STATION: CIRCLE OF LIFE DIET AND SUPPLEMENTS Excerpts taken from Dr. E. Conley's Book "America Exhausted" You may purchase this book at Fibromyalgia The Food Allergy Component By Dr. Edward J. Conley, D.O. Founder and Director of The Fatigue & Fibromyalgia Clinic of Michigan Author of "America Exhausted: Breakthrough Treatments of Fatigue and Fibromyalgia" Reprinted from ARTHRITIS AND RHEUMATISM Journal, copyright 1990. "At The Fatigue and Fibromyalgia Clinic of Michigan, we take a functional , multifaceted approach to the treatment of Fibromyalgia. This consists of using appropriate medications such as anti-inflammatories, pain medications, anti-depressants and sleep medications. In my experience, however, only a small percentage of patients with Fibromyalgia (PWF) are adequately controlled using this medication approach. Over the course of the last 12 years we have worked to develop a functional approach, where we go above and beyond treatment of symptoms and try to address underlying pathophysiology of the disease. This article will discuss one aspect of that treatment, the importance of food allergies in the development and ongoing process of Fibromyalgia. One of the things that I have found from the treatment of hundreds of patients with Fibromyalgia is that by removal of offending food allergies we are able to get significant improvement in the patient's pain level. Not everyone improves 100%, however, we have had our share of cases where a patient has had dramatic improvement once the offending food allergens were removed. When this happens, it is like hitting a home run in the World Series and obviously everyone feels marvelous. Most of the time patients who eliminate food allergies are able to achieve a reduction of 25% in their pain levels. This allows them to go from a pain level, for example, of 7-8 out of 10 on the pain scale, down to perhaps a 5-6 out of 10, and this allows for two things. First, obviously it improves their quality of life and allows them a greater activity level. Second, if we are able to reduce the underlying components to the disease process, often traditional medications will begin to work better and the patient will have some significant improvement in control of their pain. Why are food allergens important in Fibromyalgia? Our goal is always to eliminate anything which overstimulates the immune system. In 90 % of the PWF's I have seen at the FFCM we are able to document IgG food allergy. It is now becoming increasingly recognized in the treatment of auto-immune diseases such as Rheumatoid Arthritis and Lupus that food allergies play an important part in the development of an auto-immune disease and, therefore, its treatment and control. I have noticed through clinical observation that anytime a PWF is exposed to significant allergens they worsen. An example of this: Routinely we have patients who become worse in August or September if they are allergic to Ragweed. The additional stress on their system, along with the underlying disease process, worsens their condition. I must state that I originally started treating food allergies in PWF's to control their upper respiratory symptoms. Many patients with Fibromyalgia had chronic sinus drainage, asthma, and irritable bowel syndrome. It has been recognized for many years that controlling allergic exposure is helpful in controlling these symptoms. As we began working with PWF's on controlling their upper respiratory drainage (and other symptoms), identified their food allergies and eliminated them from their diets, people began reporting to us that they noticed improvement in their muscle pain. Over the course of the last decade we have made evaluation of food allergies a standard part of our diagnostic work up for patients with Fibromyalgia. It is that important! It has been recognized by many researchers that there may be an underlying auto-immune basis to Fibromyalgia. This is not overt and overwhelming as noted in Rheumatoid Arthritis or Lupus but we often see patients with Fibromyalgia have an elevated C Reactive Protein, Interleukin levels, Natural Killer Cell activities and an elevated CD4 to CD8 ratio. Many patients that I see also have elevated circulating histamine and elevated IgE levels in their blood work, all of which points to an underlying auto-immune process. How do food allergies increase these auto-immune reacting substances and why do people with Fibromyalgia (PWF) have food allergies? Briefly, one current hypothesis on the development of food allergies involves developing leaky gut. What this means is that through damage to the good bacteria of the bowel by antibiotics or other reasons, eventually the lining of the bowel becomes damaged. Through the years, as this damage becomes more severe, the bowel begins to allow larger molecules into the underlying tissue. Since the bowel is our major immune organ, the body begins to build up immune globulin's, IgE or IgG. to these large molecules which are being presented to the underlying bowel structures. As we continue to eat the foods to which we are allergic , we slowly build up immune globulin's and eventually start to trigger our immune inflammatory cascade. The reacting food is eaten and triggers increased histamine release from ,mast cells in the gut and activation of inflammatory substances called leukotrienes. Leukotrienes then activate macrophages, monocytes