Your Sugar Intake is Affecting Your Pain & Inflammation

When a new patient comes into my office, I like to look at more than just the x-rays and alignment issues to get into the root causes of someone’s pain. That involves a conversation about a patient’s diet. Ninety nine times out of 100, someone in pain is consuming entirely too much sugar. We love it, and it’s delicious, but sugar is very addictive and very inflammatory.

When we eat sugar, our bodies begin to process that sugar, and if we don’t use it fairly quickly for energy, it’s going to sit in your body. When sugar sits there, it can wreak havoc on not only our waistlines, but it can cause internal swelling and pain known as inflammation. Inflammation is one of the biggest issues that we face as humans, and is either a cause, effect or symptom of thousands of diseases.

Every time you have just a little bit of sugar, by the next day you may notice that any pain in your body is magnified. That’s because just a little bit of sugar here and a little bit of sugar there keeps the sugar in your system. Instead of giving your body time to heal, we’re keeping a slow and steady drip of gasoline on the fire. You’d be surprised how often I see patients with flare ups that can be traced back to a piece of birthday cake or a few scoops of ice cream.

If eating sugar is fuel for this fire that we really don’t want, then cutting out as much sugar as we can from our diets is going to help us live a healthier life. The obvious places to start are by eating less (a lot less) dessert. However, there are other more subtle changes like substituting Stevia, chicory root or monk fruit in your morning coffee. There is even clinical evidence that Stevia can reduce your blood sugar without the harmful effects of sugar.

The next place to look is on the labels of your foods. Quite often, there is sugar in places you rarely expect. Things like low-fat yogurt, spaghetti sauces, salsas, protein bars, granola and canned soup can all have added sugar in them. What seem like healthy choices aren’t always so great for you. By reading labels, you can figure out which brands are getting their flavor from high quality ingredients and which brands are adding a little extra sweetness.

To understand where you may be having unknown issues in your diet, schedule an appointment with Dr. Justin who can help show you the connection between what you’re eating and how you’re feeling.