Harris McIlwain - Diet for a Pain-Free Life

Diet for a Pain-Free Life

WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE

When my pain medication was suddenly withdrawn by the FDA, I didnt know what to do. So I started Diet for a Pain-Free Life out of desperation to end my knee pain. When I quickly dropped 10 pounds without feeling hungry, I was thrilled. Losing 10 pounds was the answer for me. My pain is gone most days, and I no longer take any medication.

Paul, age 55

After one week on the Pain-Free Diet, I lost 8 pounds. My fasting blood glucose went from 190 to 122, and I was walking without any pain. I was thrilled and so was my primary care doctor. This is definitely a diet for lifemy life!

Frank, age 66

For years my back pain dominated my life. I missed so many family activities because of the nagging tenderness and fatigue. Now Ive lost 23 pounds and feel years younger. I can do anythingride bikes with my son, go dancing with my husband, and even join my teenage daughter at a low-impact aerobics class. Whats so great is that I seem to eat all day long but the pounds continue to drop. Life is so good!

Sarah, age 46

When I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia with the deep muscle pain, I thought I was destined to a life of lying on the couch, watching cable news all day. Then I started Diet for a Pain-Free Life. The diet helped me to lose 18 pounds, and Im delighted. I am active now and sleep 7 hours a night. This program gave me back my independence and also helped to control my pain.

Maria, age 38

After years of being overweight and living daily with lower back and knee pain, I was desperate to find relief. I had even considered stomach bypass surgery until Dr. McIlwain asked me to try the Pain-Free Diet at a routine visit last year. Admittedly, Im a meat eater and the idea of eliminating all beef, pork, and veal from my diet was not attractive. But I was tired of being fat and limited in my daily activities, so I decided to give it a try. My partner and I found some delicious fake meat alternatives at the supermarket, and we created new dishes that were incredible. Within 21 days, I had dropped 6 pounds and my knees and back were not as achy when I got up in the morning. After four months, I had lost 26 pounds and was riding a stationary bike for an hour most daysand I had no pain at all. Ill admit that Ive never felt this healthy or been this active, and I eat all day long.

Warren, age 52

I was diagnosed with osteoarthritis of the spine in my early 40s and have suffered with chronic back pain ever since. While I used to play tennis and swim when my kids were young, the constant back pain kept me from doing much else except for working each day. I was fat, 50, and unfitand had virtually lost interest in life. I started the Pain-Free Diet right after the super aspirins were taken off the market by the FDA. I was hopeful that the diet might work to ease my pain but I didnt realize how much my entire life would change. Since starting the diet and the other three steps, Ive lost 14 pounds. I swim laps each morning at the localY, and am dating a wonderful man who I met at my water aerobics class. Every pain sufferer should be on the Pain-Free Diet; every baby boomer should use this 4-step program to reignite their lives.

Jillian, age 54

After watching my wife drop 12 pounds in two months on the Pain-Free Diet, I decided to try it myself. Now we have lost a total of 41 pounds and are considered slightly overweight instead of obese. The biggest difference weve seen is in our energy level, which is high most days, and in our ability to do anything we want without feeling pain, including exercise, gardening, and recreational sports. Last summer we traveled to Europe with a group of friends and went on several biking tours in England. We could have never done this when we were so heavyand hurting. This diet gave us an active retirement and we are thrilled!

Thomas, age 67

Diversion Books, New York

Diversion Books

A Division of Diversion Publishing Corp.

80 Fifth Avenue, Suite 1101

New York, New York 10011

www.DiversionBooks.com

Copyright 2012 by Harris McIlwain & Debra Bruce

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever.

For more information, email info@diversionbooks.com.

First Diversion Books edition March 2012.

ISBN: 978-1-938120-04-6 (ebook)

1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2

To the millions of baby boomers who suffer with chronic pain.
May they find new hope and help with this 4-step program to
reduce weight, inflammation, and pain, and rediscover what it means
to be active and alive once again!

Contents

Preface

T ENS OF MILLIONS of Americans live with pain on a daily basis. Many are overweight. And for most of these individuals, they felt fine until they hit middle age.

As a pain specialist with one of the largest rheumatology group practices in the South, I passionately believe that chronic pain is a pandemic lifestyle disease. Harmful habits such as a fast-food diet, lack of exercise, chronic stress, and poor sleep make us highly susceptible to long-term pain that perpetuates itself. The larger concern I address in this book is Americas obesity epidemicspecifically, how extra fat, particularly belly fat, triggers low-grade inflammation in the body, which results in pain and serious illness.

For the past twenty-five years, I have focused on the connection between overweight, inflammation, and chronic pain, and have identified a revolutionary 4-step program that can reverse this deleterious process in most people. That program is the Diet for a Pain-Free Life, hereafter called Pain-Free Diet for short.

As a board-certified rheumatologist, adjunct professor in the College of Public Health at the University of South Florida, and investigator in clinical trials at Tampa Medical Group Research, over the past three decades I have seen thousands of men and women who have suffered with chronic pain from back or neck problems, arthritis, fibromyalgia, and sports injuries, and other conditions. Early in my career, I watched the most physically active men and women become inactive and even dependent on caregivers as they moved into their forties, fifties, and sixties and lived with the results of ignoring their weightwhich greatly burdened their muscles, joints, and bones, and impacted their ability to be active. Many of my patients were star athletes in high school and college. Others thrived on active weekends, engaging in recreational and competitive sports or active gardening. Yet, in an almost predictable way, as these overweight baby boomer men and women hit middle age, they would come to my office asking for strong medications to end their chronic (long-term) joint and muscle pain and stiffness so they could do the activities they enjoyed. According to the Centers for Disease Control, obesity has roughly the same association with chronic health conditions as twenty years of aging. Obese and overweight men and women spend 3.5 times more on prescription drugs than those who are normal weight

Predicting the tremendous impact of chronic pain on the millions of aging baby boomers, in 1999, some renowned pharmaceutical giants released super aspirins. These medications targeted inflammation, the living tissue response to mechanical, chemical, and immunological challenge, and allowed patients to be active againvirtually without pain. Many of my patients participated in the clinical trials for these super aspirins at Tampa Medical Group Research and were thrilled with the results. They were once again able to enjoy recreational sports and other activities.