and neutrophils to release oxidants. With the release of these oxidants, pain ,swelling and tissue destruction all manifest themselves. People usually develop allergies to the foods eaten most commonly: eggs, wheat, dairy, corn, oats, rye, citrus and coffee. When you continue to eat these foods, day in and day out, your immune system continues to trigger the inflammatory cascade which results in more severe pain, inflammation, swelling and free radical release. Eventually, it may start to wear down your adrenal glands which are responsible for producing cortisone which helps to control this inflammatory process. Because these are foods you eat everyday it usually does not come into your consciousness that your pain and inflammation is increasing because of the foods that you eat. Most people do not say "Ah ha! My muscles are screaming today because I had wheat this morning for breakfast." Indeed you may have had wheat every day for the last 20 years! Therefore, it is very difficult to differentiate that this is a food which is actually contributing to your pain. How do you know if you have food allergies? All of the patients seen at the FFCM for a complaint of Fibromyalgia have food allergy blood work completed. This includes looking at over 90 foods and spices both with the immune globulin E and also immune globulin G. It is important to state that the allergy testing only gives you suspects. There is not a perfect allergy test. It is also important to state that if you had skin testing and had been told you do not have any food allergies this is not sufficient. Skin testing only picks up IgE food allergies and many times it is the delayed hypersensitivity or IgG immune globulin that is involved in food allergies. When we have patients with positive IgG food allergies, we eliminate the food from the diet and determine whether of not they feel improvement. We then bring the food back in, as specified below, to determine whether or not they notice worsening of their condition. We always let their body be the final judge on whether or not they are having problems with a certain food. There is an inexpensive, basically free, way for you to evaluate this at home. It is called The Elimination Diet. By avoiding milk, eggs, gluten, citrus, corn, sugar, coffee and tea completely from your diet for one month (remember to read labels!) you then evaluate your symptoms for the one month you are off of these foods and determine if your Fibromyalgia pain improves. If it does, almost certainly you have some component of food allergy. If it does not improve, you either do not have a food allergy, which in my experience, is rare, or you are allergic to some foods that your still eating. People often ask, "well then, what in the world do I eat for a month?" We allow people to eat lean proteins: chicken, fish, turkey, lean meats, soy products and most vegetables (excluding corn and possibly potatoes) and we allow them rice as a carbohydrate and rice products which are freely available in health food stores. (This includes rice crackers, rice cakes, rice pasta, and rice flour) The next step, after one month is to then add back one food group every 4-7 days to see how you react. Pay attention to your pain levels, especially after you eat. For example, if you awake and your muscle pain is not too bad but then after breakfast or lunch you notice your pain level increases significantly and you have not done anything to warrant this such as increasing your activity, etc. it is a tip off that you have food allergies. Also, as you bring in one food group per week, you evaluate how you feel. For instance: Bringing milk and milk products back into your diet. You bring back the milk products while continuing to avoid gluten , eggs, corn, etc. If you feel worse after that week, then almost certainly you have milk allergy. If you feel worse in bringing back a food group, then you would eliminate it for the long term. If you do not feel worse, then you are allowed to resume that food group and you would then move on to the next food group. Sometimes this becomes a little complicated. For example: if you bring back cheese and suffer increased pain, are you allergic to the milk or the mold? (which is present in cheese and a very common allergen) This can be sorted out in that if you do not react to milk but do react to cheese, then you would be lead to believe perhaps you are reacting to the mold in the cheese and not the milk itself. Each group is re-introduced one at a time to determine what your symptoms are and whether or not you react to that food group. For further information on the Elimination Diet, I refer you to the appendix in the back of the book "America Exhausted: Breakthrough Treatments of Fatigue and Fibromyalgia", addendum three, which will give you a more detailed discussion of both food allergies, the Elimination Diet and bowel abnormalities. As simple as it may seem, by discovering and eliminating your food allergens you can significantly reduce pro-inflammatory substances circulating in your blood stream and therefore reduce muscle pain and inflammation. This does not require expensive medications. There are virtually no side effects and actually treats one of the possible underlying causes of Fibromyalgia Syndrome." Excerpts from "America Exhausted" recommended highly by THE WELNESS TRAIN GROUP DIET AND SUGAR This Station is