Improving Fibormyalgia Symptoms with Food

Tonight I spoke with my Fibromyalgia Support Group about how food has helped improve my Fibromyalgia symptoms.  This blog post is a summary of what I covered.

Food to Avoid with Fibro

1. Gluten - I think that gluten is probably the primary cause for a lot of our health issues from the aches & pains to a lot of IBS symptoms. Most Drs seem to be of the belief that as long as you don't test positive for Celiac or Chrons that you don't need to worry about changing your diet or removing gluten. However, you don't have an actual disease to be negatively affected by gluten.  It may not even show up on a food sensitivy panel if you have it done (or, as was the case for me, it might show up but at such a low level that even the pharmacy or Dr who tested you says it's nothing).  For me the test barely registered a sensitivity to gluten but it was enough.  When I get "gluten-ed", I know it and I usually can feel it hit my stomach within minutes, but I really feel the affects the next day, when I feel like I've gotten hit with a full-on Fibro flare.

2. MSG - If it's processed it most likely has gluten in it, and if it doesn't have gluten it probably has MSG.  MSG is on every list of foods to avoid with Fibromyalgia and is known to be linked to a whole host of potential negative side effects - not the least of which is that it is designed to make you want to eat more (and you wondered why you were gaining weight!). MSG (as well as other food additives) are known to increase pain and inflammation. (note: MSG is rarely listed as MSG, it is most often listed as "spices" or "natural flavorings").

3. Aspartame - Found in diet drinks and "sugar-free foods". Known to cause tremors, inflammation and pain. It stimulates your nerves (increasing the tingling). Also, the way our body processes it can make you want more sweet foods.

4. Processed Sugars - avoid the HFCS, white processed sugars (may be lsited as fructose, sucrose, or glucose. Not only do they mess with your blood sugar, but processed sugar is known to increase pain. Instead opt for "raw sugar" or "coconut sugar". If you need an alternative Stevia is the best option.

5. Yeast - If you have IBS issues (and some other issues) it may be due to an over-growth of yeast in your gut. Yeast feeds on sugars (another reason to avoid them) but increasing yeast in your system won't help either (major source - breads, cakes).

6. NightShades - some people with Fibro have found that a group of plants known as nightshades (tomatoes, eggplant, peppers) increase inflammation and their pain.

7. Dairy - Many people are lactose intolerant and IBS can be a major source of IBS related issues. The best thing to do is to remove it entirely.  Replace butter with coconut oil based spreads and replace milk with almond or coconut milk.

Salmon with Maple Bacon
Brussels Sprouts

Foods to Eat!

1. Stick to the basics! - Consider the Whole 30 as an entry way to eating better and to determining which foods affect you negatively.  It is a Paleo based 30 day elimination diet that allows you to cut out all foods that might be harmful to your system and re-introduce them slowly, in order to determine which ones are affecting you and how.

2. Protein - protein is our energy source, and also provides a basis for creating muscles.

3. Leafy Greens & Veggies - Veggies in general are an excellent source for your calorie needs but more importantly they provide the many vitamin & minerals that we need to keep our body healthy.  Leafy greens, &  broccoli are excellent sources of Vit C (to help boost immunity) as well as Magnesium and Calcium.  Veggies in general are more filling (per calorie) than other items allowing you to feel full without eating too much.  A good meal will consist of a small serving of protein and 2 larger servings of veggies (about twice as much veggies as meat).

4. Fruits - fruits are a great source of feeding your sweet tooth, but also full of great nutrients.

Note: Most folks know that I juice. When juicing it's better to juice veggies and eat fruit. The fiber in fruit helps balance the high amount of sugar and keeps your body from absorbing too much sugar too fast (upsetting your blood sugar levels).

5. Good Fats - Avoid trans fats & fried foods. However, fat is not a bad thing. You want to increase good fats as found in nuts, coconut oil, olive oil and even meat. Increase Omega 3, which can be found in Wild Caught Salmon, & walnuts,a s well as in Fish Oil supplements.

6. Boost Immunity: As mentioned leafy greens are full of Vit C as are citrus fruit and pineapple. When I feel like I'm coming down with something I increase these foods and head it off with what I call the "Get Well Juice" (1 Orange, 1/4 Pineapple, 1 chunk Ginger, 6 strawberries & 1 banana - juice everything but the banana, then put the juice and the banana in the blender, blend & drink. You can also hold out the strawberries and just add them at the blend stage).

