“Let food be thy medicine, and medicine be thy food” Hippocrates, 460 – 377 BC
Hippocrates, the ‘father of modern medicine,’ spoke these words over 2,400 years ago, and yet they have never been more true than they are today. Since the Industrial Revolution, our agricultural/economic landscape and its influence on the global food supply have undergone an unprecedented shift, creating food choices and technologies that have never been seen before in human history and challenging our evolutionary ability to integrate them. Many of our 21st. century diseases and illnesses have their roots in this shift from an agrarian way of life to a highly technological and convenience-based food system. Eating and drinking are such routine daily activities that we rarely stop to give any thought to the vast range of substances under the heading of ‘food’ that we currently ingest. But should we become more acutely aware of the powerful effects of the food and beverages that we put into our bodies on a daily basis, and their effects on our physical and mental health? The maxim “you are what you eat” was coined in 1826 by the French author Anthelm Brillat-Savarin, who, when discussing the effects of diet on gout, wrote, “tell me what you eat and I will tell you what you are.” Scientific studies have shown conclusively that food does in fact influence mood and physical health. The food we eat directly affects our gut health (our ‘second brain’) and is responsible for the production of neurotransmitters, the body’s chemical messengers that relay information from the gastrointestinal system to the brain. In the brain, serotonin receptors act as ‘mood regulators’ that influence biological and neurological processes such as cognition, sleep, aggression, anxiety and depression – and are responsible for our experience of pain throughout the body.
If you are someone who experiences pain in any form, especially chronic pain, what you regularly consume may have everything to do with the variety, severity and duration of the pain you experience. In fact, it is perfectly feasible to view diet as a basic means of pain control. Healthy food choices can positively reduce your experience of pain and its side effects. Poor food choices, on the other hand, can greatly increase your suffering and your need for pain medication for a vast range of conditions including fatigue, insomnia, lethargy, depression, weight problems, digestive issues and nerve pain. The most problematic diseases of our time – heart disease, diabetes and cancer – as well as conditions like arthritis, high blood pressure and fibromyalgia – can all be positively affected by adherence to a healthy diet. Nutrient-rich whole foods, processed as little as possible and eaten fresh, raw or lightly cooked, build up your body’s health and promote a long, happy and productive life, while processed, packaged and chemical-laden ‘junk’ foods tear the body down, compromise your immune system and damage your quality of life and even affect your longevity. Monitoring the nature of the food you eat and its effects on painful conditions should be a key part of your life as well as an exciting adventure! Developing a taste for cleaner, healthier foods pays off in ways you may never have imagined, and if you feed your body well, it will be able to heal and repair itself well too.
Consider these facts for a minute. Inflammation in the body is acknowledged to be the number one cause of pain and the underlying root cause of many diseases. Pro-inflammatory foods surround us everywhere in the form of chemical-laced products: meats and poultry full of hormones and antibiotics, pesticide-sprayed fruits and vegetables, saturated animal fats, refined grains stripped of their essential nutrients, artificial sweeteners, colorings, fillers and many other ingredients not found in Nature. Pro-inflammatory foods like these are hugely responsible for arthritis flare-ups, serious digestive issues, heart and arterial dysfunction and nervous system disruption throughout the body. Every time we eat them, the body is forced to try and assimilate and digest them, often adding semi-toxic ingredients that are basically undigestible and are stored as ‘waste’ by the body in areas away from vital functioning organs (this is particularly visible in the form of ‘cellulite’ and lumpy disfiguration of the muscles and skin around the back, hips and thighs of many people.) These health-depleting substances are not easily flushed out of the body, and set the scene for weight gain, fluid retention, nerve irritation and other difficult to diagnose conditions like depressed or angry mood, listlessness and ‘brain fog.’ The end result is an increase in pain, the body’s signal that something is wrong and should be corrected to bring the body’s systems into equilibrium. We often overlook the connection between pain and the food and beverages we consume, and while it is becoming increasingly difficult to avoid all the problematic, even toxic substances that are making their way into food nowadays, cultivating an awareness of your body’s responses to foods can help you become stronger and more resistant to stress and disease and its accompanying pain.
