You’ve heard the saying you are what you eat.

Well, it might just be more true than you think.

Let’s start with your muscles

We use our muscles all of time. Any time anything moves in our bodies, it is moving because of a muscle. Our muscles get easily overused. As they get overused, they get tighter and tighter. Until the tear on a microscopic level and form trigger points.

Our bodies are affected by stress, and so are our muscles. As we get stressed, our bodies release a hormone called cortisol. Cortisol is an inflammatory hormone. It won’t create an issue, but it will irritate an issue.

Throw some cortisol on a muscle that is already tight, irritated and overused, and it is like throwing fuel on a fire. It will flair up a lingering muscle issue that has not gotten bad enough to be painful.

That is one of the ways that stress can irritate our muscles.

Nutrition’s role in muscle pain

So how does our nutrition and what we eat affect our muscles?

By increasing our inflammation.

Anything that increases inflammation will irritate our muscles (and most everything else in our bodies).

The worse our diets are, the worse our body performs and the worse we will feel, due to the more inflammation (and free radicals) we will have present in our bodies.

Processed foods have long been known to cause formation of free radicals. Too many meats and any kind of dairy will increase the formation of free radicals. Heavy oils and butters and fried foods and denatured oils and fats all also increase free radical formation in our bodies.

These negatively charged free radicals attach themselves to molecules throughout the body and wreak havoc on your body from the inside out. They break down the molecules and tissues they come into contact with. The more free radicals that are produced, the stiffer and achier you will feel. The older you will feel.

Keeping Your Muscles Healthy

I see this practically applied in my office. Someone will feel stiff and achy. Then they go through a period of stress.

Their exercise will slow down. They will eat crappy and processed foods. All of this builds up.

If they are lucky their body won’t flair up until the stressful period is over. If they aren’t lucky, then they will flair up during the stressful period. Making the stressful period even more stressful and annoying. Literally adding insult to injury.

How do you reduce inflammation and keep your muscles healthy and pain free?

Eat lots of fresh fruits and vegetables, and take a good quality multi-vitamin. All of those are chock full of anti-oxidants. Anti-oxidants are positively charged particles that get rid of free radicals.

Try not to eat processed foods.

Limit your intact of all types of animal proteins.

Exercise regularly, 3-6 times a week. Do low impact, easy on your body exercising to works your flexibility, balance, endurance and strength. For your entire body.

Does your exercise work your entire body?

Do you feel better after exercising?

Do you feel better after eating? Do you feel heavy, weighed down, acidy, refluxy, gassy?

If I feel better after I eat then I reduced my inflammation.

If I feel better after exercising, then I overall reduced my inflammation.

I hope that this helps you to have a pain free day.