7. Natural Anti-Inflammatories - Ginger, Tumeric & the core of the pineapple are all excellent natural anti-inflammatories.  Curcumin is found in Tumeric and can be purchased as a supplement for inflammation.  The core of the pineapple contains bromelaine, a natural anti-inflammatory. It's not easy to eat, but I always include it in my juice.  Prickly Pears are also an excellent natural anti-inflammatory. They are hard to eat, so I stick to juicing them.

8. Heal the Gut - Ginger is excellent for all things gut related, whether it's nausea, indigestion or heart burn. Long term use can cut down or eliminate acid reflux issues.  Aloe Juice works the same way: what it does for healing your body externally it can do internally. Mix with apple juice to make it easier to palate (I use a 1 part aloe, 3 part apple juice ratio). Red cabbage is also excellent for helping to heal not only the gut but for liver detox (to help remove the toxins all those pharmaceuticals build up). 

9. Probiotics also help us not only heal the gut but keep our entire system balanced. Probiotics are good bacteria found in supplements, fermented foods (kim chi, sour kraut), drinks (kombucha, kefir), and yogurt. It is believed that many of the gut issues we deal with is due to an overgrowth of yeast (which is caused by not having enough good bacteria in our system). Building up the colonies of good bacteria will eventually reverse this issue.

Any increase in the good foods and decrease in the bad foods is a move in the right direction, and not all of us will be affected the same way by the same foods. The best way to determine which foods have a negative effect on you is to do an elimination diet.  I did my own version of an elimination diet which included a 1 week juice fast followed by 3 more weeks of slowly re-introducing foods back into my system in a methodical way. It doesn't have to be that intense.  The Whole 30 is an excellent elimination diet that is fairly easy to follow. It's already mapped out and detailed in such a way that you can step through it and know that someone else has already figured it out for you. It's only 30 days so there's a light at the end of the tunnel.  Once the 30 days are up you slowly introduce potentially bad foods to see what your body's reaction is.

Related Links and suggested reading:

Whole 30 Intro
Whole 30 Quick Start Guide
It Starts With Food (the book that details the science behind and the how-to of the Whole 30).
Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead (documentary about one man's experience with juicing and how it reversed his auto-immune disease).

Juicer Comparison: Breville vs Omega

As much as I like my Breville JE98XL juicer it's had a few issues. The main is a little triangular piece on the feeder that has broken 3 times now. I've had this juicer 18 months and it's broken 3 times. I have no idea what purpose that little piece serves, if any. The first time it broke my husband ordered me a replacement shoot, worried that it might break again leaving me with plastic in my juice (which, he worried, could hurt me). The second time it broke I called Breville and the customer support person was very nice and arranged to send me a replacement free of charge. She suggested that I make sure that I'm operating the juicer at the right speed for the right item of produce (higher speed for harder/firmer items).  Then it broke again a couple of weeks ago. This last time it broke I was juicing Ginger on high speed. It not only broke that little piece but the whole machine "popped" and it ended up breaking a piece off the pitcher, as well.  After that we started talking about replacing the whole machine.

So Sunday when I was in Big Lots and noticed that they had the Omega BMJ330 for just $99, I decided it was worth a closer look. I checked online and read reviews, watched some videos comparing the two and they seemed pretty close overall.  The Amazon price for both machines is identical, however the Omega also comes with a 10 year warranty (something none of the others include).  Of course, I've seen Tommy Boy and that line will always pop into my head when I'm comparing warranties. The reality is that if you have a great product a warranty won't matter (in which case, why not throw it in there anyway?).  I decided to go ahead and buy the Omega and try it out.

I tried it first yesterday and my first disappointment was with the lack of a pitcher.  You definitely need to use a larger glass/pitcher than what you intend to juice. I started off with a cup the size of my usual juice but with air blowing in and just the overage on juice I over-spilled before I was halfway finished.  That alone told me that it was likely the Omega did juice better. That combined with the extremely dry texture of the pulp.

