Energy drinks are a growing trend for those looking for an energy boost. Some use it as a morning pick-me-up. Others use it to push themselves at the gym a little harder. No matter the reason, energy drinks are being consumed more than ever, but does that mean that they are a pain friendly choice? And, when it comes to pain patients, how do energy drinks affect you and impact your pain condition?

Energy drinks: By the numbers

This fairly new product is starting to get more attention from the scientific community as a report from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration found that emergency room visits involving energy drinks doubled from 2007 to 2011. This is partly due to the fact that the energy drink industry had a 60% market growth during this time, but it does show a trend that some energy drinks can have serious health consequences.

How do energy drinks affect you?

Let’s break down the ingredients most commonly found in energy drinks and dive into what they do in the body in order to determine an energy drink’s impact on health.

Caffeine

Caffeine is one of the most widely used drugs on the planet and stimulates a person’s central nervous system. It is a part of most people’s daily life and it is a generally accepted guideline that a consumption of 400 mg of caffeine a day is considered safe.

Even in safe limits, though, there are extra (and tricky) considerations. Some fibromyalgia sufferers, for instance, find that even small doses of caffeine can cause a pain flare-up, or can adversely impact sleep to the point of causing more pain the next day. Some migraine or headache sufferers also report that caffeine can cause pain. On the other hand, some migraine sufferers actually find that caffeine can help alleviate head pain symptoms, and some fibromyalgia sufferers find the same.

Your body and your pain are specific to you. When it comes to caffeine, keep a pain and food diary to track what you eat and associated symptoms so you can start to figure out what helps and what hurts. It is also a good idea to consult your doctor if you are taking prescription drugs as caffeine is known to interact poorly with many other medications.

That concerns safe levels of caffeine consumption, however. Energy drinks contain large amounts of caffeine and, depending on the drink, can have reported amounts of anywhere from 50 – 250 mg of caffeine per can. This is the main reason why energy drinks produce a performance boost, increase memory, and make the user more alert.

High caffeine consumption comes with quite a few downsides, though. Regular caffeine intake can cause high blood pressure, risk of heart attack (even in younger adults), increase risk for gout attacks, decrease bone density, increase anxiety, and lead to insomnia, just to name a few.

Sugar

Sugar is a simple carbohydrate that our body breaks down and uses as energy to fuel our cells. Generally, an eight-ounce energy drink has somewhere between 21g and 34g of sugar that can come in the form of sucrose, glucose, or high fructose corn syrup. The American Heart Association suggests that adult women should only consume 25g and men 37.5g of sugar at most per day, so it is easy to see how drastic a single energy drink can be.

Sugar does provide some benefits like an instant energy boost, but mostly it can hurt your body. It can cause increased inflammation in joints, it can decrease the immune response, it can cause a pain flare-up, and it also has some nasty effects on the tooth and gums. It also can cause a sugar crash, which will leave you tired and cranky. Sugar is one thing that you should always make sure you are consuming in moderation.

Even if the energy drink contains a sugar substitute instead of actual sugar, there simply hasn’t been enough research done on the more popular sugar substitutes to know how they impact the body.

Guarana

Guarana is a South American plant compound found in most energy drinks that has a large amount of natural caffeine – approximately 40g per 1g of guarana. What does that mean exactly? It means that drink companies are not required to report that added caffeine to the total of an energy drink, which means that it is likely that your favorite drink has much more caffeine than you realized.

Taurine

Taurine is a common amino acid that supports numerous bodily functions including brain development and regulating water and in minerals in the blood. While there is some preliminary evidence that it helps prevent and treat cardiovascular disease, further studies are still required. As it is, diets in the U.S. are generally fairly rich in taurine so it is unknown whether more of this compound has any other additional benefits.

These are common ingredients in energy drinks, but there are many more depending on the brand you choose. So, how do energy drinks affect you, especially if you have a chronic pain condition? Generally, not well. Based on their ingredients (and the amounts of those ingredients), it is always better and healthier to find an alternative to energy drinks especially if you have chronic pain.

What are some better alternatives to energy drinks?          

The large amounts of sugar and caffeine make this “dietary supplement” a poor choice for a healthy lifestyle. Instead of grabbing an energy drink the next time you are in a slump, try one of these tasty alternatives to get you energized and back in the game.

• Smoothies are always an excellent choice. Specifically, vegetable smoothies that include spinach, kale, or parsley. You can also add a touch of ginger to help boost your energy levels and even reduce pain. Throw in some fruits or honey to create different combinations so you never get bored.
• Green tea has many health benefits that beat out energy drinks. Not only does it boost your metabolism, but it also has been reported to have positive effects on the heart and brain. It does usually contain caffeine, but only 25 – 40mg. That’s just enough to get your body making cortisol, an important hormone in keeping up energy levels.
• Chocolate milk provides a great balance between carbohydrates and protein, plus it gives you calcium. Grab a small glass of it for a healthy treat that is a perfect post-work out recovery drink.
• Coconut water is a good option as it has fewer calories and more potassium than most energy drinks. It also has many other essential nutrients such as magnesium, phosphorus, and calcium. This drink is rich and refreshing while still being great for your body.
• Good ol’ fashioned water. Water is very important for a healthy body as it supplies the muscles with nutrients and is crucial in every metabolic reaction. When you are dehydrated, your metabolism slows down and you start to feel sluggish. Downing some water can be just the trick to pep you back up again. Added bonus: add some fresh fruit to your water to get some added vitamins and minerals even more energy!

How do you get your motor running when your energy is low? How do energy drinks affect you?

Sugar is one of the most common food additives that adds no nutrient, but lots of calories. On top of that, eating too much sugar can also lead to and increase weight gain and many conditions like diabetes and heart disease. The American Heart Association suggests that adult women should only consume 25g and men 37.5g of sugar at most per day. That is a scary number if you consider that the average U.S. adult averages close to 90g of sugar a day! For those who are considering sugar and chronic pain, that number may be even lower because sugar can lead to more inflammation in the body. Let’s find out how sugar operates in the body and why it is so important to give up sugar as much as possible.

Sugar and chronic pain: How does it work?

It’s time for science! When natural sugar (glucose) is eaten, it permeates the walls of your intestines, which tells the pancreas to secrete insulin. Insulin in turn takes the sugar from your blood and moves it into your cells to be used as an energy source. Your body produces leptin to signal to the brain that it is full and you stop eating. Simple, right?

Well, what happens when you consume large quantities of added sugar (sucrose and fructose) in the amounts that is contained in most canned sodas?

First, your liver tries to convert this compound into usable energy, which has the side effect of producing bad cholesterol and putting your liver into overdrive. Then, your body is flooded with insulin in response to the high amount of sugar in the blood stream. A classic sugar rush ensues and your brain tries to regulate it by dumping serotonin into your blood stream that leads to that nasty sugar crash. You’ve been there—we’ve all been there. However, that high production of insulin also blocks production of leptin, the hormone that informs your brain that you have eaten enough. Because of this, you keep eating without even realizing all the calories you just consumed.

What are the effects of sugar? 

Sugar, the wonderfully sweet granulated bliss that makes your tongue happy isn’t so good for your body. Refined sugars have been blamed for everything from inflammation to belly bloat and weight gain.

A sweet tooth is something most people have to contend with every day, but there are a few benefits that sugar provides the body:

• Provides instant energy: Sometimes you just need an extra boost to get you through that Monday morning meeting
• Raises blood pressure: While not great for most of us, downing some sugar can stop you from negative effects if you’re suffering from low blood pressure
• Provides a short-term cure for depressed mood: Sugar gives you a sugar “high.” This is most certainly not a solution for depression, but it could help with a depressed mood or bad day

Negative side effects

With the good comes the bad. In the case of sugar, there are a lot more negative side effects to its consumption:

• Increases inflammation: All of that sugar has the painful side effect of increasing inflammation. This can lead to some serious issues as your liver gets overworked and it can really do a number on your joint and heart health. For pain patients, in particular, this is a huge effect that sugar can have that should be closely protected against. Sugar and chronic pain do not go well together.
• Decreases immune response: Animal studies have shown that a lot of sugar can suppress the immune system as yeast and bacteria feed off of it.
• Accelerates aging: Sugar can attach to proteins and slowly deteriorate the elasticity found in body tissue. This can lead to faster aging in the arteries and organs.
• Causes tooth decay and gum disease: As we all know, sugar can have a nasty effect on your mouth. Take a look at a classic experiment where a tooth left is left in a glass of coke.
• Increases stress: Sugar highs can mimic the stress response by raising blood sugar levels, which in turn promotes the body to pump out adrenaline and epinephrine for what the body thinks is much needed energy. While usually these hormones are beneficial, they can also make you feel more irritable and anxious.

What does research say about sugar and chronic pain?

Naturally occurring sugars, the sweet stuff found in fruits and vegetables, pose minimal harm. An increasing body of research has pinned an ugly head on refined sugar, included in baked goods, candy, and ice cream. Health experts recommend reducing your intake or eliminating it all together.

Sugar is addictive

Of course, we’re not entirely at fault for craving sugar like a drug; some research has found the sweet stuff leads to addiction.

Sugar releases dopamine and natural opioids in the brain, the same chemicals found in highly addictive painkillers. A 2008 study published in Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews found that under certain circumstances, rats can gain a dependence on sugar, although the scientific jury is still hung on the matter.

Humans’ sugar dependence has a biological purpose. In our hunting and gathering days, people knew that if a food they tasted was sweet, it was ripe and not poisonous. However, sugar has changed over the years. Today, people eat not only refined, granulated sugar, but also high-fructose corn syrup, a processed sugar that’s found in nearly all processed foods.

Sugary drinks, including soda, fruit juice–which, if you check most labels, doesn’t actually have much juice–and sports drinks, are a major contributor to obesity, diabetes, and heart disease. All of these can increase your risks of chronic pain and flare-ups.

Sugar and weight gain

An increasing body of research says sugar causes as much weight gain, if not more, as dietary fats.

In 2011, New England Journal of Medicine published a 20-year review of nearly 121,000 men and women that analyzed their weight gain. Sugar-sweetened beverages ranked third among the five top causes of weight gain, behind potatoes and potato chips. Another study, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, found that people who replaced sugary drinks with non-caloric beverages saw an average weight loss of anywhere from 2% to 2.5%.

Sugar has no nutritional value, and eating it makes your blood sugar spike. This can put you at increased risk of diabetes, as your body produces more insulin to process the sweet stuff. Elevated blood sugar can also lead to inflammation. This exacerbates chronic pain and can lead to a host of other health conditions.

Should I give up sugar altogether then?

With so many adverse effects to consider, maybe it is time to start giving up sugar. So, should you give it up? The short answer is no.

It’s not a good idea to go cold turkey on your sugar habit, especially from a mental health perspective. It can also lead to some bad withdrawal symptoms including headaches, hunger cravings, and depression.

