Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez is an endearing love story that unfolds over decades of untold love.  If you enjoy historical fiction, this one will memorize you as Florinteno harbors phenomenal passion for Fermina that survives over a half of century despite her marriage.  

In their youth, Florentino Ariza and Fermina Daza fall passionately in love. When Fermina eventually chooses to marry a wealthy, well-born doctor, Florentino is devastated, but he is a romantic. As he rises in his business career he whiles away the years in 622 affairs--yet he reserves his heart for Fermina. Her husband dies at last, and Florentino purposefully attends the funeral. Fifty years, nine months, and four days after he first declared his love for Fermina, he will do so again. - Amazon.com

With spring almost here, place on your to do list the sheer delight of getting closer to nature.  Bat out those winter cobwebs and ensure your daily game plan gets a little R&R on the nature trail.  Researchers at Essex University say that ecotherapy (engaging with nature) offers both mental and physical health benefits. Whether you are walking, gardening, or just enjoying the view, being close to nature has been shown to reduce stress and muscle tension.

Experts claim that the higher levels of negative ions near areas of running water, trees, and mountains may play a part of one huge stress and pain buster.  Others suggest that the success of ecotherapy is down to biophilia (the theory that we all have an inborn affinity with nature).  Furthermore, when we disconnect from it we are plagued with stress and mental health problems.  Studies in the Netherlands and Japan suggest that people living in or near green areas enjoy longer and healthier lives than those living in urban environments.

Have you ever noticed that even on a bad day if you stay inside confined, you don't feel much better? That's why it is so important to get out even a few minutes a day and commune with nature.  It does the soul good and offers great therapy and pain relief for the body.

Remember to tailor your activity levels as to how well you are feeling.  On a good day engage in a good walk.  On a bad day sitting a half an hour in the sun may do the trick.  Either way, it's important to get out! 

I know this may seem like an impossible task on the days you are in pain, but if you learn to laugh more you'll find you have less pain overall if you do.  It's kind of like exercise, you often have to prompt yourself to get going to feel the benefits, or else your body withers more down that pain tunnel each day.  Keeping those joints lubricated keeps pain at bay just as laughter keeps the mind well-oiled so those pain receptors don't get gummed.  

Laughter is a great stress and pain reliever.  A deep belly laugh seems to reduce the stress hormones cortisol and adrenaline, and also raises mood-boosting serotonin levels.  People who see the aversions of life as water droplets that eventually roll off have a reduced risk of health problems associated with stress. It is believed that those chemicals we produce during laughter such as endorphins and encephalins can help ease pain.  Research at University of Bath and Bath Royal National hospital found that patients with chronic arthritis pain who were able to laugh noticed their pain lessened as a result.  

Take some time to watch your favorite comedies and comedians.  Make it a point to be around people who make you laugh not bring you down.  Start looking at life as a little more rosy and find the time to make other's laugh.  You'll be drawn into your own antics too as you do! 

While these beautiful gems are still in stock, I prompt you to get as many as your refrigerator can handle! Adding them to your juicing routine in the morning, will greatly benefit your overall health.  I always begin with the Fibromyalgia Juicing recipe.  You can't repair your body unless you stick to your guns and follow the protocol in Phase II: Symptom Maintenance diet plan.  Once the morning juice is consumed, wait 15 minutes and drink the fresh squeezed juice of one grapefruit.  You'll feel an added boost before you walk out the door beginning your day.  

There are numerous health benefits in grapefruit

Fresh squeezed grapefruit juice contains vitamin C, or ascorbic acid. Vitamin C plays a central role in maintaining your tissue integrity -- it helps your body produce collagen, a structural protein that provides stability to several tissues throughout your body.

Fresh-squeezed grapefruit also provides a source of vitamin A. Grapefruit, particularly red and pink varieties, contains beta-carotene, a pigment molecule that gives the fruit its color. Beta-carotene in grapefruit is converted to vitamin A in your body and then carries out a number of physiological functions. Adequate vitamin A intake supports your immune system, helps maintain healthy retinas and acts as an antioxidant in your body. It also aids in cellular communication, and vitamin A helps your cells develop to form functional tissue.

