Once I discovered a link between what I eat and my fibromyalgia symptoms I have been on a quest constantly searching for answers. It is no secret that I have an unhealthy relationship with food, eating for emotional reasons instead of nutrition. So, changing my eating habits has been a huge challenge and frankly an up and down battle to this day. I have shared so much of my journey with you so thought I would also share my tools I use to along the way.
My Health Journey
About two years ago I visited an integrative physician. This is a doctor that looks at your health in a more wholistic way. I had to fill out pages and pages of not just my health history but my psychological history as well. My first visit was about two hours long and often felt like a therapy session. We explored many of the traumatic events that had taken place in my life (which have been a lot). What came from that visit was my first elimination diet and a referral for therapy.
In my area therapy is hard to find, so that never actually happened since I couldn’t afford self-pay services. Instead, I dove into my elimination diet which you can hear more about by clicking the links The Surprise I Didn’t Expect From The Whole 30 Diet, How To Start An Elimination Diet and Improving Fibromyalgia Symptoms With An Elimination Diet. I discovered foods that were increasing my fibromyalgia symptoms and my irritable bowel syndrome. These are foods I really love, so it is still hard to not eat them. However, I feel like knowing is half the battle and it puts me in more control over my symptoms(if you know me- I like to be in control).
New Tool For My Health Journey
A tool that I discovered last year took my journey to the next level, 5Strands Affordable Testing. I met them at my local Nourished Festival and became excited about the possibilities of learning more about my food sensitives. They offer many different kits, but I chose the deluxe where I was tested for nutritional deficiencies, metals/minerals overexposure and food and environmental intolerances. I took some of my hair and mailed my kit and within weeks I received my results.
5Strands breaks each test down into three categories but I am going to focus on the food and environmental intolerance test. Level 3 showed foods you should stop consuming and may already be giving you symptoms. Level 2 are foods you should slow down on but also may be giving you slight symptoms. Lastly level 1 are foods that you should be aware of that caused a low-level imbalance.
Making A Plan
It was a lot of information to absorb. Since I had already done a couple different elimination diets, I was able to go through my Level 3 (red) list and identify the foods that I have already eliminated. Next I put in X next to the foods that I don’t tend to consume anyway like Leeks. That still left me with a pretty big list so from here I have been making groupings and eliminating a few at a time. This process is just like the process I have explained before. You eliminate for a few weeks and then slowly introduce one item at a time all the while tracking and documenting symptoms. I plan to do this process with Level 2 (yellow) list as well. I should also mention that my 24-year-old daughter also bought a kit. She was very surprised at the results and I hope she will do a guest post for us to speak to her experience.
Snag In My Journey
I will admit this whole pandemic with Covid-19 has pushed my progress back quite a few steps. I was doing really good before the abundance of stress overtook my life. Which you can hear more about in How I Let A Pandemic & Fibromyalgia Break Me. Almost a year in and I still don’t really have my sh*t together yet. However, I know that I can get back on track and I know how much better I can feel once I eliminate certain foods (and oh yeah…exercise).
How To Get Your New Tool
The good news here is that 5Strands is having a 20% off sale on all test kits for the month of November 2020. They have many different kits to choose from and they even have tests for your dogs and horses. The best news of all is that they are letting you use my discount code Fibromom10 in addition to the 20% off. That means test kits are 30% off!!!
If you decide to purchase a kit, we would love to hear your experience and what plan of action you took with the results. Again, I am an affiliate of 5Strands and did receive a free kit. However, the opinions in this post are my own and there is never any obligation to make a purchase. Also, it is important to note that I participated in all my elimination diets under the care of a physician. Please consult a doctor before participating in an elimination diet. I don’t wish fibromyalgia on anyone and anything I can do to help the community is always my first priority.
[…] One thing I have found that increases my fibromyalgia symptoms is when I eat certain foods. Give the gift of a food intolerance test so your loved one can easily see what foods might be the culprit for them. You can learn more about this service in my article New Tool To Improve Fibromyalgia Symptoms & Overall Health. […]