Image: Shutterstock/Mark Poprocki
Many people with fibromyalgia know how uncomfortable the sensation of fibromyalgia swelling can be. Painfully swollen hands and feet or joints are something that many sufferers deal with on a near-daily basis. It makes it tough to do basic things like walk or handle errands because their limbs are swollen.
Many wonder if there is anything they can do that will help relieve those symptoms. Well, it turns out that your diet may be one of the biggest reasons that you suffer from fibromyalgia swelling and may be one of the easiest ways to treat it.
What Is Fibromyalgia Swelling?
Fibromyalgia swelling is caused by fluid being released by the blood vessels in your body, usually as a result of an injury. The fluid builds up underneath the skin which causes your limbs or joints to swell up. No one knows exactly why this happens to people with fibromyalgia. But there are a few theories.
One is that the swelling is actually inflammation caused by the body’s immune system overreacting and attacking your tissue. This is due to the fact that fibromyalgia is an autoimmune disease according to some scientists.
There’s no concrete proof of this theory, though the fact that things like stress sometimes trigger swelling imply that there may be truth to it. Either way, there are things you can do that will help limit fibromyalgia swelling.
Diet And Fibromyalgia Swelling
Your diet can have a significant impact on the amount of fluid that your body retains. There are a number of dietary vitamins and minerals that encourage your body to retain water. And by simply eliminating those things in your diet, you can help reduce the amount of fibromyalgia swelling you experience.
The role between your diet and fibromyalgia swelling is the same as the link between your diet and nearly anything else. Simply put, you are what you eat. And though that’s a pretty cliched expression, it’s pretty accurate in a certain sense.
Your body uses the food you eat to fuel the growth of new cells. And there is an incredibly intricate relationship between all the different nutrients your body needs to stay healthy. And people with a healthier diet tend to be healthier.
And a good diet can play a huge role in treating lots of different conditions.
How Can You Change Your Diet To Treat Swelling?
Basically, when it comes to diet and fibromyalgia swelling, you want to make sure that you are getting in helpful nutrients and eliminating bad ones. A lot of the things you eat can cause swelling to get worse. So you want to avoid these kinds of foods at all costs if you are experiencing a lot of swelling in your limbs or joints.
But luckily, there are also many foods that will help your body naturally deal with swelling. They promote the flow of blood to affected areas and limit the body’s natural tendency to retain fluid.
Reduce Sodium
High levels of sodium are one of the most significant causes of fluid retention in the body. And sodium is hard to avoid. Restaurants and processed food suppliers load their products up with salt, which makes avoiding sodium something you really have to commit to on a conscious level if you’re going to do it effectively.
B Vitamins
B Vitamins are found in red meats and can help promote healthy veins and reduce the level of inflammation in your cells. The danger is that too much red meat can also lead to more fluid retention. So limit red meat to just a few times a week if possible.
Iron
Iron is another vitamin that helps promote good cardiovascular health. It is a vital ingredient in the creation of red blood cells and getting a good iron supplement can help your body naturally produce healthier red blood cells that bring nutrients to damaged joints and muscles. And that means a natural reduction in swelling.
You can find it in leafy greens like kale or spinach and it is a great addition to your diet when you are trying to limit swelling.
Potassium
Potassium helps regulate just about everything in your body, and increasing your levels of potassium will help you eliminate painful swelling. Potassium is what is known as an electrolyte, and it plays a role in moving fluid around the cells in your body. A lack of potassium makes it difficult for your body to move water from swollen tissue to healthy tissue. And that means you naturally will retain more fluids in your joints and muscles.
It’s found in many different kinds of fruits and vegetables like apricots, bananas, and broccoli.
Eat More Fish And Less Red Meat
Fish is a healthy source of nutrients, especially when compared to red meat. It is full of Omega 3 fatty acids which can help promote good joint health and reduce swelling. You can get it in oily fish like salmon or mackerel, or in a high-quality supplement.
On the other hand, red meat is full of a compound called Neu5GC. Humans used to create Neu5GC in their own cells until a genetic mutation a few hundred thousand years ago eliminated it. That’s different from most animals who still produce it naturally in their bodies. Thus, red meat naturally has a high concentration of it.
Doctors have suggested that the presence of this compound causes inflammation. That’s because your body doesn’t recognize it as a nutrient and reacts as if it were a foreign threat. And so it triggers the body’s immune response, which leads to swelling.
That isn’t a sure thing until more research is done, but it does seem like there is a definite link between diets high in red meat and levels of inflammation.
Diet and fibromyalgia swelling have a close relationship. And you can reduce a lot of swelling by maintaining a healthy diet. And by limiting the amount of things you eat that promote swelling in the body, you can help prevent the painful swelling.
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