Looking at some of the more popular posts on diets for fibromyalgia, I’m seeing many more foods that I shouldn’t eat rather than foods I should.  No NutraSweet, no food additives (especially MSG), no form of sugar, fructose, or simple carbohydrates, no caffeine, no yeast or gluten, no dairy, no nightshades (tomatoes, chili/bell peppers, potatoes, eggplants).  This is from MedicineNet.com.

Of course, according to another site (sorry, didn’t write it down), I can eat all the seafood I want.  Anyone who knows me well knows that I just turned pale and gagged a little.  I hate seafood.

The problem is the little bit that I’m learning about how nutrients actually work says that they need each other to balance out.  It’s like good and evil.  One can’t exist without the other, and if neither exist, you have no existence at all.  While avoiding certain foods may be beneficial in the short term, I’m not convinced it’s the way to go in the long term, for two reasons:

First, it’s all about balance, and the more I learn about fibromyalgia, the more I’m convinced it’s a balance disorder.  Things are just a bit out of whack, which causes other things to get out of balance, and there’s a vortex of imbalance. If a diet is too restrictive, then it seems to me that imbalance would get further out of whack.  I have to study more to explain better.  It’s a very loose thought in my head right now, and I could simply be rebelling against cutting tomatoes out of my diet.

Second, there’s a psychological aspect that diets have to address to be successful.  I don’t think I’m the only one that would get flat out belligerent and crave all the foods I can’t have.  A too limited diet is a binge waiting to happen, and that’s worse than an occasional pint or two of ice cream.

Of course, there is something to be said for cold turkey.  And since turkey has tryptophan and tryptophan is a source of melatonin and serotonin… no wait, I also read that a vegetarian diet is necessary for managing fibromyalgia.  Twists and turns…