Your feet probably aren’t the first thing that you think about when it comes to the way you eat, but they probably should be. Most people think about the size of their stomachs, their love handles, heart disease, and diabetes too, yet people seem to forget that your nutrition can greatly affect your feet. How nutrition affects your feet has become a very much talked about issue in the last few years, especially because new research shows that the foods you eat can have a profound impact on your feet and your ability to walk. Here we have a list of issues that can arise in regards to your feet from not eating properly. Some of the things we have to say might just surprise you!
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Many Foods Cause Inflammation
The fact of the matter is that our diets greatly affect not only our general health, but all of the little things too. You may think that your foot pain or various foot conditions are caused by the shoes you wear, the climate you live in, or even by the DNA and genes that your parents passed on to you. Yet the truth is that one of the biggest causes of foot pain and inflammation is your diet and the foods that you eat.
One of the most common pains and types of inflammation in the feet is known as Plantar Fasciitis, which is an extremely painful condition. This condition presents itself as swelling and extreme pain in your feet, especially in your heels, arches, the balls of your feet, and even on the top of the feet too. Against what you may have previously thought, the food you eat can cause an increased amount of chemicals to be produced in your body which can cause foot conditions such as plantar fasciitis.
There are several different foods which can cause this inflammation in our feet. Unfortunately these foods are permeating the market and our mouths more frequently due to the way we as a society live. The sad fact is that we are ever increasingly eating refined and processed foods which are unhealthy, fatty, sugary, and filled with chemicals that juts aren’t good for our bodies. Therefore more and more people are experiencing foot pain and inflammation.
Some of the foods that you are eating which may be causing plantar fasciitis and other forms of inflammation include refined grains (white flour), sugars, and trans fats, all things which are regularly present in many of the foods we eat. These things can be found in baked foods such as bread, muffins, doughnuts, cakes, and even cereal. They are present in fast foods and fried foods from low grade restaurant chains. Junk foods can also cause this to happen because chocolate and chips are full of trans fats and sugars.
Sadly enough they are also present in most of the foods that you can buy at the supermarket. Other things that can cause this inflammation include the saturated fats found in red meat such as beef and pork, and the Omega-6 fatty acids found in many cooking oils such as corn, bean, sunflower, canola, and safflower oil.
Of course it is hard to stay away from all of these things at once, especially because most of the foods we eat have at least one of those things in them. However if you are experiencing severe foot issues such as plantar fasciitis, you may want to try cutting down on your intake of sugars, Omega-6 fatty acids, trans fats and saturated fats, and refined grains too. You can always try switching to sugar free snacks and drinks, white meat like chicken and fish, and start eating whole grains too.
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Nutritional Allergies
Another thing that can cause inflammation and pain in your feet is if you have any food allergies. Certain food borne allergies that you may have might just be causing the foot pain that you are experiencing. Many people have allergies towards gluten (found in wheat), dairy, and seafood, plus nuts too, each of which may cause inflammation in your body and your feet. It is recommended that you get an allergy test if you have foot pain and inflammation, but don’t know what the cause is, especially if you also experience other symptoms which could be caused by allergies (diarrhea, nausea, stomach pains).
Blood Sugar Spikes
The next thing which can cause inflammation and pain in your feet is when your blood sugar spikes quickly. Foods that are high in sugars and carbohydrates can and will cause your blood sugar to spike and then quickly drop off. Foods like candy, chocolate, chips, pasta, and white flour can all cause this to happen.
Weight And Obesity
The next way in which your nutrition can affect your feet is if you have a really bad diet that is causing you to be overweight or obese. It is common sense if you think about it. The more you eat the bigger you get. Fatty and sugary foods combined with little or no exercise will cause you to quickly gain weight.
The more you weight the more your feet have to carry around and deal with. Obese and overweight people experience much more foot pain than people of an average weight. The simple fact of the matter is that the feet of overweight people are more burdened, have to work harder, and are therefore also more susceptible to inflammation and extreme pain. Being far too overweight can even cause your feet to begin flattening, change the bone structure, and cause a lot of pain.
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Diabetes
Diabetes is a disease that affects millions of people worldwide. It’s a disease that is especially and scarily common in Western Europe and more so in North America. This is because of the North American lifestyle and diet which consists of a lot of sugar and consists of people that are proportionately overweight compared to the rest of the world. We eat so many burgers, candies, chocolates, and other unhealthy junk that our obesity, and thus the diabetes rate, in places like Canada and The U.S.A are ridiculously high. Ever hear of a diabetes epidemic in China or Nigeria? Well you probably haven’t and that’s because they don’t stuff themselves with sugary junk all day long.
Diabetes can cause nerve pain and nerve damage, especially in the extremities like your hands and feet, this causing extreme foot pain. In very advanced cases of diabetes there is even a risk of having to amputate the feet and hands due to extensive and irreversible. If you are experiencing tingling, numbness, and pain in your extremities, we would recommend getting yourself tested for diabetes, as leaving it untreated for too long can be fatal. While not all cases of diabetes are caused by the overeating of sugar, many certainly are and therefore it’s a good idea to limit your sugar intake.
Peripheral Artery Disease
Another thing that can cause foot pain and inflammation, plus a whole lot of other issues, is peripheral artery disease. This disease involves your arteries being narrower than they should be and therefore your extremities don’t get the amount of blood flow that they should be getting.
This decreased blood flow can damage your nerves, cause numbness and pain, and other severe damage as well. This condition can also be caused by the consumption of mass quantities of sugar, refined flour, and different kinds of fats. It is recommended that you eat a diet that consists of many whole grains, fruits and vegetables, beans, and lean meats in order to avoid getting this condition.
Conclusion
We hope that we could shed some light on the issue of how nutrition affects your feet for you. Your nutrition not only affects your weight, your heart, your brain, lungs, and other organs, but also has a large impact on the health and function of your feet. Bad nutritional habits can severely impact your feet, causing them to become painful, inflamed, and in a worst case scenario they may become useless and leave you crippled. Don’t wait to start eating healthy because it might just cost you your mobility. If you have any questions regarding this topic we would be more than happy to answer them.