Foods to ease the pain
The foods we eat can be harmful -- or healing. How your diet can help to ease pain aggravated by inflammation.
These days, ‘diet’ means more than simply weight gain or loss. Far beyond the adding or subtracting of pounds on the bathroom scale, our diet can help to maintain good health and protect against chronic disease.Food can help to fight inflammation in the body — which could be a contributing factor for serious conditions like cancer, heart disease, diabetes, Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease. Chronic, low-grade inflammation has also been linked to arthritis and joint pain.
“Over half of my patients are over the age of 50,” says Dr. Kelly Upcott, ND, who practices Naturopathic Medicine in southwestern Ontario. “Joint pain, aggravated by inflammation, is a common complaint. As a result, I’ve developed a range of methods to treat not just the symptoms but the underlying causes. I’ve found that the proper diet can be a huge, and positive, influence.”
A diet based on foods that reduce inflammation has produced a myriad of good results for many of her patients suffering from pain, Dr. Upcott says.
“The benefits of the anti-inflammatory diet are far-reaching but some of the most common comments I hear from my patients are improved energy, a reduction in joint and muscle pain, less joint swelling, improved mobility, improved digestion with less bloating and gas, bowel regularity, clearer thinking, reduction in headaches, better quality sleep and more stable moods,” she says. “I often see an improvement of fasting glucose levels and lower lipid levels in bloodwork.”
And you don’t need to be on the diet long to see results. While Dr. Upcott recommends that her patients follow the anti-inflammatory diet for a minimum of six weeks for optimal results, many notice improvement to their pain — whether it be joint, muscle or stomach — within 3-4 weeks, she says.
Foods that fight inflammation
So what is the anti-inflammatory diet exactly?
First of all, to reduce inflammation, here are the foods to avoid:
• All animal milks and cheeses
• Eggs
• All wheat products, including breads and white flour
• Citrus fruits
• Tomatoes
• Potatoes
• Corn products
• Peanuts and peanut butter
• Caffeinated drinks
• Alcohol
• Red meat (Wild game is fine)
• Fried foods
• Artificial sweeteners
And now for the types of foods that you can eat. Organic fruits and vegetables and free-range and organic fed meats are preferable, “but are not a must,” Dr. Upcott says. And keep in mind that while the list of restricted foods may seem long, you are unrestricted in how much you can eat of the ‘good’ foods. (No need to count calories or weigh portions!)
Beverages
Drink a minimum of 6 to 8 glasses of spring, bottled, reverse osmosis filtered water every day. Small amounts of soy, rice or milk are allowed on cooked grains or in cooking.
Article By: Cynthia Ross Cravit
