PATIENT’S GUIDE TO CHRONIC DISEASE SELF MANAGEMENT WITH EXERCISE AND DIET
Nutrition for pain management
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Eating your way out of Pain
There are many foods that can be added or taken out of your diet to help you manage your pain while at the same time improving your overall health and well-being. Nutrition plays a significant role in the healing process. Here is a basic guideline and a sample meal plan that can get you started in the right direction to improving your health with food.
Healthy Eating for Reducing Pain
Inflammation in the body referred to as the “silent” inflammation has been linked to food allergies, auto immune disorders, such as lupus and rheumatoid arthritis as well as other chronic and degenerative diseases like osteoarthritis. Silent inflammation can be caused by chronic exposure to foods that are extremely prevalent in our diets today. Look around you, there is quick fast food on almost every
corner. You have to search to find healthier food choices. The amount of inflammation in the body can be affected by what you eat, drink or are other chemical exposures like environment pollution and artificial food coloring or household chemicals. Eating foods that are low in nutrients (vitamins and minerals) high in refined sugars like high fructose corn syrup, and trans-fatty acids and are over processed which can cause your body to produce more pain. Couple this with a sedentary lifestyle, and you get chronic inflammation.
We have all heard the Statement “you are what we eat”, but how many of us live our lives or eat by this fundamental truth. Food is broken down into two categories macro and micro-nutrients. Marco-nutrients are the foods needed in large quantities by the body. They include carbohydrates, proteins, fats and oxygen which provides us with the basic building blocks for life as well as giving us the fuel and energy we need to build and repair our bones muscles tissue and organs for daily life. Micronutrients are the smaller molecules, which are equally important to our health; they are vitamins, minerals, aminoacids and fatty acids. There are 52 essential nutrients that our body needs, but cannot on its own, provide for these needs. To obtain all these nutrients from food, we need to eat a variety of natural, fresh, and nutritious food.
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Sometimes we abuse foods and eat an excess of foods that cause a negative effect on our bodies, these foods are usually in the form of simple sugars, trans and hydrogenated fats like fried foods or baked goods. Foods that are bad for us and our bodies also taste great and sometimes makes us feel good in temporarily but that is usually short lived and we soon after feel the negative symptoms or fatigue, aching and have low energy and a lack of motivation. This then leads to problems within our bodies which can create inflammation and pain in our joints and muscles. Healthy eating doesn’t have to taste bad either. Fresh fruits, vegetables, good fats from nuts and seeds and high quality proteins such as chicken b
reast, beans, legumes and fish, can and should become your new best friend. They give you more usable energy, promote healing and decrease the inflammation in the body that causes pain.Our bodies are more prone to inflammation if acidity levels are particularly high (pH = 7.4 or below), however it has nothing to do with how the food tastes for example lemons, limes and apple cider vinegar which are all acidic in nature, when they are ingested they actually have a alkalizing effect on the body, which can help reduce inflammation and pain.
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Simple nutritional guidelines that can help you cope with your chronic pain are:
1. Never put anything poisonous into your body e.g. aspartame, margarine
2. Give your body the healthy fuels it needs to run well
3. Provide your body with the best raw foods to promote repairing and healing of the body
Margarine is a hydrogenated fat that in our bodies can be quite a dangerous substance that has been linked to several chronic diseases. Aspartame has also been linked to many chronic disorders. It converts in the body to methanol and formaldehyde. Formaldehyde
which is a toxin that is used as an embalming fluid and has been linked to cancer. Methanol causes brain injury, and in many people symptoms of pain. Drinking more than 2 diet sodas per week may form more methanol in your body than you can detoxify,
causing this substance to build up in your system. It may take two months to detoxify when you stop ingesting aspartame. Please stay away from fast food this can cause painful flare ups or increase nerve pain.
There is one group of vegetables called the Night Shades that people suffering from chronic pain should avoid, or have in very limited quantities because they can cause more inflammation and other negative effects on the body. They are the Solanaceae which get
their name because they grow in the night. Unfortunately these foods are the ones that we have grown to love and are the most widely used and overly consumed in our culture. They include; tomatoes eggplants potatoes and peppers; green, red, chili, cayenne
(with the exception of black and white pepper), and tobacco which have been linked to creating more inflammation in the body. They contain chemical compounds that may intensify flare ups in arthritic pain and other chronic pain related conditions where excess
inflammation is in the body. They may also remove calcium form the bones and deposit it in the joints, kidneys, arteries, and other areas of the body where it doesn’t belong.