The classic food pyramid put sugar and sweets at the very top. However, with the new MyPlate Guidelines, added sugar and sweets are not suggested as any part of a balanced diet. Some sugar is a natural part of the diet and can be a great source of energy (especially when enjoyed from whole food sources, such as fruit), but it most certainly isn’t meant for large-scale consumption. It can also be difficult to cut sugar out completely as almost all prepackaged food comes with added sugar.

Knowing this, giving up sugar completely is not possible or healthy. In life, remember that most things are not bad, in moderation. However, there are some ways to remove most added sugars from your diet.

How can I reduce my sugar intake? 

If you want to give up sugar, or the majority of it, from your diet, let’s get SMART. SMART goals can guide you when making a behavior change.

Here are some valuable, SMART tips on how to give up sugar:

• Cleaning out your kitchen is usually a great first step. Removing temptation, especially when you are hungry, can be critical to kicking your sugar habit.
• Always check out the food labels. Sugar sneaks into almost everything nowadays, so keep an eye out and opt for brands and products with less added sugar!
• Try planning your meals out beforehand—when you’re not stressed, tired, or hungry. It can be surprising how fast that sugar content can add up if you aren’t paying attention.
• Avoid sugary drinks. Sodas are a huge culprit of sugar overdose and can easily fill your daily healthy limit of sugar in a single can.
• Exercise daily. Adding 20 minutes of physical activity into your day can increase your energy levels and reduce the need for a sugar boost.
• Avoid sugar alternatives and substitutes! While you won’t get the calories, you will still have the psychological desire for sugar. It is best to taper off and kick the craving all together. Once you start reducing the amount of sugar you eat, you’ll find that your body needs less to fulfill that sweet tooth!

What are your thoughts on sugar and chronic pain? Do you notice flare-ups when you eat more sugar? 

A migraine can be an intense event that can ruin a whole day or even a week. It can be a chronic condition that you have to manage for most of your life, too. Throbbing pain in the head is the classic symptom of this disorder, but it is also known to be accompanied by vomiting, nausea, and sensitivity to light and sound. So it is easy to assume that if you do get migraines, you want to make sure you minimize them as much as possible. A migraine diet can help.

What is a migraine?

Migraine affects nearly 38 million people in the U.S. While throbbing head pain is the most widely-recognized symptom, other symptoms can include fatigue, nausea, and sensitivity to light and sound. When a migraine hits, the last thing on your mind might be food. Turns out, there are some foods that can actually help ease the pain of migraine while soothing other common symptoms.

A migraine diet made easy

We have put together a list of tasty and healthy foods that are rich in the vitamins and minerals that will help fight off migraines. We have also included some tips and tricks on crafting an overall better migraine diet, from what to avoid to what you should definitely eat. Finally, we rounded that up with a collection of “eat this, not that” recommendations at the end.

There has been quite a bit of research done on the correlation between certain foods and migraines. The results are usually classified into categories such as pain-safe foods that never contribute to headache and common triggers that often cause headaches. Everything else can fall in the middle and not all diet choices will be right for you.

Some triggers will affect you and some won’t, so it is always a smart idea to keep track of what you eat and how it affects you. You can use a daily activity journal to track and identify problem foods and activities to better understand how to mitigate your migraines. It is also a good idea to keep in mind that it could take several months to notice a sizeable difference when eliminating certain foods. Remember, changing your diet isn’t guaranteed to make you migraine-free, but it is a powerful tool in helping you reduce migraine episodes and pain overall.

1. Drink more water

Dehydration is one of the most common migraine triggers. Water is essential for the body to be healthy and function properly. Also, with the wide selection of sugary drinks and juices, we often forget that we aren’t drinking as much water as we should be. If you don’t like just drinking plain old H2O, you can always reach for other options like herbal tea and decaf coffee as they are mostly water and low in sugar and calories.

2. Eat more healthy fats

Some people still think fat is a bad word, but there are some major benefits to adding certain ones to your migraine diet. Omega-3 fatty acids, mainly found in fatty fish such as mackerel, tuna, and salmon, can really help with migraines. Olive oil is also another great source of healthy fat. The monounsaturated fats can be just as beneficial as omega-3s and they can be a healthy substitute in most recipes. Research has shown that they help reduce the frequency, pain level, and duration of migraines. Make sure you add in a healthy dose a few times a week to start seeing some positive changes.

3. Add magnesium to your diet

Magnesium is a great nutrient to add to your migraine diet. It can help with increasing energy, calming anxiety, and relieving digestive issues. It also has been shown to prevent and soothe migraine headaches of all types. Try adding spinach, quinoa, and whole grains to your diet as they are high in magnesium and other essential nutrients. If you can’t seem to fit in enough, magnesium supplements are an excellent alternative.

4. Don’t forget the riboflavin

Also known as vitamin B2, riboflavin has been shown to combat migraine incidents. Research shows that it can reduce migraines up to 50% when taking 400mg daily. B2 is also essential for metabolic energy production, so adding more of it can boost energy levels. Adding foods that are high in vitamin B2 like quinoa or asparagus can help you reach that 400mg mark.

5. Identify your trigger foods and construct a migraine diet plan

This is where the daily activity journal will do the most good. Since foods affect people differently, it helps to reset your diet to mostly safe foods to begin with. Trigger foods usually take about two days to start causing headaches again so you can then slowly add in foods you enjoy to see if they are the culprit for headaches.

Caution should be advised when changing your diet as there is no universal migraine diet that is right for everyone. A well-balanced diet is recommended. You should avoid skipping meals as this can have negative effects and actually exacerbate migraines.

Common migraine triggers

Here is a list of well-known trigger foods, so be careful if you want to add them to your diet.

• Alcohol: A small amount usually isn’t a problem, but certain liquors such as red wine or beer can be very powerful triggers for most people. If you are drinking, make sure to drink plenty of water as well because alcohol can cause dehydration.
• Aspartame: This can be found in artificial sweeteners that are often in diet drinks, low-calorie deserts, and yogurts.
• Additives: Be careful of additives in a variety of foods such as monosodium glutamate (MSG), sodium caseinate, and yeast extract.
• Nitrites: Nitrates are a preservative that is also used to add flavor to meat products. Nitrites are most frequently found in any food that is smoked, cured, pickled, or canned. Specifically, a high amount of this is most often found in deli meats, hotdogs, sausages, and jerky.
• Tyramine and phenylethylamine: These two amino acids are the most common food triggers for headaches. Make sure to be careful when eating chocolate, aged cheese, nuts, or soy food, as they have large concentration of these amino acids.

6. Eat this, not that for a migraine diet 

Finally, we hope you enjoy these fun switches you can make to easily up your migraine diet to find relief.

Instead of: Fresh oranges for breakfast

You may think that eating plenty of citrus fruits is a good thing to begin your day, but for some people, fresh citrus can be a trigger. Plus, the added acid isn’t doing a stomach upset by migraine any favors.

Try: Cooked fruit such as pears or cherries

Compounds in tart cherries can ease inflammation, including inflammation that may make a migraine worse. Mixed in with some overnight oats, chia seeds, and rice milk, cooked cherries or pears help you work towards your daily recommended amount of fruit without increasing your pain.

Instead of: Products with wheat flour

For some people with migraine, wheat-based foods (bread, pasta, and crackers) may trigger or worsen migraine headaches. Wheat can also cause gastrointestinal problems for those who are sensitive to it. That’s the last thing you want if one of your migraine symptoms is nausea.

Try: Rice- or oat-based products

Gluten-free foods have come a long way in the last decade. Gone are the crumbly breads, hard crackers, mushy pastas, and dry muffins of the past. Rice-based pastas are especially well-tolerated for those with migraine, potentially due to the high magnesium and niacin content. Brown rice is also a staple part of the elimination diet that is often suggested to migraine sufferers in order to diagnose triggers.

Oat flour and oats in general are also an excellent, mild food for upset stomachs that can come with migraines. A migraine diet that includes oats for breakfast is a great start to the day.

Instead of: Coffee

Coffee and the effects of caffeine are hotly debated. For mild headaches, a bit of caffeine seems to help with the pain, but when it comes to a migraine diet, caffeine is a commonly identified trigger. But if you need a morning jolt of caffeine to just wake up, you may find yourself rolling the dice and gambling that this time it won’t be a trigger.

Try: Green tea (and others)

Green tea has caffeine in it, yes, but it also has other compounds that may help ease the pain of migraine. Pair it with ginger, skullcap, and feverfew for a morning drink that attacks multiple symptoms of migraine, including nausea. If you are used to caffeine in the morning, eliminating it totally may actually cause headaches. Replacing your normal cup of joe with green tea can help ease the transition and relieve pain at the same time.

Instead of: Soy products

As a migraine sufferer, you have probably tried a plant-based diet to help ease the symptoms of migraine. But you find that soy triggers migraine just as much as a big, juicy burger. So what do you do for protein?

Try: Beans and nuts of all kinds

If your migraines are triggered by fluctuating hormones, soy products can exacerbate that and cause headaches. Soy products are also processed so much as to be unhealthy in general. Instead of focusing on soy for your protein needs, look towards a wide array of beans. Beans such as navy beans, pinto beans, lima beans, and kidney beans, and nuts and seeds like pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, cashews, and almonds contain protein and magnesium, a migraine-fighting mineral that many in the U.S. are deficient in.

Beans are affordable, versatile, and delicious, with a seemingly endless array of recipe options. You won’t miss meat or soy.

Instead of: Raw vegetables

As we move into summer, fresh raw vegetables look more and more appetizing. It makes sense that when the days heat up, we like to cool down, staying out of the kitchen and taking advantage of the farmer’s market bounty. But in addition to the triggering effect of hotter temperatures and a rising barometer, many raw fruits and vegetables like corn, tomatoes, onions, apples, and bananas can also set off migraine pain. It can be a catch-22, deciding between migraine pain and getting the health benefits of vegetables.

Try: Cooked vegetables

While some experts disagree with the idea that certain vegetables can trigger migraines, if they do bother you, skip them and reach for foods that have never been linked to migraines, such as leafy greens, broccoli, carrots, squash, and sweet potatoes. These vegetables are filled with antioxidants and may also be anti-inflammatory. Steam or roast them lightly on the grill to retain their nutrients and keep your house cool in the summer months.

Instead of: Ice cream or frozen yogurt

Nothing says summer like a big bowl full of ice cream or frozen yogurt, but dairy and sugar can trigger and increase migraine pain exponentially. Is it really worth it?

Try: Mango berry “nice cream”

Most of the dairy-free “nice cream” circulating around the web these days feature bananas and coconut milk, two foods to skip on a migraine diet. This mango berry nice cream is rich and sweet with no added sugar. Berries are at their very best in the summer. To take advantage of this treat year-round, freeze them first on cookie sheets. Then put them in pre-measured bags for a quick frozen treat whenever the urge strikes!

If you need more directed help with your migraine headaches, talk to a pain doctor today to learn about treatment options that could help you. Click here to contact one of our pain specialists.

