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Lead Stories: Wednesday, December 3, 2008

The Anti-Inflammatory Diet

Posted January 12th, 2007 at 5:00 PM by Paul Petersen

Section: Nutrition, Healthy Eating, Health & Fitness

Early in the summer of 2006, my “running” hit an all-time low. I use the term “running” loosely, because at that time I had not actually ran in over two months. A better description would be that my overall physical well-being hit an all-time low, as I was suffering from an adductor strain, lower pain back and acute plantar fasciitis all at the same time. My training and racing plans had spiraled into the toilet of pain and inflammation. All I really wanted at that point was just to feel like a healthy twenty-something again … never mind running!

The worst point was in mid-June when I was at a week-long professional conference. I was engaging in my typical travel diet: eating meals at brewpubs every night that consisted primarily of foods high in “vitamin B” (batter). Of course I’d wash these delightful fried foods down with plenty of “hoppy” adult beverages. It sounded good, but it didn’t feel good. Every morning it felt like a chore just to bend over, tie my shoes and limp over to the continental breakfast. The inflammation in my lower back and plantar fascia was at an all-time high.

When I got home from the conference, I was a bit tired of meat, grease, and salt; so my wife and I started making vegetarian cuisines over the next few days just for variety. A week or so later I noticed that my back pain was diminishing, and even my foot was a bit less inflamed. I knew immediately it was the inadvertent change in diet. At that point, I started researching the effects of diet and nutrition on inflammation and applying them religiously. Here is what I found:
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Can olive oil ease joint pains?

Posted January 9th, 2007 at 8:00 AM by Hariz Siddiqui

Section: Nutrition, Healthy Eating, Health & Fitness, Injury & Rehab

A diet loaded with cooked vegetables and olive oil helps reduce the pain, swelling and discomfort of rheumatoid arthritis, according to a study from Harvard School of Public Health.

Before this study, there was no really good evidence that diet had anything to do with the course of rheumatoid arthritis. One popular misconception is that the nightshade vegetables, which include potatoes, tomatoes, eggplants and peppers can make arthritis pain worse; there is no scientific support for this theory.
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