important stop for all of You who are addicted to sugar, honey, or any other concentrated sweetener. For all of You who eat sugar every day in all kind of food, from bread to Coca Cola, from ice-cream to ketchup, from hot-dog to cakes, jams, candies, sausages, yogurts ... And for all of You who are having problems like colds, flu, food allergies, high cholesterol, candida, cancer, diabetes, fatty degeneration, degenerative diseases, depression, dizziness, crying spells, aggression, insomnia, weakness, skin problems, heart and circulatory diseases... Let's first say what is white sugar. White sugar is refined sucrose (simple sugar), C12H22O11 , produced by multiple chemical processing of the juice of the sugar cane or sugar beet and by removal of all fiber , protein and minerals , which amount to 90 percent of the natural plant. ( P.S. I do not want to be misunderstood. I will explain that concentrated sweeteners are bad for your health. BUT, that does not mean that you should use artificial sweeteners like aspartame (nutra sweet), xilitol, sorbitoll, or any other artificial sweeteners. ALL artificial sweeteners are worse for your health) This article is not only about white sugar. It is also about brown/ raw/ turbinado sugar, molasses, syrups, and other concentrated sweeteners like : dextrose (glucose) , fructose, galactose, maltose, lactose, dextrin, dextrains, and honey. Our body digests and absorbs these concentrated sources of sugars rapidly, and quickly turns them into saturated fatty acids and cholesterol. If we do not burn off the fat through activity, it will start accumulating under our skin, in our lever in our arteries and other organs. One thing is common characteristic for all those sweeteners: they are concentrated and composed of simple sugars (monosaccharide and disaccharide). Simple sugars are also called rapid sugars because they do not need digestion and are absorbed rapidly in our bloodstream. After being absorbed in our bloodstream, they rise blood glucose levels too high. This condition is called hyperglycemia, and is one of the symptoms of diabetes. If or pancreas function as it should, it will produce enough insulin to remove excess glucose from our bloodstream with amazing efficiency. But huge production of insulin can not be stopped in the same moment as sugar stop coming in the bloodstream. To much insulin will then cause too rapid fall of glucose level in the blood. That is called hypoglycemia, and symptoms may include depression, dizziness, crying spells, aggression, insomnia, weakness, and even loss of consciousness. When blood glucose falls too low, our adrenal glands will mobilize the body's stores of glycogen (starch like carbohydrate , many glucose molecules hooked end to end in a chain, stored in liver and muscle) and will also stimulate the synthesis of glucose from proteins and other substances present in our body. A diet rich in sugars will catch our pancreas and adrenal glands in a biochemical see-saw, overworking them. It could weaken pancreas and result in diabetes. Cardiovascular complications that follow excess glucose or fats kill many diabetics. If our body is unable to use all of the extra fats and cholesterol produced from sugars, it must dump the additional load. Fats can be deposited in the cells of our liver, heart, arteries, fat tissues, kidneys, muscles, and other organs. That is beginning of fatty degeneration. One of the aspects of fatty degeneration is deposition of visible fat in places where it is not normally found in healthy people. Fatty degeneration includes atherosclerosis, fatty liver and kidneys, some tumors, obesity and some forms of diabetes. Sugars inhibit the function of our immune system, and increase diseases caused by poor immune function, such as colds, flu, AIDS, allergies, infections, ... Sugars increase our body's production of adrenaline by four times, which puts the body into a state of 'fight or flight' stress, without anything to fight or flee from , except the consumption of sugar. This stress reaction increases the production of both cholesterol and cortisone. Cortisone inhibits immune function. Sugars lack the vitamins and minerals required for their own metabolism. To be metabolized, sugars must draw on our body's stores of these nutrients. The more sugars you eat, the more vitamins and minerals you need. It can leach B, C, D vitamins, and those minerals: calcium, phosphorous, iron, selenium, zinc, chromium, vanadium, tin, boron, bismuth, rear earth elements etc. from our teeth, bones, and tissues. As these are depleted, our body becomes less able to carry out other functions that require minerals and vitamins to be present: to metabolize fats and cholesterol; to convert cholesterol into bile acids for removal from our body through the stool; or to burn-off excess fats as heat or increased activity. As a result , our cholesterol level rises; our metabolic rate goes down; fats burn more slowly; gall stones are crystallizing in or liver; we feel less like exercising, and our weight is increasing. We have already started walking our way to cancer, diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. SUGAR WEAKENS OUR IMMUNE SYSTEMS AND ACCELERATES PAIN IN FMS Sugar causes irritation and weakening of the mucous membranes of the body and robs the teeth, bones and blood of a great percentage of their minerals. Inflammatory diseases