best diet Archives - Minnesota Physical Medicine Blog

Eating right has always been a challenge, and losing weight sometimes seems to be impossible. With everything in life, change is hard and finding the right path is never easy. There are more diets available and more advice than one can ever fathom. Being the right weight is not magic, but it is work and a lifestyle commitment.

If you want to be successful, one must commit to change. So many times people say they are unhappy with where they are currently but in the next breath they are comfortable with how everything is and are not willing to consider alternatives. Furthermore, most people who ask for advice do not trust anyone who might have legitimate information. If the advice is sensible and simple it seems even less trustworthy.

Steps To Take

So the first step in changing one’s weight is to understand whether you feel it is problem and whether what you are eating is affecting your life. If you are totally happy with how you feel and with your health, than you have no reason to change. Life is likely to stay the same for you.

A person’s weight is dependent on a complex array of variables from genetics, to exercise to what we eat. There are things we can change and things that maybe outside of our control like our genetics and medical conditions. However, we can control what we eat, how we perceive our food and we can also control our activity level. So weight management is about our interactions with food.

The temptation is always for people to look for a quick fix. In pain management everyone just wants a pill or quick solution. Once people realize the answer may be complex, the light goes on. If the answer was simple, the problem would likely not exist. Education is one of the best paths toward the solution.

Weight gain was a slow problem that crept up on me. Every year my baseline weight increased. Initially it was ok. When my pants were no longer fitting in the waist and I needed a new wardrobe, it became something I needed to understand. The first issue was as we all grow older, our bodies change. For me I had reached a time when there was a hormone change in my body and that caused a slowing of my metabolism. The old school teaching was calories in and calories out must be balanced. So I just tried to exercise more. Initially that may have worked, but only for a short period of time. However, exercising for hours a day does not work to burn off all the calories taken in by eating more than needed. Running or walking a mile only will burn off 100 calories. The not so obvious answer then was I needed to change my diet, and I probably need to do more than I have already done.

New Dieting Goals

The new goals with dieting are to be sensible about eating. The important things to remember are the quality and quantity of food. There are a million diets with tons of rules. Most of the diets are complicated, require special foods, and are difficult to follow for a long period of time. In reality, simpler is better.

First, remember a portion size is a ½ cup for most foods. Measure out that amount and it is not very much food. A small size French fries at MacDonald’s is likely 2 portions. A ½ cup of pasta is the size of a single scoop of ice cream. If one sticks with appropriate single sizes of portions one will not be over eating – staying to the right quantity. Next buy your own fresh food and cook it to make your meals. Eat fresh vegetables, fruits, lean meats, fish, and try some vegetarian meals since the calories will be less and healthier. Keeping the refined sugar down, as well as limiting bread and pasta helps most tremendously.

Typical meals tend to change as one begins to improve your diet. Most dietitians recommend that everyone should eat breakfast. This prevents the body from thinking it is starving and turning all intake into fat for storage. Breakfast can be a piece of fruit, Greek yogurt for diary and protein, and oatmeal or granola cereal (for more protein, fiber, and a bit of carbohydrates). Lunch is a green salad with a low fat dressing, and 4 ounces of protein. Dinner is a portion of vegetables, 5-6 ounces of lean meat, and fruit or a salad. It is okay to have a small portion of brown rice, pasta or potato, but not with butter or a fatty sauce. If you have no recipes, get yourself a cook book. Lastly, donate or throw out all of the snacks and junk food that is sitting around your home and tempting you to eat. Also, stop buying lots of processed food, and when you eat out, eat the same types of meals that you would cook on your own.

Finishing Strong

If you are serious about making a lifestyle change, then you may be successful. Some people are very self-motivated and can change if they set their minds to do something. For most of us, working with a partner and holding each other accountable often is easier and more successful. Another couple of helpful keys are to record everything you eat daily and keep a record of how much you actually eat. You must weigh out your portions and be accurate with them, and it also helps to weigh yourself once a week. Tracking your activity with a fitness tracker will also help monitor about how much you are burning, but they are notoriously overly ambitious in how many calories they are estimating that you are burning.

Starting a diet does not need to be complex. It requires one to shop from the outside edges of the grocery store. Eat fresh fruit, vegetables and lean protein sources in controlled portion sizes. Reduce the amount of simple carbohydrates – sugars, pastas, and breads. Track your portion size, your intake, and weight. Increase your activity level and move moderately for at least 30 minutes a day. Drink more water also, as this may decrease your appetite. Lastly commit to change and keep at it.1-2 lbs of weight loss a week is excellent progress.

What we eat does make a difference in how we feel. The diet most of us eat is probably not healthy. The most common problem is we eat too much food, and that can make us obese. Extra weight does stress the body, especially the joints. From the lumbar, through the hips, knees, ankles and feet, the body does feel extra pounds and may wear out early. The types of food we eat also make a difference. Taking care of ourselves better may reduce the need for costly medical intervention.

Chronic Joint Pain and Food

Chronic pain is a huge problem in the United States, as an estimated 63 million people suffer from chronic joint pain according to the CDC (Center for Disease Control). Injury and wear and tear over time leads to inflammation in the joints. Inflammation then leads to bone and cartilage damage, which causes the pain we feel. If we can reduce or prevent inflammation in our joints, we can reduce the damage. Some of the foods we eat tend to stimulate inflammation; others are known to reduce it. Vitamins and supplements have not been conclusively shown when in pill form to be helpful.

The compounds in our food do make a difference. For our bones and joints, the helpful compounds include:

Omega-3 fatty acids

Sulfur

Calcium

Vitamin D

Fiber

Anthocyanin

Omega-3 fatty acids are essential in cells and they help control inflammatory cytokines. There are many sources of these fatty acids, especially in fish like salmon, herring and other cold-water fish. Eggs and flaxseed are also high in Omega-3 fatty acid. Calcium is an essential mineral necessary for bone health and is necessary in electrical signal transmissions in muscles and nerves. Diary sources like milk, yogurt and cheese as well as many green vegetables have large amounts of calcium. Vitamin D best comes from exposure to sun. Sulfur is a mineral used in connective tissue including cartilage, ligaments and tendons. It is found in many foods, including eggs, fish, and many green vegetables. Anthocyanin is an antioxidant compound found in fruits that have pits like plums, cherries and peaches, and many berries including blueberries and raspberries. Anthocyanin works to stop production of cytokines that lead to inflammation.

Foods to avoid that affect our bones and joints include: refined sugars, simple carbohydrates, unhealthy fats and food sensitivities. Glucose, or simple sugars, in higher levels are considered pro-inflammatory and can stimulate cytokines production. Simple carbohydrates are found in food like cake, white bread, cookies, many cereals and crackers and are easily digested to simple sugars and then become pro-inflammatory like glucose. Unhealthy fats are Omega-6 fatty acids, like corn oil, and are found frequently in fried foods. Omega 6 fatty acids tend to trigger release of cytokines. Food sensitivities are individual foods that trigger problems for some people like gluten or MSG.

So if you’re dealing with chronic pain, the first thing you’ll want to look at is what you’re putting in your body. Change your eating habits, and you may notice a reduction in your chronic pain!