Let’s look at the relationship of chronic pain and dietary imbalances. There is an analogy that works well when it comes to our diets and their impact on our overall health, and on pain and inflammation. Here’s the analogy.
What we can learn from a frog
If you put a frog in cool water, he will be content. If you heat the water quickly he will notice the change in temperature and jump out of the water before it gets too hot. If you heat the water very slowly, slow enough that the frog doesn’t notice the temperature changing. He will stay in the water and let himself be boiled to death.
(This analogy isn’t true. When people have done the experiment, the frogs are intelligent enough to jump out of the water.)
Humanity is unaware that our environment is killing us (and paining us too)
Back to our diets and the ill health that they cause. Our diets have changed gradually over many generations to the point that our diets are a large part of what is killing us prematurely these days. The agricultural revolution then increased the carbohydrate content of our diets. The industrial revolution in agriculture increased farm productivity at the expense of the nutrient content of our foods. And the Fast Food revolution has further depleted the nutrient content of our foods while introducing toxins into our foods.
Way back in 1939 the savvy nutritionist Jean Bogart was already alarmed. She is quoted to have said “The machine age has had the effect of forcing upon the peoples of the industrial nations the most gigantic human feeding experiment ever attempted.” By our standards today, food in 1939 must have been phenomenal in terms of freshness and purity.
Much research has also been done on the influence that our diets have on inflammation. The research cites historical changes in our diets that are associated with a shift in major groups of nutrients.
This shift in what we eat and don’t eat is part of why we have a pain epidemic in our country today. Of particular importance with regard to diet and chronic pain are the large amount of sugars and starch that we eat, the lack of anti-oxidants in our diet, the deficiency of omega 3 fats and the over abundance of a group of fats called arachidonic acid. Finally our diets are lacking in minerals that help alkalinize our bodies.
Cut out sugars and starches to relieve aches and pains
Let’s look first at the connection between sugar and refined carbohydrate consumption, and chronic pain. Clinically, many patients report experiencing an improvement in the levels of pain when they stop eating sweets. A good experiment is to avoid all sugar and refined carbohydrates for one month. Then eat sweets to your heart’s content and see if you don’t feel the difference. Until recently science hasn’t really understood why this occurs.
Long story short, when you eat refined carbohydrates it raises your blood sugar which increases a chemical reaction in the body called glycation. Glycation is similar to what happens when you carmalise sugar cooking. It is a reaction of sugar and protein. It’s the browning that occurs in cakes and cookies.
In the human body this chemical reaction produces a group of chemicals called AGEs or Advanced Glycation End-products. AGEs are damaged proteins. Over a life time AGEs accumulate. A number of conditions can be caused by high levels of AGEs in the body, including atherosclerosis, dementia, joint stiffness and rheumatoid arthritis, inflammation and pain.
Avoiding refined sugars and starches has one other way of benefiting us. Refined foods have had the vitamins and minerals “refined” out of them. By eating more wholesome foods and avoiding refined carbohydrates we are automatically introducing foods with a higher nutrient value into our diet. It’s a round about way of improving your nutritional status without taking a vitamin/mineral supplement.
Chiropractors advise their patients in dietary practices that have been shown to alleviate pain and inflammation.
A diet high in complex carbohydrates (fresh vegetables and fruits) and low in the white foods (sugars and starches) is recommended for overally better health. In addition MN chiropractors recommend the diet as part of a total plan to alleviate chronic pain and to promote the body’s healing capacity.
Dr. Harlan Mittag is a chiropractor in St. Louis Park and Minneapolis, MN and owner of Mittag Holistic Chiropractic. He is a chiropractor, nutritionist and acupuncturist who specializes in the treatment of natural pain and natural pain remedies. A graduate of Stanford University and Northwestern College of Chiropractic, he has had a clinical practice in Minneapolis, Minnesota and has been one of the holistic MN chiropractors for the past 25 years.