Is Your Diet Making You Ill?

Do you have aching joints, muscle pains or digestive problems, including bloating, acid reflux, constipation or diarrhoea? Is your skin showing your age? Has your ‘get up and go’ got up and left?  Roxburgh and Sunbury Chiropractor Daniel Chatfield says that many patients who visit him for Chiropractic treatment do not realize that some of their symptoms might be a result of the foods they are eating.

As part of the care provided by Chatfield Chiropractic, Daniel is able to give nutritional advice. Simple dietary changes, avoiding or at least reducing, foods that cause inflammation and adding foods that have powerful anti-inflammatory effects in the body can make a huge difference, not just to the way patients feel, but to how they look too!

If you are suffering from any of the problems mentioned above, you may already be aware that your diet is less than perfect. However, negotiating the minefield of often conflicting, dietary advice online and in the media can be confusing and disheartening. Get the expert help you need – call us on (03) 93039952 Roxburgh Park or (03) 9746 3977 Sunbury and book your initial appointment today.

You are What You Eat! 

Food is the fuel for our bodies. We all know what happens if we put the wrong fuel in our cars, the results are instant and dramatic. For most of us, unless we have a serious, potentially life-threatening food allergy, the results are not dramatic, but are, cumulative over time.

Inflammation can cause damage almost anywhere:

Scientists’ understanding of the link between dietary factors and Alzheimer’s disease or other degenerative neurological conditions is still in its infancy. However, the inflammatory processes involved in these diseases lead to neuronal cell death.

Diet can be a factor in skin ageing. Eating a diet high in refined foods and sugar that cause inflammation and low in antioxidant-rich fruits and vegetables can contribute to a lack of elasticity, a decline in collagen production and to premature wrinkling of the skin or skin that is prone to stretch marks.

Eating an anti-inflammatory diet can relieve the pain and slow the progress of both Rheumatoid and Osteoarthritis Arthritis.

Anti-Inflammatory Foods Include:

• Foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids, (found in oily fish, eggs, nuts and avocados for example)
• Fruits and vegetables packed with antioxidants (berries such as blackberries, strawberries and blueberries are particularly good)

• Green leafy vegetables full of phytochemicals, the plants’ own self-defence mechanisms, (kale, spinach, broccoli and chard are good examples)

Inflammatory Foods

Improvements to health, wellbeing and often the waistline too, can be made by eliminating or at least, cutting-down on some of the worst culprits on the inflammatory foods list. Your Chiropractor can provide nutrition advice, especially about the ones that cause the most problems such as refined sugar, common cooking oils, trans-fats and more.

A surprising number of people have sensitivities to ingredients found in many foods, the most common include:

• Gluten contained in wheat and barley. Many people who are not Gluten Intolerant (Celiac) find that their digestive symptoms improve considerably after following a diet free of gluten. While this means eliminating traditional bread, cakes and biscuits from the diet, there are now many delicious alternatives in the ‘Free From’ aisle of your supermarket. You can find more information about gluten free living at Coeliac UK (https://www.coeliac.org.uk/gluten-free-diet-and-lifestyle/).

• Lactose, the naturally occurring sugar found in dairy products, can cause pain, bloating, cramping and diarrhoea. However, these symptoms can also be a result of other medical problems such as IBS, so it is important to get a correct diagnosis from your healthcare professional.

Making the change to eating a healthy diet rich in anti-inflammatory foods is immensely rewarding for the health and well-being benefits it brings. Getting the right nutritional advice from your Chiropractor can make the transition much easier and help you to start seeing results sooner so please call us on on (03) 93039952 Roxburgh Park or (03) 9746 3977 Sunbury today!

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