So far we have discussed how back pain is caused by
having too much of something, too little of something, or
blood circulation that’s too slow. These three things can occur
as a result of problems in your physical body, mind, and/or
diet. In this chapter, we’re going to discuss diet—particularly,n
how food and water can either make your back pain better or
worse.n
Most of us, on a daily basis, eat too much of foods that
increase the likelihood of back pain, and too little of what
prevents it. The effects can often slow down the digestive
system, blood flow, or transportation of waste. What you may
not realize is that these secondary effects can have a direct
effect on back pain.n
For most people, this concept comes as a surprise. “My
back hurts,” they say. “How in the world is that related to
what I eat?”n
Let me explain.n
Your body depends on food and water for energy, healing,
cleansing, and your very survival. These are the only things
your body has to help it perform optimally.n
Imagine if you “fed” your car something other than gas.n
What if the fuel was contaminated with dirt, foreign
chemicals, or even chocolate chips? You may not notice the
effects immediately, but soon you’d hear the telltale clicking
and coughing of mechanical parts grinding down, sticking
together, and losing force and propulsion. Your car might fail
to start or lose power going uphill. If you fix the problem,n
clean out the engine, replace a few parts, and add clean fuel,n
you’ll probably go on all right. But what if you kept filling the
car with the same junk? Surely you wouldn’t expect it to keep
performing?
Yet we do this very thing to our bodies, which are also
machines, just of the organic variety. We don’t feed them
enough, feed them too much, or stuff them with things that
only clog up our internal parts. You may have chuckled at the
idea of car fuel contaminated with chocolate chips, but many
of the things you ingest every day are just as foreign to your
body as chocolate chips would be to your gas tank!n
I’m not just talking about eating “healthy” here, to lose
weight, for instance, or to trim unwanted belly fat to relieve
pressure from your back. Of course that may help, but it’s
only part of the story.n
Most people think of food in terms of “healthiness”—
healthful food versus junk food, for example. You may think
of foods that make you fat as unhealthful and foods that keep
your body lean and strong as healthful.n
While conceptually this thinking is mostly correct, there’s
an entirely different way to look at food that’s relevant for
back pain. Instead of the traditional notion of eating healthful
versus unhealthful foods, you also want to think of foods in
terms of their ability to enhance or reduce pain.n
It’s true. Certain types of foods make your body more
sensitive to pain and can increase the severity of it—especially
back pain. Other foods actually reduce pain levels and
decrease your ability to notice them.n
