Can a Special Fibromyalgia Diet Help Relieve Symptoms?
Can a specific fibromyalgia diet help to relieve the symptoms of pain and sleeplessness that are associated with this syndrome? Presently, there is no conclusive advice from the scientific community on which foods may help or aggravate this painful and distressing condition. However we all know that eating a healthy, balanced diet is important for our health whether we are ill or in good physical condition.
Despite the fact that there is no fibromyalgia diet proven to minimize the symptoms of the condition, eating healthy foods that are low in fat and high in immune system boosters like antioxidants and phytochemicals can go a long way toward giving you increased energy and making you feel more alert.
Many fibromyalgia sufferers claim to have managed their symptoms by making simple changes to their lifestyle and dietary habits. According to Mary Moeller, herself a fibromyalgia sufferer, taking four important aggravating foods out of her diet has helped her control pain and fatigue. These four foods should be totally eliminated in a successful fibromyalgia diet.
The four offending foods are 1) chocolate 2) carbonated beverages 3) coffee and 4) alcohol. These are all foods that give you a temporary boost of energy followed by a slump in blood glucose levels and increased fatigue. Drinking eight glasses of water a day is also part of a fibromyalgia diet.
According to Moeller several other food and lifestyle factors should also be avoided as part of a fibromyalgia diet. These aggravating foods are: high fat dairy foods, white sugar and white flour, fried foods, preservatives, junk food, and salt, red meat (especially salt cured, cured bacon, smoked, or nitrate cured), liquid with your meals, tobacco, prolonged sun exposure and Nutrasweet and saccharine.
Removing the four main offending foods will help to keep your energy levels stable and avoid constant highs and lows. Caffeine is a particular problem as it acts as a diuretic making you drink more water to replace that which is lost. It appears that caffeine also causes calcium loss and strains the adrenal glands and liver. Many people with fibromyalgia have adrenal malfunction due to chronic stress and poor eating habits so avoiding caffeine will give their bodies a chance to recover. A fibromyalgia diet should avoid sugar for the same reason.
Any food that compromises your immune system will aggravate fibromyalgia. Eating refined, processed foods, pork, junk foods, starches and additives and preservatives as well as very acidic foods will make your immune system tired and may aggravate symptoms. Removing these foods from a fibromyalgia diet may help to minimize attacks.
You can plan your fibromyalgia diet by keeping a food diary and noting each food that seems to aggravate your symptoms of muscle pain and fatigue. Some people have adverse reactions to dairy, wheat, corn, foods from the nightshade family (tomato, potato) plants while others do not. Each person is unique - so the best thing you can do is to track your symptoms alongside the foods you eat. A simple change can make all the difference.