With the holidays approaching, many people’s minds are turning to food. Delicious meals are a staple of many holiday celebrations, and New Year’s resolutions often revolve around intentions to eat healthier in the months ahead. The best anti-inflammatory cookbooks make it easier to find healthy, delicious recipes for the holidays and beyond.

Why are anti-inflammatory cookbooks helpful?

For people with chronic pain or other chronic conditions, eating healthy can take on even greater significance. Some foods can exacerbate certain medical conditions while others can relieve symptoms and help you heal. For example, eating gluten could make celiac disease symptoms worse, while a plant-based diet may tame fibromyalgia flare-ups.

No food is a cure-all, but knowing which foods to eat and in what amounts truly can help you feel better. That’s why it is a good idea to find a reliable cookbook that offers realistic recipes and advice, not one that promises miraculous results. With the right cookbook as your guide, mealtime planning and prep can go from long and laborious to streamlined and rewarding.

Some of the best anti-inflammatory cookbooks featured in this article may appeal to more advanced chefs, but they also include some of the best healthy cookbooks for beginners: books that walk you through not only the recipes but also the benefits of the diet they advocate, which ingredients to stock up on, and more.

A few notes: This list is not ranked in any way. Each book featured here takes a different approach to healthy eating, so you can select the one that fits best with your goals, tastes, and dietary requirements. Also, Arizona Pain does not endorse any of these cookbooks and their use cannot replace advice from a medical professional. Always talk to your doctor before making major dietary changes. In general though, we have found these cookbooks useful in helping chronic pain patients live a better, healthier life.

Ready to find delicious new recipes? These are the best anti-inflammatory cookbooks to get started with.

1. Anti-Inflammatory Cookbook

The sheer number and variety of recipes in this book—500 in all!—make it easy to pick ones that sound delicious and doable to you.

Elis Mars provides dozens of meal options for every occasion. Whether you’re in the mood for a filling lunch of stuffed eggplants, a refreshing dessert of watermelon sorbet, or anything in between, odds are you’ll find a recipe you love in Anti-Inflammatory Cookbook.

2. The Everything Healthy Meal Prep Cookbook

Meal prepping is the practice of preparing a large amount of food, often a week’s worth, in advance. It could help you eat healthier by emphasizing portion control, reducing the time you spend in the kitchen, and making you more aware of what you eat. But, if you’ve never done it before, you probably have some questions about how to begin.

This book, written by Tina Chow, breaks down the dos and don’ts of meal planning. She also provides an impressive 300 recipes to get you started.

3. Oh She Glows Every Day

If you need or want to adopt a plant-based diet, Angela Liddon’s cookbooks are an excellent place to start.

From veggie burgers and pasta salads to cookies and cupcakes, Oh She Glows Every Day provides over 100 plant-based recipes. The book also specifies which recipes are safe for people with common allergies. This is just Liddon’s latest publication; if you enjoy the recipes found here, you can find similar ones on her blog and in her previous cookbook, The Oh She Glows Cookbook.

4. The Grain-Free, Sugar-Free, Dairy-Free Family Cookbook

The recipes in this book were developed by Leah Webb, a health coach whose children have severe food allergies and cystic fibrosis.

Along with the recipes for nutritious meals and inventive snacks, Webb provides lessons learned from her own experiences, tips for saving time and effort in the kitchen, and the effects of different foods on the body.

With its family focus, this book’s recipes and the process of putting them together, make mealtimes easier for everyone.

5. Fit Men Cook

Fitness advocate Kevin Curry learned through personal experience that exercise alone is not enough to improve your health if you aren’t putting just as much effort into your diet.

This book discusses Curry’s journey to healthy eating and offers plenty of encouragement and tips to get you started on your own journey. Fit Men Cook acknowledges how difficult it is to change your diet. It eases the way though with over 100 great recipes, including jambalaya and stuffed chicken parmesan.

6. Gluten-Free on a Shoestring

Gluten is a type of protein found in grain and grain products. While most people have no trouble digesting gluten, certain conditions, such as celiac disease and irritable bowel syndrome, make gluten consumption harmful to your intestines. These conditions are often comorbid with other chronic pain conditions.

This second edition of Nicole Hunn’s cookbook contains 125 completely gluten-free recipes, including pizza dough and pumpkin pie, which you can make without breaking the bank.

7. Pure Delicious

If you have multiple food allergies, trying to create appetizing meals may seem impossible. That’s where Heather Christo’s book, Pure Delicious, comes in.

Not only does it provide 150 recipes that exclude major allergens, such as nuts and dairy, it provides an outline for how to remove allergens from your diet entirely.

8. Kombucha, Kefir, and Beyond

As you’re rethinking your diet and what you eat, don’t forget about what you drink!

Alex Lewin and Raquel Guajardo teach you how to ferment all sorts of drinks, from wine to soda, at home. The recipes found here can be much healthier versions of store-bought drinks, as they include probiotics. These helpful bacteria live in everyone’s digestive tract, but some people’s systems can benefit from the inclusion of additional probiotics.

Probiotics are generally safe and can ease symptoms in people with certain gastrointestinal disorders. (Though always check with your doctor before adding them to your diet!)

9. The New Soul Food Cookbook for People with Diabetes

Diabetes affects over 30 million people in the United States. It’s important for people with this condition to monitor when and what they eat in order to prevent blood sugar spikes and drops. Doing so can reduce the chance of painful complications.

In this cookbook, authors Fabiola Demps Gaines and Roniece Weaver show how you can continue to enjoy soul food favorites, from pork chops to chocolate cake, while keeping your diabetes under control.

10. The Low-FODMAP Diet Step by Step

FODMAP stands for fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides, and polyols. These are carbohydrates, and their consumption can worsen symptoms in people with irritable bowel syndrome and other gastrointestinal disorders.

Kate Scarlata and Dédé Wilson help you figure out which foods contain FODMAPs. Then, they provide 135 FODMAP-free recipes to help improve your digestive health.

11. Cook Once, Eat All Week

Author Cassy Joy Garcia outlines a 26-week plan for creating a week’s worth of meals in just one cooking session.

Each week’s recipes are centered around three ingredients, allowing you to prepare seven days of diverse, delicious meals with minimal fuss and expense. Garcia’s recipes focus on healthy eating and feature ingredient substitution options to make your meals grain-free, dairy-free, and more.

12. Korean Paleo

The paleo diet requires adherents to only eat foods allegedly available to humanity’s prehistoric ancestors. In other words, no grains, sugar, or dairy allowed!

This diet is not for everyone, but reducing your gluten or grain intake may help you manage certain chronic conditions, such as celiac disease. Jean Choi puts an Asian twist on the paleo phenomenon, laying out scrumptious paleo versions of Korean dishes like kimchi stew and pork belly wraps.

13. Skinnytaste One and Done

Diet foods and products are very popular, but they’re no substitute for balanced, nutritious meals that you make yourself.

Food blogger Gina Homolka offers plenty of lower-fat versions of popular dishes, including fried chicken and macaroni and cheese. She categorizes the recipes based on which cooking tools (e.g. an electric pressure cooker) you need to make them.

If you love this book, there are several others in the series, including The Skinnytaste Air Fryer Cookbook and The Skinnytaste Cookbook.

14. The 30-Minute Mediterranean Diet Cookbook

The Mediterranean diet includes a lot of healthy oils and few carbohydrates, so it is sometimes recommended to people seeking to lose weight or manage chronic conditions, from food allergies to diabetes. Plus it just tastes great!

Selena Rall and Deanna Segrave-Daly explain the benefits of a Mediterranean diet and include over 100 tasty and healthful Mediterranean recipes. Yes, that does include pizza.

15. Danielle Walker’s Eat What You Love

Eliminating ingredients doesn’t have to mean eliminating your favorite foods!

All of Danielle Walker’s cookbooks focus on cooking without gluten or dairy. Her latest book puts the spotlight on comfort foods, such as chicken potpie, banana bread, and tomato soup.

The nice thing about this book is its versatility. Walker includes a chart of potential ingredient substitutions to suit a wider array of tastes and dietary needs. Her recipes are suitable for those on the paleo diet, too.

16. The Low-Carb Diabetes Cookbook

David Cavan and Emma Porter’s cookbook helps you develop a diet plan that can help manage both Type I and Type II diabetes symptoms. (In the case of Type II, perhaps even reverse symptoms.)

All of the recipes are low in carbohydrates and include everything from breakfast omelets to sweet potato fries. The book also reviews how people’s eating habits have changed in the past 40 years and the effect these changes have had on our overall health. This historical perspective helps to highlight where you may have fallen into the pitfalls presented by modern food innovations.

17. The Easy 5-Ingredient Healthy Cookbook

If the prospect of trying to cook healthy meals seems overwhelming, Toby Amidor’s cookbook might be a good place to start.

Her recipes are relatively quick to make and cater to people with a variety of dietary preferences, from vegans to meat lovers. Amidor also includes advice on how to avoid fad or phony diets, what ingredients to buy, and how to save time and money as you cook.

18. ¡Salud! Vegan Mexican Cookbook

“Salud” is Spanish for “health,” and this cookbook allows you to enjoy beloved Mexican dishes with a healthy, vegan twist.

As author Eddie Garza points out, pre-Hispanic Mexican cuisine often relied on corn, chilis, rice, and other vegan-friendly ingredients. Creating delectable meat- and dairy-free versions of tamales, tortas, sopes, and much more is easier than you might think!

19. Damn Delicious Meal Prep

Low-calorie meals don’t have to be bland! Food blogger Chungah Rhee collects healthy, creative dishes that you can prepare for either now or later, for yourself or a whole dinner party’s worth of people.

Rhee deemphasizes the weight loss aspect of healthy eating, instead stressing the importance of meal prep and enjoying the food you eat.

20. Meals that Heal

Dr. Carolyn Williams’ recipes can be prepared in under 30 minutes, so you don’t have to spend all day in the kitchen to enjoy a healthy meal packed with anti-inflammatory ingredients.

Dr. Williams also takes time to discuss what inflammation is, its effects on your body, and what dietary habits you may consider adopting if you want to relieve or prevent specific conditions, including heart problems and joint disorders.

Find more anti-inflammatory recipes

Want more recipes that fit into an anti-inflammatory diet? The internet has plenty! From bountiful breakfasts to delectable dinners, there are tons of recipes out there for you to try. In addition to conventional meals, you may want to look into smoothie recipes. Smoothies are a great and easy way to incorporate anti-inflammatory ingredients into your diet.

Experiment with different diets and recipes—with guidance from your doctor, of course—until you find an approach that works for you. Or perhaps you can borrow elements from multiple diet regimens and create a new one just for you!

Many of the authors of the anti-inflammatory cookbooks featured here got their start writing food and health blogs. So if there’s a book you really love, check the author bio! Additional recipes could be just an internet search away.

If you live in Arizona and need help planning and sticking to an anti-inflammatory diet, contact the Arizona Pain team or click below to get in touch with one of our pain specialists today.

