Pain is the body’s way of telling us that something is wrong. Period. Yet, we tend to ignore those signals and then mask them with whatever pain killers we can find on a daily basis. Headache? Take some acetaminophen. Leg cramps? Take some ibuprofen. Fever? Either one of those previously mentioned will get the job done. But, here’s the thing, when the pain or fever are gone because of those drugs, we automatically feel like we’ve gotten rid of the culprit. No pain, no problem, right? Wrong.
Let’s take the most common pain ailment that we pop pills for: a headache. It can mean a lot of underlying causes from high blood pressure to a neck muscle that’s too tight and
limiting blood flow to the brain. It can also mean allergies or a great many other things. So, when we cover it up with pills every time and don’t address the underlying cause, what do you think is going to happen? Besides the fact that all of those pain killers are messing up your gut flora and liver your body is going to 1) develop a tolerance for the pain killer requiring you to increase dosage, and 2) it will keep turning up the volume on the pain until the cause is remedied – it may even give you pain in a different part of your body to get your attention. Next thing you know, you’re on prescription pain meds when maybe all you needed was to change the foods you’re eating, do a little exercising, do some stretching/yoga, and/or meditate. But, yeah, I know – taking the pill is easier. Until it’s not anymore.
The thing is, we are programmed to believe that we are healthy if we are not in pain and that can get us into a lot of trouble. Just because the pain gets alleviated, doesn’t mean the problem is gone. I understand that sometimes we need the pain to quiet down so we can get to a point of finding out what’s going on, that’s normal, that’s ok, but when we are constantly numbing the pain, how will it ever get better?
Overeating or undereating is also a way that we “numb” pain. But this one is an emotional pain. The immediate chemical reactions (hello, dopamine) that we get from certain foods sends good feelings across our bodies and dials down emotional pain that we are not ready to face or to do anything about. I’ve also found that these foods help alleviate certain physical pains as well (eating fast food seemed to help ease the pain of my migraines but as soon as 10-15 minutes after I finished eating, the pain was back). I finally listened to my body and have had only one migraine since going plant-based in January 2018 (we’re now in October, 2018) and I used to get them almost weekly. If that’s not enough incentive to find out what you can change in your life and diet to help prevent/lessen your aches and pains, I don’t know what else could be.
Hart Health 