When you are hurting, you really don't care too much about healthy eating and exercise. You just want some relief! If you are in pain, I would like to offer you some encouragement and some tools that will hopefully help you.
Recently my client Leigh Ann had been experiencing a lot of hip pain. It was really holding her back from doing everything she wanted to do at boot camp. So she started doing two things that really helped her get better:
Stretching and cutting out sugar/white flour.
The first one probably makes pretty good sense to you, but how would cutting out sugar and white flour help your pain levels? In a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, researchers found that eating processed sugars cause inflammation in the body. Inflammation leads to pain, redness, and swelling. All of those=ouch.
What are some other things you can do to reduce inflammation?
Eat more fruits and vegetables
Dr. Forrest Nielson, a research nutritionist, says there seems to be a correlation between people who have low levels of magnesium and high inflammation. Free, leafy vegetables are a great source go magnesium.
The Journal of Nutrition reported that eating berries reduces inflammation.
Massage
Getting a massage has been shown to significantly reduce inflammation. You can see results even in just one session.
More sleep
Sleep really is magic. It can be the solution for so many problems and getting a lack of it is the source of so many issues. Lack of sleep makes you more susceptible to stress, which in turn in can increase inflammation.
Exercise
You probably knew the exercise guy was going to find some way to work this one in, but it's true! Exercise not only reduces stress but also reduces inflammation directly as well. Even if you are not losing weight, you can still decrease inflammation by upping your activity levels.