I have been talking to a nutritionist and she has helped me a lot with the Fibromyalgia by recommending a diet I am following. This is for those with fatigue, fibro and other related diseases. If you want her phone number, it is 1-800-957-4852.

              This nutritionist has Lupus, but has had no sign of it for over nineteen years, and she feels well as long as she stays very strict on this diet. Before I started this diet really good this past September, (1999) I was terribly sick from the Fibro.

              I stayed so exhausted that I could not walk or move hardly at all. I was always terribly dizzy, passing out feeling all the time, always nauseated, had diarrhea, bad headache, bad pressure in my head, and sometimes my heart would race. My blood sugar was also messed up bad from this and it made me starving hungry most of the time. Add all of this to the horrible pain in the muscles, and even the joints and you can see I wasn't at Disneyland!

              I cannot stand to see anyone suffer like this so I want to share with all of you what has helped me with the Fibro, and that is changing what I was eating. So many friends have asked me to share with them what is helping me.

              I want all of you to remember the number one thing to help all of us is staying in constant prayer and in God's Word each day. Also God will help you change your way of eating if you depend upon Him for it. I could not have changed my way of eating and lost 38 lbs. in the past 6 months if it had not been God doing it for me. I could not do it on my own, I give God all the credit.

              There are a lot of preservatives and chemicals in our water and food that make us sick, make us hurt more and tear down our immune system. Do not buy pre packaged foods, for they are loaded with this, always cook from scratch. Also the antibiotics and steroids that doctors so freeely give us cause Candida, or yeast in our intestines, and even in the bladder of some people. I have this yeast in both the intestines and bladder.

              I have come to find out from the nutritionists, reading a doctor's book that I have, that most people with Fibromyalgia, and even Lupus, have Systemic Candida. This makes you very sick and causes all the symptoms I mentioned above.

              Because of this we need to change our eating habits.

              After doing this for a little while I was no longer dizzy, or nauseated. The diarrhea, head ache, exhausted, passing out or the other things I mentioned earlier cleared up also! But I do still have a lot of pain. I have not followed every thing to the 'T' and that is probably why. But I want to help each one of you to try to at least feel better. And remember if you eat something you are not suppose to, the pain in our bodies will get worse for days, so it is wise to not even take a taste of something we should not eat; it is not worth it.

              Use distilled water and drink at least eight glasses of water a day. Acid foods such as tomatoes and lemons seem to interfere if eaten too frequently. Avoid these foods or items completely.

              SUGARS: No sugar, nutrasweet, honey, molasses, syrup, artificial sweeteners, regular or sugarless gum or candy, sorbitol, manitol, zylitol, sucrose or fructose. I have found out that the artificial sweeteners make my body hurt really bad. (Sugar is what the yeast 'feeds' on.)

              FRUITS: No fruits or fruit juices of any kind. Fruit is high in its own sugar which makes yeast in the intestines.

              YEAST PRODUCTS: No breads, rolls, pies, coffee cakes, cookies, pastries, pizza, alcoholic drinks of any kind, green olives, salad dressings, soy sauce, pickles, sauerkraut, hot dogs, ham bacon, corned beef, sausages, lunch meats, cured meats, commercial soups, vitamins containing yeast, and no pickled, dried, or smoked foods of any kind. The salad dressings have sugar and vinegar in it which will ferment and cause yeast overgrowth.

              DAIRY: EXCEPT BUTTER AND SMALL AMOUNTS OF CHEESE: No milk, yogurt, buttermilk, sour cream, cream cheese or margarine. (Milk has its own sugar in it.)

              BEVERAGES: No coffee, tea, milk, pop or cold drinks such as our Coke or Dr. Pepper. No fruit or vegetable juices. This includes diet or regular also.

              GRAINS: No wheat, rye, oatmeal, barley, cornmeal, oats, millet, soy, pasta, dried peas, beans or lentils, and no popcorn.

              MISCELLANEOUS: No chocolate, mushrooms, MSG (Monosodium Glutamate), which is in your salad dressings and other foods, or cinnamon (this feeds yeast also). No nuts, peanuts, peanut butter or seeds. No ketchup or commercial mayonnaise. Ketchup is full of sugar. Nuts and mushrooms usually have mold on them, which causes the yeast to 'bloom.' Don't eat corn, rice, beans, potatoes, pasta, bread, sugar or desserts, all these things are starches and turn to sugar when eaten which causes the Candida, or yeast to build. Carrots are high in their own sugar, so if you eat it, eat very little of it. When you eat these things, your body will hurt a lot more and you will be more exhausted. After you have not eaten these foods for awhile, you will find you have more energy, not hurt as bad, and feel better.

              Just taking one bite of foods that contain sugar or is starch, can make you tired, hungry, sluggish, dizzy and sick again, and it can last for days. So try real hard to stay strict on what you should not eat so you will feel better, so you can function again.

              So you are now asking what foods can you eat!

              MEAT: You can eat meat, but not the ones that have been cured or smoked. They are chock full of sugars and nitrates as part of the curing process. I use a lot of chicken, and beef, and you can use fish.

              PROTEINS: Beef, chicken, fish, pork, lamb, Shelton brand chicken frankfurters, eggs, cheese (in small amounts only because of the mold but if it bothers you then don't eat any.) Turkey is excellent.

              TRICKS AND TIMESAVERS: I will give you some ideas as to tricks I have found out that helps me with my meals. At least once a week I get my husband to cook up a lot of chicken on the grill. I put each piece in a sandwich bag and put all of it in a freezer bag. So when I need meat for lunch or supper all I have to do is take some out to eat. It is much faster and easier this way to do a lot at one time, this way you do not have to stand over the stove each day cooking when your pain level is high. Also I cook up a lot of veggies at one time and put in a large Tupperware bowl to last a few days. I use frozen veggies or you can use fresh. I get the stir fry blend sack of frozen veggies which consist of green beans, broccoli, onions, bell peppers, snow peas, and some carrots. I also use a sack of frozen broccoli to add to this blend to have more greens in it, and broccoli is good for you. I sometimes add more frozen green beans also. I put all of this in a large pan sprayed with Pam, and some butter. I sort of steam it, and it is delicious.

              Remember garlic is good for you also. So I have the meat fixed up, and the veggies fixed for meals. For the night meal I will usually cook a beef steak or some different meat to go with the veggies.

              So... Meat and vegetables are pretty much the 'heart' of this diet.

              You can make a salad in a large bowl and keep it, but you have to make your own dressing for it. Doing this cuts down on the work. You can fix the chicken in the oven if you want to, make two pans of it at one time and freeze it. I also take vitamin and herbal supplements.

              When I went a few weeks ago for my yearly check up, because of the diet I had lost 38 lbs., and my cholesterol had gone from 240 to 153, and I am eating meat and eggs all the time.

              My doctor said that what ever I am doing, keep doing it!!

              It is the way the diet works. When you leave off the starches, sugars and carbo's, your body burns the fat first, so besides being much healthier and feeling better, you lose weight. If you don't want to lose weight, then eat more green veggies. Remember, sugar and carbohydrates are what makes the yeast grow in the intestines and bladder.

              In the past, I could not cook supper for my husband or do anything. Now I am out of bed and I can cook for him, clean house a little more and even make it to church sometimes, or to town sometimes. Before the diet, I could not. You are what you eat!

              Remember to put prayer with all of this, for prayer and God is the number one ingredient to this, and Prayer Changes Things.

              God bless each one of you, and I hope I have been a help to you.

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