Nutrition

“Let food be thy medicine”

-Hippocrates

It does not matter if you are underweight, overweight, or even your ideal weight; poor nutrition will lead to chronic inflammation in your gut and ultimately your musculoskeletal system. You may be able to tolerate a poor diet when you are young but it will eventually lead to aching joints when you are older. This can result in persistent pain from a trivial injury or injury from what you considered until recently a normal movement. 

Orthopedic ailments such as arthritis, tendinitis, neuritis, and tendon tears/ruptures are becoming far more common than in our great grandparents’ generation. Due in large part because the Standard American diet consists of sugar and processed carbs and as a result promotes inflammation. My goal is to inform you that there is a link between what you are eating and the musculoskeletal inflammation you are experiencing.  

What You Can Do

If you are interested in decreasing your overall level of chronic inflammation through your nutrition I have a few suggestions. For most patients I would recommend seeking some professional guidance. The first step would be to make a food journal. Log everything you eat or drink for a few weeks and then schedule an appointment with a certified nutritionist with the goal of setting up a meal plan that is anti-inflammatory. I would recommend you get tested for food sensitivity as well (a simple blood test that can examine how our immune cells react to different foods). I recommend this because on occasion people are sensitive or have a mild allergy to some common foods that they assumed were good for them, but could actually be causing an inflammation in the body. 

Other patients prefer to do their own research. If you have a smartphone you have a computer in your pocket and knowledge is power. Google anti-inflammatory diet or anti-inflammatory foods as well as foods that cause inflammation. You can also search for videos on Youtube that discuss anti-inflammatory nutrition plans. My advice is to find a plan that you would be willing to try. My one caution is that there are a lot of snake oil salesmen out there. Without some background knowledge of nutrition it may be difficult to avoid these pitfalls and you may need to reconsider a preliminary appointment with a certified nutritionist.  If you decide to create your own plan it should consist of lean meats (some people may want another protein source if they prefer a meatless diet), eggs, fruits, vegetables, whole grains , nuts/seeds, and water. You’ve likely heard of many of these diets. The Mediterranean diet, the vegan/vegetarian diet, the keto diet, the paleo diet, and the carnivore diet to name a few of the trendy ones. They all can work because they all eliminate processed carbs and sugar. The best is likely a well balanced meal plan of anti-inflammatory or neutral foods. Most people will be fine with an 80/20 or 90/10 plan which means eat healthy 80-90% of the time and eat whatever you want 10-20% of the time. Some people with severe chronic inflammation such as an autoimmune disease may need a 100% anti-inflammatory diet to see results. Beware that each diet is competing with the others in an effort to sell their cookbooks, meal plans, T-shirts, and supplements so they will criticize other plans without recognizing that they all have pros and cons and they are all better than the Standard American Diet. Most people get results from these diets, but most do not stay with them long term. That is OK as long as you fall back into a healthy long term diet and avoid falling back into the Standard American Diet.

Steered Wrong

If you have a poor diet I sympathize. Unfortunately, many of us were taught the wrong information (the upside down food pyramid) and developed habits that proved to be unhealthy. The correct information is now available and I would urge you to look again. Be aware that our food industry does not have improving our long term health as a goal. They are in the business of making money and have created foods that are addictive and will therefore create profits. If you decide to change your eating habits you should identify some of the land mines that could interfere with your goal. Common ones are fast food restaurants you drive by everyday and junk food brought by coworkers to the workplace or friends and family into your home (experts are starting to compare this to passive smoking). Your goal should be to make the food in your home healthy so you can save your will power for when you eat outside the home. On the other hand, being too extreme like refusing birthday cake or eating out with friends can lead to more harm than good.  A note of caution is that not everyone will support your goals to improve your health. Misery loves company.

Joint Pain and Diet

If you are overweight the increased load on your joints is adding to your discomfort. Improving your nutrition should be your number one health priority. An anti-inflammatory diet will help with your joint pain but will also likely result in weight loss. The reason is lean meats, eggs, fruits, vegetables, whole grains , nuts/seeds, and water tend to be less addictive and more satisfying than processed carbs and sugary food [2]. The only way to lose weight is by a calorie deficit. You need to burn more calories than you eat. A healthy diet is more satisfying and more nutritious and is more likely to lead to a long term calorie deficit naturally. 

Pitfalls

An attempt to improve your nutrition will take tremendous effort. Many people have given up because they have failed in the past. Part of the reason is they “dieted” to look better. If you concentrate on foods that make you feel better and decrease inflammation you are far more likely to improve your health. Another group of people are derailed from improving their nutrition because they overeat unhealthy food in an attempt to self medicate their own depression or anxiety. The temporary dopamine hit from sugary or greasy food can provide a temporary relief but will ultimately ruin your long term health.  If you are one of these people you will need to address your mental health along with improving your nutrition. 

Finally, you may have heard me say “your diet determines your weight, your exercise determines how you look at that weight” put another way “you can’t outrun a poor diet”. The take home message is to fix your nutrition before getting too ambitious with your exercise program.