For thousands of years, people have turned to home remedies and natural treatments to ease inflammation and pain. It may be hard to believe that a relaxing sip of your favorite tea could actually help heal your body, but more and more research is pointing to evidence that suggests that anti-inflammatory tea can help treat chronic conditions. Here are the best teas for inflammation and pain (and some suggested blends you can either buy or make at home!).

What type of tea is good for inflammation?

Inflammation in the body serves an important purpose. When you are injured, the body directs fluid and other chemicals to the area to surround the injury, protecting it from further harm. If you have ever sprained an ankle, you know that this inflammation keeps you from injuring the ankle further by making it nearly impossible to bear weight. In most cases, this protective response subsides over a few days as you rest.

Sometimes, however, inflammation becomes chronic.

Chronic inflammation occurs when the protective response goes into hyperdrive. This extends the body’s response to injury well past the time when it should have stopped. The immune system may switch on to continue the cycle, but sometimes inflammation occurs with no inciting injury or condition.

Either way, when inflammation becomes chronic, a variety of things can occur. Inflammation is linked to many of the most serious health conditions, including:

• Cancer
• Alzheimer’s
• Irritable bowel syndrome
• Ulcerative colitis
• Heart disease
• Diabetes

So how does anti-inflammatory tea help relieve the dangerous cycle of inflammation and pain?

Some anti-inflammatory teas help to reduce the body’s production of cytokines, a chemical that causes inflammation. Others not only help limit cytokines, but also reduce the activity of cyclooxygenase enzymes that promote inflammation.

Another way anti-inflammatory tea helps with inflammation is by helping to balance metabolic disorders. This includes decreasing the presence of apolipoproteins that increase oxidative stress, which prevents the body from healing itself.

Here are five of the best teas for inflammation and pain.

1. Green tea

Green tea is one of the most-researched anti-inflammatory herbal teas available. Made from the leaves of the Camellia synensis plant, green tea has anti-inflammatory properties that have been shown to reduce inflammation and improve heart health.

The tea catechins in green tea, particularly epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), work with flavonoids to prevent free radicals from provoking or increasing cell damage and the resulting inflammation.

Green tea is an excellent (and delicious) way to counteract the effects of stress. It improves cardiovascular function, lowers cholesterol, and provides an energy boost without the skittish effects that coffee can sometimes have. Green tea also reduces the risk of diabetes, cancer, and heart disease in general.

That’s not all. There are scientifically valid studies that have proven additional benefits of green tea that include:

• Boosted immune support
• Weight loss
• Improved dental health
• Better metabolism
• Improved neurological function
• Decreased risk of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease

Simply put, if you can only choose one anti-inflammatory tea, green tea is the way to go!

How to choose green tea

Green tea comes in leaf form but is also available in a powdered form called matcha. Most people new to green tea prefer the mild flavor of leaf tea, but matcha is a powerful antioxidant with many benefits.

To get the most from your leaf tea, look for green tea with high levels of EGCG. A Consumer Lab study tested 24 brands of green tea for EGCG and noted the following.

• On a budget, Lipton Green Tea was the best choice, with 71 mg of EGCG per brewed cup.
• A little more expensive, Teavana Gyokuro Imperial Green Tea had the highest levels of EGCG at 86 mg (and about four times the price tag).
• Looking for prepared, iced, sweetened green tea for an on-the-go, refreshing sip? Harney & Sons Organic Green Tea comes with just under 47 mg of EGCG but only a third of the sugar of other iced brands.

2. Black tea

It’s important to note that black tea, green tea, and white tea all come from the same plant but are prepared in different ways. Black tea is the most processed of the three, with deep roots in Ayurvedic medicine.

The power of black tea lies in its flavonoids hearubigins and theaflavin. These two compounds inhibit inflammatory enzymes and control or eliminate free radicals in the body.

It is important to note that black tea carries with it many of the same research-proven benefits as green tea. Black tea may contain too much caffeine for some tea drinkers, and the way the tea acts in the body is not exactly the same.

Still, research does show that black tea has similar protection against inflammation and inflammatory conditions, including heart disease and some types of cancer.

How to choose black tea

Because there are so many choices of black tea, it’s important to take the time to buy a high quality loose tea. If not buying teabags, look for loose tea that is slightly curled, with silvery tips.

There are a variety of regions in the world that grow black tea, and each has its own distinct flavor. Here are four varieties that celebrate the most prolific tea-producing regions in the world.

• The Republic of Tea: This loose tea is from the Keemun region in China and makes a smooth hot tea with no bitterness
• Positively Tea Organic Assam TGFOP: This tea comes from the Assam region of India and is noted for its strong flavor and deep color
• SerendipiTea’s First Flush Organic Darjeeling: This tea from India is lighter in flavor and offers a natural sweetness without any bitterness
• Taylors of Harrogate Special Rare Ceylon: This tea has been grown in Sri Lanka since 1869 and offers a flavor and color that falls somewhere between the darkness of Assam and the floral notes of Darjeeling

3. Ginger tea

Unlike the leaves and powder of green tea, ginger tea is a root that is dried and ground into powder (or sliced fresh for tea).

As with green tea, ginger is well-researched as an effective remedy for both pain and inflammation. Gingerol and shogaol are compounds in ginger that fight inflammation and oxidative stress.

In addition to combating the pain that comes with inflammation, ginger tea also prevents diseases related to oxidative stress, including heart disease.

How to choose a ginger tea

Choosing the best prepackaged ginger tea for you is influenced by whether or not you like the taste of ginger. There are many herbs that can mask the flavor of ginger if you prefer less spice.

• Celestial Seasonings Jammin’ Lemon Ginger: If you like your ginger a little less obvious, try Celestial Seasonings. This blend combines rose-hips and natural lemon in a caffeine free blend.
• Traditional Medicinals: Looking for straight ginger? Traditional Medicinals adds nothing to its organic ginger tea.
• Yogi Tea: This tea is organic, kosher, vegan, and non-GMO. It is prepared with lemongrass, licorice root, and black pepper for even more flavor (and powerful digestive benefits).

4. Rooibos

Rooibos tea is grown only in South Africa. Caffeine-free and with a sweet, barely tart flavor some compare to cranberries, rooibos contains two of the most powerful flavonoids found in anti-inflammatory tea: aspalathin and nothofagin.

Rooibos’s powerful benefits include:

• Reducing oxidative stress
• Preventing damage to the DNA and inflammation
• Protecting against cardiovascular toxicity

One review of studies noted that rooibos tea was just as powerful regardless of variety (red or green) and offered powerful relief from insomnia, anxiety, tension headaches, stomach cramps in babies, and irritability.

How to choose rooibos tea

Of the top ten rooibos teas ranked in 2019 by Top10Supps, Davidson’s Bulk organic took the number one spot for flavor and purity. Rooibos is the only ingredient, and the tea is fair-trade certified.

Other standouts included:

• Twinings Tea: Noted for its affordability, flavor, and great reviews by tea drinkers all over the world
• Rooibos Rocks South African Red Bush: A bit pricier than the other options on the list, the company focuses only on rooibos tea, and it shows in the quality of their product
• Numi Organics: A rooibos that is organic and uses verified fair labor practices for harvest and processing

5. Turmeric

While not a leaf, turmeric is a powerful anti-inflammatory root that has been used for thousands of years as a medicinal tea. Turmeric is earthy-tasting and harnesses the power of curcumin, a well-studied compound that fights inflammation. In the same family as ginger, turmeric is a staple of Ayurvedic medicine and is now gaining popularity in a preparation called golden milk (recipe below).

In a review of studies, turmeric displayed its anti-inflammatory properties in six trials that used human subjects. This is important because the studies demonstrated turmeric’s effectiveness out of the lab and in the human population.

Turmeric has been found effective in reducing the pain and inflammation of arthritis. Its antioxidant properties and metabolic regulation have been found helpful for other inflammatory conditions like diabetes and Alzheimer’s.

How to buy turmeric

For fresh preparations, you can find turmeric root in the produce section of some supermarkets. Keep in mind that turmeric is highly staining and has been used as a vibrant yellow dye. Protect cutting surfaces and your hands when you prepare it!

Powdered turmeric is useful for making pastes and flavoring food. This can be found in the bulk section or in the spice aisle of the supermarket.

If you’d like to skip the yellow powder or staining root, here are three of our ready-to-make turmeric preparations.

1. Traditional Medicinals Turmeric (with meadowsweet and ginger): Easy, delicious teabags with the additional support of ginger.
2. Numi Organic Turmeric Three Roots: The roots are turmeric, ginger, and licorice – a delicious and powerful combination!
3. Organic India Tulsi Tea Turmeric Ginger: Yup, more ginger, plus tulsi (holy basil), another powerful anti-inflammatory herb.

How to prepare tea for inflammation and pain

To brew a proper cup of tea, steep a tea bag (or tea diffuser if using loose tea) for approximately five minutes, covered. Green tea may have a slightly shorter steep time, so always check the package. Remove the tea bag or diffuser and enjoy hot or iced, with honey or other sweetener, or maybe a squeeze of lemon or splash of milk.

When preparing ginger or turmeric tea from fresh roots, peel and slice the roots into thin rounds. Pour boiling water over the roots and let steep for five to 10 minutes. You can also use nutmilk for a delicious and creamy beverage.

How much is enough?

Even the best teas for inflammation in pain won’t work if you don’t sip them enough. But how much is enough?

• Green tea: There is conflicting evidence for how much green tea is enough. Some studies say just one cup a day is enough to get the benefits, while others advocate up to five. Most agree that somewhere between three and five cups a day will yield significant benefits. If you are sensitive to caffeine, you may experience side effects associated with that. These can include anxiety, insomnia, and upset stomach. Start on the lower end of suggestions.
• Black tea: Black tea is one of the few anti-inflammatory teas that can come with side effects. Many people find the high levels of caffeine too stimulating and should limit their intake to just a cup or two per day (in place of another caffeinated beverage). Drinking too much black tea has been associated with anxiety, headache, increased respiration, and nausea.
• Ginger tea: Ginger tea dosage is highly individual. Some people respond to very little, while others need high concentrations for inflammation benefits. Because of this, it’s best to experiment and see what helps you best.
• Rooibos: Rooibos is easy to break down in the body – the bioavailability of its beneficial compounds is high. Most researchers agree that six cups daily is safe, effective, and best for healing.
• Turmeric: The recommended daily intake really depends on what condition you are treating, but most researchers agree that 400 to 600 mg a day is sufficient and safe. Because turmeric has poor bioavailability, many opt for highly concentrated capsules, but drinking the tea is a delicious option.

As always, speak to your doctor before beginning to take medicinal doses of anti-inflammatory herbal tea.

Anti-inflammatory tea recipes

Our two favorite recipes combine multiple anti-inflammatory compounds and can be adjusted based on your preferences.

