If you are suffering from body pain and other undesirable symptoms, it may be a sign that the food you are eating needs tweaking ... or even a complete overhaul.
Generally, you experience these types of symptoms when your body is struggling to correct a problem or imbalance within the body’s organs and systems. These problems include, but are not limited to, leaky gut, hypothyroidism, Hashimoto’s, arthritis, and any digestive disorder and disease. The human body is strong, and it wants to bring healing and balance. Your body only has you to help it do that, and these symptoms may be your body’s way of asking you for more support.
Believe me when I tell you that I’ve seen how healthy eating can drastically transform your health.
Here are a few common symptoms you may be experiencing along with nutrition tips to provide more healing and nutrient support so your body can function healthier:
If you have achy joints, headaches or migraines: If you suffer from migraines, nobody needs to tell you they have one or more food triggers. However, if you experience achy joints, there are likely one or more food triggers for this as well. Tip: Eat an anti-inflammatory diet. This includes eliminating foods that contain refined sugar, refined flour, gluten, dairy, corn and soy. Take note as to whether your achy body goes away. If you feel better after removing the inflammatory foods, then you know there is deeper work to be done. The next step would be to work with a functional dietitian or practitioner to go deeper into the food you should be eating and potentially determine some antimicrobials and probiotics to balance your healthy intestinal flora.
If your energy hits the wall daily between 2 and 4 p.m.: It’s natural to lose energy during this time of day; however, you shouldn’t need a jolt of caffeine or sugar to pull you through your afternoon slump into your evening. If your energy is extremely low between these hours, this is a sign your blood sugar rhythm may be out of whack during the day. Tip: Eating in a rhythm of every four hours is a great place to start to regulate your blood sugar. If you’re too full or ravenous at the four-hour mark, check your portions, if they are too big or too small. The bonus of balancing your insulin during the day is that you should also reduce your nightly 3 a.m. wakeups, too.
If you don’t have one to three healthy bowel movements a day: When you are eliminating regularly, that means your body can remove toxins accumulated from your environment, food, medications, hormone production and other sources. Tip: Drink more water. This could be warm or cold filtered water or even herbal tea counts. Water helps you eliminate regularly. Also, eat more greens. Eating a least two cups of vegetables with every meal (yup, breakfast, too) will help you have regular bowel movements.
To recap, listen to your body and what the signs and symptoms you are feeling mean. This is the first step to feeling better, and your body and health will thank you! Write down any symptoms you are experiencing and share them with your health professional. Remember, the healing power of eating healthier food can’t be underestimated. It’s more important than you might think when it comes to feeling your best.
Fran Sutherlin is a local registered dietitian, health coach, speaker and owner of Sustainable Nutrition, which has offices in Durango and Bayfield and offers virtual-coaching options. She can be reached at 444-2122 or fran@fransutherlin.com.
