Chronic pain can be one of the most frustrating conditions to deal with, for a couple of reasons:
#1. You don’t always know what causes it. Sometimes, there can be a physical cause; other times, there is no known physical cause, which usually means your body is generating an inflammatory response to some other unknown or non-physical stimuli. This makes it seemingly hard to cure.
#2. You can’t easily get medicine for it. At Queen City Health Center, we’d actually say that’s a good thing since prescription drugs are toxic. But if you’re in debilitating pain and just want something to manage the symptoms, it can be hard to get medicine from a doctor if they can’t see any physical signs of the pain or if they can’t diagnose the cause. The reason for this is that prescription meds are often abused, and a lot of patients will use “pain” as an excuse to get their hands on legal drugs. As sad as this is, it’s a reality…
Still, many people suffer from chronic pain these days, either as a response to injury, or as the product of another condition such as an autoimmune disease.
As a Charlotte chiropractor, I see many patients who deal with pain in their joints, especially their neck, back, shoulders, hips, and knees. Chiropractic adjustments do help, but there is another formula that I like to prescribe for my patients to maximize their results and live a totally pain-free lifestyle: a modified paleo diet. This diet consists of three main tenets:
#1: Eat colorful foods.
Like the Skittles slogan says, “Taste the rainbow.” But we say don’t just taste it; consume it. Consume it every day of your life at every meal. Fresh fruits and vegetables are your friend. Skittles however, are not. So don’t eat those. Avoid them like the plague.
#2: Lay off the grains, sugar, and dairy.
Grains increase inflammation. If you can avoid sugar altogether for 30 days (and this includes all grains, breads, rice and pastas), your body will detoxify and essentially “reset” itself. We’re pretty confident you’ll notice a big difference in how you feel once you drastically reduce how much of these foods you consume. We also recommend limiting dairy, but if you must drink milk, only buy the organic stuff from grass-fed cows. Goats milk, almond milk, and coconut milk are also great alternatives.
#3: Limit red meats.
Some doctors recommend treating red meat like you treat turkey and only eating it on special occasions like Christmas or Thanksgiving. Replace red meats with lots of fresh fruits and veggies, or, in the words of the Chick Fil A cows, “Eat More Chicken!” Chicken has no effect on the inflammatory response, so it can’t hurt anything. Really, you should consume more wild-caught fish if you want to reduce inflammation. But when you do eat the occasional burger, make sure it’s organic and grass-fed.
The above diet, combined with plenty of regular exercise, sleep, and stress-management, along with weekly chiropractic adjustments, should have you well on your way to living a pain-free lifestyle in no time!
To request a FREE consultation with Dr. Holly, click here.