This month I will share a personal story about how food sensitivities can impact the health and function of our joints.
Many years ago I ran the Walt Disney Marathon and managed to (just) qualify to run the Boston Marathon, which meant that the following April I was eligible to travel to Boston and run in one of the most famous races in the world. I was pumped!
I had been in my medical practice for just 2 years and was trying to build my business, run a multidisciplinary clinic, race mountain bikes, maintain a relationship as well as run regularly, so to say life was a little busy and stressful would be an understatement.
I tried to ensure I was eating a well balanced diet but that was not always possible with my schedule. Rest, well that was also sometimes not ideal either, and stress management, what was that?
Another piece of the story is that my family has a history of rheumatological auto-immune diseases, which sounds like a mouthful, but really means that we have a lot of auto-immune mediated joint issues - my Nana had Lupus, my uncle has rheumatoid arthritis and my father has psoriatic arthritis so the family lineage was not ideal
At that time I ate a lot of wheat and gluten products; bagels were a quick and easy breakfast (or lunch or supper), pizza, especially thick crust, was a special weekend treat, pasta as a pre-workout or on the run was also a regular go to, not to mention whole grain toast and lots of peanut better after training runs - quick, easy and whole grain, so was good for me right?!
However, I was young (and invincible) so the following spring I started to train for the Boston Marathon but it was soon evident that something was not ok. I would run and my recovery was terrible, my digestion was not great and soon I started to develop terrible sacroiliac (SI)I joint pain in my lower back and hips and no number of trips to the chiropractor seemed to help.
Finally, I was unable to run, let alone walk, and when I did walk, I looked like a lopsided penguin, so needless to say Boston was off the table. I was unable to sleep due to the joint pain and more often than not my stomach was terribly bloated and uncomfortable. I eventually had some blood work done, and was subsequently diagnosed with Ankylosing Spondylitis, an auto-immune disease that impacts the joints and small ligaments of the spine and sacroiliac joints as well as Achilles tendons and eyes.
A bit of a setback to say the least, but this did teach me some important lessons, and I now educate my patients about how various food sensitivities (as well as a totally out of control lifestyle) can increase or decrease inflammation. I do not have Celiac disease or allergic to gluten, but when I eat gluten the immune reaction and inflammation is guaranteed.
I see this in a lot of my patients, certain foods are medicine and certain foods are definite poison, and often we see this manifest in joint and muscle pain.
So how might you find out what foods are your triggers?
Pay attention to how you feel after you eat certain foods, elimination diets work well, but can be tedious, and food sensitivity tests that analyze over 250 foods for IgG immune reactions are really good options.
I am now back to running and able to work out regularly, a testament to how profoundly wise our bodies are if we give them what they do need, and not what they don’t. I’ve not made it to Boston yet, but it’s still on my bucket list!