Anti-inflammatory

At different points in my life, I have tried things for pain management. I suffer from chronic inflammation in my neck. When I am stressed, all sorts of fun things happen - the crunchies, tightness, increased teeth grinding at night, ear pain, etc. Its good fun. Last fall, as I mentioned, I suffered a foot injury that has since sidelined me from running (yes, I am reading about running shoes causing increases in injuries) and then recently, I over-trained on the bike and seem to be suffering from inflammation of the bursa or iliopsoas tendonitis, and my leg hurts, a lot. Of course, I am not a doctor, so until I go see one, I don't really know. After a year of spending money seeing podiatrists and orthopedics and getting nothing out of it, except "you need surgery," I don't have a lot of faith in the local sports medicine providers.

I did make some changes, most specifically to my diet. I have cut out dairy, except for the half and half in my coffee. I am not drinking wine because of the inflammation to my sinuses and I recently had the beginnings of a sinus infection (which is pretty much what happens when I get allergies anymore.) I cut out meat and only occasionally have chicken or fish. I cut out most wheat, although I will occasionally have pitas with a tuna sandwich or as toast. I definitely notice faster recovery with my sinus issues. I have barely done my neti pot and I am already feeling less stuffy. I dropped weight within a week of this plan. It hasn't had any affects on my more chronic issues or injuries, but I am trying other things as well for those issues. BT introduced me the Nutrition Data from Self and I am quite fascinated by the inflammation factor rating. For example, almond butter has great anti-inflammatory properties if you eat 1,500 calories of it, otherwise its only mildly anti-inflammatory. Leeks, it turns out, are high on the anti-inflammatory rating. Wild salmon is the all time anti-inflammatory, which we all knew. Too bad its so damned expensive and who knows how much longer it'll be available...hmm. And so the experiment continues with the hope that some day I will be pain and injury free and feeling as good as I did last April and May when I did this diet plan (and didn't have the leg or foot pain) for the first time. Searching for the balance...