2 IS YOUR DIET IMPACTING YOUR FM?

Posted by MERM on 6/21/2008, 12:16 pm, in reply to "IS YOUR DIET IMPACTING YOUR FM?"

Strengthen Your Body’s Ability to Eliminate Your Excess Dampness What food do you gravitate toward on a rainy day? If you are like my clients, hot foods are high on their list. In China, they have discovered foods that help your body to eliminate dampness. These include: hulled barley, rye, amaranth, corn, and alfalfa. Barley is fed to patients in hospitals in China with damp disorders. Alfalfa can be eaten as sprouts. Other foods that reduce dampness include Aduki beans, celery, lettuce, turnips, kohlrabi, and seaweed. Herbs and spices that are known for reducing dampness are scallions, white pepper, and all bitter tasting herbs including chamomile and Pau d’ arco. There are some surprises also on the list including raw goat’s milk, mushrooms, and raw honey. I highly recommend getting organic grown and minimally processed food. I also suggest making dietary changes under the guidance of a licensed practitioner of Chinese Medicine that understands how diet can heal the condition of excess dampness. Damp Foods When my clients have reduced or eliminated most or all of the foods on the list below, they see improvements in their energy level, decreased pain, and feel more hope for being able to return to performing everyday tasks. I highly recommend consulting with a Chinese Medicine practictioner around eliminating dampness out of your diet. High fat foods Fatty meats Eggs Dairy products Cheese Milk Ice cream Yogurt Butter Lard Hydrogenated foods like margarine Oils Oily foods Nuts like peanuts Seeds Fried foods French fries Fried chicken Fried fish Onion rings Cheesesteak Carbohydrates Large amounts of grains and legumes Bread rolls, loaf Pasta Pizza Cakes Cookies Muffins Sweet foods Soda Candy Chocolate Desserts Sweetened drinks Sweetened foods Alcohol Beer Wine Hard liquor Coolers Excess raw fruits and veggies Raw fruit Raw veggies Foods that are cooling Watermelon Cucumber Mint Tofu Highly processed foods Chemically treated foods Artificial sweeteners Foods That Help Resolve Dampness When my clients increase their intake of foods that help to warm them up and dry them out. Not every client needs warming foods, some actually need cooling foods. These lists are what has worked for helping my clients. Again, I highly recommend consulting with a Chinese Medicine practitioner when seeking to modify your diet to resolve dampness. Grains Barley hulled preferably Rye Amaranth Corn Alfalfa Legumes Aduki beans Vegetables Celery Lettuce Turnips Kohlrabi Sea weeds (cooling) Dairy Raw goats milk Sweets Raw honey Herbs Scallions White pepper All bitter herbs Chamomile Pau d’arco Cinnamon (warming) Ginger (warming) Fungi Mushrooms These lists have been drawn from Healing with Whole Foods by Paul Pitchford and Materia Medica by Dan Bensky and Andrew Gamble. Summary Eating too many foods that increase internal dampness is like having too much rain that creates a muddy quagmire or dampness inside your body. Eating these damp foods can make your fibromyalgia symptoms worse. Using the principles of Chinese Medicine to make better dietary choices, you stop putting excess dampness in your system. You know about foods that warm you up or eliminate dampness. As a result of making these changes in your diet, you get to strengthen you internal ability to dry out the dampness that can reduce your fatigue and daily chronic pain. This can also help reduce mental unclarity or fibro-fog. You actually can feel the difference in as little as a few weeks to a few days.Gregory Lee is a licensed acupuncturist, herbalist, and Master Sufi Healer in Maryland. wellnesstrain!M!

---

Message Thread: IS YOUR DIET IMPACTING YOUR FM? - MERM 6/21/2008, 12:15 pm 2 IS YOUR DIET IMPACTING YOUR FM? - MERM 6/21/2008, 12:16 pm « Back to thread

---

Post a Response