Grapefruit juice benefits your nervous and musculoskeletal systems due to its potassium content. Potassium plays a central role in nerve function. The flow of potassium out of your nerve cells helps trigger an electrochemical signal, called an action potential, that is essential for nerve communication. Action potentials also allow your nerves to interact with your muscle fibers, and potassium helps stimulate the muscle contractions required for muscle movement. 

Do you walk into a room only to forget why you're there? Do you forget much needed items for your house only to come home more flustered?  Have you forgotten appointments looking foolish?  All of these are common complaints from most fibromyalgia sufferers.

Unfortunately, this symptom of a working memory impairment, which is a common part
of the cognitive dysfunction (brain fog or fibro fog) is caused by fibromyalgia. Working memory impairment can disrupt daily life, cause problems on the job, and be incredibly frustrating.  This is generally the symptom that makes us wonder if we're heading toward some kind of dementia. Compound that with added anxiety (from forgetting) and you have a recipe for more pain.  Any steps you can take to alleviate symptoms, hence the reason for this blog, and you are on the road to peace of mind and less flare-ups.

Nothing can be more frustrating than forgetting simple tasks most people take for granted.  Finding ways to remember more things can make you part of the "in crowd" again.  If you have a phone that is voice operated, there may be a tool you've been missing.  Writing things down can be cumbersome, and let's be honest, once we write them down, we often forget where we placed them!  Lost notes and reminders can be found in the most obtrusive places in my home.  Not so since I found Siri.

Siri lets you use your voice to send messages, schedule meetings, place phone calls, and more. Ask Siri to do things just by talking the way you talk. Siri understands what you say, knows what you mean, and even talks back. Siri is so easy to use and does so much; you’ll keep finding more and more ways to use it.  If you don't have an IPhone, most updated phones use a version of Siri.

Simply open the mic on your phone and ask:

"Siri, remind me tomorrow at 3:30 to pick up my Anxiety Tea at Publix."

"Siri, remind me at 1:00 pm tomorrow to pick up dog food at Dollar General."

"Siri, remind me I have a doctors appt. at Coastal at 4:00 on March 25."

You can voice activate your setting on your calendar to schedule important meetings or much needed friend breaks.  You will then receive friendly reminders at your discretion.  Furthermore, if you tap those reminders you can set up each to remind you daily just in case you are not feeling well that afternoon to stop at the store.  That is a delightful added extra as I often have difficulty purchasing things on the day I must due to fatigue after work.  But with Siri, each item will eventually finally find its place in your home without added forgetfulness.
 

While You Were Sleeping is a delightful film that will whisk you away to an oasis of sheer comedy.  Beautifully depicted this one is a keeper.  Remember by purchasing directly from this site, you keep this site on going!

This latter-day romantic screwball comedy stars Sandra Bullock as a love-starved subway toll booth operator, Lucy. Lucy pines for regular customer Peter Callaghan (Peter Gallagher), but the self-absorbed
attorney pays her no heed. One day, Peter is beaten by a gang of thugs and tossed onto the track… Mores.
Lucy rescues him from death. While he is comatose in the hospital, a comment she makes at his bedside is misinterpreted, and she then allows his family members, who haven't seen Peter in awhile, to believe that she is his fiancée. Peter's parents, Ox (Peter Boyle) and Midge (Micole Mercurio), take a liking to Lucy.
But Lucy takes a liking to Peter's brother Jack (Bill Pullman), though Jack is suspicious about her claim to be Peter's intended.~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide

Today's the big day!  Your starter has been sitting patiently for three days now fermenting, bubbling into such nutritional value; you'll want to make this bread a couple of times a week!  All you need to do is replenish your Sourdough Starter with 1 1/2 cups flour and 1 cup of warm water and let it sit eight hours on the counter covered,  then store in the refrigerator for future use.  If you have a breadmaker, this bread can be made feasibly several times a week with only a flick of the button set on the dough setting.  Then just take out loaves and let them rise!

I usually have a slice the size of two crackers.  Top with fresh butter and enjoy.  When eaten near bedtime, you'll have a much better sleep and wake less often.