• Chai: Chai uses black tea at its base then adds a spicy and delicious combination of herbs, along with honey and milk (or milk substitute) for a warming and therapeutic blend. Get ready to empty out your spice cabinet for our favorite chai recipe!
• Golden milk: Turmeric gives this anti-inflammatory beverage its name. The Minimalist Baker’s golden milk recipe takes just five minutes to make and offers versions that use both fresh and powdered turmeric.

The best teas for inflammation and pain can be a warming and complementary part of your comprehensive treatment plan. If you’re in Arizona, we welcome you to talk to our team at Arizona Pain for help. Get in touch today. 

They say an apple a day keeps the doctor away. While it may not be that simple, changes to your diet can have an impact on arthritis pain and symptoms. Arthritis at its most basic description is inflammation of the joints. Fortunately, healthy eating can help fight inflammation and improve your symptoms. No food is a cure-all of course, but following the best diet for arthritis may improve your day-to-day functions and help ease some symptoms.

What are the basics of arthritis and diet?

When we talk about arthritis, we often refer to inflammation. In theory, inflammation is a natural part of our how immune systems function. It’s the body’s response to injury.

However, inflammation is also at the root of most types of arthritis pain. This is characterized as swollen, painful joints that may even feel warm to the touch. How does food play a role in this? We’ll explain.

Osteoarthritis

Experts agree that food can have an impact on the severity of inflammation we experience. In 2017, researchers from the University of Surrey identified a crucial link between metabolism and osteoarthritis. Metabolic changes caused by poor diet and a sedentary lifestyle can change the genetic reprogramming of cells in the body and joints.

Weight is also often associated with different types of diseases and conditions. When it comes to arthritis, weight loss can reduce excess stress on joints. One study found that a loss of just one pound of body weight reduces the load on knees by four pounds. This is especially true for those suffering from osteoarthritis, which is generally known as a “wear and tear” condition.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA)

If you have been diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis, the condition stems from your immune system targeting your joint linings on both sides of the body. This may include both hands, wrists, or knees. The symmetry is what makes RA different from osteoarthritis. While this type of condition isn’t related to wear and tear or excessive weight, diet may still play a role.

Just like osteoarthritis, RA causes inflammation that can be extremely painful. By eating the best food for rheumatoid arthritis, such as fruits, vegetables, and cold-water fish, you may notice less inflammation and fewer flare-ups. At the very least, patients should try to limit processed food and sugar to stay in good health and limit the severity of their symptoms.

Tips for arthritis and diet

We understand that every person and diagnosis is different, which is why it’s important to be flexible. Rather than starting an entirely new diet, think of it as a simple lifestyle change. Focus on small, incremental changes that feel easy.

There are so many benefits to eating more nutritious meals. Even if you don’t see a change in your arthritis symptoms at first, you can improve your health which could eventually impact your arthritis symptoms. This is especially true if you suffer from multiple comorbid conditions.

For example, studies confirm that eating certain foods can:

• Lower blood pressure
• Protect against chronic conditions, ranging from cancer to stroke
• Prevent inflammation
• Protect your heart
• Lead to weight loss, which can lessen pressure that leads to joint pain

While there is no miracle diet for arthritis, simple changes can have an impact.  As always, consult with your doctor before starting a new diet or exercise regimen.

12 best foods for arthritis

Now that we’ve established a link between arthritis and diet, it’s time to get specific. As you browse arthritis diet recipes, look for meals that include the following ingredients.

1. Berries

The glory of berries is in the anthocyanins, which have an anti-inflammatory effect.

From strawberries to raspberries, blueberries, and blackberries, add them to your yogurt or smoothie for a healthy dose of antioxidants. You’ll get health benefits whether they’re frozen, fresh, or even dehydrated.

2. Nuts

If you need a quick and healthy snack, it doesn’t get much better than a handful of nuts. Grab some almonds, pistachios, or cashews for a quick energy boost. Just 1.5 ounces daily can provide a dose of inflammation-fighting monounsaturated fat.

Nuts are also rich in:

• Protein
• Calcium
• Magnesium
• Zinc
• Vitamin E
• Immune-boosting alpha linolenic acid (ALA)

3. Olive oil

Extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) is a pantry staple, and as it turns out, it’s a pretty good one to have.

EVOO contains heart-healthy fats, as well as oleocanthal, which has anti-inflammatory benefits. According to studies, a diet rich in olive oil can reduce joint swelling and even slow cartilage destruction.

4. Fish

Omega-3 fatty acids are known for protecting your heart and helping your body fight off inflammation.

The American Heart Association and the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics recommend three to four ounces of fish, twice a week. However, arthritis experts claim more is better! Go for salmon, tuna, or even scallops to reap the benefits. Check Seafood Watch to find options that are kinder to the environment and our seas.

Don’t like seafood? Consider adding a fish oil supplement to your daily routine.

5. Green tea

Studies show an antioxidant in green tea called epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) blocks the production of molecules that cause joint damage in people with rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

Aim for two serving per day, hot or iced, using traditional tea bags.

6. Broccoli

We all know the importance of eating our greens! Broccoli is rich in vitamins K and C, as well as sulforaphane. This compound may prevent or slow the progression of osteoarthritis.

The boost of calcium from broccoli also offers bone-building benefits.

7. Whole grains

Whole grains are fiber-rich and lower blood levels of CRP, an inflammatory marker. Experts recommend six ounces of whole grains per day, which means there are many opportunities to incorporate them into your diet.

Consider oatmeal, whole grain toast, quinoa, or brown rice.

8. Citrus

Vitamin C is an excellent way to boost your immune system, protect your memory, and lower your risk of heart disease. Research shows that it may also prevent inflammatory arthritis and help you maintain healthy joints.

Sink your teeth into citrus fruits like oranges, grapefruits, and limes to reap the benefits.

9. Beans

Beans pack a punch of fiber and protein, which makes them a healthy part of any diet. For arthritis sufferers, the phytonutrients in beans may help lower CRP, an indicator of inflammation found in the blood.

With so many varieties to choose from, it can be tough to know where to start. Small red beans, red kidney beans, and pinto beans are among the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s list of top antioxidant-containing foods.

10. Garlic

If you’re looking for flavor and health benefits, garlic is your friend. Researchers believe the compound diallyl disulphine found in garlic may limit cartilage-damaging enzymes in human cells.

Studies also show reduced risk for hip osteoarthritis, which is likely due to garlic’s strong anti-inflammatory properties.

11. Ginger

Ginger may reduce inflammation and aid in reducing symptoms of arthritis, whether it’s fresh, powdered, or dried. Plus, it can help settle an upset stomach. A 2001 study looked at the effects of ginger extract in 261 patients with osteoarthritis of the knee. After six weeks, 63% of participants experienced improvements in knee pain.

Add a bit of ginger to your tea or soup recipes or make a stir fry to use this anti-inflammatory ingredient!

12. Turmeric

Widely used in Thai and Indian cuisine, turmeric gives curry that burst of yellow color, but it’s more than a culinary benefit.

Curcumin is the strong antioxidant in turmeric that has powerful anti-inflammatory effects. If you don’t enjoy the distinct flavor of turmeric, consider taking it in supplement form.

5 foods to avoid for arthritis

We all know the importance of eating well, not just for arthritis, but for overall wellness. Did you know some types of food that could actually lead to painful flare-ups and worsening symptoms?

Here are arthritis triggers you should try to avoid whenever possible.

1. Processed foods

According to a study at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, decreasing the amount of fried and processed foods eaten can “reduce inflammation and actually help restore the body’s natural defenses.”

With this in mind, try to limit fried or fast food, as well as prepared frozen meals.

2. Alcohol

While everything in moderation is acceptable, excessive alcohol consumption will only lead to worsening symptoms. If you already have arthritis, most medications to relieve sore joints do not mix well with alcohol. Plus, alcohol is particularly problematic if you have gout.

However, according to the Arthritis Foundation, a few studies show that enjoying alcohol in moderation may reduce your risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis.

3. Sugar

Sugar that is processed can prompt the release of cytokines, which are responsible for causing inflammation.

We’re not talking about naturally occurring sugar in fruit, though. This is the type of sugar that is added to soda, candy, and even some types of juice. Take a look at labels and be vigilant about avoiding excess sugar.

4. Refined carbohydrates

Refined carbohydrates can fuel the production of advanced glycation end (AGE) oxidants. AGE oxidants are known to damage certain proteins in your body. Because your body tries to break them apart by using cytokines, inflammation is more likely to occur as a result.

Try to avoid refined carbohydrates when possible, such as those found in potato chips, white bread, and white rice.

5. Saturated fat

Arthritis sufferers are more at risk for heart disease, which means it’s important to pay attention to your cholesterol levels. Unfortunately, saturated fats found in meat, butter, and cheese can raise your total cholesterol level.

Limit saturated fat to 20 grams per day (for a person consuming 2,000 calories).

What are the best places to find arthritis diet recipes?

If you’re ready to get cooking, you’ll need a few simple arthritis diet recipes. Fortunately, there are thousands at your fingertips! From cookbooks to blogs, you’ll find a variety of anti-inflammatory recipes. Here are some of our favorite resources.

Cookbooks

If you love the nostalgia of cracking open a cookbook, you’re in luck. There are many doctors, chefs, and even average arthritis sufferers who have written cookbooks.

The Anti-Inflammation Cookbook is a great place to start. According to reviews, this book is full of practical recipes with flavor in mind. Fill up your bookshelf with even more cookbooks from our own list, 20 Of The Best Anti-Inflammatory Cookbooks.

Pinterest

If you’re looking for visual inspiration, Pinterest recipes are only a few clicks away. A quick search for “arthritis diet” yields hundreds of pins with recipes and more.

For example, get started on your journey to healthy living with a simple week-long anti-inflammatory meal plan.

Blogs

Blogs are becoming more and more popular for people who want a creative outlet. Plus, many cookbook authors start out as bloggers. If you find a cookbook author you love, be sure to do a quick internet search to check for more recipes and resources.

Other ways to manage your arthritis

Changing your lifestyle to follow the best diet for arthritis is a great first step. While aches and pains can tempt a person to take it easy, research shows that movement also helps decrease pain, lubricate joints, and increase range of motion. Consider incorporating gentle yoga or morning walks into your daily routine. This will greatly increase your chances of keeping your symptoms under control.

In some cases, basic lifestyle changes still aren’t enough, and that’s okay. A comprehensive approach to treating arthritis pain may involve a number of therapies and treatments. Your healthy diet should be used in conjunction with medical treatments to help relieve your day-to-day symptoms.

At Arizona Pain, we work as a team to develop a plan to tackle your pain from every angle. Your treatment may include many facets from our comprehensive care program, including conventional medical procedures, chiropractic manipulations, and vitamin supplements.

If you live in Arizona and need help managing your arthritis pain, contact the Arizona Pain team or click the button below to get in touch with one of our pain specialists.

