Did you know that your diet affects more than just your weight? It’s true. Because your body is like a well-oiled machine, when something is out of line, every muscle, nerve and movement will be affected. This is the same for a proper diet. When you follow a proper diet, you can potentially avoid pain that often comes with temporomandibular joint disorder (TMD). Let’s take a look at what foods to avoid and what food to incorporate in your diet.
Avoid these foods
It’s time to at least try something once. Even just trying a food will be beneficial to you. In fact, you never know if you don’t try! After all, you may just find your new favorite food or you might even realize that your favorite food is a culprit for causing you pain.
People with TMD have found that cutting back on wheat and dairy, specifically whole grains, can improve their day to day lives. Another thing to avoid would be food with very high artificial supplements such as vitamin C or Iron. Too much of these supplements can lead to an imbalance in your natural levels. As a result, they cause you pain.
Additionally, try to avoid foods with sugar, yeast and preservatives. In addition, stay away from fatty foods. Saturated fat has been shown to increase inflammation in the body, causing more pain. Of course this won’t be easy, but it just might be the end to all of your pain!
Incorporate these foods into your diet
With TMD, eating vegetables is extremely important. But watch out for the crunchy foods, those can exacerbate your pain. Try eating vegetable soup with a wide variety of vegetables and beans for the magnesium, with added meat for the hyaluronic acid.
When eating meat, stick to the red meats for high amounts of zinc, iron, and vitamin B12. All of these nutrients are crucial for your diet if you suffer from TMD.
Contact us at AZ Sleep & TMJ Solutions to learn more about what foods might be exacerbating your TMD pain.