The existence of inflammation in the body and its manifestation as pain is a strong signal that certain hormones, named prostaglandins, are out of balance. Further confusing the issue is the fact that there are prostaglandins that cause inflammation, as well as prostaglandins that quench it. Fats are an example of a food category that shows us how this phenomenon works. Prostaglandins are constructed from fatty acids, so the types of fats and oils that you eat are directly linked to the types of prostaglandins predominant in your body. Many animal fats (saturated fats) as well as partially hydrogenated oils (vegetable and seed oils that are industrially saturated with hydrogen and then exposed to extremely high temperatures) are particularly problematic if you are wishing to avoid pain. In addition to raising your ‘bad’ (LDL) cholesterol and lowering your ‘good’ (HDL) cholesterol, these fats greatly increase the pro-inflammatory prostaglandins in your body, causing pain. These bad fats and oils are found in most fast food fare, including hamburgers, French fries and processed foods like margarine and calorie-laden sauces and dressings. Deep-frying food in oil that is repeatedly reheated is especially dangerous to your health. Extremely high frying temperatures cause cooking oils to become peroxidized and molecularly unstable, and through a process called cross-linking, the oil molecules become distorted and often sticky and rancid with time. Food fried in this manner should be avoided if you are seeking to be pain-free. If you have joints that feel hot or inflamed, burning sensations in your nerves, or if you experience conditions such as neuralgia, fibromyalgia or migraines, look into the link between food-caused inflammation and the ingestion of these cheap and dangerous food items. Substance P (the scientific term for ‘pain’) and bradykinins, both neurotransmitters, are produced by the prostaglandins when such foods are consumed, and the result is pain and inflammation throughout the body.
What about the ‘good’ prostaglandins that put out the fire of inflammation? These prostaglandins are also derived from fatty acids, but from different food sources. The best-known ‘good’ fatty acids are the Omega 3’s, which have received a lot of press in recent years. Omega 3s are abundant in cold water fish such as salmon, tuna, mackerel, anchovies and sardines, as well as walnuts, flaxseed, hemp seed and chia seed. Omega 3-rich eggs from chickens that are fed an Omega 3-supplemented diet are a great alternative to eggs from battery-farmed hens, and have been shown to improve brain and heart health. Other anti-inflammatory foods include MUFAs (monounsaturated fatty acids) which are plant-based foods that are high in healthy fatty acids. Foods that are high in MUFAs include olive oil, canola oil and sesame oil, nuts including cashews, almonds, pistachios and hazelnuts, as well as olives, avocados and dark chocolate. You can make significant changes to your health very simply by replacing red meat with good fatty acid foods like salmon and other deep-water fish just once or twice a week. Always select wild-caught salmon rather than farmed salmon, as farm-raised salmon is not fed the plant-rich diet necessary to give the fish’s flesh its high levels of Omega 3. Interestingly, canned salmon is usually wild-caught and canned nearby, so is a great, economical source of Omega 3s for inclusion in salmon cakes and other seafood dishes. Quenching inflammation is your goal here, and switching out greasy burgers for baked or broiled salmon, including more fresh nuts and seeds in your diet, and using extra virgin olive oil instead of cheaper heat-treated vegetable oils in cooking and to dress salads and vegetables are easy, tasty ways to improve your health and keep pain at bay.
Another category of foods to be mindful of are refined grains and sugar in all its forms. As all diabetics know, consuming denatured grains in white bread, processed pastas and white rice results in a spike in blood sugar when consumed, worsening their condition as the years pass and often leading to neuropathy, kidney disease and vision problems. Baked goods like pastries and cakes made with white flour, white sugar and often artificial chemicals and flavorings are especially problematic, as are ice cream and desserts made with sugar, dairy products and chemical preservatives and flavor enhancers. In addition to weight gain, lethargy and mood swings, too-frequent consumption of these foods is highly aggravating to the nervous systems of sensitive people. Sugar is more addictive to the body than drugs like cocaine or heroin, and in America, sugar is added to virtually every processed or packaged food or beverage that we consume, making it nearly impossible to avoid. Sodas and sugary drinks are prime offenders. A 20-ounce soda contains 65 grams of sugar – about five times as much as a glazed donut. Consuming sodas, juices, sweetened coffees and sugary drinks on a daily basis leads to obesity, Type 2 diabetes, and a higher risk of dying of heart disease and certain cancers. The sugar rush from soda is far too rapid for our bodies to handle, and we are not evolutionarily equipped to deal with the sugary onslaught. Because the brain does not recognize drinks as food, calories in liquid form do not produce satiety, so soda does not trigger the hormones that tell you to stop eating, and often stimulates the desire for even more sugar in the form of snacks, candy bars and pastries – a vicious cycle.