So, this morning I decided to do a side-by-side test and I did it on video. So, you get to actually see the results (and me). Check it out:

I didn't show it on the video but the pulp from the Omega was about 3/4 to 1/2 what the Breville put out (and a lot drier feeling).  I would also like to point out that the materials of the Omega just FEEL sturdier. The bowl is actually stainless steel (rather than plastic). Overall, I'm leaning towards to the Omega as a better juicer than the Breville. Time will tell for sure, but with a 10 year warranty, it should have plenty of time to prove itself.  The biggest drawback I'm finding is the lack of a pitcher (and honestly a lidded pitcher is a MUST for any juicer, IMO). 

Accepting Your Limits with Fibromyalgia

No matter how much better I've felt in the last year or so since going gluten-free, the truth is always still there. I have Fibromyalgia. Granted my limits aren't quite as great as they were 18 months ago, but they are still there. 

This weekend I did something there is no way I could have done 2 years ago, I went to a music festival. Not only was it a music festival, it was a music festival in lousy rainy, cold weather.  We've had some nasty fronts moving through here (and the rest of the country it seems) lately. While some parts of the country were seeing snow the first week of May, we just got much lower than normal temps and lots of rain. I felt the front moving in before we even left town and we were driving right into it. I'd hoped that since we were heading towards it and it was heading towards our house we'd miss a day or so of it, but that wasn't to be the case. 

This was nothing compared to the stage
when the black keys played

We spent Friday and Saturday outside on the river in Memphis enjoying some great music in 40 degree temperatures and rain.  It was a blast and Friday night was great, despite the rain. We were still pretty pumped about the whole idea and looking forward to enjoying some great music.  It rained on us and I was happy to find that the jacket I'd grabbed just happened to have a pair of gloves in the pocket. I stayed warm enough and the rain dropped to no worse than a drizzle for the shows Friday night (Alice in Chains and the Wallflowers, in case you were wondering).  Saturday dawned and the sun was out and things were looking up. My feet seemed to have recovered from the standing and walking we did Friday, so we had lunch and headed back to the festival.  Of course, just as we got there it started raining.  We enjoyed Cracker even in the rain, but decided we'd take a break for a while before the one show we really wanted to see - The Black Keys.  We were already slightly miserable at that point from the rain and decided early on that that was the only one we were going to make an effort to see Saturday night.  Evidently, everyone else had made the same decision and it was so packed!

If you've got Fibro you are probably thinking "OMG there's no way I could stand to be that packed in a loud place with so much going on".  And you are probably right.  It was like sardines. People were rude, the smell of pot was everywhere, it was loud and it was muddy and wet and gross. But, the music made it worth all of that.  That said, after seeing the Black Keys we were ready to leave the park and get away from the crowds. 

My friend C and I had made plans to stay through Sunday and see a few more bands that we wanted to see. However, after getting back down to the park neither of us wanted to slog back through the mud and stand for hours to see ANYONE!  In the end, we both agreed that we'd had enough and headed home early.  I was worried that she'd want to stay and she was worried I'd want to stay but we were both on the same page, luckily. Luckily, we are good enough friends to be able to admit our own limits and to allow for each others.

My limits may not be what they were 2 years ago but they are still there. I still can't take 3 days in a row of loud raucous noise and crowds, but I had handle a day and a half if I limit myself and take breaks.  Luckily, she also eats like I do so it was real easy to leave the festival and go find food elsewhere that we could eat (giving us a nice break from the crowds and noise).  I'll be honest and say I was a bit worried heading into the weekend that I wouldn't be able to take even as much as I did, but I did ok and I'm feeling ok today. I'm tired after only getting 6 hours sleep but no worse than anyone else would be in the same situation.  It makes me feel like the changes I've made are working. It also feels good to know that I know myself well enough to understand where my limits are and that I can be honest with myself and my friends and family about them.

Physical Therapy is Over, Too Bad the Abdominal Pain Isn't

Today was my last day of Physical Therapy (for now). As you may recall the pelvic pain specialist sent me for PT thinking that the abdominal pain that has been going on for close to a year now MIGHT be somewhat muscular. It's probably not.  Getting in there and feeling around like the therapist did you can actually feel an area about 3" across just below my right rib.  She also confirmed that she feels like it's connected to the underside of my rib.  The good news is that she feels like it is scar tissue and not some other type of "mass".  The bad news is who knows what this means, but there's a good chance it means another surgery to get rid of it.

