Diet and Fibromyalgia

Diet and Fibromyalgia: Can What You Eat Help?

While no specific diet has been found to significantly relieve fibromyalgia pain, certain dietary (and lifestyle) changes may ease pain.

Foods for Fibromyalgia: Can Certain Foods Aggravate Pain?

The foods most frequently reported to exacerbate symptoms include:

• meat
• wine
• alcohol
• coffee
• sweets
• chocolate
• citrus fruit
• apples

Elimination Diet

Try eliminating the above named foods (and any others you suspect may be causing you problems) for 2 weeks.

Then, reintroduce them one at a time, every three days, to see if your symptoms return or get worse.

The Best Foods for Fibromyalgia: What SHOULD I Eat?

There aren't a lot of studies on fibromyalgia and diet, but of the few done, a vegetarian or vegan diet was found to help in the short term.

If you feel like you can't go totally vegetarian/vegan, you can simply increase the number of "meatless meals" you eat and note if it makes any difference.

Vegetarian Foods for Fibromyalgia: A "3x3 Rule" to Going Vegetarian or Vegan

• Find 3 recipes you're already eating that are vegetarian/vegan. Ex:
  • veggie chili
  • veggie stir fry
  • bean burrito
• Modify 3 recipes you're already cooking in order to make them vegetarian/vegan. Ex:
  • substitute crumbled tofu for ricotta cheese in vegetable lasagna
  • order "cheeseless" veggie pizza
  • grill veggie burgers instead of hamburgers
• Find 3 new vegetarian/vegan recipes. See Quick Vegetarian Meals for ideas.

My personal favorite vegetarian cookbook: Simply Vegan: Quick Vegetarian Meals by Debra Wasserman.

Diet and Fibromyalgia: Lose weight if You're Overweight

Excess weight is certainly not the cause of fibromyalgia, but carrying around less weight may lessen pain and it will certainly make it easier to move around!

What to do next:

Get my professional free weight loss help.

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