I have been diagnosed with Fibromyalgia for 22 years now and my GB did me a great favor towards my Fibromyalgia.
My GB was in 2/2012 to save my life as I only had 17% lung capacity. In 4/2015 I lost my Sister, my best friend forever besides my loving Husband. I’m a stress eater and while caring for her and after her passing I had gained a total of 85 lbs. I also had chronic diarrhea every day after anything I ate, good for me or bad.
I went to a metropolitan city as our town was big but extremely rural. It was just our town and nothing really anywhere around it. Doctors didn’t want to practice there or move their and the Gastrointestinal doctors just were subpar.
I sought out a good Gastrointestinal Clinic and his advice to me was to stop consuming Gluten, Lactose and to avoid ALL Preservatives. That was 8/2017.
ONE year later, I’d lost the entire 85 lbs plus a tad more. But the BEST part was that my Fibromyalgia doesn’t flare up unless I eat Gluten, Lactose and/or Preservatives. The Gluten & Preservatives give me migraines, make me hurt terribly ALL over the place. BUT, when I follow this strict way of eating, my body loves me dearly. About a year ago I began taking very high quality Plant Based Vitamins and the capsules are all vegan, therefore NO Preservatives at all!! They’re expensive, but they’re worth it as I haven’t had pneumonia or bronchitis and if I’ve caught a cold it only lasts for a day or a few days at most.
Also, what they say about STAYING ACTIVE is absolutely the truth I kid you not!!
So with a great high protein (meats and pure plant protein powder for shakes, an abundance of fruits, vegetables and obviously NO Gluten, Lactose or Preservatives), my fibromyalgia body thrives!!!
Some say, don’t you miss cheese and milk, absolutely NOT AT ALL!! When we got the news about what NOT to eat, I began to look for alternatives and my loving Husband jumped in and said… “I’ll eat what you eat and that’ll help both of us”!!!
Yes I know that I’m extremely blessed to have a Husband that’s willing to explore anything I eat.
So, I found Vegan blogs that make cheese sauces, my Sisters most favorite Mac ‘n Cheese. She was NEVER willing to try anything that looked “funky” but this looked so much like a real cheese sauce and even tasted better. I know that some of y’all won’t believe me, but it’s so true. I’ve made so many vegetarian dishes and sides that one would never know that it was not the “real” thing but so much better tasting and so good for your body. YES, I still eat meat, but only humanely raised beef, chicken, pork, turkey, and fish. Yes, to ever vegetarian or vegan out there… I know they still kill & butcher them, but that’s how people survived millions of years ago. By eating, fruits, vegetables and whatever they could catch and kill.
I don’t eat anything with Preservatives and when I eat out with family at places like Chili’s and Applebee’s like I did while visiting family and insisted on eating at those places I get very sick. This is what happened over Memorial Day weekend… After church on Sunday the family decided on Chili’s. It doesn’t really matter what I get there or similar places like Monday night at Applebee’s.
1) I can’t sleep even with my prescribed sleeping meds or I have to dbl it to 100mg and I’m in a fog for a day or two, much like a huge hangover.
2) I ache all over every muscle and every joint.
3) I get a HUGE migraine that will last for days if not a week or more.
4) I first get terrible constipation and when I drink hot coffee I get severe diarrhea and for days this process goes back and forth.
5) Oh just ask my loving Husband how pissy I get like I’m going through menopause all over again.
The benefits so outweigh all of the above that it was an easy choice to stay on what I said at first “The NO to everything diet”.
Be creative, try some new things, when you go shopping and get home, rest for a bit then drag those vegetables out of the fridge chop chop them for the week and put them in the freezer to use later.
I love making scrambled eggs & inlets with tons of vegetables. One would think how good will frozen Vegas be in one of those? Put oil in the pan, just a little bit (I only use Avocado Oil that’s JUST made with Avocados). The BEST price I’ve seen is at Costco it’s twice the size of the same brand I use (Chosen Foods) that I get at Sprouts and almost $3 less. Eating extremely healthy isn’t cheap, so I pinch every penny I can. IF you have a Costco in your area or visit somewhere often that does, they’ve begun carrying a lot more GF, LF and no Preservatives than even 6 months ago.
We even bought a 7cubic ft chest freezer so we’d have plenty of room to hold all of my prepared foods, sauces, vegetables, fruits and all grass fed and grass finished beef, turkey, chicken and yes they must be pasture raised as well. Grass fed & finished in a pasture ensures there’s NO Preservatives and bcuz of this you’ll have to use them right away or freeze them right away.
We get a great deal on our meats at our local farmers market where she pulls the trailer right up wit 4 freezers so there’s NO chance of cross contamination, keeps the trailer doors closed until someone asks about it. She even educated my Husband after I asked her to on why Pasture Raised Eggs are the absolute best for you, then he understood even though I’d already told him. Sometimes you have to hear it from someone else. We get our eggs from an Amish farmer!!!
I know that I got derailed, but it’s all great info.
If anyone wants more information, I’d be happy to help!!!
Oh, and I get most of my recipes off the internet at peoples blogs or websites just by searching the food(s) I want and just putting Gluten Free, Lactose Free before the food I want to make. I do however have my favorites!!