Like other medical issues, the side effects of neuropathy can be an be worsened or improved by your diet.
One of the best ways to manage peripheral neuropathy is to manage your diet and any medical conditions that put you at risk.
This may include controlling your blood sugar levels if you have diabetes or controlling your alcohol intake.
Below we will look at the food that should be avoided by peripheral neuropathy sufferers if they want to improve their symptoms
To better understand what foods should be avoided, you should first understand what neuropathy is.
Neuropathy is damage or dysfunction to parts of your nervous system, like your peripheral nerves.
Your peripheral nerves and your peripheral nervous system lie between your brain and your spinal cord.
To develop neuropathy, you don’t have to experience nervous system damage.
You can also develop neuropathy from a brain injury, stroke, or another medical condition, like diabetes.
Neuropathy is one of the leading causes of chronic pain.
Now that we better understand what peripheral neuropathy is, let’s look at the foods you should avoid and to leave out your diet
Gluten
The first food people with neuropathy should avoid is anything with gluten.
It’s becoming more and more common to acknowledge gluten allergies, gluten sensitivity, and celiac disease as problematic.
This is especially true for people with neuropathy.
The most common sources of gluten are foods like wheat or baking flour as an ingredient.
Gluten is also found in foods you wouldn’t expect, like soy sauce, so be sure to keep an eye on ingredient labels, especially if you have neuropathy or a gluten allergy.
Do all you can to buy gluten-free foods.
Consuming gluten when your body can’t properly digest it can lead to inflammation, worsening the nerve inflammation you get if you have neuropathy.
Sugar And Artificial Sweeteners
People with diabetes can quickly develop diabetic neuropathy due to the consumption of sugar and other artificial sweeteners.
Diabetic neuropathy occurs when nerve damage is due to diabetes. It most often damages the nerves in the hands and the feet.
To avoid diabetic neuropathy and diabetes in the first place, you need to do all you can to cut out sugars and artificial sweeteners.
It’ll be in your best interest to replace them with natural sugars found in fruit, but remember, sugar is sugar. You shouldn’t over-consume any of it.
Diabetic neuropathy affects roughly half of everyone with diabetes.
You can manage it the same way you manage your diabetes, with proper blood sugar levels and an active, healthy lifestyle.
You need to consume healthy, organic, and all-natural whole foods and maintain some type of daily activity.
Alcohol
Along with diabetic neuropathy, there is also alcoholic neuropathy.
No matter how you may try to justify it, overconsuming alcohol is not good for your body.
Alcohol is a toxin no matter how hard you try to spin it. When your body is exposed to too much of it, it is a common trigger for peripheral neuropathy.
Overconsuming alcohol leads to body toxicity, increased inflammation, and vitamin deficiencies directly related to nerve health.
It’s okay for healthy individuals to enjoy alcohol in moderation, but if nerve damage is already causing symptoms, alcohol will probably make them worse.
Try to stop drinking entirely until your condition has been reversed and you don’t have any more symptoms.
Salty Foods
Who doesn’t love crunching on potato chips?
However, if you have neuropathy, you will have to ditch the potato chips for more nutritious foods.
Salty foods, in general, need to be avoided to relieve your burning or numb neuropathic pain.
The deposition of high salt in your bloodstream restricts blood flow, resulting in tingling, burning, or numbness in your nerves.
To ease this stress on your nerves, you should avoid salty foods.
You should also avoid processed meats, cold cuts, fast foods, pretzels, and any other foods high in sodium and instead opt for lean meats and vegetables.
Refined Grains
Processed grains like instant brown rice have a high glycemic index.
That means that they will rapidly increase your blood sugar.
Controlling your blood sugar is the best thing you can do to prevent peripheral neuropathy and diabetic neuropathy.
Sugar in your blood can also contribute to peripheral neuropathy symptoms by damaging your nerves.
To improve the glycemic index of your diet, replace all of your refined grains with whole grains.
Saturated Fats
Saturated fat is prevalent in fatty meats and dairy products.
Saturated fat can cause inflammation and an increased risk of type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and obesity.
To lower your risk of neuropathy, you should eat a well-balanced diet low in saturated fat.
The primary sources of saturated fat are organ meats, beef, lamb, pork, dark-meat poultry, fried foods, butter, whole milk, heavy cream, and fatty ice cream and cheeses.
Replace these fatty foods with lean alternatives like lentils, soy, and fish to reduce your neuropathic symptoms.
You can also eat moderate amounts of healthy fats, like avocados, nuts, and seeds.
To summarise, if you want relief from peripheral neuropathy symptom, try a healthy diet which is high in minerals and vitamins and avoid any nutrient deficiencies. Try one of these supplements that provide the full spectrum of minerals and vitamins especially for peripheral neuropathy sufferers.
There are also some meal plans like these, out there that can help with controlling the side effects of the disease as well as plenty of these recipes which are available for you to follow. Give these a try.
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