1 1/2 cups sourdough starter
3/4 cup milk
2 tbsp. sugar
1 1/2 tsp. salt
2 tbsp. softened butter
1 package active yeast
1/2 cup warm water
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
4-5 cups of flour

Add everything but flour to bread machine.   Set on "dough".  Add 3 cups of flour and allow blades to whirl until smooth.  Add another cup.  Then add the final cup in increments allowing the bread dough to be soft, slightly sticky, and not dry.  A lovely ball should be rotating at the bottom that is soft.  You can mix this by hand, knead slightly, and let rise an hour in the bowl covered.

Take out bread dough and make three equal size portions.  Shape into a ball and slit at the top crisscross.  Cover with towel and let rise an hour or until double.  Bake at 400 degrees on greased baking sheet for 25 minutes or until golden brown.  Serve immediately with butter! 

There is nothing more enticing than lifting off the lid of this recipe and smelling that sour/acrid odor of a well-bred starter.   Your body immediately sounds out signals of delight in anticipation of the final product.

One bread that is a must  have in your recipe archive is a good sourdough starter.  It is important that your food be nutrient dense to offer optimal health benefits.  Sourdough bread boasts numerous qualities that normal bread just can't hold a candle to.  It has pre-digesting starches, making the bread more easily digestible.  There is a lowering insulin response which improves glucose tolerance.  It protects Vitamin B1 from the damage of the heat in baking.   The recipe breaks down gluten, which may result in  bread that
gluten-sensitive people can eat.  It activates phytase to hydrolyze (dissolve) the phytates, thus freeing up minerals such as: zinc, copper, magnesium, iron, and phosphorous.

Legend has it that prospectors who went to Alaska in the 1890's to seek their fortune in gold took sourdough starters with them in the knapsacks.  These miners ate so much of the bread they came to be known as sourdoughs, a term now associated with backwoodsmen in general.

3 1/2 cups flour
1 tab. sugar
1 package of yeast
2 cups warm water

Combine flour, sugar, and undissolved yeast in a large glass or ceramic bowl.  Add warm
water slowly and begin stirring until smooth.  Top with plastic wrap and let sit three days.  Open plastic wrap to allow air flow when top bubbles then readjust.

Take amount needed for recipe and replenish starter by adding 1 1/2 cups flour and 1 cup of water to remaining starter.  Beat until smooth and let stand in a warm place until mixture bubbles well, at
least eight hours.  Store loosely covered, in the refrigerator and use again once ever two weeks.

Getting a diet with enough vitamins and antioxidants is crucial. Antioxidants protect the brain and body from damage associated with free radicals by neutralizing them.

Free radicals are chemicals the body produces when it uses oxygen and when it reacts to infection, stress, sunlight exposure and pollutants such as cigarette smoke, chemicals and food additives.  These little buggers damage the immune system, causing inflammation that leads to many degenerative conditions.  One possible culprit may be fibromyalgia.  One study suggested that sufferers produce very high levels of cytokines that are linked to inflammation.  Cytokines are a type of white blood cell that is involved in the immune response. 

There is evidence that those with fibromyalgia lack many of these antioxidants.  By eating more of these foods, your body is able to get a much needed supply of these depreciate nutrients.  Phase 1: Finding Relief and Phase 2: Symptom Maintenance get you on the right path to optimal health by incorporating the correct diet.  These tools help in establishing a long-term healthy change.

Important Vitamins

Vitamin A is important for tissue growth, and repairs and protects against respiratory infections.  There are two forms - retinol and beta-carotene.  Retinal is found in liver, fish liver oils, egg yolks, whole milk, cheese, and butter.  Beta-carotene is found in plants, especially in the yellow and orange fruits and vegetables.  Try roasting your vegetables in olive oil.  Roasting softens the cell walls, making it easier for the beta-carotene to be digested.  Enjoy carrots, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, cantaloupe melons, orange and yellow peppers, and apricots.   

Vitamin C boosts the immune system and is found in many fruits and vegetables.  Try citrus fruits, blackcurrants, berries, peppers (red), tomatoes, broccoli, potatoes, peas, and cabbage.  Cooking destroys vitamin C.

