Food Rules for Healthy Backs
The following is an excerpt from the book The Truth About Back Pain
by Todd Sinett, DC, and Sheldon Sinett, DC
Published by Perigee; March 2008;$24.95US; 978-0-399-53393-8
Copyright © 2008 Todd Sinett, DC, and Sheldon Sinett, DC
One
Saturday afternoon I received a phone call from a Grammy-winning
recording artist who was suffering from severe upper back and neck
pain and was concerned that she was not going to be able to make it
through her performance on Saturday Night Live and a concert
that was scheduled for the following day. She said the pain was so
bad she could barely turn her head.
During the examination, I noticed that her whole muscular system was
tight, almost to the point of rigidity. It was as if she were suffering
from a full-body spasm. From the examination, which includes an
assessment of the abdominal area, I could tell that she was suffering
severe gas pains. We talked for a while, and she told me about her
on-the-road diet, which was not very healthy and frequently featured
tasty treats like toaster pastries and ice cream. It became clear to me
that her primary problem -- so serious that it caused back and neck
tension and pain -- stemmed from bad eating.
I presented her with the good news. I explained that I understood how
very uncomfortable she was (and how very real her pain was) and that
although I couldn’t cure her immediately, I knew she could feel much
better within a few days. (When the physical reaction is this severe, it
reflects a toxic buildup within the body, which requires a
reorientation of the diet and time for the body to readjust.)
Bad Habits Compound Other Problems
Like the Grammy winner I just described, most of my patients say they
don’t have much time to prepare meals. When asked to keep a food diary,
which I ask of most of my patients, a typical day’s entry will read like
this:
Breakfast: coffee, muffin or bagel, more coffee
Lunch: sandwich, chips, soda or iced tea
Snack: candy or chips, more soda
Dinner: pizza or pasta dish, soda or wine, pastry or ice cream
Does this list look familiar? It’s pretty clear that this kind of eating
doesn’t provide you with nearly the vitamins and nutrients you need to
stay healthy.
If you put low-performance fuel into what needs to be your
high-performance body, there is little surprise that your back and body
aren’t functioning at their peak. If you are concerned about your
health, you need to upgrade the fuel you consume. But even people who
place great value on exercising and eating right can run into trouble if
the balance of food is incorrect, causing pain-related issues.
Too Much of a Good Thing
Curiously, those patients (about 20 percent) whose back pain has been
clearly linked to chemical or nutritional factors ate healthily. But
many had very little variety in their diets. These people were actually
eating too much of a good thing. Keeping a food diary was easy for them
because they ate almost the exact same thing every day. Unfortunately,
this system doesn’t work. Your body needs multiple sources of the
vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients it needs. Ironically, when it
comes to food choices, a certain level of inconsistency is ideal.
Because these patients didn’t eat a variety of healthy food, their
dietary systems were constantly irritated. Many of these patients had
gassiness, a bloated feeling, abdominal pain, diarrhea, and even
constipation. In these cases, we strive to get the patients eating a
more balanced diet. Over time their digestive systems slow down, and the
transit time becomes more accommodating for positive absorption -- and
their back pain goes away.
Before I understood this, I went on my own health kick. I started having
oatmeal -- which is high in fiber -- every day for breakfast, and salads
were my choice for lunch. Unfortunately, a week into this diet, I had a
dramatic increase in bloating and stomach pain -- and eventually a stiff
neck. When I returned to my old eating habits, which were already pretty
good, I felt better. The moral of the story is that just because a food
is considered healthful doesn’t mean it is always good for you -- or
acceptable to eat in excess.
So what healthy foods cause trouble? The most frequent offenders include
salad, oatmeal, egg whites, tofu, smoothies, raw vegetables, frozen
yogurt, beans, freshly squeezed juices, and protein bars. The demon in
many cases is often too much roughage. Although we all need some
roughage for proper digestion, too much causes your digestive tract to
go into overdrive.
One patient, Paul, offers a good example of what can happen with too
much of a good thing. Although he was trying to adjust his lifestyle for
better health, he found that the process could be painful. Recently he
came to me complaining of lower back pain that was so severe he couldn’t
lift or play with his 1-year-old twins. He had been following my
stretching regimen before and after he exercised, and he was quite
miffed to be suffering from debilitating pain.
When I asked him to explain what had happened, he said he “just kind of
woke up with the pain” after playing basketball the day before. He had
no recollection of getting injured, but he surmised he was just getting
too old to play, joking that he was worried his illustrious career was
over at the age of 35.
I went through my regular questions. He had just told me about his
exercise and stretching routine, so I continued: Had he been stressed?
No. Had he eaten anything different? No. But then he paused. He
mentioned he had just gotten back from a spa where they talked about the
benefit of flaxseed oil, so he had begun to put flaxseeds on all of his
food.
As I continued this line of questioning, it became clear that the
flaxseeds created too much irritation to Paul’s digestive system and, in
turn, caused muscle inflammation, which resulted in severe back spasms.
I suggested that he stop eating the flaxseeds and reduce the amount of
roughage in his diet for a time to let his system calm down. He was
pain-free within a week.
Quick Tips for Eating Well
-
Eat something within 1 hour of getting up each morning
-
Have at least one healthful snack between meals each day
-
Eat slowly to allow yourself to be aware of feeling full
-
Avoid the clean-plate club. Always leave at least one bite of each type
of food on your plate at the end of each meal.
-
Keep a food journal for at least 1 week, maybe longer
Copyright © 2008 Todd Sinett, DC, and Sheldon Sinett, DC
About The Author:
Dr. Todd Sinett is the owner of the Midtown Chiropractic Health and
Wellness practice in New York City (www.midtownchiro.com),which
provides chiropractic care and applied kinesiology, nutritional and
supportive counseling, and physical and massage therapy to thousands of
individuals, including noted sports figures and celebrities. The center
hosts weekend wellness programs and corporate informational seminars and
publishes a periodic online newsletter, Balance in the Body (www.balanceinthebody.com).
Sinett has appeared as clinical expert on many television programs
including The View, FoxMD, and Good Day New York. Visit his website at
www.drsinett.com.
For more than forty years, Dr. Sheldon Sinett was a leading chiropractor
and pioneer in combining chiropractic medicine with a variety of
cutting-edge, holistic practices.
For more information, visit
www.thetruthaboutbackpainbook.com.
