In my own diet, as well as in clinical practice I have found that eating like our late ancestor used to eat has the potential to reduce inflammation and associated pain, improving digestion, healing time, energy levels and general well-being. Therefore, when people ask me what to eat to turn their spinal health around, I often recommend that they committing to a trail 30-day Paleo challenge. This involves 30 days of only eating the following food list:
- Grass feed meat
- Fish & other Seafood
- Vegetables & tubers
- Fruit & Berries
- Nuts & Seeds
- Healthy Fats
After 30 days of exclusively eating the sort of foods that the human body is best designed to run on, your body will have recalibrated to a new level of health. Once you know what your body feels like on a healthy supportive diet you can choose to reintroduce some of your old foods. Reintroduce one group of foods at the time, eg:
- Grains (pay special attention to wheat)
- Dairy
- Processed Food & Sugars
- Legumes
- High-Gi Starches
- Eggs
Then pay close attention to how your body feels and performs when you reintroduce the food. If you feel worse then cut that food out of your diet permanently. If you feel fine and you enjoy that food then your body probably is quite well adapted to eating it and you can keep it in your diet if it doesn’t replace a significant part of the protein, or vegetables that you eat.