Is Fibromyalgia Linked to What You Eat?
Fibromyalgia and diet are part of a raging controversy amongst medical professionals. And finding a doctor who will correctly diagnose your illness is difficult.
If you are misdiagnosed how can you expect to have the right treatment prescribed for your pain?
The internet has been a blessing to an ever growing number of Fibromyalgia and arthritis pain sufferers like you. As an uncensored secondary diagnostic option you can find alternative treatments and talk with your peers online to see what does or does not work to alleviate your pain.
When researching what does or does not work for Fibromyalgia you will find a concensus among many who suffer from it that it can be treated by changing your diet.
Now there is no "full proof" dietary plan that will work for all Fibromyalgia sufferers. But there are lists of foods to avoid and foods to use in your recipes.
Experimenting to find the right balance for you will be necessary, but will also bring the "Joy of Cooking" back into your life when it actually starts easing your pain.
1. Ease into dietary change. Drastic change almost never works. If you want the pain from Fibromyalgia to go away you need to start by eating a balanced diet. Get rid of foods high in fat and eat more veggies. No more potato chips, candy and soda. Keep bottled or filtered water (distilled is actually best) on hand and drink it whenever you have the urge for a carbonated beverage or alcohol. Once you flush your system the next steps will be easier.
2. Reduce carbohydrate intake. Eat more chicken, beef and fish and less bread and potatoes. Remember; more meat less potatoes. Do this and you will find you have more energy and reduce hypoglycemia problems. Avoiding carb loaded foods will reduce insulin production and in large doses insulin makes the body store fat globules. No good for anyone, but it is especially for those with Fibromyalgia.
3. You need to give up coffee and caffinated beverages. This can be a tough one but it is crucial to eliminating the IBS symptoms commonly diagnosed in people with Fibromyalgia. Sorry but this means no chocolate (or at least a lot less) too.
4. If you drink alcohol regularly you are going to have to quit or cut it way back. If you have been diagnosed with Fibromyalgia then you are probably already taking pain pills and other prescription and non-prescription medications. Mixing these with alcohol is just not smart anyway. If you are not taking pills to mask the pain then you may be self medicating with alcohol. Either way is not the right way to beat this disease. In fact alcohol agrieves the bowels and wreaks havoc on the digestive tract. Again keep water on hand always and substitute it when you have the urge for an alcoholic or carbonated beverage. It sounds to easy, but it works.
5. Use natural sweeteners instead of processed sugar. Raw honey is easy to substitute for granulated sugar. This is good advice for everyone but it is proven that Fibromyalgia patients suffering is reduced, symptoms alleviated and immune system functions are improved just by decreasing refined sugar intake.
To treat your Fibromyalgia is work, particularly when some "experts" and doctors refuse to even admit its existence, but you can beat it. And dietary change should be the first step on the road to your recovery.