Is the food you eat causing your back pain? It’s possible that it’s a factor. If your back pain is caused by inflammation, there is a higher chance that changing your diet will help reduce your back pain. Check out what anti-inflammatory foods you should include in your diet and what foods you should avoid completely.
Note: Remember to talk to your doctor before any major dietary changes to see what is best for you and your body.
Foods that help with back pain and inflammation
You can probably guess at least one item on our anti-inflammatory food list: veggies. Vegetables, especially those dark in color are great for inflammation. Carrots, avocado, beets, sweet potatoes, cherries, berries, grapes, pomegranate, and watermelon are all great foods to include in your diet to help reduce inflammation. Other foods include omega-3 coldwater fish, chia seeds, flax seeds, and herbs and spices such as cinnamon, basil, ginger, rosemary, garlic, curcumin, onions, oregano, and turmeric. All of these foods include anti-inflammatory properties and are great to include in your back-pain-relief diet. Check out our recipe that includes some of these foods for Chicken Tikka Masala.
Other important vitamins and minerals to include in your diet for back pain relief include calcium and vitamin D, which are great for bone health. Check with your doctor to see how much you should take as overdosing on calcium or any vitamin is never good.
Foods to avoid for back pain and inflammation
Have you ever heard of nightshades? Most people haven’t. The nightshade family of plants includes tomatoes, potatoes, eggplant, paprika, and all peppers excluding black and white pepper. Nightshades include solanine, a chemical which can aggravate arthritis pain and inflammation. Avoiding nightshades might just take all your inflammatory pain away. But as every body is different, try avoiding nightshades for 2 weeks to see if it helps you. It could help change your life dramatically. While avoiding these foods might be difficult, it is worth it if your pain disappears.
Other foods to avoid include processed foods, fast foods, saturated fats, and sugar (and sugar is a big one). Eliminating sugar from your diet will also benefit you in more ways than just reducing your inflammation including weight management, a healthier liver, increased energy, and a better mood.
Other tips for back pain relief
Changing your diet means changing your lifestyle and it can be very hard. If changing your diet proves to be very difficult for you, try these other ways to get rid of back pain while you work on getting used to a new diet:
- Roll out on the Chirp Wheel. The Chirp Wheel is a back pain relief device that massages the muscles surrounding your spine to help relieve upper and lower back pain. It’s super easy to use and has helped over 1 million people find relief.
- Exercise and stretch. One of the best things you can do for back pain relief is to exercise and stretch. Strengthening your core muscles can help literally hold up your spine and give you better posture.
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Comprehensive Spine Institute. (2018, September 17). 7 foods you need to be eating for spinal health. Retrieved from https://www.csiortho.com/blog/2018/september/7-foods-you-need-to-be-eating-for-spinal-health/
Prpa, B. (2017, November 15). Food & Inflammation: Eat the Right Foods to Help with Back Pain. Retrieved from https://www.prpaspinesurgery.com/articles/foods-for-back-pain
Pure Recovery California. (2019). 7 ways sugar and addictive drugs are similar. Retrieved from https://www.purerecoveryca.com/4-benefits-of-quitting-sugar-7-ways-its-similar-to-drugs/
Smith, L. (2020, December 2). Do nightshade vegetables make arthritis worse? Retrieved from https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/321745
