Rawlings Deirdre - Foods that help win the battle against fibromyalgia: healthy and tasty recipes that boost the immune system while easing everyday pain

Ease Everyday Pain and Fight Fatigue

DEIRDRE RAWLINGS, N.D., Ph.D.

FOREWORD BY JACOB TEITELBAUM, M.D.

Text 2008 Deirdre Rawlings

Photography 2008 Fair Winds Press

First published in the USA in 2008 by

Fair Winds Press, a member of

Quayside Publishing Group

100 Cummings Center

Suite 406-L

Beverly, MA 01915-6101

www.fairwindspress.com

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized, in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.

12 11 10 09 08 1 2 3 4 5

Digital edition: 978-1-61673-435-0
Hardcover edition: 978-1-59233-320-2

ISBN-10: 1-59233-320-6

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data available

Rawlings, Deirdre.

Food That Helps Win the Battle Against Fibromyalgia : ease everyday pain and fight fatigue / Deirdre Rawlings; foreword by Jacob Teitelbaum.

p. cm.

Includes index.

ISBN 1-59233-320-6

1. Fibromyalgia--Popular works. 2. Fibromyalgia--Diet therapy--Recipes. I. Title.

RC927.3.R39 2008

616.7'420654--dc22

2007048409

Book design: Visible Logic

Photography: Glenn Scott Photography

Food stylist: Catrine Kelty

Printed and bound in China

The information in this book is for educational purposes only. It is not intended to replace the advice of a physician or medical practitioner. Please see your health care provider before beginning any new health program.

This book is dedicated to Jonathan, whose love, support, and generous spirit were guiding energies behind this book.

Cases of fibromyalgia (FM) and its painful cousin, chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), are increasing in epidemic proportionsincidence rates have swelled by 400 to 1,000 percent in the last decade alone. As Deirdre Rawlings notes in this excellent book, these syndromes represent an energy crisis in our body. In fact, they are illnesses of modern life, caused by poor nutrition, poor sleep, hormonal deficiencies, and various sources of stress (infections, injuries, toxic chemicals, toxic bosses). Simply put, anything that causes you to spend more energy than you can make will result in an energy crisis. When this occurs, the area of the brain that uses the most energy for its size (the hypothalamus) is the first to malfunctionlike blowing a fuse.

This center controls sleep, hormones, temperature, blood flow, blood pressure, and sweating, and its malfunction produces many of the symptoms associated with fibromyalgia. In addition, if your muscles do not have enough energy, they get stuck in a shortened position and you feel pain. The chronic pain trigger then causes changes in your brain that amplify the pain (called central sensitization). The good news is that this is all very treatable.

Four key areas need to be treated to switch back on your circuit breaker and resolve your fatigue and pain. Think SHIN.

SLEEP. Because the hypothalamic circuit breaker that normally controls sleep is offline, most patients need a mix of natural and prescription sleep treatments. To get well and feel pain free, it is critical that you use appropriate and effective sleep treatments to get eight to nine hours of sleep every night.

HORMONAL DEFICIENCIES. The hypothalamus is the main control center, via the pituitary, for most of the glands in the body. Most of the normal ranges for our blood tests were not developed in the context of hypothalamic suppression or these syndromes. Because of this (and for a number of other reasons), it is usually necessary to treat with natural thyroid, adrenal, ovarian, and testicular hormones. These hormones have been found to be fairly safe, when used in low doses.

INFECTIONS. Many studies have shown immune system dysfunction in fibromyalgia sufferers, which can result in many unusual infections. These include viral infections, parasites and other bowel infections, and most importantly fungal/candida infections. The nutritional therapies discussed in this book are very helpful in protecting your immune system against infections.

NUTRITIONAL SUPPORT. Although mentioned last, this is the most important part of treatment, because it supports your body in healing itself. This is why the book you are holding focuses on healing your body nutritionally!

Food That Helps Win the Battle Against Fibromyalgia will empower you to begin your healing process. It will also give you a number of tools to improve your diet. I would add one caveat, however: Everyone is different, and although we can tell you which foods are most likely to help, individual needs vary considerably. Therefore, in applying Deirdres suggestions and guidelines (or anyone elses, including mine), tune in to your body, to see how they make you feel. Continue to apply those that leave you feeling better, and feel free to discontinue the others.

Discouraged and worried that you simply cannot get well? Lets look at the data, so you can discard that misconception. Our study, entitled Effective Treatment of CFS and Fibromyalgia (Journal of CFS, see full text at www.Vitality101.com ), in which we used SHIN, showed that 91 percent of patients improved with treatment, with an average improvement in quality of life of 90 percent. Many patients no longer even qualified for a diagnosis of fibromyalgia or CFS following treatment. In support of our work, an editorial in the Journal of the American Academy of Pain Management (the largest multidisciplinary society of pain specialists in the United States) noted: The comprehensive and aggressive metabolic approach to treatment detailed in the Teitelbaum study are all highly successful approaches and make fibromyalgia a very treatment-responsive disorder. The study by Dr. Teitelbaum et al. and years of clinical experience make this approach an excellent and powerfully effective part of the standard of practice for treatment of people who suffer from fibromyalgia and myofascial pain syndrome.

Although this book focuses primarily on diet, it also provides other pertinent information for healing. For example, discusses other helpful nutrients that are powerful tools for improving health. Our recently published study shows that use of a nutrient called D-ribose (the study used Corvalen by Bioenergy) is a major step forward in treating fatigue in the average FM/CFS patient, resulting in a 44.7 percent improvement in energy after two to three weeks. In our study, pain, sleep difficulty, and brain fog also improved.

At this time, research has proven that you have all the tools you need to get well. This book will help you do this! I wish you all of Gods blessings and best wishes in your healing.

Jacob Teitelbaum, M.D.

Dr. Teitelbaum is a board-certified internist and medical director of the national chain of Fibromyalgia and Fatigue Centers. Having suffered with and overcome these illnesses in 1975, he spent the next thirty years creating, researching, and teaching effective therapies for fatigue and pain. He is the senior author of the landmark studies Effective Treatment of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgiaa Placebo-controlled Study and Effective Treatment of CFS and Fibromyalgia with D-Ribose. Dr. Teitelbaum lectures internationally and is the author of the best-selling book