Back pain affects the majority of people - up to 80% of all adults will have at least one episode of back pain during their lifetime and half of those people will never find out the cause of their pain. The most common cause of back pain is a muscular strain or sprain, which is the culprit in around 85% of the cases. Many people will try a variety of home remedies for their back pain, some with very limited success. Others may go to the doctor, however, they will find that the doctors think that 80-90% of all episodes of back pain will clear up on their own, usually in six to twelve weeks time (Source: Lockhart 2006).
There are a number of reasons that people end up with back pain, including organic reasons like problems with the spine and the muscles that surround and support it as well as other problems including being overweight or having poor posture, a bad mattress or shoes that do not fit correctly. Each area of the back can have pain that is changed by different reasons and mechanics. For instance, upper back pain can be caused by stress or strain. In older women, upper back pain can be related to osteoporosis. Upper back and shoulder pain can be noted in women with large breasts, especially if they do not have properly fitting bras to support the weight, leaving the muscles in these areas to compensate.
Lower back pain may be caused by arthritis, kidney infection and disease, premenstrual syndrome and from sitting too many hours in a poorly designed or poorly fitting chair. Lower back pain is often caused by weight and by a sedentary lifestyle and is best affected by lifestyle change, including weight loss, a new mattress and better posture. Yoga is also beneficial, with many chronic back pain sufferers reporting significant improvement after only six months of twice weekly practice (Source: Prevention 2010).
You do not always have to deal with back pain, and it does not automatically start because you have reached a certain age. There are many athletes and active seniors who never have any back pain at all. They accomplish this by reaching and maintaining a healthy weight and by making sure that they keep the back area strong and supple with exercise and stretching, including but not limited to yoga and other sports. They also make sure that they are getting good nutrition so that the body has the building blocks that it needs to be strong and resilient no matter what age it is or what it is going through.
The role of all nutrients in the body is important. They all work together to provide the energy that the body needs to move around and to stay active. There are three macronutrients, fat, carbohydrates and proteins, which should be included in a healthy and well-balanced diet. All foods, no matter what they are, can be classified as one of these three. There are good choices and bad choices in all three categories. Despite diets and diet gurus that would have you believe otherwise, there are no bad food groups, nor are there any of the macronutrients that we should wholly eliminate from our diet. There are no fad diets that work for the long term, and many of them are dangerous in the general plan of things.
It is important to make sure that you are getting enough food to keep your body healthy and strong. You need to make sure that you are getting the right nutrition so that you are well and able to be active. It is important that you lose any excess weight, not only to protect your back from pain but to protect yourself from a number of diseases and conditions that can be directly related to being overweight. It starts with knowing how much food you should actually be eating every day and then knowing how to divide that amount among each of the nutrients. It is also important to know what a good choice is for each of the nutrients, and what is not.
Calories, Weight Stabilization and Weight Loss
Sir Isaac Newton's first law of thermodynamics states that all energy in the universe is conserved. The theory applies to weight loss theory in a very simple way: if you take in the same number of calories that you burn each day, your weight will stay the same. If you eat more calories than you burn, you will gain weight. If you eat less, you will lose weight. It sounds simple enough, however, it is not always the case. If you eat a diet that consists of 1200 calories of mini marshmallows, you might lose weight initially, but eventually you will not lose weight at all, in fact you may gain weight. First, you will get bored with the mini marshmallow diet, and you will eventually eat something else. Your body will have slowed its metabolism down dramatically, holding on to every single calorie that it takes in instead of burning it for fuel. You will feel tired, grumpy and miserable. You might feel like you are starving because in essence you will be.
The problem with very low calorie diets and with a very limited variety diet is the same: you do not get enough fuel of the right kinds for your body to work with. Your body burns fat and carbohydrates for fuel. Protein is used by the body for a number of vital functions and is digested much slower. Every food that you eat affects the metabolism differently, regardless of how many calories it is. Some foods are broken down faster while others are broken down very slowly. It is simple to remember this: the faster that a food goes from food to your blood stream, the more weight you will gain from eating it.
Healthy calories which come from healthy foods help the body to function at its top condition. Lowering the calorie intake too far will result in a stalled, or even worse, a stopped metabolism, which equals weight gain. To keep from taking in either too many or too few calories, you need a basic idea of how many calories you should be eating. To do so, you can estimate your basic resting metabolic rate, add in your activity level for the day, and you will have an idea of the calories that you need to maintain your current weight. To lose one pound per week, a safe and achievable goal, you decrease your daily intake by 500 calories.
- The resting metabolic rate formula: multiply your desired weight in pounds by 8 and then add 200.
- The activity level formula: multiply the minutes spent doing easy exercise, like walking, gentle yoga and stretching, by 4 or multiply the minutes spent doing cardiovascular or resistance exercise by 8.
- Add the two numbers together to get your daily calorie count (Source: Roizen MD and Oz, MD, 2006).
Protein and Protein Supplements
Protein is one of the most important of the macronutrients and comes from plant and animal sources. Surprisingly, peas are one of the best sources of protein, with 8.5 grams of protein per one cup serving (Source:
www.beachbody.com/ ). Good sources of protein include lean poultry, fish and soy products. Protein supplements like the liquid supplement shot, Profect, are also good to add to the diet. These are small (2.9 fluid ounces) but have more protein than others (25 grams). These are great to use as a between-meal snack or with meals to stabilize the blood sugar.
More Information:
Protica Research (Protica, Inc.) specializes in the development of Capsulized Foods. Protica manufactures
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