Researchers are investigating the potential benefits that a dietary change can have on the quality of life of individuals with fibromyalgia.
Raw food science proposes that many medical conditions can benefit from treatment that integrates lifestyle changes. These changes have the potential to both mediate the actual symptoms as well as limit the need for medical intervention. Many sufferers of chronic illness report dissatisfaction with the dependency that conventional treatments force on them.
Treatments for chronic illness need a re-design
Fibromyalgia is a painful syndrome that impacts the musculoskeletal system in afflicted individuals. The disease is not very well understood, which makes treating the condition mostly limited to creating individualized assistance for coping with the symptoms.
Fibromyalgia causes inflammation of joints, muscle tissue and tendons surrounding the areas. Because these are also the mechanisms by which humans negotiate their body’s movements, individuals with fibromyalgia experience a great loss of mobility, flexibility, and pliability of muscle tissues.
Despite the pain experienced, the tendency to stop using a gesture that results in pain needs to be limited as much as possible. Limiting motion will foster stiffness. Because of this, the main course of action is pain relief, anti-inflammatory medications and physical therapy.
Compared to other illnesses, research has shown that individuals with fibromyalgia are more frequently turning to alternative medicine and therapies due to dissatisfaction with the relief available from conventional treatment.
Food as medicine
Many fruits and vegetables are packed with antioxidants and anti-inflammatory properties that are in peak quantities when the produce is fresh, and at optimal ripeness. Unfortunately, when foods are cooked, some of the enzymes are destroyed or altered in such a way that they are rendered less nutritionally valuable.
In an experiment published in the journal Complementary and Alternative Medicine, researchers investigated thirty individuals over a course of seven months, to track the impact that a vegetarian and raw food diet would have on their symptoms and reliance on medications.
The study’s results were promising
The anti-inflammatory effects of the diet were visible in the greater mobility and flexibility that was seen in all test subjects. Extensive research has demonstrated that the progression of fibromyalgia is stable; that is, the symptoms are consistent and show little variation over time.
This sudden reduction in the impact of symptoms of the individual’s daily living is significant. These changes demonstrate that the limitations that are placed on individuals with chronic illnesses, both by the illness and the treatment, can be lessened with preventative lifestyle changes to increase their quality of life.
Sources for this article include:
www.biomedcentral.com
nutritiondata.self.com
www.uab.edu
