Your Diet – What Works for You
As you’ve learned in this course, there are several Ways Of Eating (WOEs) that are great for chronic pain. In this lesson, we will recap some important points from this course. The goal is for you to feel confident in choosing pain-friendly foods for your diet.
You can choose to follow any of these WOEs strictly or pick and choose some super-foods from each. Either way, your diet is whatever works for you. You have a wealth of information to help you make healthy choices that won’t increase your pain levels.
Antioxidants
When it comes to chronic inflammation, antioxidants can help. Antioxidants work to reverse the oxidative stress that causes inflammation. This is an excellent reason to incorporate fruits and veggies into your diet as they are full of antioxidants! Additionally, they provide fiber, vitamins, and minerals, too.
Healthy Fats
Fats are not all harmful! Omega-3 fatty acids are anti-inflammatory and contribute to pain relief. Further, eating healthy fats can help you stay fuller for longer. Choosing foods with unsaturated fats over those with saturated fats can make a big difference in your health. You can do this by choosing plant-based fat sources over fat sources from animals. For example, replace butter with olive oil or a side of bacon with avocado.
Healthy Carbohydrates
Your blood sugar can directly affect your pain levels. Blood sugar spikes can cause pain flare-ups; therefore, avoiding excess sugar and refined carbs can help manage this. Complex carbs, that are more difficult to break down, slowly raise your blood sugar rather than cause a spike. Further, they are excellent sources of fiber. Swap white carbs for whole wheat ones. For example, choose whole wheat bread or pasta.
Healthy Protein Sources
Protein is necessary to heal and regulate pain-relieving processes in our bodies. However, it’s common for people with chronic pain to not eat enough protein. Some protein sources contain a lot of saturated fats (like red or processed meats). Further, red meats contain pro-inflammatory factors. Plant-based protein sources or cold-water fish are healthier choices that are better for pain.
Avoid Processed Foods
Processed foods usually contain unnecessary additives that can add to your pain. They may have added sugar, sodium, preservatives, and/or other chemicals. Additionally, they might be cooked or baked in low-quality, saturated oils. There may be healthier versions of processed foods. For example, you could make your own low-sodium, low-sugar pasta sauce rather than buying a canned brand.
Check out these healthy eating worksheets
Changing your diet can be difficult. So, we’ve created some worksheets that can help you adopt a healthier WOE with ease.
The Healthy Eating Goal Planner will help you set a SMART Goal for the week related to healthy eating. It allows you to keep track of how many days that week you met that goal. Then, you reflect on what you did well and how you can improve.
Along with making healthy eating goals, it can help to have a plan of what you’re going to eat that week. Planning out your meals will help you stay on track and avoid relying on fast food or unhealthy snacks. Also, knowing what you’re going to eat that week can make you more mindful about the groceries you’re buying. You’ll end up spending less money and wasting less food. We’ve included the Meal and Groceries Planner to assist you in this process.
Once you start your healthy eating journey, keeping track of what you eat can keep you accountable. The Food Diary Worksheet allows you to write down what you’ve eaten for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks, as well as water intake. Then, you can track your pain, energy, and mood. Note: It can be dangerous to track your calories as it often leads to disordered eating. However, keeping track of more important metrics like your mood, pain, and energy can be helpful to understanding how certain foods affect you.
The worksheet has two pages, allowing you to choose whether you’d like to track in a landscape or portrait orientation. However, they are both the same food diary.
Reflect
Reflect on what you took away from this course. Did you get inspired to try any specific WOEs? Are there any foods you want to try more of? Are there any you might want to reduce or eliminate from your diet?
How can you make changes in your current diet to better support your chronic pain?
Conclusion
In conclusion, the way you eat is your choice. There are no “bad” foods or “good” foods. However, some foods contribute to pain-relief, while others can make pain worse. It’s worth it to experiment with your diet to see what foods make you feel better.
Hopefully this course gave you enough information to empower you to make educated choices about your food. Food is medicine, happy eating!
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