If you are suffering with pain and are wanting to be more proactive with your health, wouldn't it be nice to know the best diet for fibromyalgia?

Some of these tips will be simple, common-sense concepts. I am confident that some of the tips will be real eye openers.

The research is very conflicted about what fibromyalgia is and is not. Most docs will tell you that fibromyalgia is an inflammatory disease. Docs that discuss nutrition with their patients often recommend that patients follow an anti-inflammatory diet.

There is now compelling research that suggests that fibromyalgia is NOT an inflammatory disease. Painful, yes! Inflammatory, no. (My next article will be on this specific topic)

For those of you who have tried anti-inflammatory diets in the past and got little to no relief, this explains why. The good news, there are some significant dietary changes you can make that will, for certain, improve the quality of your life.

I typically like telling my patients the foods they should INCREASE in their diet, because compliance sky-rockets. No one likes to be told NO when it comes to foods.....or anything else for that matter. Unfortunately, I have to give lots of NO's in this article. But, if you are tired of living with this horrible pain, please make the decision to make these changes. What have you got to lose, but a lifetime of pain?

Foods and additives known to exacerbate fibromyalgia pain:

• Artificial Sweetners: Aspartame and Sucralose (known as NutraSweet, Equal, Splendid, etc) are known neurotoxins. This means they are toxic to the brain and central nervous system. In fibromyalgia, we already know that the brain is sending massive, dysfunctional pain signals throughout the body. It is a recipe for disaster to consume artificial sweetners when you have fibromyalgia.
• MSG - Monosodium Glutamate - is also a known neurtoxin. Again, a recipe for disaster to eat foods with this food additive. MSG is in more places that you can imagine, not just Chinese foods. MSG is found in nearly ALL canned food and is very high in almost all canned soups. It's also found in flavored chips, like Doritos, etc; canned parmesan cheese (you know the one you have in your fridge right now), soy sauce, Boars Head Cold Cuts, and almost all fast foods. KFC has the highest food items that contain MSG. Now, MSG is not always called MSG. Sometimes it's labeled as L-glutamic acid. Sometimes glutamate. Sometimes Free glutamate. If it's in a can; if it has a seasoned salt; if it has parmesan cheese from a can, it is suspect.
• Dairy, as a significant mucous former, slows down bowel motility and leads to pain.
• Yeast, found it much more than bread, is also known to irritate pain receptors in fibromyalgia patients.
• Simple carbs. Processed foods wreak havoc on our intestinal lining and can cause significant systemic pain in fibro patients. (Again, more on this in my next article.)

Foods to help with fibromyalgia pain:

• Cold water fish. Loaded with lots of omega 3's. Known to calm the brain and over-excited nerve fibers.
• Walnuts. Also loaded with omega 3's. Also calms the brain and over-excited nerve fibers.
• Whole, unprocessed vegetables
• Whole, unprocessed fruits

As we've discussed in previous articles, there is a strong connection between potassium, zinc and iron as it relates to chronic pain in the body. Are those three nutrients balanced in your body? Are you eating the foods necessary to balance those nutrients? How would you know?