Anti-Pain Diet: Relieve Headaches, Arthritis, More
Sunday, August 12, 2012 5:02 PM
By Donna V. Scaglione
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Take a handful of steamed and cooled
vegetables � preferably cruciferous veggies like broccoli, cauliflower,
or Brussels sprouts � and toss them in a blender. Throw in some fruit to
sweeten things up, like apples or blueberries, and blend well. Enjoy
once or twice a day.
While this blender drink may not sound as
appetizing as your favorite strawberry daiquiri, it packs powerful
healthy compounds and it can be an important part of a diet that cuts
chronic inflammation and pain in the body, according to nutrition
researcher and top neurosurgeon Dr. Russell Blaylock. And the concoction
is tastier than you might think.
The star ingredient in this unorthodox
blender drink is flavonoids, substances in the vegetables that stimulate
anti-inflammatory action in cells and work to block pain. In addition
to lots of fruits and vegetables � at least 10 servings a day � Dr.
Blaylock recommends whole grains, organically raised chicken, turkey,
and lean beef, as well as white tea, which has higher concentrations of
flavonoids than other teas.
Dr. Blaylock�s plan is similar to
anti-inflammatory-based strategies espoused by Dr. Andrew Weil, and the
nutrition experts behind the Mediterranean diet, and the Zone Diet.
�You�re eating a small amount of meat and
the vegetables, some whole-grain rice. If you�re eating that, it�s
tasty. You�re not just eating pure vegetables,� says Dr. Blaylock.
Another significant tenet of his anti-pain
diet is a decrease in the consumption of pro-inflammatory omega-6 oils
found in lots of processed foods. These oils include corn, safflower,
soybean, peanut, sunflower, and canola. But do eat a lot of omega-3
fatty acids found in olive oil, walnuts, and wild, cold-water fish like
tuna.
Dr. Blaylock�s diet works to achieve two
objectives: It cuts out excessive glutamate found in many processed
foods which can increase cell sensitivity to its toxic effects, a
condition known as excitotoxicity, and it fights chronic inflammation.
Both contribute to the chronic pain of arthritis, backache, carpal
tunnel pain, headache, and the aches and pains of aging.
�When you reduce inflammation, that
significantly reduces pain � there�s no question,� he says. �But the
greatest reduction is blocking the excess glutamate transmission to the
spinal cord and the ganglion of that involved nerve. When you do both �
reduce the inflammation and the excitotoxicity � you get dramatic
reduction of the pain.�
Dr. Blaylock bases his anti-pain diet
recommendations on years of studying neurological research and
experience treating chronic pain in his practice. Some patients have
experienced such dramatic results that they stopped or reduced their
pain medications, he says. "Usually they get off all their medications.
It depends. Some chronic conditions still require some pain medication
but [patients] use a lot less. They find out they can cut their use by
50 percent, 75 percent. You feel bad when you take these powerful
medications. They can�t think; they�re sleepy all the time.�
While anti-inflammatory eating is getting
some media attention lately, not everyone is convinced of its benefits.
Although many consider it a healthy diet, some point out that large
gold-standard studies that put anti-inflammatory claims to the test
haven�t been done.
"We are not at the point yet that we can say
that diet directly modifies the inflammatory process," says Lisa
Cimperman, a dietitian at University Hospitals in Cleveland.
But Dr. Blaylock, author of The Blaylock
Wellness Report and four books on nutrition, says most doctors� first
reaction to a patient in pain is to prescribe painkillers. Often, diet
isn�t even discussed. What�s more, many Americans have been raised on
and continue to eat a heavily processed diet full of taste-enhancing
excitotoxins like monosodium glutamate, which exacerbate pain.
�When they feel bad they don�t connect it to
what they�ve eaten because they�re eating it all the time,� he says.
�They eat it three times a day. They snack on it. They go to restaurants
and eat it. So they don�t associate what they�re eating with how bad
they�re feeling. And eventually they get to the point where they feel
bad all the time and they assume everybody feels that way. They think
it�s normal. They�re just amazed when they do this for two weeks on a
clean diet and they say, �I had no idea I could feel this good.��
Dr. Blaylock�s Prescription for Pain:
When buying foods for this diet, choose organic when possible.
Breakfast
Blueberries and strawberries, oatmeal or slice of whole grain bread with goat butter, cantaloupe, or honeydew melon
Snack
An ounce (about a handful) of walnuts,
pecans, or cashews or veggie blender drink that combines a handful of
steamed and cooled cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, celery, kale,
spinach, cauliflower, or Brussels sprouts) with blueberries
Lunch
Sliced turkey on whole grain bread with fresh spinach leaves and red onions
Iced white tea
Spinach salad or mixed green salad with extra-virgin olive oil dressing
Apple or pear
Dinner
Grilled wild Pacific salmon rubbed with ginger, turmeric, garlic, or cinnamon
Small baked sweet potato or whole-grain rice
Mix of steamed broccoli and cauliflower
Cup of white tea
Handful of fresh cherries
Read more: Anti-Pain Diet: Relieve Headaches, Arthritis, More
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