The flash is back: alternative nutrition helps actress Jennifer Beals beat chronic fatigue, Epstein-Barr.(Cover Story)

Jennifer Beals has enjoyed a healthy career in show biz for the past 2 decades. The diverse performer has worked alongside stars such as Denzel Washington, Dustin Hoffman and Faye Dunaway--but the accomplished actress didn't always enjoy perfect health along the way.

While Beals was physically fit, she was also physically ill during the late 1990s. That's when the thespian endured a non-publicized health challenge that would forever change the way she viewed nutrition.

Daunting Diagnosis

Beals was diagnosed with the Epstein-Barr virus and chronic fatigue syndrome, which drained the Flashdance star's energy levels for months. Beals also suffered from thyroiditis, an inflammation of the thyroid gland that contributes to fatigue. She even tested positive for lupus, a chronic inflammatory disease that can affect various parts of the body and typically causes achy joints, arthritis and fatigue.

"I went to one of the top endocrinologists in New York, and he couldn't figure out how to help me," says Beals, who has since fully recovered her stamina. "The doctor told me I was fluctuating so rapidly between two poles that he didn't know what to give me and suggested that I see an alternative doctor."

A weary Beals took the doctor's advice and sought out alternative approaches to fix her fatigue. The first step was shunning sugar and weaning herself from wheat, an experience Beals reckons is similar to the experience of withdrawing from drugs. She admits that she was "unpleasant to be around" during that time, but the bigger disappointment was her lack of recovery.

"I went to Vancouver to do a film, and I was still really tired all the lime," says Beals, who was starting in a Paramount TV film series called Amanda America at the time. "I thought to myself, 'How am I going to get through this?'"