Few people associate diet with the risk of becoming injured. After all, eating vegetables doesn’t give you a suit of armor that protects you against external threats, like car accidents, falls, or slips. The effects of food operate on the inside.
It turns out, though, that the effects of diet on your body are more profound than you might think. And, indeed, they can prevent serious injury from occurring.
For instance, in most car accidents, people get compensation through personal injury protection (PIP). Accidents jar their bones, damage their muscles, and lead to lasting injuries.
But what if what you ate made a difference to the likelihood of experiencing a severe, lasting injury? It sounds like a pie-in-the-sky idea, but it has legs.
A Bad Diet Leads To Inflammation Of Connective Tissue
When you eat a lot of junk, animal foods, and sugar, it leads to low-level, systemic inflammation in the body. The immune system goes into overdrive, fighting off what it sees as perceived threats and, over time, it damages tissues.
This damage, however, isn’t benign. Over the months and years, tissues become weakened, affecting how you respond to knocks and falls. Seniors with high levels of inflammation in their bodies break themselves more easily than young people with low levels of inflammation. Studies show that inflammatory foods weaken both the bones and connective tissue, making you more prone to injury if you do have an accident.
Poor Diet Causes Postural Problems
Bad diets wreak havoc on your body in another way: they cause postural problems.
Stuffing yourself with pizza on a Friday night once a year isn’t going to affect the way you stand. But doing it a couple of nights per week might.
When you gain fat, the weight distribution of your body changes. Suddenly, your weight shifts forwards, and you put more strain on your spine. Eventually, your body starts to slump forward, changing the way you bend, sit, stand, and walk.
This change isn’t biomechanically sound and puts extra pressure on particular parts of your physique. Eventually, you inevitably become injured, even if you warm up first.
So what can you do to improve your diet and avoid these nasty effects?
The first step is to get rid of the inflammatory foods in your diet.
Processed foods are the worst in this regard, especially smoked meats, chips and other foods cooked at high temperatures, and sweet desserts, like ice cream and cake.
The next step is to add anti-inflammatory foods to your diet. These are individual dietary constituents that suppress the response of the immune system naturally and make you healthier. Examples include greens, beans, pomegranate seeds, apples, berries, nuts, and seeds.
Finally, you’ll want to add herbs and spices to all your meals. Things like oregano and cumin aren’t just condiments that add flavor to your dishes. They’re also potent medicinal compounds that have an outsized effect on your biology. Try to get a teaspoon of dried spices and herbs every day to slash inflammation in your system.
