Chronic Inflammation and Pain

Some of the most common sayings I hear from older people is “Oh it only gets worse from here”, “Wait till everything hurts”, or even “Pain is a part of life”. Why is it so common for so many people to accept pain into our lives?  We should NOT be in large amounts of pain even as we get older. Our joints, muscles, and bones do age as we get older, and things do start to break down, but this doesn’t mean we have to put up with living with chronic pain every day. Pain is our brain telling us that something is wrong and that we need to take the proper steps to fix it. Sometimes it is about getting stronger, practicing functional movement, and staying active. Other times, we need to work on a deeper level within our body to address these problems. 

Inflammation can be acute or chronic. Acute inflammation can happen when you sprain your ankle or knee, experience swelling, or even get a cut that gets red hot. Your body inflames a given area to help you heal with loads of white blood cells, among other helpful cells and materials. Chronic inflammation is the pain we experience deep in our joints or tissues that never seems to go away or get better. ​

When our body decides that inflammation needs to stay, it uses whatever it can to try and fix the problem area even if it's not needed anymore. This is when inflammation can turn bad and start breaking down our good tissue and further damage our weaker areas. ​

Our western culture diet is, in some ways, based around consuming heavily refined foods loaded with sugar, saturated fats and trans fatty acids. These fatty acids consist of large chains of carbon molecules coated in hydrogen that break down very easily in the body, increasing our LDL (low density lipoprotein) or ‘bad cholesterol’. More specifically these food groups are our fried, baked, processed, refined, bagged, canned, or bottled types of foods. There are so many different types of fats and sugars that make these products taste OH SO YUMMY, as well as provide a long shelf life. 

These all contribute towards serious chronic inflammation. This is what may be causing you pain and stiffness in your joints. It sounds a little scary and it is! The longer you have this chronic inflammation, the more likely you are to be breaking down your healthy tissue, and the issue becomes harder and harder to reverse. 

SO what can we do to help fix this? Well, if you are here you are probably on the right track.

We want to consume more omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids. These are going to be high in our HDL, mono and polyunsaturated fatty acids. HDL stands for High Density Lipoprotein. This is a good cholesterol that we want high amounts of in order to help carry ‘bad’ cholesterol out of the body. Mono and polyunsaturated fats also help carry out bad cholesterol, as well as fueling the brain/body and building new healthy cells. When we start increasing the amounts of these fats in our diet, we are going to see a decrease in that inflammation in our body. Foods high in omega 3 and 6 fatty acids are:

• Salmon or other fatty fish 
• Nuts and seeds 
• Olives, avocados, flaxseed oils

We also have to talk about refined sugar. Where we find high saturated fats, we will also find loads of sugar and this only feeds inflammation. These sugars are found in refined breads, pastas, baked goods, sweets and candies, along with fried foods and heavily preserved products. 

This does not include fruit. Fruit actually provides a decrease in inflammation due to the natural sugar and antioxidants loaded within, helping to clear out that build up. If you are someone that is also affected by dairy products, you should really try to avoid lactose, as it is yet another sugary product.

Even though milk has natural sugar, a sensitivity to dairy could further inflame an already troubled area if dairy products are consumed. Try and stick to all natural sugars, unprocessed food, and lots of fruits and vegetables. The less sugar you have the better! 

Be mindful when you eat, and think about how processed foods might be playing a part in your chronic pain. This is a process, and it may take months to start noticing changes in levels of pain around inflamed areas. Some other positive side effects from limiting these types of foods will be better, healthier looking skin, a greater store of energy, less bloated post-meal complaints and even weight loss. 

Overall, limiting these types of foods that are high in unsaturated fats and sugars can improve our general health dramatically, and greatly reduce inflammation that causes pain for so many.

-Bree