One day a friend who knew how sick I was emailed me some information I did not want to hear. A friend of hers with fibromyalgia had stopped eating certain foods and was feeling a lot better. She didn't have all the details but said that it involved foods that might cause allergies. The only specific food she remembered was ice cream.
Nooooooooo!!!! I love ice cream in all its forms: from the homemade vanilla delight we hand cranked on the back porch when I was a child to the most elaborate treats offered by my local ice cream parlor. I just tucked the information from my friend away for a while.
After all, I was busy eliminating chemicals from my environment and food, changing my house cleaning and personal grooming routines, clearing all the processed food out of the pantry, and searching for anti-inflammatory, antioxidant rich whole foods to add to my diet.
For six months I completely ignored that email info because, frankly, I did not want to delve into a whole list of other things I might have to give up. However, I finally decided I wanted to give up feeling horrible the rest of my life more than I wanted to hold on to old food habits. So I took the plunge and started reading about foods that might cause allergies.
I was pretty much flying by the seat of my pants in this whole process of searching for ways to get better. I kept praying for God to show me what steps to take next. And he kept nudging me in new directions. I took a deep breath and started investigating.
One of the foods that may produce allergies is shellfish. I was already allergic to that food group. Eating shellfish made me go into anaphylactic shock and quit breathing so it was a no brainer to avoid shellfish. When I read about how contaminated our seafood is from chemical pollution pouring into the oceans, I decided I might as well be glad I couldn't eat seafood instead of being bummed out over no more shrimp and lobster.
The other foods I read about that produced allergic reactions in some people were going to be a little more problematical because they were things I really enjoyed. I narrowed the list down to three groups:
foods that have gluten
milk products that could cause lactose intolerance
peanuts.
I devised a plan. I would leave off each group of foods for three months to see if it made a difference in my pain and fatigue level. I figured it would take that long to get each food group completely out of my system. Then I would add them back to my diet to see if the symptoms changed.
I started with gluten. Eating gluten free foods has been in the news a lot lately so that seemed a logical place to begin. That meant no bread, no cookies, nothing with flour. I didn't notice any changes when I left gluten products off or when I added them back. That was a relief.
I tackled peanuts next. It didn't seem to bother me if I ate something that contained trace amounts of peanuts. But I could tell a definite difference when I left peanut butter off and when I added it back. I love peanut butter. But there are so many good substitutes - soy nut butter, sunflower butter, almond butter - that this was not a difficult change. I decided to switch to almond butter because almonds were already on my super foods list.
And then there was lactose. For three months I left off ice cream, milk, and cheese. When it was time to add those foods back, I started with Greek yogurt. Because of the way it is processed, people with lactose intolerance can often still eat yogurt. I eat Greek yogurt two or three times a week and have had no difficulty with it. However, when I added ice cream, cheese, and other raw milk products back to my diet, my pain level skyrocketed. So I quit eating those things. I can tolerate a sprinkle of cheese every now and then and I can cook with milk as long as that is not the main ingredient. I do not drink milk or eat foods where milk is the primary ingredient. And I never eat ice cream. I feel so much better that I haven't even missed it. And feeling better is after all the point.
Have you noticed any changes in your fibromyalgia symptoms related to the food you eat?
What foods do you recommend leaving out of your diet?
Please share foods that you eat to improve your health.
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