By Dr. Justin Marchegiani
Food Allergies and Joint Pains
The body can be allergic to any food, therefore any food allergy is capable of causing inflammation and arthritis
Most doctors who are specialized in treating arthritis and many other joint conditions tend to rely on medications that only address the symptoms and not the underlying cause of the actual problem. Many patients who go to a rheumatologist for joint pain are prescribed medications that have dangerous side effects where in the short term may help but in the long term provide more harm than benefit.
In the last five years of seeing patients with joint pain, I find many patients respond to simple nutritional and dietary changes. As a foundation, removing certain inflammatory foods that aggravate the immune system as well as the joints can make a big difference.
Medications do nothing more than mask the symptoms of pain and at the time contribute to other issues such as gastrointestinal and liver problems. These medications also cause mineral deficiencies such as folic acid, vitamin C, and other nutrients which aggravate the problem the drugs were prescribed for originally. These nutrients are very important for helping joints, ligaments, tendons to heal properly.
While you're on a medication in hopes of it fixing your joint pain, you are actually setting yourself up for more long-term severe joint pain in the future. Addressing the underlying cause of where the inflammation is coming from is the best way to get to the root of the problem.
The vicious cycle in summary:
Click here to find out about the cause of your joint pain.
Autoimmunity is an underpinning:
Osteoarthritis
Rheumatoid arthritis
Ankylosing spondylitis
Lupus
Spondylitic arthritis
Psoriatic arthritis
reactive arthritis
Fibromyalgia
Scleroderma
Common inflammatory foods:
All grains including wheat, barley, rye, oats, corn, rice, millet, sorghum etc.
Lectins
Night shades (potato, eggplant, tomato, peppers, tobacco).
Sugar
Legumes (peanuts, soy, beans)
Anti-inflammatory foods:
Wild caught fish and or fish oil
Grass fed meat
Coconut oil
Lower glycemic fruits such as berries
Non-starchy vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower, spinach and asparagus
Filtered water
Herbs like turmeric, garlic, ginger
Green tea
Experiencing Joint Pain? Click here and ask a functional medicine doctor about it.