Diet and metabolic health coaching · Back pain · St. Louis
Diet coaching for back pain: lowering the inflammation behind your spine
Every physiotherapy visit for back pain here includes diet and metabolic health coaching. We look back at what you ate over the past few days and what got in the way, then choose one or two changes for the week ahead. High blood sugar, belly fat and constant snacking keep inflammation running, and an inflamed back heals slower and hurts more.
What happens in coaching?
A short conversation at each visit, built around our written eating protocol. An RQ breathing test, when ordered, gives the plan its starting numbers.
How does it help a sore back?
A back is not only bones and discs. Steady high insulin stiffens the collagen in discs and facet joints, so they tear at loads they used to handle. Belly fat sends out inflammatory signals all day, which lowers the point where pressure turns into pain. Poor sleep and stress add more.
Changing what and when you eat lowers that load on every joint, and it helps every other treatment on this list work better.
What is it like?
Expect a talk, not a scolding. We go over what went well and what did not, and choose the next thing to try.
The eating protocol, one step at a time
Food is medicine, and it is also information your body acts on. Eat when you are truly hungry, not because you are bored. Your physician fits these steps to you. The written protocol is yours at the first visit, and it comes up again every time you are in.
Before every step: walk after you eat
Each time you eat or drink anything, even a glass of water, take a 10-minute walk afterward.
Step 1: Cut out vegetable oils
Vegetable oils are industrial seed oils, and none of them come from vegetables. Check every label and skip any food that lists one. Leave the cooking spray on the shelf.
- Tallow
- Butter or ghee
- Real olive oil
- Duck fat
- Avocado
- Coconut oil
- Canola
- Corn
- Soybean
- Crisco
- Margarine
Step 2: Cut out sugar and sweeteners
Anything with a sweet taste is out, and that means juice, soda, diet soda and candy, plus chips. No artificial sweeteners. Allulose is likely safe.
Step 3: Sleep
Aim for at least 7 hours of sleep without breaks each night. Keep the TV, phone and laptop out of bed.
Step 4: Supplements
Your physician may add a supplement: vitamin D3 paired with K2, krill oil, or SIBO yogurt you make at home. Check with us before starting anything new.
Step 5: Pick your plan with your physician
Best for those who are new to this, those who cannot yet tell which foods inflame them, and those whose weight loss has stalled.
- Two meals a day, nothing in between.
- Beef, chicken or fish, as much as you want, with butter and spices.
- Meat, cheese, eggs, butter and salt.
- Water is the only drink.
- SIBO yogurt may help.
Stay on it for 4 to 12 weeks. Then reintroduce foods one per week, choosing only ones the Live Health Protocol allows.
The everyday way to eat that keeps pain and inflammation down. More vegetable oil and sugar means more pain and inflammation. Tiredness or muscle cramps can be a sign you need extra salt.
Eat real food- Beef, pork, chicken and fish
- Whole eggs
- Leafy green vegetables
- Tree nuts and seeds, for example almonds and macadamias
- Water, coffee and unsweetened tea
- Bread, pasta, rice and rice cakes, cereal, oatmeal, grits and potatoes
- Soda, diet soda, juice and coffee creamer
- Processed food with added color or flavor
- Peanuts, cashews and other nuts that grow below ground
- Fruit
Eat inside a time window
Fit all of your eating into a window shorter than 8 hours a day. When that feels routine, cut the window by one hour each week until it reaches 4 to 5 hours. Breakfast, more than any other meal, tends to set off overeating later on.
Stay active
Walking and strength work are built into your plan by your physician, with no fewer than 150 minutes of activity in a week. Strong muscles protect a healing back. If you smoke, we help you quit.
What should you tell us first?
- Insulin and diabetes or blood pressure pills may need adjusting once your eating changes. Those adjustments are your physician’s job, so bring a list of everything you take.
More on this site: a low-carb diet for back pain, metabolic health and back pain, weight and lower back pain.
This page is part of our physiotherapy program for back pain, where a physician orders, supervises and re-checks every step.
Find out what your back actually needs
Your first visit is a physician exam, not a sales pitch for a machine. You leave knowing what is driving your pain and which parts of the program fit it.
12174 Natural Bridge Rd, Suite 301
St. Louis, MO 63044
At DePaul Hospital on Natural Bridge Road, inside the I-270 and I-70 interchange, on the west side of the airport.