Improving your nutrition is one of the most important ways to decrease inflammation in your body. Eating healthier can sometimes be the most challenging method of addressing pain, since it does require discipline. But, it can also be one of the biggest factors in ridding yourself of nagging, chronic back pain.
While people’s goals are different, and I don’t always recommend the same diet for everyone, the meal program I’ve found that works best overall at fulfilling the body’s nutritional needs and decreasing inflammation is the Paleo diet. Also known as the “Caveman” or “Ancestral” diet, its basic premise is: “If you can kill it or pick it, you can eat it.” So, with Paleo, you consume lots of fresh vegetables and fruits, lean protein, nuts and seeds. Check out the Paleo food pyramid below.
The goal is to eat minimal amounts of foods at the top of the pyramid (raw nuts and seeds, good fats, etc.) and for the bulk of your foods to come from the bottom (vegetables and fruits).
While I think the foundation of this diet is fantastic, I prefer to just tell patients to eat a diet rich in whole foods. These are the easiest for the human body to digest because it is how we were intended to eat.
Before we go over the specifics of the Paleo diet, here are a couple more rules:
1- Avoid grains — While we have been told to eat as much grains as possible because they are SO healthy for us, this is simply not true. Grains like wheat, barley and corn are extremely difficult for the human body to digest, and create inflammation in our bodies when we consume them. This inflammation leads to pain.
Oftentimes, we can get our back pain to the point where we are about 80% better, but then we get this achiness and stiffness that just won’t go away. Guess what? Eliminating grains is one of the best ways to get you to 100% wellness mentally and physically!
2- Avoid legumes — Legumes are foods like beans and lentils. These, too, create inflammation in your body and bowel distress. There is a reason kids joke and sing songs about beans causing gas–because it’s true! So, contrary to the lyrics, AVOID eating your beans at every meal!
3- Avoid processed dairy — Ever hear of the term “lactose intolerance”? Lactose is a sugar in milk that many people have a very difficult time digesting, so milk causes them to have an upset stomach and intestinal irritation. When processing plants pasteurize milk, they heat it to very high temperatures to kill off the bacteria. While this sounds like a great idea, there are good bacteria and enzymes that also get killed off in the process.
So, as a result, this whole food just became processed and difficult to digest! Some of the agents in the milk that would have aided with digestion are now gone, and your body is left having to try and break down what has been converted from a whole to a fake food.
The pasteurization process is not the only thing wrong with milk products. Humans were not meant to consume milk from other animals. Especially those animals that aren’t even supposed to be producing milk!
Think about it: When do humans produce milk? When they have just had a child and the mother’s hormones kick in and allow her body to produce it. Once a mother’s child stops needing this milk supply, the supply dries up, and the mom’s body stops producing milk.
Cows, on the other hand, are injected with massive amounts of hormones so that they can produce milk all the time, even long after their calves are grown and stop needing the cow’s milk supply. Just know this: Cow’s milk is not good for you! There are much better alternatives, like almond milk.
But if you absolutely MUST consume cow’s milk, I recommend choosing raw, organic milk. This has the least amount of hormones and will be the easiest to digest—thereby causing the least amount of inflammation.
4- Avoid refined sugar — Sugar is one of the biggest culprits for creating chronic inflammation. Again, I’m sorry. I know nearly everyone has a sweet tooth and this rule eliminates a lot of foods. Don’t hate me. Avoiding these non-foods is for your own good.
When you eat too much sugar, your blood sugar level spikes. This creates a response by your pancreas to secrete insulin. This insulin release allows the body to burn sugar for energy, or to store it as fat. When you eat a lot of sugar, the pancreas sees an overabundance of sugar, so it secretes a large amount of insulin to break it down. It ends up secreting too much, so now this insulin spike goes the opposite way, leaving your body with LOW blood sugar.
When sugar levels get low, you start to get irritable, tired and light-headed. You also get headaches and cravings. Cravings for what? More sugar! So, you reach for a bunch more candy or ice cream, or heavy carbohydrates (like grains), and cause another spike in blood sugar, thus repeating the entire process:
This triggers an imbalance in the hormones in your body and leads to weight gain, fatigue, and—you guessed it—inflammation! Even worse, when this vicious cycle becomes chronic, it can eventually lead to Type II Diabetes.
If, on the other hand, you wake up in the morning and have some protein, a little bit of carbohydrates and some good fats, your blood sugar level will just go up a little bit, your pancreas will secrete the right amount of insulin, and you will get fewer spikes in your blood sugar levels, as depicted in the graph below:
This will lead to less sugar cravings, less mood swings, and less irritability.
Okay, so now that you know what foods you need to avoid, I’m sure you’re dying to ask, “Well, now that all the good stuff is gone, what CAN I eat?”
That’s a great question. Check out my “3 Ultimate Superfoods Checklist” here to learn what you CAN eat to help with inflammation.
Take a look, and be sure to get these items in your kitchen TODAY!