Nature’s pharmacy offers a cornucopia of anti-inflammatory plants and herbs that research has shown can benefit people experiencing chronic pain. Traditional medicines such as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID)—a class that includes aspirin and ibuprofen—are commonly used by chronic pain sufferers but these can lead to significant side effects including potential stomach ulcers and kidney damage. With that in mind, many people are looking for more natural remedies to reduce chronic pain. Here’s some of our favorite natural herbs for pain. As always, check with your doctor before making big lifestyle changes, especially if you’re taking any prescription medications.

Getting started with natural herbs for pain

Herbs have had an important role in the development of cultures around the world since the dawn of history. Not only were they used for cooking but also for healing. Early healers from cultures as varied as the ancient Chinese and the ancient Celts understood the power of herbs and how they could heal wounds and cure common ailments.

However, it has been in cooking where the use of herbs thrived. Mediterranean cultures like the Greeks and Italians have used a number of herbs in their foods that have become the hallmark of these cuisines. Many Greek dishes are known for their use of nutmeg and rosemary while basil, garlic, and oregano are common in Italian cooking. Middle Eastern foods, various Asian dishes, and Mexican meals (which are a blend of Spanish and Native American flavors) all have their own herbal profiles.

The benefits of herbs are not limited to the boundaries between medicine and food. Ingesting these ingredients as part of a gourmet meal can provide positive nutrients for maintaining a healthy lifestyle. This is why many healthy eating blogs are also focused on creating rich and flavorful foods. The right herb combinations can eliminate the need for high fat or sugar content making these dishes as delicious as any decadent desserts. The best natural herbs for pain can actually reduce inflammation in the body.

Plants and herbs including turmeric, green tea, and ginger have been proven to reduce inflammation and pain without harmful side effects. Although these herbs come from the soil and not the pharmacy, they “can be the cornerstone of good pain management,” says David Leopold, director of San Diego’s Integrative Medical Education program at the Scripps Center for Integrative Medicine.

1. Turmeric

Turmeric in particular represents one of nature’s most potent anti-inflammatory spices, Leopold adds. This bright yellow spice commonly used in Indian cuisine comes from the same plant family as ginger, another powerful antioxidant. Turmeric’s active component, curcumin, reduces inflammation by inhibiting several inflammatory enzymes. Curcumin also gives turmeric its signature color.

Research published in the Italian internal medicine journal Panminerva Medica found osteoarthritis patients taking a turmeric supplement experienced a 58% drop in pain and stiffness and reduced their reliance on traditional drugs like NSAIDs.

Most commonly found in Indian cuisine, turmeric is extremely healthy. Other studies have shown that it may have anti-inflammatory properties and is good for individuals with arthritis. In fact, some research has indicated that it may be more effective at helping with arthritis pain than some prescription medications.

Turmeric is used in many curries along with other Indian spices. It is most commonly found in a powder form and is available at Indian markets and in some grocery stores. The spice will add a rich yellow color to your cooking. Use it to make a tikka masala sauce that you can add to vegetables, chicken, seafood, or rice. Or, look around natural health stores for new varieties of turmeric teas or applications.

2. Cinnamon

One of the more popular spices around the winter holidays, cinnamon is more than just a fragrant additive to foods. It has been shown to lower blood sugar levels which, in turn, can help diabetic patients better control their condition. It has also been known to reduce cholesterol levels which can reduce the risk of high blood pressure and heart disease.

Like turmeric, cinnamon can be taken as an extract but you may want to consider adding it to your regular menu. Most people think of sweet foods when they consider cinnamon but Middle Eastern cultures, like Lebanese and Syrian, frequently use cinnamon in savory dishes which give them a distinctive and delicious flavor. Just avoid mixing cinnamon with foods that are high in fat and sugar contents to achieve the best results.

3. Rosemary

This pungent evergreen herb is great with grilled meats or hearty stews. As it turns out, there is a reason for this pairing. Rosemary helps the body avoid the negative effects of carcinogens called Heterocyclic Amines or HCAs, like those that are common on steaks cooked over an open fire or at any high temperature. The antioxidants in rosemary appear to target the HCAs and prevent the development of tumors.

The good news is that rosemary and meat is a delicious combination. Use bundled sprigs to add flavor to a stew or soup. It is also great in conjunction with other herbs such as thyme, oregano, garlic, or basil. Like those herbs, rosemary is easy to grow as well. While you can use a supplement or a powder, fresh or dried rosemary is always a better choice.

4. Ginger

Ginger, a relative of turmeric, is another proven inflammation buster. Researchers at the University of Georgia found that eating ginger daily reduced muscle pain among heavy exercisers. The spice can be drank as tea or used in fresh or powdered form to flavor meals. Research published in the journal Arthritis found ginger extract to be as effective as the anti-inflammatory medication betamethasone.

Though technically a root and not an herb at all, ginger is a great treatment for nausea from a number of conditions. This includes pregnancy, motion sickness, or even nausea related to chemotherapy. Ginger blocks the effects of serotonin that your body creates when it is nauseated which, in turn, stops the stomach from feeling upset.

Common in many Chinese meals, ginger is great for soups, stir fries, or as a dressing on a salad. Like cinnamon you can use it in many sweet preparations, such as gingerbread. Combine ginger and cinnamon for flavored teas like chai, which can provide you with not only the benefits of those individual herbs but also from the black tea itself.

5. Basil

As it turns out, a specific version of the common basil plant, once known as “holy basil,” is great at helping reduce stress. Ingesting this herb increases adrenaline in a healthy way and decreases the body’s production of serotonin.

Basil is extremely common in Italian dishes including pesto sauces. Replacing common basil with holy basil can give you the added stress-relieving health benefits you may need. Use it in place of raw basil as the base of a Caprese salad. Toss with fresh mozzarella and tomatoes drizzle with a little balsamic vinegar.

6. Garlic

Finally, very few home cooks can go for long without adding garlic to their cooking. Almost all cultures, from Chinese to Italian, use it. It’s one of the most versatile ingredients you can use. As it turns it, it is also one of the healthiest. The benefits of garlic are many. It can lower the risk of developing cancer, help with a common cold, and decrease the risk of high blood pressure. It even has antibiotic properties.

Fortunately, garlic is also one of the easiest things to cook with. Keep whole cloves on hand to roast and spread on hearty, crusty bread in place of butter. Add minced garlic to pasta sauces, soups, or stir frys. Garlic is the kind of herb that you can add to just about anything in order to create a delicious dish that everyone in the house can enjoy.

Green tea

Finally, if adding exotic spices to food isn’t your style, you could also sip green tea. This powerful beverage reduces inflammation and promotes health.

Green tea, used for centuries in Chinese and Indian medicine, has gained fame in Western societies for its catechins that reduce inflammation and the risk for many types of cancer.

The popular beverage has shown promise in reducing chronic pain, particularly for people with rheumatoid arthritis. A study completed at the University of Michigan found green tea’s anti-inflammatory benefits alleviated symptoms associated with the disorder. Michigan researchers found that epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG)—an active compound in green tea—thwarted the production of molecules that lead to joint destruction and bone erosion in people with rheumatoid arthritis.

Have you tried any natural herbs for pain? Do you have any great recipes that incorporate lots of these ingredients? Share them in the comments!

Tea is a time-honored tradition that was brought to our culture from the Far East through the English empire. Human history is literally steeped in tea. In ancient China, tea was frequently used for medicinal purposes. It eventually made its way to Europe and, especially, England where it became popular in the 17th century. The English then transported tea back to the East by establishing production in India. Here’s how you can use hot teas today to help with pain along with other winter-time ailments.

What is tea?

The ancient Chinese had an early understanding of herbal remedies and how different compounds had different effects on the body. One of the easiest ways to extract and consume the properties of medicinal plants was to steep and ingest it in the form of a tea. Tea refers to both a specific plant as well as the act of infusing herbs in boiling water.

The most common types of tea include:

• Black tea: This is the first of four teas that derive from the leaves of the camellia sinensisplant that is native to China. Black tea is the most common and is typically used in drinks such as ice tea or sweet tea. The leaves of the plant are oxidized when making black tea, which is what causes the darker color when steeped.
• White tea: This tea is made from the lightly dried leaves and buds of the camellia sinensisplant before it can be exposed to oxidation. While black tea is named for the color of the resulting liquid, white tea is actually yellow in color once steeped.
• Green tea: This tea, green in color as the name indicates, is extremely popular in Asian cultures today. It is believed to have a number of healthy properties. It is also cultivated from the camellia sinensis plant but it is lightly processed before brewing.
• Oolong tea: Oolong tea is a highly oxidized version of camellia sinensis tea where the leaves are allowed to dry in the sun and then curled or twisted before used. There are several varieties of oolong tea that can have varying flavor profiles, such as sweet or woody.
• Rooibos tea: Grown in South Africa, rooibos tea is not technically a tea at all but an herb used just like teas created from the camellia sinensis Rooibos tea is also referred to as red tea. It is usually prepared just like black tea and served with sugar, milk, or honey. Rooibos has an earthy vanilla taste which makes it a great entry level tea for individuals who don’t like the taste of black teas.
• Herbal tea: Any infusion made from plants that are not part of the camellia sinensis plant are considered herbal teas. These can include peppermint, ginger, chamomile, or lemon balm. Drinking infusions of these herbs can provide targeted health benefits.
• Flavored tea: Finally, there are several popular teas on the market today that are actually flavored teas, such as chai. This tea was developed in India and blends black tea with popular Indian spices such as cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, and cloves. Chai is also a great gateway tea for people interested in black tea but who don’t enjoy the flavor.

How teas can help 

Now that you know what various teas you can choose from, what can you do with them?

Curling up on a cold winter night with fuzzy slippers, a purring cat, and a warm cup of chai tea can be a great way to beat the mid-winter blues, but there are plenty of practical health applications for tea as well. So how can tea help you stay healthy?

Adding green tea to your regular routine can add essential anti-oxidants into your diet. If caffeine is a problem for you, choose naturally non-caffeinated rooibos, which also provides your body with cancer fighting flavonoids. It can also alleviate asthma symptoms. A quick Google search will give you hundreds of resources for what teas and herbal infusions can help you stay healthy and happy. Here’s some of our favorite uses.

Stress

Stress can be nearly unavoidable in our culture of constant stimulation. You may be dealing with stress at work or with your family. The upcoming holidays can also be an extremely stressful time of year.

Taking time to relax and enjoy a cup of tea can be a great start. Plain, black tea can help calm your nerves and give you a chance to catch your breath.

Insomnia

Maybe your problem is that you’re having trouble sleeping. It can be an issue during the dark winter nights when you’re relying on artificial light to keep you active in the early evening.

Herbal teas that are best for fighting sleepless nights include chamomile, valerian root, and lavender.

Anxiety

As the holidays approach, you may be feeling anxious about gift giving or family gatherings. Tea can help with that too.

Passionflower is the tea most recommended by natural health practitioners when it comes to soothing your anxiety. If you can’t find passionflower, you may also use kava.

Sore throat

Colds, sniffles, and even the flu can plague families during the winter months. Being closed up indoors doesn’t help keep the viruses at bay. If your throat is raw, you can turn to several tea remedies including peppermint and licorice. Add some honey to help soothe your poor throat.

