Is your dinner making your back hurt? part 2

by Manny Aragon

A couple of weeks ago I wrote a piece on how after eliminating all inflammatory foods for 6 weeks and then re introducing sushi rice – I felt a familiar pain in my back (that had been absent during the anti inflammatory diet period) return with a vengeance within 20 min of eating the rice.

Well- I received a letter, from a reader, the other day that said:

“Hi Manny,

Ive been enjoying your emails. I wanted to tell you also that since your blog about your pain after eating sushi rice,  it got me thinking about what I eat and my chronic patellar tendonitis. Finally after a trip to Mammoth…. I figured it out. It was red wine! I had no red wine in Manmmoth and no pain. Without fail, if I have red wine, I have patellar tendonitis…if I don’t, I have no pain. Its reallhy mind blowing to me. Everything you find online suggests that red wine is anti-inflammatory. Not in me I guess!

Thanks for all of your wisdom. Keep it coming!”

Well, first, I want to give kudos where they are deserved. To the reader who had the patience and determination to take the time to figure this out – You have no idea how thrilled I am that I’ll likely be seeing you now when I’m out running, and riding my bike – and maybe at local races! I’m so glad that this discovery will allow you to go back to doing the physical things that you love to do.

NOTE: In general, alcohol is inflammatory to the body. Each person reacts differently do alcohol in general and different types. The gut lining is particularly susceptible to degradation from frequent alcohol use (like a daily glass of wine). I off  set this by drinking only what my body tolerates (I don’t tolerate wine well) and I drink occasionally- making sure to give my gut several days ( if not weeks) in between to recuperate.

Quick story:

On Sunday I was out with my triathlon team in the morning doing a group workout- an early morning ocean swim followed by an easy 50 min run up the beautiful Southern California coast (Corona Del Mar to Crystal Cove to be exact). While eating breakfast with the group- I got to talking to one of my team mates (very competitive and usually at or near the top of her age group).  She shared with me that despite multiple knee surgeries and a recently reattached achilles tendon, she was unable to fully heal, had arthritis in her knees, etc, and it left her unable to fully heal and therefore was holding her running capability back. In this case, although she is able to swim and bike in the front of the pack, her run was comparatively slow. She felt that if her knees and achilles would heal, she would be able to compete on the run but that, given the present state of her knees and achilles, she felt as if each run could be her last and that injury was conspiring to stop her from racing.

Folks, unfortunately this is not an anomaly. This is extremely common. Its not normal though – and its certainly not inevitable. This is the result of years of over training on a poor diet, with little sleep, and lots of stress.  If this interests you – I highly suggest you read the guest segment article on this very topic HERE.

I am not at the top of my age group. But- when I am in my 50s and beyond, I will likely be-as many, many folks drop out of the sport between 40-55 years of age due to this very problem. I anecdotally call this “Injuring Out”. It aint going to be me…

So the question here is-  whats more important to you? Doing the physical things you love to do that support your health, spirit, and emotional happiness – or being a slave to your diet induced cravings? This is not about will power- when you are eating the right mix of foods that YOUR body needs- you wont crave things that make you feel bad.

Rest assured, these things can be remedied. The body can rebuild and recover- given the right tools and taking away the major stressors that hamper its repair efforts.

I encourage you to take the step that my letter writer did and be inspired to figure out what your pain or injury triggers are. Usually, it’s a bit more complex than just one food item- but its worth a try no?

For some people it might not even be a physical manifestation of pain. For you it may be food/mood or food/gas or food/brain fog, or food/IBS, or food/fatigue. Its different for each person.

Some folks can go through this process on their own. But some folks feel overwhelmed and aren’t sure where to start. If this is you – I recommend that you join me on my upcoming webinar tomorrow night where I’ll be talking about this very thing. Sign up for the webinar even if you are remotely interested. If you can’t make it- get the recording.