Strategic Dietary Shifts Reduce Chronic Pain and Inflammation

Key Quotes

"Reduce sugar, remove bad fats, and give your body time between meals -- that's how inflammation comes down."

Dr. Jockers argues that three core dietary adjustments are essential for reducing inflammation. These include minimizing sugar and unhealthy fats, and importantly, allowing sufficient time between meals for the body to recover. This approach aims to lower the body's inflammatory response.

"Number one is reduce sugar grains and starches when we're consuming a lot of food with sugar processed foods lots of foods with grains and starches there's a lot of empty calories there we're not getting a whole lot of nutrients and we're getting a lot of calories particularly calories that are driving up our blood sugar and driving up insulin levels and when sugar goes up it drives up inflammation when insulin goes up that brings up inflammation in the system and so we want foods that are going to help stabilize and balance our blood sugar and that's why we want to reduce sugar grains and starches"

Dr. Jockers explains that reducing sugar, grains, and starches is crucial because these foods are often calorie-dense but nutrient-poor. He highlights that they significantly increase blood sugar and insulin levels, which in turn elevates inflammation throughout the body. Therefore, prioritizing foods that stabilize blood sugar is key to managing inflammation.

"Number two is getting rid of bad fats and increasing the amount of good fats what are bad fats it's going to be our processed seed oils corn oil soybean oil safflower oil cotton seed oil peanut oil canola oil and hydrogenated oils so if you see partially hydrogenated or hydrogenated oils these are trans fats all of these seed oils they are all high in omega 6 fats which increase inflammation in our system they're also very they're very fragile oils and so they ultimately have a high oxidative burden in our system and that means they increase oxidation which is an increase of rusting in our system"

Dr. Jockers identifies processed seed oils and hydrogenated oils as "bad fats" that contribute to inflammation. He elaborates that these oils are high in omega-6 fatty acids and are prone to oxidation, which he likens to "rusting" within the body. This increased oxidation, according to Dr. Jockers, directly drives up inflammation and pain.

"So by consuming two to three meals a day we give ourselves a lot of time and space between meals that brings our blood sugar and insulin down and allows our insulin to go under a certain threshold where we're we start to burn fat we can't burn fat as long as insulin's elevated so when insulin goes down under this threshold we start burning fat for fuel again that's a cleaner energy source and more anti inflammatory energy source when we start burning our own body fat"

Dr. Jockers advocates for consuming two to three meals daily to manage inflammation. He explains that this eating pattern creates significant time between meals, which lowers blood sugar and insulin levels. According to Dr. Jockers, when insulin drops below a certain threshold, the body begins to burn fat for fuel, a process he describes as a cleaner and more anti-inflammatory energy source.

"Number seven is apple cider vinegar or lemon or lime apple cider vinegar consuming that with meals actually helps your body absorb minerals better because it helps stimulate stomach acid bile and pancreatic enzymes pancreatic enzymes so you digest your meal more effectively on top of that apple cider vinegar is rich in postbiotics acetic acid for example that reduces inflammation in your gut and in your bloodstream in your cardiovascular system it actually helps improve endothelial lining of the blood vessels and brings brings helps stabilize blood pressure and reduce overall inflammation in your bloodstream and helps reduce pains it's been shown to help improve individuals that are dealing with chronic pain as well"

Dr. Jockers highlights the benefits of apple cider vinegar, lemon, or lime, particularly apple cider vinegar, when consumed with meals. He states that it aids in mineral absorption by stimulating digestive juices and enzymes. Dr. Jockers further explains that apple cider vinegar contains postbiotics like acetic acid, which reduce inflammation in the gut and bloodstream, support blood vessel health, and have been shown to alleviate chronic pain.