Pain Management - Foods That Help Ease Pain
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Pain - something that no one wants to experience even once let alone daily and yet chronic pain is not uncommon. The Chronic Pain Association estimates that 50 million Americans endure chronic pain on a daily basis. Whether you suffer from Fibromyalgia Arthritis, or a Sports Injury, pain from the inflammatory response finds us and can make life miserable. Taking anti-inflammatory medications is the first defense against chronic or acute pain. Research shows if you want to add even more relief to your pain symptoms you can make some small changes to your diet.
Foods that have the greatest effect on the inflammatory process are fats. The predominant omega-6 fatty acids present in the American diet tend to promote inflammation while omega-3 fatty acids help to inhibit the inflammatory process. The omega 6 to omega-3 ratio in the Western diet is a high 16:1.8 leading some researchers to say the typical Western diet is a pro-inflammatory diet. No wonder we are in such pain! Even though omega-6 fatty acids are good for us and needed in the diet, we are eating far too many of them and not eating enough of the health-promoting omega-3s. Omega-6 fatty acids are found in beef, pork, chicken, whole milk dairy products, egg yolks, vegetable and seed oils, and packaged convenience foods- all staples of the American diet. The pain reducing Omega-3 fatty acids are found in cold water fish (salmon, mackerel, halibut, and tuna), ground flax seeds, canola oil, and walnuts.
Tags: diet and nutrition, fatty acids, inflammatory, omega-3, omega-6, omega-9, pain management, pain reduction