There is no scientific evidence to back this up in a human trial yet, but there have been studies on animals that allude to this. More importantly when people with chronic conditions have taken these foods out of their diets for at least one month many have noticed a significant reduction in their pain symptoms. You can test this theory for yourself, and if a simple change in your diet can alleviate some of your symptoms then you win.
The three biggest low energy zapping foods that you should avoid are:
-White potatoes
-White flour (limit all wheat products)
-Sugar (refined)
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The Best foods to consume that can reduce pain and inflammations are:
-Pineapples
-Papayas
-Omega 3’s Fish oils
-Good fats (flax, hemp, walnut oil)
-Plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables (except night shade vegetables) explanation to follow
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Baby Steps to Eat for your Way Out of Pain
It’s not expected that you will be able to change all of your eating habits overnight nor is it realistic, but to try to slowly modify your eating day by day and start to eat for your health you may be surprised at how quickly you may enjoy this new way of eating and how much better you may feel. Even if your pain was decreased by only 10% but your energy levels increased this would be a very positive change that can only improve your quality of life.
List of healthy foods that will help you control Chronic Pain
Of course, there are many other nutritious foods other than those that we have included on our list that we feel are wonderful, health-promoting foods; if there are other whole foods – such as fruits, vegetables, nuts/seeds, whole grains, etc-that you like, by all means
enjoy them. Just because a food is not on our list doesn’t mean that we don’t think that it can be included in a diet geared towards reducing chronic pain as long as it is a whole, natural, nutrient-rich, unprocessed food.
Here is a list of foods to choose from:
Vegetables:
1 serving equals 1 cup of cooked vegetables or fresh juice or 2 cups of raw vegetables
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Asparagus Kale
Artichoke Spinach
Avocados Turnip
Bean sprouts Mustard
Beets Okra
Broccoli Onions
Brussels Sprouts Sauerkraut
Carrots String beans, green or yellow
Cabbage Squash
Cauliflower Zucchini
Celery
Greens
Collards
Chard
Dandelion
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Asparagus
Greens
Collards
Chard
Dandelion
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Fruits:
(each of the following equals one serving of fruit)
Fresh juice 1 cup (8 ounces)
Pasteurized juice, 2/3 cup
Apple 1 large
Applesauce (unsweetened), 1 cup
Raisins 4 tablespoons
Apricots fresh, 4 medium
Banana, 1 medium Grapes, 20
Berries Mango, 1 small
Black berries, 1 cup Melons; cantaloupe, honeydew, watermelon, 2 cups
Blueberries, 1 cup Nectarines, 2 small
Cranberries 1 cup Papaya, 1 ½ cups
Raspberries, 1 cup Peaches, 2 medium
Strawberries 11/2 cups Pears
Dates, 4 Persimmons, native, 2 medium
Figs, dried 2 Pineapple, 1 cup
Figs, fresh, 2 Plum, 4 medium
Grapefruit, 1 Tangerines 2 medium
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Other sweeteners:
Aguave syrup 1 tablespoon
Black strap molasses
Honey 1 tablespoon daily
Maple syrup
Complex Carbohydrates
Cereals/Grains Cornmeal Oatmeal
Amaranth Kamut Quinoa
Buckwheat Kasha cereal Rice
Barley Millet Wheat Germ
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Breads
Serving size equals 1 slice Seven-grain
Rye Ezichiel bread
Pumpernickel
Rice
Starchy vegetables
Corn kernels
Sweet potatoes or yams
Squash
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Lean meats poultry and fish (red meat should only be consumed 1 time per week)
Lean pork Grouper
Chicken breast Haddock
Turkey breast Salmon
Lean beef Tilapia
Lean ground turkey Trout
Lean ground chicken Tuna
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Beans
· Black-eyed peas · Lentils · Spilt peas
· Chickpeas · Lima
· Garbanzo beans · Pinto
· Kidney · Soybeans
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Fats and oils
Olive oil Seeds Safflower
Olives Flax Walnuts
Almonds Pumpkin
Avocado Sesame
Pecans Sunflower
Dairy products
Should be consumed in moderation
Low-fat dairy
Yogurt skim or 1 percent
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Spices/herbs:
Basil
Black pepper
Cayenne pepper
Peppermint (soothing and relaxing properties) 
Chili pepper, dried
Cilantro/Coriander seeds
Cinnamon, ground
Turmeric (anti- inflammatory properties)
Oregano
Parsley
Cinnamon, ground
Cloves
Cumin seeds
Dill
Ginger (helps relieve stomach upset)
Sage
Mustard seeds
Thyme
Rosemary
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