Lower Back and Joint Pain
What is si joint pain? It is lower back pain not caused by the sciatica nerve or spinal disc problems. It is mistaken for hip pain or so-called waist pain.
Si joint pain is usually first experienced after childbirth and later in perimenopause and menopause. The usual causes are hormonal imbalance and weight gain in pregnancy and later in life.
The sacroiliac joint connects the hip bones (iliac crests) to the sacrum, the triangular bone between the lumbar spine and the tailbone (coccyx). The primary function of the sacroiliac joints is to absorb shock between the upper body and the pelvis and legs.
www.spine-health.com
Blame it on the sugar and carbs and other processed food
As with most joint pain, si joint pain can also be remedied by a healthy anti-inflammatory diet, weight loss, and gentle exercise.
Most of us really don’t think about what we eat until the aches and pains start. Either we are busy women eating on the fly, or we have a sweet tooth.
Sorry but the truth is that all those sweet and tasty goodies are ruining your health in very many ways but mostly causing inflammation.
Foods Which Are a Big No-No For Lower Back & Joint Pain
- Sugar – in all forms
- Artificial trans fats
- Common cooking oils
- Refined carbohydrates
- Exesssive alcohol
- Processed meat
- Dairy products
- Artificial food aditives
- Any food that you personaly are sensitive to
We will cover all of these culprits of joint and back pain in a series of blogs.
1. Sugar
In the list below, you can find the names food producers use to hide sugar behind.
Corn syrup is one of the ingredients that is most used in store-bought goods. It is highly inflammatory.
As we wrote in our blog How Sugar Impacts Menopause, it is also highly addictive and tough to eliminate from your diet. If you suffer from joint pain and si joint pain, try and do it gradually if going cold turkey is too difficult for you.
You can do it by adding one teaspoon less to your coffee or tea every week. Cut down on cakes and cookies, whatever form of sweets you like little by little until your life is sugar-free.
Natural substitutes for sugar
There are healthy and natural alternatives such as Stevia or Monk Fruit that have zero calories. You might need to get used to the after-taste, but they satisfy the urge for sweetness.
There are also so-called alcohol sugars extracted from plants that have a tiny percentage of calories that sugar has, like Xylitol and Erythritol. They don’t raise blood sugar or insulin levels. They are also free of fructose, which is the major ingredient guilty of most of the sugar’s damaging effects.
You can still eat cake and ice cream!
There are many fantastic recipes for cakes, biscuits, cookies, and ice cream with these sugar substitutes.
There are great websites with recipes that do not contain any inflammatory ingredients.
All Day I Dream About Food – by Caroline Ketchum, a classically trained chef who has diabetes herself.
Fit to Serve – this is a keto site but also has great recipes that are healthy.
Even if you do go no or very low sugar, moderation in everything is the key!
Stay tuned 🥰
More on the other highly inflammatory foods in our next blog.
Sugar and hot flashes/flushes
Apart from causing inflammation in the joints and causing pain, sugar can also trigger hot flashes/flushes.
