Transcript of WGN Story "Eat Pain Away"

Bonnie & Steve - suffice it to say, we were very pleased with the story. We are truly overjoyed that WGN would put such effort into this. We feel it is so crucial for the public to understand the relationship between food and pain.

Eat Pain Away

Comfort foods are foods that make us feel good. But new evidence shows some foods can actually take away physical pain.

It's not just about filling up to feel good. This is a specific diet packed with foods you have to avoid.

And when we followed a woman in pain who tried the diet, she found with each meal she started to heal.

You can't measure it with a specific medical test, can't chart it against other patients, but when you are in pain you know how bad it is.

"your body aches all the time."

Yet all of the doctors Francee Knachbar went to couldn't put their finger on a cause or a cure, so she suffered, for 15 years.

"I was taking probably four Tylenol every couple of hours cause my body ached so bad and nothing was helping."

Popping pills didn't work. So Francee gave blood in an effort to figure out what was wrong.

"The doctor's offices called and and said your blood looks amazing, everything looks great, your cholesterol is low. You look great."

But she still felt awful. Then she went to a nutritionist.

"Bonnie looked at my blood results and literally she said, well your protein is bad, your sodium's bad, you're lacking magnesium. I mean she just went through list by list of what was wrong and the doctors thought it's perfect."

Dr. Bonnie Minsky knew she was a perfect candidate for the pain-free diet.

"Yes, you can limit the pain. Because there's two big issues with pain. Too much acid in the body and too much inflammation. So we want to asses whether food relationships or missing, key nutrients could improve the situation."

The diet is specific and strict, aimed at eliminating all common pain triggers. That means no excess sugar or carbohydrates, no grains or acidic foods, no yeast producing foods or artificial colors or sweeteners. No preservatives, no fried foods, no trans fats, and no soft drinks.

"The first time when I went to the grocery store it took me two and a half hours, just to try to find the right thing."

Now the pantry is stocked, full of the right foods.

"Crispy brown rice for cereal in the morning."

Cereal without cow's milk that is.

"I can have the rice dream."
But will all this effort make her dream of being pain-free come true?

"I just want to feel like a normal human being."

Two days into the diet. no change. one week..."Still kind of tired and a little achy. Not sleeping great at night."

Then came the two week mark. "Then all of a sudden it was just like - I had energy. I was sleeping well. Um, no body aches."

Cindy Dooley knows the joy and surprise when the pain free diet begins to make you feel better. She followed the food plan three years ago to relieve arthritis symptoms.

"My hands were so swollen and my wrists and my toes and my feet hurt so much that I couldn't even drive."

Medications did help, but cindy didn't want to take steroids indefinitely. She knew she could live with the diet. What she found is, she's living better.

"By the end of the month I was totally pain-free and the next month I got pregnant."

A New baby and a new lease on life. She knows what foods to avoid pears, tomatoes, coffee.-- and which ones she can now enjoy.

"The diet itself, it's only about a month. And it's challenging to do that. But it's not challenging to balance right now, what I'm doing."

Francess is still trying to figure it out. Of all the things she cut out, what was the most harmful. Now comes the time to slowly add foods back into her diet.

"So far I've added back oatmeal - been fine. Red meat has been fine. Yesterday I added back corn and I seem to be okay."

"Everyone has different reactions. Some people have wheat and dairy and that's it. Some people have salisylic acid, nothing else. So we look at it, we don't care if it's an allergy, we don't care if it's an intolerance. If it's producing pain and you reduce it or stay away from it, you're going to be free of the pain."

The complete diet is available from:

Nutritional Concepts
1535 Lake Cook Rd, Suite 204
Northbrook, IL 60062
847-498-3422
support@nutritionalconcepts.com
www.nutritionalconcepts.com

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