Dampness & foods

[Guest guest]

Looks interesting too wonder what we have to do to dextox to get

metakls out of us.I will lok into in with my book a friend gave me

last year just simple detox. but loks good to avoid certain foods.

Heidi

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Dealing with Dampness

Friday, October 17, 2008

By: Greg Lee

FMOnline vol. 8, no. 10

When medications didn't stop her daily chronic pains, Barbara thought

about ending her suffering for good. She was deeply disappointed

after zillions of tests, years of different pain medications, and

exhausting herself in exercise programs. She couldn't bear an

unending future of wet weather aches, cold winters wracking her body

with pain, and nights of restless sleep. Fortunately, her daughter

kept looking for a solution.

Her daughter worked for one of the biggest healthcare organizations

in the country. However, she found a solution outside of her big

corporation. On an internet search, her daughter found a local

healing center that had experience in treating fibromyalgia.

Instead of receiving more medications, Barbara found someone who

could help reinvigorate her own natural healing abilities. She got

something that she didn't expect on the first treatment. After years

of disappointments,her body had 60 percent less pain. In some areas,

the pain had disappeared completely, though a knee with a replacement

joint still ached. As she continued treatment, she found healing for

her aches and pains that had accumulated over the years.

Chinese Medicine and FM Pain

Chinese medicine looks at fibromyalgia as a problem with the

functioning of the whole body as well as in specific systems. For

thousands of years, Chinese medical texts have described successful

treatments for illnesses similar to fibromyalgia.

In Chinese medicine, one cause of fibromyalgia pain is described

as " excess dampness. " Dampness is defined as a substance that

moistens different systems in the body. Excess internal dampness

causes pain and fatigue. Rainy weather can increase internal dampness

which flares up your fibromyalgia symptoms. Excess dampness can also

show up as a yeast, bacterial, or viral infection. As microorganisms

and their waste products accumulate in your muscles and joints, you

feel more pain and fatigue.

How can you get excess dampness out?

How can you keep it from coming back?

Strategies for Resolving Painful Dampness

There are three strategies for eliminating excess fibromyalgia

dampness.

1. Modify your diet by adding food that drains excess dampness and

removing food that produces more dampness.

2. Strengthen your internal ability to drain dampness.

3. Detoxify waste products and metals out of your body.

These changes can lead to rapid improvements in your energy level,

quality of sleep, mental clarity, and chronic pain reduction.

1. A. Increase your intake of food that reduces dampness

Below are foods to eat that dry out excess dampness and reduce aches

and fatigue. I highly recommend getting organically grown or

minimally processed versions of these foods:

Barley, rye, amaranth, alfalfa sprouts, corn

Celery, lettuce, turnips, kohlrabi

Seaweeds like nori, wakame

Raw goat milk

Raw honey

White pepper, pau d'arco, chamomile

Mushrooms

1. B. Reduce your intake of food that creates more dampness

Below are food to avoid that can increase painful dampness in muscles

and joints:

Soy products

Dairy products

Products made from wheat, breads, pasta, desserts

Fried food, fatty meats

Desserts, soda, candy, sweetened drinks, sweetened food

Alcoholic beverages

Highly processed food like hot dogs with nitrates, food with lots of

preservatives or additives, artificially sweetened food

Changing your diet may require an adjustment period for you to let go

of familiar comfort or quick-energy foods. As you feel better, eating

these foods gets much easier. Draining excess dampness out of your

body helps too.

2. Strengthen your ability to eliminate dampness

You can enhance your ability to drain painful dampness from muscles

and joints through acupuncture treatment and Chinese herbs. With less

dampness in your body, you feel less pain and fatigue. You feel even

better when the toxic waste products of harmful organisms are removed

from your system.

3. Detoxify toxins and metals out of your system

The waste products from infectious organisms accumulate as toxins in

your blood, muscles, and joints. Your immune system can't effectively

fight against infectious organisms with toxins and harmful metals in

your body. You also feel better and have more energy when these

toxins and metals are out of your system. Reducing or stopping the

use of tobacco or recreational chemical substances helps to detoxify

your system.

These strategies work together to eliminate excess dampness out of

your body, which relieves your pain and your fatigue.

You feel much lighter and more energized as you clear out unhealthy

dampness through acupuncture treatment, herbs, detoxification, and

dietary changes. As your muscles and joints get cleaned of unhealthy

gunk, your pain decreases too. You sleep better and feel hope for the

first time in years. The real test is seeing how you react to the

next rainstorm.

After a few weeks of treatment, some clients have much less pain and

fatigue during wet weather. Some report that they can run errands

without debilitating discomfort. As you eliminate excess dampness,

you may have much less pain and discomfort and be able to start

resuming normal activities. This change helped Barbara to have new

hope for her future. She has returned to social activities and

started home renovation projects, and even went through a winter with

her electric blanket on a setting of " 5. "

With the right combination of dietary changes, detoxification, and

treatment with a Chinese medicine practitioner, perhaps you can

manage your FM symptoms better, too.

Lee is a licensed acupuncturist, Chinese herbalist, and

Master Sufi Healer. He is co-founder of the Two Frogs Healing Center

in Frederick, land. He has helped clients to reduce their

fibromyalgia pain and fatigue through the Healing Fibromyalgia

Forever Program. To learn more, click here.