Inflammation Reduction Diet

To maintain health we must periodically clean ourselves, not only on the outside, but on the inside.

From time to time I see the most amazing healer, Dr. William Lerner.  He is a chiropractor and more importantly to me, a kinesiologist.  He uses muscle testing to have a conversation with your body to discover its needs and its aggravators.  I would like to send everyone who comes to me with chronic pain to see Dr. Lerner, but the truth is that there is a long wait to become a new client of his.  So in a very slow way, I am beginning to study his techniques beginning with some courses I took last fall on Touch for Health. Education and training is expensive and time consuming, so I am taking my time on developing these skills, but I hope some day to converse with the body and discover its voice in the way Dr. Lerner does.

Often when I see Dr. Lerner for a pain in my physical body, such as in my finger joint, my knee, hip, or neck, he discovers the source of the pain to be caused by inflammation from reaction to foods that I am consuming.  When I first started seeing Dr. Lerner, I was having pain for several years in the joint of my middle finger.  The pain had been there for several years, and I thought it was occupational, stress to the finger joint from deep tissue massage.  I was completely wrong, I didn't need to give up my job or change my technique.  Instead, what I had to give up was dairy.  I didn't believe at first, but I trusted without belief and cut dairy out of my diet, and in a few months the pain had gone away completely!  I am not lactose intolerant and don't feel sick immediately after eating dairy.  Instead it is the longterm build up of casein, or milk protein, in my system that causes sensitivity to my joints.  I don't always lead a dairy free life, but when i do, I feel better!  Here are two articles about the link between arthritis and milk:  Foods and Arthritis  RA and Milk

The last few weeks I've been experiencing instability and pain in my hips and knees.  My patella was even popping out of alignment for two scary days.  Yesterday I saw Dr. Lerner, and he again discovered a food allergy that my body was responding to with inflammation.  Fantastically interesting stuff to me.  This time it was the nightshade family causeing my health decline.  Sure enough, I had been experimenting with potatoes quite a bit lately in my kitchen as well as smoked paprika, chile peppers, tomatoes, hot sauce, all nightshades.  Other nightshades (that I don't tend to eat so often) include, eggplant, goji berries, ashwandgha, tomatillos,...  In these foods the harmgul component are alkaloids, a nitrogen based compound in these plants that acts as a natural insecticide, keeping insects from eating them.  It is not fully understand the mechanism in our body that causes the inflammation, but it is a direct link for some people, eat nightshades, experience joint pain.  Here are two articles that explore this subject: Nightshade Article  Informative Article.

Now all of our bodies and digestive abilities are different.  For the most part, I feel that my body is pretty happy with bread and gluten, but for many people, gluten is a major source of inflammation in the body.  Just read this Article from Huffington Post and you'll probably be scared to eat bread for a week.  The main problem with bread is the genetically created wheat that is the basis for the bread we eat in America for the last 50 years.  It's a major problem and makes me cry as I reflect upon the
passage of Congress of HR 993 in the Agricultural Appropriations Bill.  I'm not sure if its any better for me, but I have begun to buy 00 Farina, a flour imported from Italy.  Perhaps the stronger restrictions in Europe are providing my family with higher quality wheat, it sure makes for better pasta.

In conclusion, I am going on an anti-inflammatory diet for a few days/weeks, we'll see.  The method is to eliminate all dairy, nightshades, and wheat from my diet and instead focus on fruits, vegetables, beans, non-gluten grains, nuts and a little sustainably raised fish and meat.  My hope is that this diet will take some pain and stiffness from my body and allow me to be a more supportive, encouraging, and energetic member of my community!