Tea for pain

Whether you suffer from chronic pain or are dealing with pain from an injury, there is nothing quite like relaxing with a soothing cup of hot tea. What makes the following recipes even better is the pain relief their key ingredients offer!

Cinnamon tea

Cinnamon is a warming spice that acts as an anti-inflammatory. It also lowers blood sugar and cholesterol!

Ingredients: boiling water, cinnamon stick, tea bag (black or rooibos), sweetener (if desired, to taste), and milk (or milk substitute)

Steps: Pour boiling water over the cinnamon stick and let sit, covered for five minutes. Add tea bag and let steep for another five minutes. Add sweetener and milk if using. (Note: you may substitute a teaspoon of cinnamon for the cinnamon stick).

Ginger tea

Ginger is another anti-inflammatory spice. A sweet ginger tea can also soothe an upset stomach, boost metabolism, and fight food-borne illness.

Ingredients: fresh ginger, peeled and sliced, about three ounces, two cups of water, sweetener (if desired, to taste), and lemon or apple juice (optional, though it gives freshness and a boost of vitamin C)

Steps: Heat water to boiling. Add ginger and continue to boil for about ten to 15 minutes. Let cool for five minutes, then add sweetener, and a splash or lemon or apple juice (if using).

Valerian root tea

Valerian is a powerful natural pain reliever. It works on our autonomic nervous system to calm and soothe us and has been used for thousands of years as a natural sleep aid. For some people it may take a couple days to feel the pain-relieving effects of the tea, but for others it can go to work immediately! You can find ground valerian root powder in your local health food store, though do always discuss its use with your doctor beforehand as it’s a more potent herb.

Ingredients: one cup of boiling water, one level teaspoon of ground valerian root, and sweetener to taste

Steps: Pour boiling water into a cup with the valerian root and let sit, covered, for ten to 15 minutes; sweeten to taste.

Making time for tea

These teas can be used in conjunction with each other (cinnamon-ginger tea would be a spicy mix), and you can also incorporate green tea into all of these for more anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory benefit! Teas can also be chilled for warmer weather.

English high tea was very popular throughout Britain especially during the Victorian era. Afternoon tea was accompanied by finger sandwiches and small bites and was served on low tea tables. However, high tea was served at the end of a work day and featured meats, breads, and other hearty foods. It was served at the dining table or “high” table which led to its name. These early tea traditions have a lot to teach us about taking time out of our day to enjoy each other’s company and slow down.

As the cool weather sets in, why not establish a tea tradition in your own home? Gather in the evening with a cup of herbal tea or take the time to eat breakfast with your family while sharing a pot of rooibos or chai. Tea is a healthy, delicious way to warm up during the winter months.

Do you have any favorite hot teas? 

Halloween brings out the ghouls and goblins, but for those with chronic pain, the holiday brings about difficulties of a different kind. You may be wondering how you’re going to escort the kids around trick-or-treating. Maybe you’re dreading all the ups and downs required to answer the door. To make Halloween a little easier to manage, here are some ways to handle pain. We’ve also included tips for how to manage sugar as a chronic pain patient after the holiday passes.

Plan well in advance

Planning the candy you will have available, as well as choosing decorations and costumes well in advance will help ensure Halloween is both fun and stress-free.

Sitting down and making a list gives you plenty of time to make Halloween successful and memorable. Planning everything out and then chipping away at all those items will help reduce stress because you’ll know everything is taken care of.

Stores typically begin stocking goodies and costumes well over a month in advance, so take advantage of the early bird timing and thin crowds. Just try to avoid diving into that candy too early!

Buy plenty of treats so you don’t run out on Halloween night and end up needing to buy more. Empty all of it into a big bowl to minimize movement associated with preparation, and keep the bowl by the door to make it easier for you. You might also consider putting the bowl on the front porch, perhaps in front of scary-fun decorations so you participate in the holiday without causing yourself pain or stress.

Give leftover candies away at work or to friends. That way, you don’t find yourself with too much temptation on hand! We’ve also included more tips for how to create a healthier diet with sugar later in this post.

Ask a friend or relative to help out with escorting kids trick-or-treating

Perhaps you might take the kids out for 20 minutes or half an hour, or however long you feel comfortable, but knowing your limits is important for keeping Halloween enjoyable.

Getting out of the house, walking around, and seeing all the kids dressed up in fun costumes might put a smile on your face. You could always try, but it would be good to have a friend or relative on hand who can pick up for you if you start to feel tired or experience pain.

If you do go out trick-or-treating, make sure to wear comfortable shoes with adequate support and take a bottle of water along for the road. Staying hydrated is important for staying healthy and keeping your body humming along.

Party smart—and healthy

Halloween parties are another area replete with temptation. If you thought keeping away from the bowl of candy temptation by your front door was hard enough, staying away from the table full of cream-cheese filled appetizers and oh-so cute desserts that contain a week’s worth of calories and sugar can seem like a whole other endeavor.

To stay healthy at parties, eat a meal full of healthy, satisfying fats, like those from fish, before going. Walking into the party fully satisfied will help limit temptation.

Once you pass the chocolate and sugar gauntlet, enter alcohol, another inflammatory agent that can exacerbate chronic pain symptoms. While everyone is laughing and having fun at parties, it seems natural to imbibe in a glass of wine or a mixed drink. In these circumstances, it’s good to know your body and what it can handle. Perhaps you can drink one, or even two drinks, and feel fine.

Or maybe, drinking causes inflammation and results in you not feeling well the next day. When faced with temptation, think about how the drink will make you feel. If it will make you feel sick, try to avoid imbibing, instead drinking something fun and healthy, like cranberry juice with seltzer water.

Also consider the time that you feel capable of spending at parties. It’s easy to overextend yourself while fulfilling social obligations. But don’t feel like you have to stay all night, or even attend at all. By knowing your limits and staying true to yourself, you can make it through the party season with as little pain as possible.

Don’t worry

Stress is sometimes a natural side effect of anything festive. Halloween and other holidays bring with them the need to prepare and plan. It’s easy to get overwhelmed in the details and lose sight of the bigger picture. For Halloween, the bigger picture is that this is supposed to be a fun holiday!

Don’t worry about having the best candy in the neighborhood, the most interesting costume, or the most festive decorations. The most memorable part of Halloween can be laughing with your family and friends, enjoying this spooktacular time of year, the crispness of fall, and seeing everybody else’s fun costumes.

Keep an eye on what really matters and let the rest go. It’s a sure-fired way to enjoy the fun without letting stress ruin your laughter or good time.

Minimize indulging in candy

Halloween marks the unofficial start to the holiday season, that fun time of year full of lights, decorations, parties, and temptation.

There’s probably no more difficult time to stick to a diet than during the holidays. Particularly on Halloween, when those bite-sized pieces of candy bar goodness peer out at you, seeming to whisper, “Just one, just one.”

But, as you probably know by now, there is no such thing as just one! One leads to another, which leads to another. It’s just a bite, the devil on your shoulder rationalizes. Unfortunately, candy is full of sugar, which causes inflammation and exacerbates most chronic pain conditions.

To avoid binging on candy, keep healthy sweets on hand, such as fruit and dates. If you do indulge, try to keep it to a minimum. After the holiday, focus on minimizing sugar consumptions.

Should you quit sugar after Halloween?

Eliminating sugar completely from your diet can be a challenging task that includes a complete dietary overhaul, but there are benefits to actively working to reduce your sugar intake, especially for chronic pain patients. After Halloween’s parties and candy bars might just be the best time to do it.

Relieve inflammation 

For many chronic pain patients, inflammation is the largest source of pain. Whether located in the joints or elsewhere in the body, chronic inflammation can result in pain that is refractory and resists treatment.

Several studies published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition have indicated that processed sugar can significantly increase inflammation in the body. This increased inflammation hinders proper cell function. It also makes it more difficult for the body to function and handle chronic pain.

While increased chronic pain might be enough to convince you to start thinking about how to quit sugar, consider this: there is clear evidence that sugar is just as addictive as cocaine.

Mental health benefits 

James DiNicolantonio, a cardiovascular research scientist at St. Luke’s Mid-America Heart Institute in Kansas City, Missouri, conducted an analysis of multiple studies and concluded that not only is sugar more dangerous than salt when it comes to heart disease, but it is also as addictive as cocaine. DiNicolantonio drew a clear distinction between refined sugars and those that occur in fruit.

The process of ingesting higher levels of refined sugar is gradual but predictable. He noted:

“When you look at animal studies comparing sugar to cocaine even when you get the rats hooked on IV cocaine, once you introduce sugar, almost all of them switch to the sugar. You get this intense release of dopamine upon acute ingestion of sugar. After you chronically consume it, those dopamine receptors start becoming down-regulated — there’s less of them, and they’re less responsive. That can lead to ADHD-like symptoms … but it can also lead to a mild state of depression because we know that dopamine is that reward neurotransmitter.”

DiNicolantonio’s analysis is confirmed by multiple other studies indicating that consumption of sugar brings about neurological changes that mimic similar changes that occur in the brain when drugs are introduced. Researchers have noted a surge of dopamine production in the brain when drugs are introduced. They have recently seen the exact same response when sugar is consumed.

Similarly, withdrawal symptoms from lack of sugar are neurologically the same as withdrawal symptoms that occur in the brain when laboratory rats are undergoing opioid withdrawal. Laboratory rats that demonstrated addictive-like behaviors with regard to sugar also had a behavior that corresponded to similar drug-addicted behaviors: escalation of intake. This escalated intake led to larger meals in between doses of sugar. This can lead to other issues, such as obesity and diabetes, in the laboratory mice.

Sugar and aging

Sugar changes not only your body and your brain chemistry. It can also alter your DNA. Sugary soft drinks (and perhaps excessive sugar in other forms) have been linked to increased aging in cells. In a study from the University of California, San Francisco, researchers found the 350 mL of soda a day caused almost five years of aging in cells. This was measured by the length of telomeres, protective caps, on the end of each chromosome. In people who drank the most soda, the telomeres were much shorter than in those who drank less.

Professor Elissa Epel, of the University of California, San Francisco noted that diseases themselves may be caused not only by sugar but also by sugar’s effect on the aging process:

“Regular consumption of sugar-sweetened sodas might influence disease development, not only by straining the body’s metabolic control of sugars but also through accelerated cellular ageing of tissues.”

How to reduce sugar intake

Because of all of these effects of sugar on the brain and the body, for some people, including some chronic pain patients, the answer to “Should you give up sugar?” is very simple. Yes, they should give up sugar. For others, the answer may be a little more complicated.

People in the U.S. currently consume 100 to 150 pounds of sugar per year. This level of consumption is unsustainable in terms of obesity, diabetes, heart conditions, and chronic pain. There are easy, painless steps to take to reduce your sugar consumption without cutting it off completely. Here’s how to quit sugar at the amount that’s most appropriate for you.

