Clean Eating: Smoothie Round-Up

Fight fibromyalgia with your diet

I have long managed my fibromyalgia with healthy life-style choices including diet and exercise. My best fibro-fighting weapons? Starting my day with yoga and a healthy smoothie.

“To eat is a necessity, but to eat intelligently is an art.” 

La Rouchefoucauld

The concept of eating “clean” just encourages you to consume more whole foods — such as fruits, vegetables, lean proteins, whole grains and healthy fats — and limit highly processed snack foods, sweets and other packaged foods. Yes, it’s a difficult concept to wrap your brain around during the holidays when we often indulge on extra calories in the form of holiday meals and baked goodies.

Oftentimes we equate healthy foods with tasteless foods. But done right smoothies are the perfect combination of both nutritious and flavorful foods. I have posted some recipes and pics on the blog and my Instagram of smoothies and smoothie bowls, so I thought I would grab my favorites in one post. Smoothies take about 5 minutes to put together in a blender, and then you have the perfect meal on the go!

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How to Be Resilient with Fibromyalgia

No matter how much pain we are in or how exhausted we are, we manage to bounce-back.

Resilience and Fibromyalgia don’t often complement each other. Resilience is one’s ability to bounce back. Fibromyalgia is a syndrome that is characterized by flare ups, or “flares,” of symptoms such as widespread musculoskeletal, stabbing or burning pain; fatigue; sleep problems; and cognitive problems. These flares can be short-lived or long-lasting, and sometimes debilitating, mentally draining, and exhausting. So you can see where these two things don’t naturally lend themselves to each other. Continue reading “How to Be Resilient with Fibromyalgia”

The Correlation between Caffeine and Pain

There’s nothing like smelling coffee first thing in the morning, and holding that cup of steaming, hot, luscious, black elixir.

I considered naming this post “For the Love of Coffee” or “To Coffee with Love.” To say I love coffee is an understatement. I love the smell of coffee. I love the taste of coffee. I love the act of brewing coffee: I own an automatic drip coffee maker, a french press, a cappuccino machine, a pour over coffee dripper, and a coffee grinder for grinding my own beans. I like coffee hot, iced, black, lattes, cappuccinos, espressos, and sometimes I make bulletproof coffee or even splurge with an Almond milk White Mocha or Vietnamese style coffee. Tiramisu is one of my favorite desserts, and mocha almond fudge is one of my favorite ice cream flavors. So suffice it to say, I love coffee. Not to discriminate against tea. I am a fan of tea as well, and have a well stocked supply of flavors and teas with different therapeutic benefits, but coffee is my morning jam. ❤ So cutting back on how much I drink hasn’t been easy.Caffeine and pain

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The Challenge of Slowing Down

I have had difficulty accepting that I cannot do what I once could. I am not the same person I once was.

Life in general requires overcoming challenges and obstacles of many types. Life with fibromyalgia introduces its own share of challenges: lack of energy, lack of sleep, chronic pain being the most prevalent.  These things can change who you are and how you approach life. What once was a simple task, such as getting out of bed in the morning, can now be a daily struggle.

In the years since my diagnosis, my biggest challenge has been SLOWING DOWN. I have had difficulty accepting that I cannot do what I once could. I am not the same person I once was. Type A personalities like myself prefer to be in the game rather than sitting on the sidelines.

Adopting health strategies such as a clean diet, regular workouts, and supplements, has helped lessen the daily pain and limited my “flares” of my fibromyalgia. It has allowed me to maintain a moderately active lifestyle. And then I begin to think: Maybe I am OK. Maybe I am in some sort of remission. Maybe I can push myself just a little harder. And that thinking usually ends in a crash and burn, i.e. fibro flare and bed rest. Slowing down, resting allows the body to recover from the stresses put upon it. Without a recovery period, we can do our bodies more harm than good.

Continue reading “The Challenge of Slowing Down”
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