For Some, Certain Foods Can Bring On or Worsen Pain
A few years ago, my mom woke me up in the middle of the night complaining of chest pains. As I frantically searched for my car keys, one scary thought kept racing through my mind: "She's having a heart attack. ... She's having a heart attack. ..."
I hurried her into my car, backed out of the driveway and took off for the hospital. About halfway there, she told me to pull the car over. She was feeling better, but I insisted on taking her to the hospital. After a quick exam, the doctor said she was fine and blamed the chest pains not on a heart attack but on acid reflux.
The culprit? Our traditional Sunday afternoon pasta and tomato sauce, eaten just a few hours before.
While an estimated 40 million Americans live with what they describe as chronic pain, many more suffer from acute bouts of pain, such as acid reflux and headaches. But be it chronic or acute, pain is something we'd all like to live without.
Dr. Neal Barnard, founder and president of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine and president of the Cancer Project in Washington, D.C., believes that pain-free living could be a dietary change away.
"What we know is that when people eliminate certain foods from their diets, their symptoms are eliminated or reduced, so we know that there is a link here," says Barnard, who is an outspoken advocate of vegetarianism. The link could be a number of things, ranging from a reaction to certain proteins found in particular foods, to an increase in cholesterol, which can Read more...
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