Healing Pain on the Inside...

We have all experienced it.  Joint pain….soreness in your back...you sleep funny and your neck hurts for days on end.  What if I told you that improving your nutrition and lifestyle choices ( ie- sleep, hydration, stress management) can improve your  pain and inflammation?

I have been a Physical Therapist practicing with patients for the last 15 years with joint aches and pains making a lot of progress and improving pain for some patients and for others not much at all.  Patients can be stuck in this chronic cycle of pain in their joints and not understand why.  Our medical system may put a band aid on it by prescribing NSAIDS and pain killers, but all the while no one is getting to the root of the problem.  It was my recent certification in Functional Nutrition and Lifestyle that has opened my eyes to the impact of these 2 elements- nutrition and lifestyle- that significantly affect our joints. 

How can nutrition affect our pain?

Nutrition affects our joints and our bodies in 2 ways. 

1. Let’s Talk about a Leaky Gut. What we put into our mouths goes through this long process of digestion.  It enters the mouth, travels to the stomach, through the small intestine, then the large intestine and out your rectum in the form of stool.  Inside this tract is billions of “gut bugs”, enzymes and chemicals that break down this food and absorb the nutrients.   Unfortunately, the SAD ( Standard American Diet) has damaged the lining of this digestive tract and killed off the many important “gut bugs” we need to break down the food we are eating into smaller particles.  Our intestinal linings are being damaged by our food and causing the barrier between the inside of our digestive tract and the organs/bloodstream to be broken down, thereby allowing food particles to free float in our body and in our blood.  The alarm signals the immune system to start an attack and because food particles can have a similar composition to your body systems, your immune system will start attacking your brain, lungs, joints, glands...anything it can to stop the foreign invaders from hurting you.  This attack compromises the function of that system and can cause many symptoms including pain and inflammation.

• Let’s talk about SUGAR- We have all heard that sugar is not good for your body, whether from the news, your doctor or a friend.  There is some buzz around reducing your sugar intake but I would like to shed some light on the gravity of how much sugar affects your body and in particular your joints.  The average American consumes 125g of sugar a day and the recommended daily allotment of sugar is 25g per day.  So it's worth chatting about.  When we take in a large amount of sugar in a meal, the body is flooded with a large amount of work to do to process this sugar.  It hits the bloodstream quickly and causes a rise in your blood sugar.  This blood sugar spike signals a cascade of inflammatory chemicals to spread to the cells ( histamine, prostaglandins, kinins and interleukins) triggering a response in your body, including your joints. The joints become inflamed causing aching pain, throbbing and stiffness due to the buildup of inflammation.  One way to stop the inflammatory response is to cut sugar out of your life. 

What to do with your Nutrition to stop the Inflammation and pain in your body?

1. Cut out Sugar. You have to put out the inflammatory fire before you can resolve the issue.  I know you have heard it but sugar truly is causing some if not all of your pain.  Start to read labels and look at the added sugar in your favorite products. The goal is to stay around 25 grams of sugar a day.  Track it for a few days and see what your total is, you will be surprised at the sneaky places sugar is hidden in our foods.
2. Eat your Veggies- the more the better.  Veggies are full of anti-inflammatory properties that can really help your body process the inflammation and eliminate it through your waste.  The more colorful the better.  Eat the colors of the rainbow each day.  Your body will thank you.
3. Avoid inflammatory oils- I am talking about your refined hydrogenated oils such as canola oil, sunflower oil, safflower oil, margarine, crisco and soybean oil. Read your food labels and eliminate foods that contain these oils.  Your joints will thank you. 

• Get in your amino acids- eating good quality proteins can be very beneficial to your joint health.  Incorporating bone broth, grass fed beef, grass fed butter and wild caught fish can give your body the building blocks for repair.  It has to be good quality or it can do more harm than good. 

What can you do to improve pain naturally?

• Reducing stress- This can mean different things for each individual but setting aside a few minutes a day to reduce stress is so important for your body and its healing.  

• On your most stressful, busy day this means taking time to take some deep breaths to calm your nerves and get back to a relaxed state ( it puts in your rested nervous system called your parasympathetic system back into action instead of your fight or flight sympathetic system which we are on when we are stressed).  In the car, on the toilet ( yes I do this on the toilet while I am peeing-TMI sorry!) Whenever you are sitting you can practice deep breathing.  

1. Meditating, Journaling, Bath- anything to calm your body and your mind that you enjoy doing.  
2. Nature Walks- Getting some gentle movement in nature can be so peaceful.  And if walking hurts your joints, putting your bare feet on the ground can do wonders for your health. Just sit barefoot with your feet in the grass.  It can calm your body and your nervous system.
1. Drinking Water-  Dehydration causes muscle cramping and spasming.  If you are not getting enough water it can make your joints more stiff, less flexible and more likely to pull, tug and cause pain.  Water also helps with elimination of waste from the body which is inflammatory by nature so flushing your body can help reduce pain. 

• Anti-inflammatory herbs- Adding herbs to your life can do wonders for your body.  You can add them to your diet or drink as a tea anyway you can get them is best. My favorites are curcumin, turmeric, green tea and ginger. 

• Making dietary changes- I have to say it again because it is so important to understand the role diet plays in our health. The pain and inflammation is your body's way of nudging you and helping you understand that it's not liking what you are currently doing.  Eliminating some of the trigger foods from your diet ( sugar and processed oils) and adding in more of the nutrition rich foods ( veggies and amino acids) will make a huge difference in your pain and inflammation.  

If you are finding these suggestions to be overwhelming and impossible to do, I am here to help.  Set up a discovery call with me to get your questions answered and see if working together on you Nutrition and Lifestyle modifications will help give you relief and improve your health.

Shannon : )