Everyone knows our diets should contain lots of fresh fruits and vegetables, lean meats, complex carbohydrates, and low saturated fats. Fad diets, such as The Atkins Diet, South Beach Diet and the Maple Syrup Diet to name a few, have come and gone. Unfortunately, no one really hears much about the correlation between our diets and pain and inflammation in the body.

As a society, millions of adults suffer from different forms of pain. Whether a chronic pain, such as tendonitis or arthritis, or a musculoskeletal issue, certain foods can be included or excluded in our diets to help alleviate the suffering. Although taking an anti-inflammatory can be very appealing, there are many side affects associated with a reliance on this method of relief. Inflammation is the body’s natural reaction to an injury. It can also be caused by arthritis or allergies, including allergies to certain foods (gluten, dairy, eggs or wheat).

In order to help control the body’s inflammatory response it is important to eat foods rich in anti-oxidants and omega-3 fatty acids while trying to keep the body as alkaline (non-acidic) as possible. Some foods that can be helpful include: apples, avocados, berries, fish, pineapple, olive or flaxseed oil and unsalted nuts or seeds. It would also be helpful to limit the amount of sugar (corn syrup, molasses, etc.), highly processed and refined products, alcohol, caffeine and saturated fats in your diet.

This article was published in The Egoscue Method monthly newsletter, March 2007 edition.