What if those diets you read one night on some Facebook support group claiming to cure your abdominal pain; your chronic pain or your endometriosis was actually increasing your experience of pain? Does cutting out your morning coffee, gluten or dairy actually make any difference or is the fear of these foods doing more harm? Today we answer the question, is your diet increasing your chronic pain?
The more we fear something, the more our protective mechanisms increase and our thresholds decrease. For example, if you have injured your ankle being tackled in a football game you are likely to experience pain in your ankle earlier when doing a similar movement as a protective mechanism. That is normal, our body learns and our body protects. Sometimes our bodies become over protective because of our thoughts or experiences. If you associate eating a certain food with pain then fear of consuming that food again can actually begin to increase your experience of pain as a protective mechanism – don’t stress unnecessarily.
Give Your Body the Daily Protein it Needs to Repair
Protein is the building blocks for our tissues and is important for repair of injury or damage to your soft tissues. It is common for individuals with chronic pain to stress about future injury or tissue damage. Eating daily protein will help ensure that you have the amino acids you need to efficiently rebuild issues.
Good sources of protein for individuals with chronic pain include:
- Lean meat, skinless chicken and seafood
- Tofu
- Legumes
- Low fat dairy
- Nuts
Aim for reaching your protein targets of:
- 0.75-0.84g/kg/day (19-70yrs)
- 0.94-1.07g/kg/day (>70yrs)
Increase Your Consumption of Anti-Inflammatory Foods
We need a healthy level of inflammation for our body to repair, recover and grow. Chronic inflammation can occur when this inflammation becomes overactive long term. Chronic inflammation is associated with chronic pain, particularly in conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis. Including these anti-inflammatory foods daily can help to reduce chronic inflammation and improve pain management:
- Antioxidants– Found in Fruits and Vegetables
- Omega-3-fatty acids– e.g. Oily fish, Walnuts, Chia seeds
- Soluble fibre– e.g. Oats, Legumes
- Unsaturated fats – e.g. Olive Oil, Avocado, Nuts
- Fermented foods – e.g. Yoghurt, sauerkraut
Omega-3 fatty acids in particular have a substantial amount of evidence supporting their role in improving pain management through their anti-inflammatory actions, most commonly observed in rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis. There are three types of omega-3 fatty acids – EPA and DHA found in oily fish (e.g. salmon & tuna) and ALA found in plant sources (e.g. walnuts, chia, flaxseed). Supplements are also an effective source of Omega-3 fatty acids where dietary sources can’t be met. Aim to consume 2-3 x 150g serves of oily fish per week, include regular walnuts, chia and flaxseed or look for fish oil supplements with 30% EPA/DHA and aim to consume 250-500mg/day.
Increase Your Support Team
Chronic and persisting pain can be exhausting. We want you to feel empowered and we don’t want you to fall into any fad diets. If you want to know any more information about diet and chronic pain management or have concerns about food intolerances increasing your pain, get in touch with us and seek advice from a dietitian.