Vitamin E is another important component found in nuts, seeds, avocadoes, sweet potatoes, olive oil, and wheat germ.

B Vitamins are often lacking in fibromyalgia sufferers.  Lack of B1 (thiamine), B3 (niacin), B5 (pantothenic acid), B6 (pyridoxine), B9 (folic acid/folate),  and B12 (cobalamin) causes fatigue, muscle weakness and pain, stiff joints, restless legs, sleeping difficulties, depression, irritability, poor memory, confusion, and headaches.  B vitamins are involved in energy release and the production of serotonin.  A diet rich in meat, including liver, kidneys, fish, eggs, dairy foods, wholegrains, vegetables (especially green leafy vegetables and mushrooms) is pertinent.  Also be sure to inlude citrus fruits, beans, peas, nuts, and seeds and you'll be on track in securing enough B vitamins.

Vitamin D studies have shown a lack in this essential nutrient for fibromyalgia.  Such studies show that one in four fibromyalgia patients were short of this vitamin.  Symptoms from lack of vitamin D include muscle pain and weakness, bone pain and fractures, fatigue and depression, as well as sleep and digestive problems. 

80% of vitamin D usually comes from the sun.  The skin produces a form of it following exposure to sunlight.  Exposing skin on the face and arms for at least 30 minutes of daily sunlight (without sunscreen) should do for most people.  Vitamin D supplementation is recommended if you can't get outdoors. 

For me, one of the worse symptoms present for fibromyalgia, has to be the intense sensitivity to food and chemicals. Each of us has our own cross to bear with this illness, and this cross can bring about
excruciating pain, severe dizziness, and all over malaise. This may not be a symptom for everyone out there, but it is one that should be addressed for those that suffer from it.

A day could be going along tolerable, then all of a sudden out of now where, a foreign food or chemical is ingested that the body associates with poison. All of a sudden extreme spine pain ensues, all over extreme fatigue, and then that awful joint pain begins. Who knows how long it will last? It depends on the individual reaction to that associated food or substance. Times assessed can be as minimal as 20 minutes to over 12 hours. This also includes new prescription medications and supplements. Any new formulary change or new script can send the body into such waves of pain it can make one bedridden. Hence, any new medications are abhorred and it is imperative I take only items my body is familiar with.

About one third of CFS and fibromyalgia patients experience food sensitivities or food allergies or have difficulty absorbing nutrients. Negative reactions include gastrointestinal symptoms such
as heartburn, gas, nausea, diarrhea constipation, as well as other symptoms such as headaches, severe muscle pain,  rapid pulse, dialation of pupils,  and fatigue.

FM patients also often experience allergic reactions to other substances besides food. The range of reactions varies greatly among patients, from mild annoyance to serious threat. Those on the far end of the spectrum may be housebound.

Sensitivities to mold, dust mites and grasses are common. Patients also react to perfumes, scented products, cigarette smoke, household chemicals, car exhaust and diesel fumes, glues, inks and dyes.
Symptoms include headaches, dizziness, faintness and nausea. (Because many patients are chemically sensitive, most FM support groups ask people to come "fragrance free.")

The most useful coping strategy is avoidance, which includes eliminating offending substances from the home and diet.  Limit exposure to offensive products while outside the house, too. If you think you might be chemically sensitive, check the products in your kitchen, bathroom and laundry, such as cleaners, soaps, detergents, pesticides, and personal care products such as deodorants, shampoos, toothpaste,
lotions and perfumes.

What to do to when you have no choice

Occasionally, a food product or chemical substance may be important for the quality of life. This happens when I need antibiotics, that my body will not tolerate, or a formulary change in my supplements. I
cannot control the mass market production of my supplements that keep me going, and occasionally the formula has been changed without notice.  Follow these steps with the advice of your healthcare professional.  Most doctors that have knowledge are hypersensitivity will share this with you.

At times this will not help those who need an entire dose immediately.  You can make your healthcare provider aware of your extreme sensitivities.  Don't be afraid to speak up!  You are not nuts, just hypersensitive!