4 Ways A Healthier Diet Can Help Your Feet
It’s time to celebrate National Nutrition Month. You may be wondering why we at NY Foot Health recognize this health awareness month. We’re glad you asked! What you eat has a lot to do with the health and well-being of your feet. Below are four ways dietary changes can improve foot health.
1. Maintain a Healthy Weight for Reduced Strain on Feet—your feet carry the weight of your entire body. The force exerted on them when you walk or run is 1.5 to 3 times the total of your body weight. That’s why losing even one pound can reduce the pressure on your knees and feet by 3 or more pounds. In addition, being overweight puts you at higher risk for several common foot disorders, including flat feet, plantar fasciitis, and sesamoiditis. Increasing the amounts of vegetables and fruits, lean proteins, and whole grains that you eat while reducing the refined sugars and saturated fats will help you get to and maintain a healthy weight.
2. Help Prevent Risk for Diabetes and Control Blood Sugar—diabetes can wreak havoc with your feet. Consuming high amounts of sugar and being overweight are two primary risk factors associated with diabetes. You can make many small changes that will help dramatically with diabetes. Some suggestions:
Swap sugary sodas for flavored seltzer
Re-design your plate so that half of it includes vegetables and fruits, one quarter with lean protein and one-quarter whole grain or healthy carbohydrates
Try grilling or roasting foods instead of frying.
3. Increase Bone Strength—did you know there are 52 bones in your feet? And each of these is part of the structure that holds up your entire body. Through diet, you can increase the amounts of calcium and vitamin D that you take in to keep bones strong and prevent osteoporosis. In addition to the obvious dairy sources, add more leafy greens, fatty fish, nuts, and seeds to your menus.
4. Reduce Inflammation—one of the most prevalent symptoms in many common podiatric disorders, including plantar fasciitis, sesamoiditis, arthritis, Achilles tendonitis is inflammation. Tendons, muscles, and inflamed joints cause pain and reduce mobility. What you eat can cause or reduce the inflammatory response in your body. Avoid sugars fried and processed foods. Increase the amounts of berries, citrus fruit, tomatoes, olive oil, fatty fish, spinach, and kale in your diet to decrease inflammation.
If you have questions about your diet and how it affects the health of your feet, talk to your podiatrist. Don’t have a podiatrist? You can find one nearby using our online directory. To learn more foot health tips, contact us and subscribe to our free e-newsletter.