We have established that there are categories of food to avoid if you want to conquer pain and disease. They are refined, processed, packaged ‘junk’ and convenience foods; deep-fried foods; saturated fats, mainly from animal sources; hydrogenated oils containing trans-fatty acids; all refined sugar and artificial sweeteners; denatured, chemically-treated grains in the form of bread and pastries, and sodas, soft drinks, juices and coffees sweetened with artificial sweeteners or high-fructose corn syrup. These are ‘foods’ with little or no nutritive value, and they can wreak havoc with your bodily systems. As a rule, avoid fried, packaged or canned foods and concentrate on fresh (or frozen) foods. Now let’s take a look at foods that are recommended to improve your health and help you to live pain-free. The best diets to follow to reduce or eliminate stress, pain and disease can vary from individual to individual, but science is showing that a modified keto diet and the Mediterranean diet appear to be the most successful in significantly impacting health and longevity. The Mediterranean diet in particular is enjoyable and easy to follow and integrate into one’s lifestyle, and is the diet found in many of the world’s ‘blue zones’ – specific areas of the world where people live to be active and happy well into their senior years, with many living a hundred years or longer without showing signs of physical deterioration or cognitive decline. The foods you want to focus on include an abundance of fruits and vegetables (particularly dark, leafy green vegetables, especially cruciferous vegetables); raw nuts and seeds; beans and lentils; natural cheeses; fermented, probiotic foods like yogurt; fresh seafood including salmon, shellfish and shrimp; whole unrefined grains; cold-pressed oils like extra virgin olive oil, and fresh or dried herbs and spices. As for meat, grass-fed beef or lamb is best, as is free range chicken and Omega 3 eggs. In the ‘blue zones,’ alcohol and coffee are enjoyed in moderation, and plenty of pure, clean water is a mainstay of the healthiest diets.
Think of the last time you visited a farmer’s market or a country vegetable stand. The sights, colors, smells and appearance of the ripe, delicious fruits and vegetables are a treat for all the senses. Row after row of produce in deep, beautiful colors, some just pulled from the earth and radiating their heritage of sunshine and fresh air, fruits and berries of luscious colors in all shapes and sizes, and in the Fall, enormous orange pumpkins, glossy purple eggplant and golden squash, inspire one to set aside dismal commercially manufactured and packaged foods and indulge in the bounty of Nature. Even in the supermarkets, well-managed produce sections are a sight to behold, with many exotic fruits and vegetables that you may never even have tried. Tomatoes, bell peppers, cucumbers and frilly lettuces promise fresh, inviting salads, while onions, garlic, potatoes and cabbages offer heartier meal options. Citrus fruits and berries of all kinds contain a myriad of phytonutrients designed to naturally support your health. Fruits and vegetables are truly tonics that are high in antioxidants, flavonoids and health-protective vitamins and minerals. Blue, purple and dark red fruits are high in anthocyanins which reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. The maxim ‘an apple a day keeps the doctor away’ is an inspiring statement! Make it a point whenever you are shopping to select one vegetable you have never tried before, find an interesting recipe online, and find out if you have a new, tasty addition to your healthy food repertoire. Stock up on raw nuts and seeds, nut butters and nut milks (an excellent alternative to dairy products for those who do not tolerate milk well.) Specialized, multi-purpose products like extra virgin olive oil, organic coconut oil, raw honey and apple cider vinegar are excellent additions to your pantry. Breads like Ezekiel bread (which is made from enzyme-rich sprouted whole grains) is a healthy alternative to commercial bleached, refined and nutrient-poor bread. Don’t forget to look for spices that have powerful therapeutic properties – garlic, ginger, turmeric – which each have dozens of compounds that act as COX-2 inhibitors to reduce pain, swelling and inflammation. Buy fresh sweet basil, rosemary, oregano, chives, thyme, parsley and cilantro, all superfoods in their own right, to season your fresh produce, or grow your own for a healthy, aromatic experiment!
Making small everyday changes to your diet will pay off in major ways over time. Your palate will adjust, and you will wonder how you ever felt cravings for junky, sugar- or salt-laden convenience foods, snacks and drinks. Eating wholesome, fresh foods will open up a new world as your body adjusts to the powerful phytonutrients it is now receiving. Your physical and mental outlook will improve, and aches and pains will recede and often disappear entirely. Shopping for healthy food, cooking and experimenting with new recipes and meal plans will become more of an adventure that you look forward to, as your newfound energy, health and vitality make illness and disease a thing of the past. Here’s to your good health!
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