Dietary Approaches to Managing Pain and Inflammation

Can a healthy dietary approach help reduce pain and inflammation? The answer is yes. When you consume a healthy diet, many nutrients in the foods can help reduce pain and inflammation and promote overall healing. In contrast, if your diet is not healthy, it delays healing and increases inflammation and pain. Learn how nutrition affects pain management and what food you should eat to reduce inflammation and alleviate pain. Log on to www.doralhw.org for a consultation.

How does nutrition affect pain management?

Nutrition plays a crucial role in pain management because it:

1. Reduces inflammation: Eating a healthy diet can lower inflammation in the body by giving nutrients that help fight infection and repair damaged tissues.
2. Improves mood and sleep quality: Healthy eating improves mood by promoting positive emotions and helping you regulate your circadian rhythm. This way your body copes with pain and does repair work.
3. Boosts energy levels: Energy is essential for people to perform anything in life. Healthy foods provide energy to fight fatigue and lower the risk of infection.
4. Supports the immune system and promotes healing: Poor nutrition can delay your healing and make the immune system weak.

Food can work as medicine; that’s why it plays an important role in your treatment plan. Recent research has found that an anti-inflammatory diet can be beneficial for people who struggle with pain. Inflammation is a natural body process to fight off illness, however, when there’s chronic inflammation it can lead to various diseases and conditions. Good nutrition can promote healing, lower inflammation by repairing damaged tissues, and heal from injuries.

One of the great examples of this is the Mediterranean diet which shows lower inflammatory markers in the system. That’s why the World Health Organization has recognized the Mediterranean diet as a healthy and sustainable dietary pattern compared to other diets that are difficult to follow or stick to.

Foods that increase inflammation

Foods that include very few or non-nutrients, which are often ultra-processed, fried, and high in added sugar, salt, or saturated fat can lead to inflammation. Here are some examples of inflammatory foods:

• Sweets, cakes, cookies, and soda: These aren’t dense in nutrients, and are often overeaten or consumed. This can lead to weight gain, high blood sugar, and high cholesterol, all of which cause inflammation. Sugar can make your body release inflammatory messengers called cytokines. So, it is best to avoid or limit the intake of food and drinks that have added sugar including agave or honey, if you can.
• Red and/or processed meat: This comes from cows, pigs, sheep, and goats and is found in things like burgers and steaks. Processed meat like bacon, hot dogs, and sausage, have a lot of pro-inflammatory saturated fat and are best avoided.
• Butter, whole milk, and cheese: These foods tend to be high in saturated fat, unlike other low-fat dairy products, and can cause/exacerbate inflammation.
• Fried foods: Some vegetable oils like corn oil, safflower oil, and soybean oil are high in omega-6 fatty acids. While it is good to eat low amounts in the body, when you consume too much, it can disrupt the balance between omega-6s and omega-3s in your body, which causes more inflammation.
• Anything with trans fats: These are often found on packaged food labels as “partially hydrogenated oils.” If you have a diet high in trans fats, it can increase LDL cholesterol and increase the risk of heart disease, stroke, and type 2 diabetes.
• Gluten-containing foods like wheat, rye, and barley: These are not harmful for everyone, however, people who have celiac disease, which makes their immune system react when they eat gluten, should avoid this protein completely. It may cause inflammation in people with non-celiac gluten sensitivity or wheat sensitivity.
• Alcohol: Light or moderate drinking may help lower several types of inflammation. However, if you drink more than a glass of wine or beer a day, the opposite may happen. So, consult your doctor about how much alcohol is safe for you.

What to eat to manage inflammation and alleviate pain

There isn’t any magic food that works overnight and lowers inflammation, however, some nutrient-rich foods every day can lower inflammation with time, like:

1. Fruits and veggies: Different fruits and vegetables contain natural antioxidants and polyphenols, which can protect against inflammation. Research has found that vitamin K-rich leafy greens like spinach, kale, berries, and yellow or orange fruits and vegetables protect you against inflammation.
2. Whole grains: Whole grains like oatmeal, brown rice, whole wheat bread, and other whole grains contain fiber that reduces inflammation.
3. Beans: They are a good source of fiber, antioxidants, and other anti-inflammatory substances that lower inflammation.
4. Tofu and tempeh: Soy-based products are high in polyunsaturated fat, fiber, calcium, and vitamins that lower saturated fat. Studies have found that people who eat soy-based foods experience low inflammation-related diseases like heart disease, diabetes, and some cancers.
5. Nuts and legumes: Tree nuts like almonds, walnuts, peanuts, etc. contain unsaturated fats along with anti-inflammatory compounds and minerals that reduce inflammation.
6. Omega-3 fatty acids: Foods like salmon, tuna, and sardines contain omega-3 fatty acids that reduce inflammation. You can either eat fish or take fish oil supplements for this nutrient. Vegetarians and vegans can eat plant-based diets like nuts and seeds or cook with canola oil to get this nutrient along with vitamin E, which also lowers inflammation.
7. Gut-healthy foods: Our gut has many beneficial bacteria that prevent inflammation. To cultivate healthy bacteria in the gut, you should consume foods rich in probiotics and prebiotics like fermented foods such as yogurt, cottage cheese, asparagus, bananas, and chicory.

Diet tips

Some dietary tips can help you manage pain and inflammation:

• Eat regular meals and snacks: Eating regular meals and healthy snacks throughout the day can help you regulate your blood sugar levels and prevent fatigue.
• Drink enough water: Staying hydrated is beneficial for health and lowers inflammation. So, make sure you drink enough water throughout the day.
• Consider taking supplements: Some people who suffer from chronic pain may get benefits by taking supplements of essential nutrients like omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin B12, and magnesium supplements. You should consult with your doctor before taking any supplements, to ensure you consume the ones you need.
• Cook more meals at home: When you cook at home, you have complete control over the ingredients you put in your food; but while eating outside, you can’t control the amount of ingredients they add, which can contain excess sodium and additives. Home-cooked meals can be more nutritious and have fewer calories.
• Read food labels carefully: This helps you notice the amount of processed foods, sugar drinks, or unhealthy fats you consume in your food.

Healthy dietary approaches can help you manage pain and inflammation. You can add the above-mentioned foods to lower your inflammation and dietary tips to improve your diet. Over time this can lower your pain and inflammation. Along with a healthy diet, if you adopt a healthy lifestyle like regular exercise, getting enough sleep, managing stress, and working with a doctor to manage your health condition you can achieve better outcomes.

Need help with dietary plans for pain management, visit our pain management clinic in Brooklyn to get professional medical help to create your customized plan according to your health, condition, and severity. Call us to book your appointment now!!!!

Your pain needs professional assistance, visit our pain management clinic in Brooklyn today or call to get a consultation. The location at 1797 Pitkin Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11212 is well-served by public transportation, including many bus routes, and the subway line. Visit our website at http://www.painmanagementbrooklyn.com/ or contact us on +1-718-367-2555 for additional details.