Did know your food not only affects your body composition, it also impacts your pain levels, headspace, and energy levels?
Chiropractic adjustments, soft tissue therapy, and strengthening of key muscle stabilizers in the affected area are the cornerstones of initial care for joint pain such as osteoarthritis, and general arthritis in my clinic, but did you know nutritional changes can multiply the impact of those modalities? Don't stop at taking fish oil, optimize your nutrition plan to level up your rehab plan. When addressing the joint pain of a patient in the clinic, I address it from two main standpoints, your overall body composition, and the inflammatory properties of your diet.
Improving your diet can significantly reduce pain levels by addressing inflammation, a key contributor to various types of pain. Eating anti-inflammatory foods like fruits, vegetables, fatty fish rich in omega-3 fatty acids, and nuts can mitigate inflammation in the body and improve your immune system. Consuming foods with whole grains, healthy fats, and whole food protein supports overall health, aiding in weight management and reducing strain on joints. Eating a whole-food diet with a foundation of whole-fat dairy products, oily fish, red meat, chicken, fruits and vegetables should be the foundation of your diet plan. Avoiding processed foods, excess sugar, vegetable oils, and trans fats can mitigate inflammation and decrease your pain, and improve your joint health. Sugars and foods high in omega-6 fatty acids prompt an inflammatory response, which flares up your pain levels. The Mediterranean diet and the anti-inflammatory diet are two of the most commonly recommended diets for those of us suffering from arthritis-related joint pain, or joint pain caused by sports and work injury. (side note: arthritis-related joint pain includes many different arthritic conditions, like rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, and gastrointestinal-related arthritis such as those with Crohn's disease, celiac disease, or ulcerative colitis).
Reaching a healthy body weight by improving your muscle mass, and decreasing your fat mass by following a healthy diet gets you to a healthy weight and decreases the amount of downward compressive forces placed on the joints of your back, knees, and ankles. Plus, improving your body composition helps you to feel better about yourself, and to move better for years to come, so it's a twofold benefit to prioritize your body composition. Two good strategies for body composition and nutrition awareness are intuitive eating and nutrition tracking. Intuitive eating is okay for most people, but often not at first. At the beginning stages of weight loss and nutrition modification, food tracking is the preferred tool to change your diet, helping you to move well, and feel better. Supplementing with whey protein and creatine after training, and before bed helps to increase muscle protein synthesis, helping you to put more muscle on, and decrease body fat levels.
Intuitive eating is a good strategy to lose or maintain weight, but in the present day, it’s harder than ever to eat intuitively because the processed foods in our diet often have more calories from carbs than we would expect. Worse yet, because foods are processed and have less fiber and bulk to them, we have to eat more than we expect to feel full adding on an extra 200-500 calories daily you might not have expected.
Tracking calories is one of the best tools out there for changing body composition and altering you’re eating patterns to be overall less inflammatory. Remember, pro-inflammatory processed foods increase your joint pain, affect your mental state and energy levels, and pack on the pounds in a big way.
So find a free tracking app like “My Fitness Pal” and start entering your daily food and drink. Don’t stress too much about every detail in your first few days of tracking, just log as much as you can. At the end of the day, observe the damage, and adjust as needed.
Here are some quick hacks to level up your progress going into summer.
-Pre-log your food to hold yourself accountable and see the damage front-loaded
-Use the free app (yes paid apps are better, I coached in one for 3 years! However, for some of us the free app is plenty)
-Take your protein supplement right before bed to maximize muscle protein synthesis (MPS). 2
-Focus on protein. Research shows that a high-protein diet increases muscle mass, and decreases fat mass. 2
-1 gram of protein per pound of body weight. Don’t listen to the internet here trust me, most studies referenced by your favorite online “expert” were conducted in the 1940s by THE WAR DEPARTMENT on emaciated soldiers on the minimum protein amount to not starve deployed. 1 gram per pound is a much more reasonable amount and well within the safe level of intake. 1,2
-Consume more: fatty fish, meat (both red meat like beef and pork, and lean meat like chicken and turkey), whole fat dairy products, oily fish, citrus, berries, extra virgin olive oil, avocado oil, whole eggs, egg yolks, whole grains, fresh fruits, fresh vegetables.
-Consume less: white bread and buns, white rice, processed sugar, candy, chips, nightshade fruts, nightshade vegetables, breakfast cereals, sugary yogurts, fast foods, soda, fruit juice,
-Follow these general calorie guidelines and adjust as needed. Calories are based on your GOAL body weight, not your current weight.
Caloric deficit-Lose mass-(10-12 calories per pound of goal weight)
Caloric maintenance-Stay the same-(12-14 calories per pound of goal weight)
Caloric surplus-Gain mass-(14+ calories per pound of goal weight)
The bottom line is that it's time to take action. Adjustments and soft tissue care are the initial phase of the operation to improve your quality of life and decrease your pain. Once you start to feel a bit better, it's time to move on to phase 2, long-term lifestyle changes prioritized to keep you moving for decades to come. Clinical trials and systematic review support dietary changes and nutritional approaches to improving performance and decreasing your pain levels. Prioritize the quality of your food and your movement starting today. How you fuel your body has a direct impact on how you move, how you feel, and how long you will live. Let’s work together to get to a healthy body composition, increase muscle mass, and take care of our joints through exercise, rehab, and nutrition.
It’s time to do the work.
References:
1. Institute of Medicine (US) Committee on Military Nutrition Research. The Role of Protein and Amino Acids in Sustaining and Enhancing Performance. Washington (DC): National Academies Press (US); 1999. 4, Overview of Garrison, Field, and Supplemental Protein Intake by U.S. Military Personnel. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK224616/
2. Jäger R, Kerksick CM, Campbell BI, Cribb PJ, Wells SD, Skwiat TM, Purpura M, Ziegenfuss TN, Ferrando AA, Arent SM, Smith-Ryan AE, Stout JR, Arciero PJ, Ormsbee MJ, Taylor LW, Wilborn CD, Kalman DS, Kreider RB, Willoughby DS, Hoffman JR, Krzykowski JL, Antonio J. International Society of Sports Nutrition Position Stand: protein and exercise. J Int Soc Sports Nutr. 2017 Jun 20;14:20. doi: 10.1186/s12970-017-0177-8. PMID: 28642676; PMCID: PMC5477153.