1. Skip the soda

Soda is one of the biggest culprits when it comes to sugar. One 20-ounce serving has 44 grams of sugar. In one beverage you will have exceeded the recommended daily limits of 37.5 grams of sugar for men and 25 grams for women.

2. Read labels

Sugar is hidden everywhere. Get used to reading ingredients, looking for anything like sugar, glucose, or fructose. These are all types of sugars that add up.

3. Re-frame what “sweet” means

Instead of having a sugary dessert after every meal, reach for a piece of seasonal fruit. Eating fruit in season means it is loaded with natural sugars and will be especially delicious.

4. Avoid sugar alternatives

Artificial sweeteners and natural alternatives like stevia and honey are all still sweeteners. When you are trying to cut down on sugar, simply swapping sugar for a substitute may not be the best. That said, if you do consume sweeteners, sticking to honey as the least-processed alternative can be a great idea.

5. Ask your doctor how to quit sugar

Even for positive changes like limiting sugar intake, a conversation with your doctor is always a great idea. She may be able to give you more suggestions or direct you to local resources to help support the change.

If you need something sweet at the end of the day, or a sugar craving hits, reach for:

• Berries: High in fiber but lower in sugar than many other fruits, berries can satisfy your cravings for something sweet without a corresponding spike in blood sugar levels.
• Dark chocolate: Dark chocolate has anti-inflammatory properties but is lower in sugar than its milky cousin.
• Dark chocolate covered almonds: Dark chocolate covered almonds add protein to the mix, with almonds bringing even more anti-inflammatory properties to the snack.

How much sugar do you consume daily? Are you thinking of giving it up after Halloween? 

Traditional advice to have a better diet is repeated so often that most of us can recite it in our sleep: eat less, move more, eat more fruits and veggies, cut back on sugar, etc. This is solid advice and can result in better health, but there may be one factor that undercuts all of your best efforts to eat well: your environment. We can have the best intentions for dietary changes, only to have our environment rise up and stop us in our tracks. Brian Wansink is a professor from Cornell who has been studying the ways in which our environment can affect diet. Here are six ways our environment can sabotage our better eating habits and how to fix it. 

How your environment can affect diet

Environment = everywhere you are and everyone you’re with.

In this case, environment does not mean trees, plants, and earth’s basic biology. Environment is every setting we are in daily, from our work to our home to our car. Beyond that, environment can also mean any family, friends, or health challenges that affect health and wellness goals.

1. The office

This is a big one. Many offices have breakrooms where doughnuts magically appear every Friday or leftover pastries from the morning meeting ends up. Other challenging aspects of the office environment include birthdays, retirement, and other parties, where cake and chips are present and delicious.

Many people try to avoid these snacks and treats by brown-bagging it for lunch. While this can work more often than not, peer office pressure may result in one too many cookies at a mid-morning break or abandoning your lunch in the office ‘fridge to go grab lunch at a local restaurant.

2. The home

Believe it or not, where you store your food can be a key factor when it comes to how your environment can affect diet. It can be a big challenge to maintain a healthy environment that encourages your health and wellness goals. Keeping snack-like food in easy reach means we will eat more of it. The same goes for sugar-laden cereals and empty-calorie chips.

Later in this post, we discuss this aspect in depth because it’s the one you likely have the most control over.

3. With family and friends

There is arguably no harder environment to counteract when it comes to unhealthy eating habits than that created by family and friends.

Whether it’s picky kids that insist on nightly chicken nuggets (that you finish up after dinner), family celebrations filled with comfort food served in huge bowls, family-style, or outings with friends that include bar food and cocktails, many gatherings pose a huge challenge to healthy eating.

4. The grocery store

Grocery stores are built to get consumers to buy more expensive, pre-packaged food. The layout of the store itself moves you towards the bakery and the center aisles, where more expensive and unhealthy foods exist.

The most sugary cereals are at both adult and child eye-level (to up the whine factor when choosing breakfast). Some stores even scent their entrances with the aroma of baked goods to trigger your brain’s desire to eat. When you are hungry, you buy more food.

5. In the presence of illness

While not strictly an environment, a chronic illness such as chronic pain can be challenging for healthy eating. When you are in pain, the last thing you want to do is worry about healthy cooking and eating. Why chop vegetables and broil chicken when you can eat a box of macaroni and cheese?

As anyone with a chronic condition can attest, one of the hardest parts of the day is mealtime. Especially for chronic pain patients with children or families to feed, the struggle to find the time and energy to put healthy meals on the table can make every day feel like an uphill battle.

Eating a healthier diet with pain or another chronic illness is possible, though, and can actually reduce your pain levels moving forward.

6. The mind

Our brains are powerful tools both for and against healthy eating. While you may eat a virtuous salad for lunch, your brain may convince you that one healthy meal deserves a treat. Your brain is hardwired to crave sugary foods, and with enough of them the structure is actually changed in the same manner as a person who is addicted to cocaine. Not only is the environment of the mind fertile ground for positively re-thinking the way we approach food, it can also trick us into believing that we are eating better than we actually are.

So, environment can affect diet? Absolutely. The good news, though, is that we can change these things about our environment in very simple and practical ways.

How to create a healthier home to improve your eating habits

One way to combat all of these environmental influences is to create a healthier fridge and pantry so that meals and snacks come together in a snap. Here’s how.

Organize a healthier fridge

Organizing your fridge (and freezer!) is the first step towards creating a healthier fridge and pantry. Making a few simple changes can help you become a more efficient cook and also reduce food waste.

• Door: Many of us use the doors to store milk and eggs, but that it not the best place for these temperature-sensitive foods. Doors are the warmest part of the fridge, and milk and eggs should be kept colder to extend their useable life. Store condiments and juices in the doors of your fridge.
• Upper shelves: This is a great place for grab-and-go foods and snacks like tortillas, hummus, and leftovers. Make sure leftovers are placed in clear containers so everyone can see what’s there.
• Lower shelves: This is the coldest place in the fridge. Store temperature-sensitive items like eggs, yogurt, meat, and seafood here. Take care to keep raw meat and seafood away from other foods by keeping it in its packaging and placing it in a separate container just in case it leaks.
• Crisper drawers: Crisper drawers are designed to maintain a cool, humid atmosphere to keep fruits and veggies fresher, longer. Fruit should be stored separately from vegetables, as certain fruits and vegetables give off ethylene, a natural gas that speeds ripening. Delicate fruits like berries should be stored on upper shelves and washed right before eating. Vegetables like greens, lettuce, carrots, and celery can be washed and chopped for easy salad prep.
• Freezer: The key to eliminating food waste and making your job as a cook easier is to label and rotate anything you freeze. Freeze extra soups, sauces, and freezer meals in plastic freezer bags laid flat to optimize space. Don’t forget to label everything with what it is and the date you placed it in the freezer.

Stock up with healthy alternatives

Organization of the fridge is just the beginning. The key to a healthier fridge and pantry is in what you buy. Many of us reach for convenience foods with tons of fat, salt, sugar, and preservatives because they are just that: convenient. The trick is to make healthy eating easier. When stocking the fridge and freezer, focus on these healthy staples:

• Hummus: Store bought, or try this version if you like a more mellow flavor
• Cheese: Cut into cubes or slices
• Baby carrots, cut-up celery, or sugar snap peas
• Fruit: Berries, apples, oranges, or pears
• Yogurt: Unsweetened so you can control sugar
• Eggs: Hardboiled and not
• Nuts: Store in the freezer
• Whole grains: Cooked rice, quinoa, or barley make a great meal base
• Fermented foods: Pickles, kimchi, or kefir
• Leftover roast turkey or chicken
• Tortillas: Corn or flour, great for quick quesadillas and wraps
• Cooked pasta: Great for a pasta salad or to heat up for dinner
• Chicken or vegetable stock: Freeze in two-cup portions for quick soups
• Fish, chicken, and grass-fed beef: Freeze in four-ounce portions
• Freezer meals: Make them yourself, or find one healthier option in the grocery store for those times when cooking needs to be fast and easy
• Frozen vegetables: Frozen peas, carrots, broccoli, and spinach can all be added to soups, pasta, and rice at the last minute to round out a meal
• Bread: Bread can be frozen but should not be kept in the fridge
• Ginger: Keep a hand of ginger in the freezer

For the pantry, stick to staples to keep your options wide open:

• Dried pasta
• Variety of beans: Canned or dry, but canned is generally more convenient
• Rice
• Variety of grains: Quinoa, couscous, or barley
• Canned tomatoes
• Canned vegetables
• Oils: Canola and olive
• Canned tuna
• Granola: Store-bought or homemade
• Jarred pasta sauce: For quick meals
• Mexican staples: Salsa, enchilada sauce, taco sauce, but watch for preservatives and additives
• Asian staples: Fish sauce, sesame oil, and soy sauce (or tamari for gluten free)
• Spices: Spices add flavor without adding salt, fat, or calories. Chronic pain patients benefit from anti-inflammatory spices like ginger, cinnamon, turmeric, and cayenne
• Chocolate: Dark chocolate is anti-inflammatory and can benefit the heart

As always, work within your dietary needs. Focus on the foods that are healthy for you, and ask your doctor for input when you need it.

Plan ahead for easy meal prep

Now that you have stocked a healthier fridge and pantry, make sure you use all of the food you have bought.

Even before you hit the grocery store, think about what dinners you will prepare for the week ahead. Some people may even want to cook once for the entire week or even the entire month with freezer meals for the crockpot or just to heat up quickly. Consider lunches and snacks when you make your shopping list. Meal planning eliminates waste at home and also keeps you from making impulse purchases at the grocery store.

Plan ahead for healthy meals and snacks by washing, chopping, and pre-portioning vegetables. When you bring your produce home, wash a week’s worth of lettuce, spin in the salad spinner to remove all of the moisture, and store in a freezer bag with a paper towel (for residual moisture).

As you cook for the week, make sure to store leftovers at eye-level in clear containers in the fridge. You can also go through the fridge and pantry periodically to rotate canned goods. Whenever you buy canned goods, make sure to store them towards the back of the pantry, rotating older cans to the front to eliminate food waste.

Be more intentional about eating

Beyond these tips, there are a few more things you can do that easily reframe how you eat, how much, and when. If it works for you and your family, consider:

lear your counters: Keep snack food off your counters and make it inconvenient to reach in your cupboards. If you must keep food on the counters, make it easy-to-eat fruit (think clementines, apples, and bananas).
Service matters: Mimicking the environment of a restaurant, Wansink found that serving food individually portioned onto plates instead of family-style resulted in a 19% drop in food consumption.
Size matters: Use a smaller plate to decrease portion size.
Pay attention: Turn off the TV, sit at a dinner table, and eat mindfully. Pay attention to what you’re eating, chew your food slowly, and talk about your day with your family (or coworkers). Slowing down will give your brain time to receive the signal that you are full. This will result in less overeating.

Changes to your environment to improve eating habits needn’t been drastic or difficult. Which tip can you put into place today?