Learnin' All The Time .. :D

I've been making some discoveries about what causes me pain with my fibromyalgia. Since I've been working with that EFT program .. and experiencing my first virtually painfree days in nearly 20 years .. the flareups, since becoming fewer and farther between, are particularly noticable when they DO happen. Which has led me to do some research on what triggers my inflammatory responses.

I had learned about Arachidonic Acid (found in the fats in food - heck we even store it in our own bodily fats!) some time ago when I tried the 'Protein Power Diet' about 4 years ago. It worked well in that I lost weight for the first 6 months .. and .. it helped certain other issues like normalized my blood sugars AND my liver enzymes .. but .. things like my blood pressure showed NO improvement .. and inflammation continued .. even worse at times. It seems that the AA and another substance .. Linoleic Acid .. are converted into "bad" eicosanoids and is what causes the painful inflammatory response. Seems that many of the foods that I ate during that diet time .. contribute to just such an inflammatory response .. and .. not to leave out .. an immune system so depressed that I caught every sniffle .. and was ill a lot of the time for the next year .. with any flu or cold or ear infection or whatever was going around at the time .. culminating in a riproaring pneumonia that I was 6 months fully recovering from.

It seems that there are things in some of the foods I get .. I make most of what I eat myself, from scratch .. so know what NOT to put in them .. but .. those few things that I do get processed/packaged are where my troubles have been springing from .. adding in things I get when I eat in restaurants. Things such as salad dressings .. even the store-made whole wheat bread I've been buying !! Not to leave out such unprocessed foods such as coffee blend (which is just cream and milk, here in Canada) .. and farm fresh eggs !!

So that others might get some relief, if they've suffered as I have .. I provide this list of problem items .. who knows .. you might also have issues with any or all of these as well. :)

Soy .. in ANY form .. but particularly the varied bastardized forms dumped into so many processed foods.

Flax .. although high in lignans, which would normally reduce inflammation .. is also ridiculously high in LA .. and even tiny amounts, within a half an hour of ingestion, send me into crushing inflammatory reactions.

Alfalfa .. though good for many, contains high amounts of an amino acid, L-Canavanine .. that for me .. and many others with immunosuppressive systems .. in fact causes terrible inflammatory issues. So severe with some as to be Lupus-like !!

Canola oil .. quite possibly one of THE most caustic oils to the human body ever devised .. is in fact genetically modified rape-seed oil .. which was inedible due to it's caustic nature, and only used for industrial machines. It is extremely high in LA and, again, sends me over the top painwise within a half hour of eating anything with it in it.

Egg yolks .. absolutley LOADED with Arachidonic Acid!!!!!!!

Dairy items .. particularly high fat foodstuffs, such as coffee blend and any cheeses.

Nightshades .. potatoes (of which you cannot make a way that I do not like .. lol) .. tomatoes .. peppers of all kinds .. eggplant.<*1 Edit>

MSG - aka. MonoSodiumGlutamate .. though tolerated by some people .. gives me terrible painful inflammatory episodes .. I strictly avoid it !! <*2 Edit>

Aspartame .. also .. tolerated by many .. within a very short time of ingesting it I get the weirdest head/neck/shoulder pain/aching .. it's an awful sensation and I also strictly avoid anything with it in it !! <*2 Edit>

The last is VERY fatty meats .. especially red meats .. which come ready to eat with their own massive supplies of AA already in the fat stores.

Things that I have found to help .. :)

The biggest thing, of course .. eliminating .. or severely restricting .. those few food items/additives listed in the top section.

I now only get the very leanest of cuts of red meats .. with virtually NO noticable fat on them AT ALL. To offset any dryness add a bit of the oils, that I know are low in Linoleic Acid and HIGH in Alpha-Linolenic Acid .. ALA (which DOES help to reduce inflammation!), to them .. such as a tablespoon, or so, of almond or peanut oil while simmering extra lean ground beef. Not to leave out using braising .. cooking meats low and slow, in heavy covered glass dishes (I use Pyrex bakeware), in the oven. You know .. no higher then 275F .. with about a half an inch or so of water in the covered dish .. cooked until done, makes for VERY delicious, fork-tender meats, that I don't even miss the fats from.

I eat lean chicken .. a lot.

I eat fresh/frozen cold water fish .. such as haddock and salmon (but NOT farmed/organic salmon - the high amount of AA in them is shocking!!! .. must be what they feed them) .. several times a week ..

I eat canned, pink, Pacific wild salmon - 3 to 4 times a week .. the 7 oz cans with skin and bone in (I just pick the bone out lol ) .. as that has the highest amount of beneficial Omega 3 oils in them.

I snack on almonds .. a couple of ounces every day .. for the benefit of their Omega3's .. which DO help reduce inflammation. I can't go the salmon/fish oil capsules .. so this I do instead .. lol :D

I have now made a complete switch to olive or almond oils to make salad dressings with .. and ONLY use peanut oil or organic coconut oil for frying and cooking in.

I added PLAIN (too much crap in those "designer" products) cold processed whey powder to my diet and have at least one shake .. often 2 .. made with a cup of fruits of choice, EVERY day. I make myself these 1 cup mixtures of fresh and frozen fruits and store them in my freezer .. just dump one in the blender .. add the whey powder and up to a couple of cups of water .. and they're so good !! :D

I regularly drink a tea made out of juiced fresh gingerroot .. and it's pretty damned soothing with it's natural anti-inflammatory abilities .. :) <*2 Edit>

I take 6 pure wheat grass tablets 2 x/day, every day.

Some of this I had figured out over the past couple of years .. some in the past couple of months. As I learn more .. experiment more .. I'll post what I find out. Maybe even one or two things I discover will help someone else too .. and anything that brings about painfree days is well worth it !! :)

I found an article that stated that inflammation .. as found in fibromyalgia .. has been connected to an imbalance between Omega 3 vs Omega 6 essential fatty acids. Not nearly enough of Omega 3 vs way too much Omega 6. Which explains a lot for me in what I've been doing. Alpha-Linolenic is an Omega 3, while Linoleic Acid is an Omega 6. I have been severely limiting the 6 and replenishing the 3 with the changes I have made. :) <*1 Edit>

So far, I've been doing very well .. and feel even better. I've had a few flare ups .. that I have been able to trace them to things I've ingested, such as discovering that my vitamin supplements had alfalfa in them .. that a salad dressing I used while out, was made from canola oil .. or .. that the lovely homestyle whole wheat bread I was eating .. that listed 'vegetable oil' on the label .. used soy oil.

As I said .. learnin' all the time .. :D

*1: Edit 2006-07-01 : added nightshades (I forgot about them, sorry) and omega fatty acids info

*2: Edit 2006-07-15 : added MSG and Aspartame (I don't know HOW I forgot those .. they've given me pain issues for years !!) .. also .. added note about using freshly juiced gingerroot in a tea :)