PAIN: How to Treat Everything From Arthritis to Back Strain With Food (Part 1)

About a year ago I was in a car accident and herniated a disc in my neck.  It caused me excruciating constant daily pain.  After 6 months of daily high dose anti-inflammatory medications (I was on Mobic), 2 cycles of physical therapy, 30 acupuncture sessions and a ridiculous amount of money spent on massages, my doctor (another Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation Doc) told me rather sadly that he thought I had now completely exhausted conservative measures and it was time for me to think of "facet injections" (steroid injections) to my cervical spine.  This terrified me.


I had been in the OR during many of these procedures with highly skilled attending (senior) physicians specially trained in interventional pain.  These procedures were relatively routine in my world, but every time I thought about getting the injections I thought about the (rare) complication of injury to the spinal cord.  Working in rehab, I've worked with spinal cord injury patients, and I really didn't want to become one myself.  While their stories are often inspiring, no one would willingly choose to sit in their shoes for even one day.  I started doing some research to try to find another way.


Late one night I found a website of a woman sharing her story of how she healed her neck pain with a combination of physical therapy, stretching regimens, acupuncture, massage and "eating an anti-inflammatory diet."  What the heck did that mean?  An "anti-inflammatory" diet??  I had already lost 70lbs, wasn't that enough alteration in my eating habits?


So I started reading, and then I started doing, and now--I am a passionate believer in the power of dietary change to reduce and eliminate inflammation. And by eliminating inflammation I've eliminated pain. 


Two months after starting an anti-inflammatory diet in conjunction with a third round of PT, I was able to get off the Mobic (my daily NSAID medication).  One month later, I no longer had constant pain throughout the day.  


Now, 6 months after starting to reduce the inflammatory foods and increase the anti-inflammatory foods I consume I can honestly say that I can have several days go by without pain--with an even more noticeable improvement in the last 2 1/2 months since becoming Vegan.  Yes, I do sometimes feel the pain--but it hurts when it makes sense to hurt--I'm doing a repetitive action with my neck or back, using muscles that I hadn't strengthened sufficiently.  So duh--I was hurting!

I've been so impressed with this amazing (miraculous to me) transformation in how my body FEELS that I've done even more research and really want to share what I've learned!  In my next post I'll talk about the medical science that backs it up and how to more specifically treat diseases of inflammation, particularly Arthritis, Muscle Strains, Fibromyalgia, and more!  Over this week I'll also post a third post talking about other diseases of inflammation that I do not treat in my specialty--diabetes, heart disease, cancer.

I want to particularly recommend two amazing books with highly relevant information:

1) The Anti-Inflammation Diet by Dr. Jessica Black, N.D.  AMAZING Book--soooo worth the $12 price on Amazon--particularly the table on p.42-43

2) SuperImmunity for Kids! by Dr. Leo Galland (yes its about kids at every lifestage, but if you read through it you can find a whole heck of a lot of good data for adults too!!)  Dr. Galland is what got me interested in nutritional healing of all kinds--I've been reading this book cover to cover for about 10-15 years!!

In closing though, I won't leave you without a carrot for next time (no pun intended):-). 


Here is a GENERAL table of known inflammatory and anti-inflammatory foods.  In Part 2 I'll talk more specifically about which of these foods is most important for Arthritis vs Acute Muscle Strain vs Fibromyalgia, etc.  


The degree of inflammation in each individual can be variable--Jessica Black's book does an excellent job of mapping out a plan for how to do a complete elimination diet (she has more foods listed & substitutions for each one) in her book.  If you are interested in embarking on this path, get her book and read it because she is FAR more knowledgeable than me on this!!  


That said, here is a list of Anti-Inflammatory and Inflammatory Foods synthesized from lists by four leaders in this field:  Dr. Jessica Black, N.D.; Dr. Andrew Weil; Dr. Leo Galland and Dr. Neal Barnard.  **Please see the notes below the table--one of my readers shared with me some more information on other potential inflammatory foods!!**

Inflammatory Foods 1.         Sugar (particularly white refined sugar & high fructose corn syrup)*  2.         Dairy Products* 3.         Meat (beef, pork, chicken,            turkey, fish—except wild      Salmon)* 4.         Corn* 5.         Wheat (gluten)*—more on           this later 6.         Caffeine* 7.         Sodas—even Diet sodas*         (Diet sodas manipulate the fat in your body to actually make it harder to lose it!  More on this in a later post) 8.         Tomatoes & Peppers 9.         White Potatoes 10.      Citrus fruits 11.       Alcohol 12.      Peanuts  13.  Peanut butter 14.  Tofu and Soy {* items are for most of the population—items 8-14 inflammatory foods are individually problematic)

Anti-Inflammatory Foods       1.     Omega-3 Fatty Acids (ground flaxseed meal)       2.     Pineapple (more on this later)       3.     Blueberries (see note below), raspberries, cherries, prunes       4.     Papaya       5.     Kale, Spinach, Collards & other dark leafy greens       6.     Broccoli & Cauliflower       7.     Other Fruits & Vegetables—except tomatoes, potatoes, eggplant, peppers       8.     Garlic       9.     Ginger      10. Turmeric      11. Most nuts & seeds (not peanuts)      12. Teas (particularly Roobios, Macha, decaffeinated green tea)      13. Shiitake, Oyster & other Asian Mushrooms      14.  Sweet Potatoes      15.  Quinoa, buckwheat (not a wheat product), wild rice, barley, steel-cut oats      16.  Wild Salmon

Additional Notes: One of my readers shared the following information with me from  Dr. Norman Childers: Arthritis Nightshade Research Foundation,  She got outstanding relief from her pain by removing all foods and products that contain "solanine.":  "blueberries, apples, artichoke, okra, sugar beets and all products that contain paprika/chili spice and potato starch (PS is commonly found in bakery products, thickeners for soups/sauces, excipient fillers in vitamins/supplements/medications)."  I have not had an opportunity to investigate this material myself, but she has been kind enough to provide some citations from the ANRF website (above) and Michael Fowler's e-book "Nighshade Free, Pain Free" which she recommends.  Thank you Jen Siskind!!  I'll look forward to checking the citations out myself in the coming future! :-)


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NEXT:  COOKING IN BULK TIPS #1!  This week with recipes from The Happy Herbivore

Coming Soon:

• How To Get The BEST Medical Care: Tips to Patients from a Doc
• RECIPES & Ideas:  Snacks!  YUMMY & Portable Plant-based Snack Food--all Sugar-free, Gluten-Free, & Without Added Oils or Fat!!