Fibromyalgia; the Chronic Body Ache Disease
Today I am going to talk about eating your medicine. There is a quote that says “The food you eat can be either the safest and most powerful form of medicine or the slowest form of poison”.
Just think about it; whatever you eat be it bad or good, are absorbed by your body and can either work for you or against you. Surely we all know too much sugar is bad for you, and we all know fruits and vegetables are right for you.
However, did you know that certain foods we eat can work to heal our bodies naturally? Also, certain foods we eat can lead to chronic long term diseases that may include cancer?
Today we will discuss the condition Fibromyalgia.
Fibromyalgia or ‘fibro’ seems like a very different rare condition, but it refers to a chronic illness that is characterised by widespread body ache, joint pain, and fatigue and muscle soreness.
For the most part, there is no known direct cause for the illness. Most people go undiagnosed and live with the constant body aches, self-medicating with paracetamol, ibuprofen, and other medicines that can lead to liver damage or worse.
Other illnesses that trigger Fibromyalgia are malaria, surgery, trauma, or even psychological stress. It can also be triggered by chronic diseases which tend to cause a lot of physical stress to the body.
Fibro tends to affect more women than men as it is aggravated by hormonal imbalance.
Conventional treatment for fibro can include pain medications, antidepressants, muscle relaxants and various other therapies aimed at relieving symptoms only.
However, for those seeking natural ways to help ease body pain, the first thing we will suggest is to eliminate MSG (monosodium glutamate).
Excess glutamate in the body has been shown to increase fibromyalgia symptoms in people and sources of MSG rare found in food products like soy sauce and seasoning cubes.
If you suffer from constant body aches, headaches, tiredness and morning stiffness, you might benefit from making the switch from seasoning cubes to using fresh or dried herbs and spices to season your food naturally.
Finally, increase the intake of magnesium in your diet. Magnesium counteracts the effects of glutamate effectively and also works as a natural muscle relaxer which helps reduce muscle pain and also promotes sleep.
Magnesium can also improve symptoms of constipation and stomach aches. Magnesium-rich foods include cashew nuts, most nuts and seeds, avocadoes, our Nigerian brown beans and most dark leafy vegetables.
A bowl of simple vegetable soup with egusi paired with a pot of beans can provide a lot of proper nutrition as well as supply you with enough magnesium to help relieve your body ache symptoms.
Also, the use of a natural magnesium supplement (magnesium citrate) will further provide you with enough of the mineral.
I also urge all our readers out there to please go for regular wellness health checks to prevent disease, as well as to reduce the severity of undetected illnesses.
Frequent aches and pains may be a sign of severe underlying illness and getting a diagnosis is the first step in getting the right treatment and natural remedy to such a situation. So have a blessed week and stay healthy!
By: – Tobi Ayodele Keeney