If you live with fibromyalgia, and / or another chronic illness that affects you physically and / or mentally, such as: depression, anxiety, an autoimmune disorder, etc. and you don’t know where to begin on your healing journey, skim this post for tips.

First off, try looking at your health this way: you are either feeding or fighting disease with every bite you take. Or you are what you eat, digest and absorb. Be very mindful of what you put into your body. The food is either going to nourish your cells, or potentially slowly create disease.

If you’re just starting from ground zero with your chronic illness health journey, here are three tips:

1. Cut out fast food. Places like McDonald’s, KFC, Taco Bell, pizza, etc. There are plenty of healthier alternatives if you do choose to eat out. For example, try Thai food, or a wrap or a burger place that sells antibiotic free meat. You may have seen the post going around where someone leaves a McDonald’s burger and fries out for years, and the meal still looks the same after all that time. No mold. No changes. Nothing. Imagine what that “food” is doing inside of your body. Not a pleasant thought.

2. Shop on the outside aisles of the grocery store and try to cook mostly at home. You’re looking for mainly fruit, veg, good quality meat (beef, chicken, fish, pork, duck, lamb etc. - if you’re doing cold cuts or hot dogs, try to stick to nitrite and nitrate free as well as antibiotic free), nuts, seeds, beans, legumes, and good quality dairy and bread. Many living with a chronic illness cannot tolerate dairy or gluten, so if you’re choosing these, go for organic A2 dairy and sourdough bread. Our Supporting local farmers / farmers markets for meat and produce is a great way to go. If you’re in Ontario, Wild Meadows Farm sells high quality meat (msg me for a discount code), and you can even get produce delivered by companies like “Mama earth organics”. Growing your own is your best bet, but when living with a chronic illness, this can take up extra energy you don’t have to spare.

3. Learn to read your food labels for when you’re buying packaged foods on the inside aisles. I will do a complete separate post on this topic in the future. Try to avoid colourings like blue #1 (brilliant blue), red #40 (allura red), yellow #5 (tartrazine), etc., flavourings, excess sugar, seed oils, anything listed as “enriched”, high fructose corn syrup, MSG, aspartame, and many others.

   Nobody expects you to be perfect, just do your best. Your body will thank you. It may take some time, but you will reap the benefits that you sew.

This message is for your children as well. Feed them as if you are trying to prevent chronic disease. Invest in them now, or you may have to in the future. It’s very helpful for them to mimic healthy eating at home, so they grow up to be healthy eaters as adults. Remember, eventually all of the choices we make do catch up with us.

If you need guidance beyond this, you know where to find me 💗

Cheers,

Alexis Tanner, RHN

The Nutritionist Mama

*Disclaimer - this is my own personal experience and not medical advice.