 IUs. By my maths, that's 20 times the recommended daily allowance. It sounds large, but in the diet group support sheet it says that this amount is safe and below any toxicity level. It's also true that MS is more common in temperate climes where the sun tends not to shine, so I'm taking the pills.

So how's it all going then? With all this open air and good food, not forgetting the vitamins, I actually feel in rude good health this week. My bladder and leg spasm problems aren't troubling me and the double vision is well within control, so in that sense I think it's good news all round. It's my birthday too, so I'm off to celebrate with a couple of screwdrivers. Cheers.