I can't help but wonder if that large amount of scar tissue surrounding my gallbladder hasn't somehow connected itself to my rib. But, if that was the case wouldn't my Gyno have seen that when she did my surgery in Dec? Or was she just so focused on (and happy about) finding Endometriosis that she just passed it over?  She did see the large amount of scar tissue around where my gallbladder WAS and even commented on it to my husband saying that I had a lot of scar tissue around my gallbladder... and then was really emphatic that it was a lot of scar tissue once he pointed out my lack of gallbladder.

This is frustrating to say the least. Everything we've done to try to get rid of the pain or the scar tissue itself only increases the pain and aggravates everything.  She did tell me today that to get rid of scar tissue with PT takes a LOT of force and that's something is hard to exhibit when the scar tissue is basically floating in your abdomen. At least when it's on a knee or something you have a surface to press against. In the abdomen all you can do is exactly what they tried to do at the first PT place which is try to push all the way through to the bed below you.... which I just couldn't take.

So, now we are back where we started, with no answers. Waiting till June.

I'm About to just Stop Eating

Warning: Before you read very far in this post, it is going to get graphic as I talk about the things that come out of my body (or don't come out).

I'm getting really frustrated with food in general. My poop has been far from "normal" for a while again (probably since the surgery in December). It had been pretty consistently normal for a while before that, with occasional lapses. Since the surgery, however, I've gone from totally constipated to "loose stools" on a good day. I thought maybe it was because I'd been eating more "gluten-free" and less Paleo, eating out a lot more, etc. And that perhaps the extra rice flour, eggs, dairy in the processed foods I was eating were screwing with my digestion.

What I'd been noticing lately (the last month-ish) is that my "loose stools" look like they are full of sand. Even after I flush the toilet what appears to be sand remains in the bottom of the bowl. I mentioned this to Paul today and he was like "I don't think that's you." We've been having some plumbing issues lately and we had a tree root grow into a line, so he had been thinking it was from that. At least that's what he thought until I explained that, no, that sand is there in my poop and it just doesn't all flush away.  I tried googling and found almost nothing on this in adults. I found a lot of instances in children and most of the comments seemed to lean towards the children being gluten-intolerant or celiac and undiagnosed and / or eating too much Cheerios, etc. I'm glad I'm not a baby, as the descriptions of how this stuff sticks to your skin was kinda gross.

I was thinking that maybe if I got my diet back on track and got away from the gluten-free, deleted eggs, dairy, etc that it might firm things up. I also didn't know if Soy, Beans, & Corn might be playing a roll. Thus the Whole30.  Unfortunately, the Whole30 hasn't made a difference. If anything it's gotten worse as I  haven't had a firm stool since I started it.  As I googled the "sandy stool" the only thing I could find in adults was possibly too much iron. Since I have been taking an iron supplement for years I thought perhaps with all the added meat and veggies in my diet I might be getting too much so I cut it out the first of the week.  Things have only gone from bad to worse, removing what little bulk was in my poop and turning it into water.  WTH!

At this point I don't know what to do. And, to make matters that much worse I'm pretty sure I have a yeast infection and I'm just hoping this isn't a start to another never-ending one like I had last winter/ spring.

I'm not jumping ship just yet, but I have decided I can't be so hard on myself about what I eat. I'm going to continue to avoid the foods that I know bother me and I'm not itching to jump back to restaurants or sweets just yet. Those are habits I know I need to break. At the same time, I need to find better ways to eat to make sure I'm eating enough.  I did really well last year when I first started this diet, but for some reason lately I've been having a much harder time.  Gluten is easy, it's the rest that's a pain in my ass (often literally).

the Storms of Fibro

It's that time of year again in AL... the time when the storms hit. Today we are expecting the first of the season. Tornadoes have already hit in this line over in MS, and we are under a tornado watch now.  I had plans for this evening that cancelled yesterday due to the impending weather. Then I was supposed to have a meeting around lunchtime today that I cancelled after my Fibro let me know that a storm was definitely on the way.

The last 16 months has been great since I've changed my diet. I've felt so much better and have had fewer really bad days than it takes 1 hand to count.  But, the storms are a reminder that I still have Fibro. When a bad one comes in it fires up my nerves and gives me that feeling like someone has plugged my arms into a wall-socket.  This particular storm isn't even here yet, and I'm wishing it was over.