of the breathing and digestive organs result from the use of brown and white sugar. If , after reading those facts you feel to stop eating sugar , we are recommending next alternatives: dry fruit, fresh fruit, fresh fruit juice, resins, apple syrup, rice malt, barley malt. But, do not just replace sugar with malt, or apple syrup. It is also important to generally decrease consumption of concentrated sweeteners. Eat more fresh fruit and compote. The easiest way of decreasing consumption of sugar is by decreasing consumption of meat. How to stop eating sugar ? There is a balance between meat consumption and sugar. If you eat meat, you need sugar, and visa versa. Serious trouble can happen if the balance is off which is easy since sugar is addictive, like a drug. If you are a vegetarian and eat mostly carbohydrates, the effect of extra sugar is heightened. One of the major drawbacks is that sugar raises the insulin level, which inhibits the release of growth hormones, which in turn depresses the immune system. Not something you want to happen if you want to avoid sickness. According to Kathleen DesMaisons in her book Potatoes Not Prozac sugar sensitive people , those who have a more volatile reaction to the substance, usually have low levels of serotonin and low levels of beta endorphins. The level of beta endorphins have a direct impact on a person's self esteem, tolerance for pain, sense of connectiveness and to the ability to take personal responsibility for action. It follows that with higher levels of beta endorphins the disease management process would be easier. When blood sugar spikes it signals the adrenal glands to release more adrenaline. This leads to adrenal fatigue and in turn makes blood sugar ups and downs ever more pronounced. Note this, for many of us have adrenals already fatigued from overeating of sugar. According to William Duffy in "Sugar Blues" the difference between sugar addiction and narcotic addiction is largely one of degree. Here are some suggestions to make the withdrawal easier: - As you are reducing the amount of sugar also reduce the amount of meat you are eating - Eat a bit of ginger before meals -Taking Colloidal minerals that contain trace minerals Chromium and Vanadium would solve problem of craving for Sugar and sweets! - Craving for Sugar and sweets is a symptom of Chromium and Vanadium deficiency. - Don't eat any concentrated sweetener for breakfast - Eat your breakfast as late as possible and start with fruit - Make pause between fruit and other food - Never eat fruit together with a rest of food - Make treats like cookies sweetened with rice syrup (a honey like sweetener made from cultured rice) or barley malt - Get to know some new foods that have a subtle sweet taste from natural sugars. Try manna bread (tastes like a muffin but is made only from sprouted grains) or oatmilk. - Get to know more about the sugar/depression/energy connection. Read Food and Healing, Sugar Blues, or Potatoes Not Prozac More about sugar : Sugars are classified as either simple or complex carbohydrates. Refined sugars such as white, brown, and turbinado sugars, and the unrefined simple sugars, such as fruit sweeteners and concentrated fruit juices, are all simple carbohydrates. The grain syrups: barley malt and brown rice syrup, contain complex carbohydrates besides some simple sugars. Complex carbohydrates are a string of simple sugars (glucose) strung together that must be broken back down into simple sugars before they can be absorbed into the bloodstream; whereas simple sugars can go directly into the bloodstream. An influx of sugar into the blood stream upsets the body's blood sugar balance, triggering the release of insulin, which the body uses to keep blood sugar at a safe and constant level. Insulin also promotes the storage of fat, so when you eat sweets high in sugar and fat, you're making way for rapid weight gain and elevated triglyceride levels, both of which have been linked to cardiovascular disease. Complex carbohydrates tend to be absorbed more slowly, lessening the impact on blood sugar levels. Refined sugars have been stripped of the vitamins, minerals, and fiber that were originally present before processing. White sugar is 99.9 percent sucrose, and brown and turbinado are 96 percent sucrose. Brown sugar is white sugar with molasses and/or caramel coloring added. Turbinado sugar, also called raw sugar, is slightly less refined and contains a trace amount of a few minerals. Consequently, consuming large amounts of refined sugars places an extra burden on the body to supply the nutrients, specifically the B vitamins, chromium, magnesium, and zinc, needed to convert glucose (blood sugar) into energy. According to USDA biochemist Richard Anderson, refined sugar may also impair the absorption of trace minerals like copper and chromium present in some of the other foods we have eaten. Refined simple sugars also have an impact on brain chemistry. T hey raise serotonin levels, which can leave you feeling drowsy. However, the unrefined simple fruit sweeteners have less impact on brain chemistry because they are high in the sugar fructose, which does not affect serotonin levels. Choosing natural sweeteners rich in complex carbohydrates and reading labels before buying a product will help you reduce your consumption of refined sugar. 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