If you have been following health news at all, it is relatively likely that you have heard something about GMO’s. It’s important that we understand GMO’s and other chemicals, and how they can affect diseases like fibromyalgia.

What do they do? What harm can they bring if we don’t keep track of them? These are the sorts of things that we’re going to explore in this article, so you have a better understanding of their affect on us.

What Are GMOs?

So, of course, the first question that comes up is “what is a GMO, anyway?” That’s a good question, actually – we hear so much about them, but we really don’t know what they are.

The letters “GMO” mean “Genetically Modified Organism.” In short, these are organisms that have been engineered in a specific way in order to bear a specific result.

The process, called genetic engineering, is used for a lot of different things. In this context, the GMO’s that we are going to be discussing are, specifically, related to the GMO’s in the foods that we eat.

What happens is that crops and food are genetically engineered to do specific things. In most cases, it’s meant to make those foods immune to something – whether it’s a disease, a certain type of pest, or even against becoming spoiled.

It sounds like a good thing, on the surface, but the issue is that these foods aren’t supposed to do those things naturally.

On top of that, when we ingest these foods, we are ingesting the chemicals and such that were used to make the genetic modifications, thus potentially causing us issues.

In tests, sterility, infertility, lung damage, and other issues have occurred in people and other living things that ingest GMOs in their food.

This has caused a number of lawsuits to be inferred and investigations on companies that use GMO’s in the food.

What Do GMO’s Do To Those Who Have Fibromyalgia?

Right, we understand that GMO’s really aren’t good for us to be consuming. But it is, honestly, that much worse for those with fibromyalgia to be digesting them as well. Why is that the case?

Let’s look at some of the major issues that may occur if fibromyalgia patients (and even those without the disease) are consuming GMO foods as a regular part of their diet.

GMO’s have been shown to cause a lot of problems with fatigue. Those of us with fibromyalgia already know what it’s like to have to fight off fatigue, and ingesting these foods just makes it that much harder for us to deal with, if we aren’t careful of it. There are a lot of salts and sugars in these foods as well, which add to the fatigue problem.

Because our bodies are already dealing with a lot of sensitivity issues as it is, food sensitivities are just going to add to the pile.

You may have noticed that you’re more sensitive to certain foods since your fibromyalgia developed – it’s a fairly common issue.

Food allergies are becoming a lot more common in pretty much everyone, and some research suggests that these food allergies are linked to GMO’s as well, so it’s important that we try to avoid them.

As you likely know, digestive problems like irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and other issues are quite common because of the problems that happen in the immune and digestive systems as a result of fibromyalgia.

Digestive system issues also occur because of GMO’s – ulcers and IBS are just two of the issues that can happen, but others are known to happen as well.

Why make it so that you have a higher chance of having these digestive problems? The GMO’s will increase your chances of developing them at some point in the future.

GMO’s have been associated with weight gain in a number of studies. As we’ve discussed in other articles here on our site, weight gain can be a huge problem for those with fibromyalgia.

It makes it harder for us to move, and it makes it so that our body is in even more pain than it would have been without the extra weight.

Because of that, we need to do everything that we can in order to try and keep at a healthy weight. GMO laden food isn’t going to help you meet that goal – it’s actually going to make it harder for you to achieve.

GMO’s cause a whole host of problems, no matter what health problems you are fending off. In short, you can see that, even though the GMO’s may not necessarily bother the fibromyalgia, it will cause other problems.

These other health issues are, often, already associated with fibromyalgia anyway, so why would you want to eat foods that may make them more likely to come around.

The name of the game with fibromyalgia is prevention, and eating GMO laden food is going to make it hard for you to achieve that end goal.

Avoidance of GMO laden foods is one of the best things that you can do in order to help preserve your overall health and wellness.

So, as you can see, it’s likely a good idea for you and your nutritionist to take a good look at your diet and what it could be doing to your body.

How will it affect you? What changes need to happen in order to keep your symptoms under control? Where could you be eliminating GMO’s in order to make sure that you feel more comfortable overall?

There is so much that you can do in order to try and ensure that your body is well taken care of, so be sure to try changing your diet somewhat before trying more drastic life changes and such.

Only change your diet under the supervision of a health professional – they can give you the right advice and they can keep track of any unusual changes that may occur in your health as a result of your lifestyle changes.

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetically_modified_organism

http://fibromyalgia.mercola.com/