I've been waking up "dead" a lot lately. I honestly believe that if it wasn't for juicing I'd probably be in a full on flare lately.  I wake up dead but once I force myself to get up and make (and drink) my juice I always feel better. I read once, early on, that juicing is like main-lining nutrients and I really believe that. By pulling the nutrients out of the veggies so that you don't have to process them they go straight into your bloodstream.

 I'm still attempting to do the Whole 30 and I'm hating it. Honestly, I hate it. It shouldn't seem nearly this hard when I've already given up so much of the foods on it.  It's odd what I crave half the time, like yesterday I was craving potato chips. I rarely ever eat potato chips and I NEVER crave them... so the idea that I'm craving them now is just weird. Today I almost caved over chocolate... which isn't that surprising.  I figure if I cave it will be over chocolate (or alcohol). I was happy to find online that I could eat at Chipotle while on the Whole 30, so I don't have to completely cut eating out, just mostly.

To make matters that much worse, I read this article today on the additives in meat.. not even talking processed meat but the "fresh" meat you buy at the grocery store. I knew some meats do add things in (like Hormel pork loin) but you don't think about something like ground turkey, or fresh chicken or steak having additives (including MSG). All the more reason to try to buy organic and straight from the farm, when possible.  Of course, they fool you by calling MSG something innocuous like "natural flavoring". Frustrating.



photo credit: Vvillamon via photopin cc

I want a Taco: Stat!

Given that I'd already cut out most of the foods that aren't allowed in the Whole 30, this should be an easy month.  The problem is that I have a thing for Tacos. Actually, giving up the "added sugar" is an easier part of the Whole 30 for me than giving up corn.

Here's the list of what you are supposed to cut out when doing the Whole 30. See those items that are in BOLD? Those are the ones I'd already given up.

• Added Sugar (in all forms, natural and unnatural) 
• Alcohol
• Grains (This includes (but is not limited to) wheat, rye, barley, oats, corn, rice, millet, bulgur, sorghum, amaranth, buckwheat, sprouted grains and all of those gluten-free pseudo-grains like quinoa.)
• Legumes (beans, peanuts, etc)
• Dairy
• carrageenan, MSG or sulfites.
•  White Potatoes

Wow. When I lay it out like that I realize that I haven't given up nearly as many of the foods in the Whole 30 as I thought I had... some of those I've mostly given up but not completely. Then I also gave up Eggs (again). I'd been letting them back in, so while they are officially ok on the Whole 30 I had to give them up.  I had mostly given up grains with the exception of corn and the occasional pseudo-grain Quinoa. I eat beans occasionally (probably half as often as I eat corn, or less).  Carrageenan I do try to avoid, as I do MSG and sulfites.  Sulfites are hard (and I realize I completely missed this one in the last week thanks to a few pieces of bacon). I manage to avoid MSG unless I eat out, in which case I can't control it as much. And, white potatoes I don't eat often but if I end up at Five Guys I will get fries (cuz they are awesome and it's the only place -around here- that has fries that are absolutely for sure gluten-free).

So, that brings us back to tacos. There's just something about the crunch of a taco that isn't replicated in anything else. I love crunch. There's not enough crunchy foods in the world. If I could live off of Mexican food (chips, salsa, guacamole, tacos), I would happily do so.  It's a rare day when someone would ask if I was up for Mexican and I would say no or something silly like "we had that yesterday".  I'm seriously missing tacos right now.

To make matters worse, I can't say that cutting out everything I've cut out in the last week has made me feel any different/ better than I have felt with those foods. I have been wanting to try cutting out corn/beans (specifically) for a while, just to see if they may be contributing to any of my issues. And, I've let many of those other items creep in to be too significant a part of my diet, so I wanted to do the Whole 30 mainly to reset my cravings and diet as a whole. That last reason, alone, is why I'm sticking to this.  The reset portion.  I think I can say that the foods I'd already cut (the gluten, rice, dairy, eggs, yeast, whey) are the foods that have had the primary contribution to my feeling bad. Corn and beans will likely return to their previous status in my diet once I'm done with this 30 day challenge. And a challenge it certainly is. photo credit: stevendepolo via photopin cc