Nutrient Deficiencies

There are a number of complications that are associated with disability, and many can be prevented with a good diet. Common complications include:

  • Digestive dysfunction
  • Constipation
  • Diarrhea
  • UTI’s
  • Obesity
  • Osteoporosis
  • Arthritis
  • Type II diabetes
  • Heart disease
  • Pain
  • Sleep disorders
  • Skin issues

By improving your diet to have better nutrition, you can improve sleep and increase your energy! Everyone can use this. It will also help to maintain weight. While losing weight is a nice goal, assuring you do not put on more weight is a good first step. This can be challenging, and losing weight could be a bonus benefit.

You could have improved skin health. Many people do not equate skin issues with diet, but skin is the largest organ we have. Protecting it is important!

Improved diet can improve your bowel function. If you have loose stools, or go frequently, your intestines may not have the time to absorb nutrients. A good diet will help to slow this process. On the flip side, if you experience constipation, which is a common side effect of many medications, this can increase the number of toxins in your body. Stool carries all of the toxins out of the body, and letting it sit in the colon can affect your body negatively. It is healthy to move that along regularly.

A good diet can improve your mood, as well as decrease pain that you experience. An improved mood and decrease the perception of pain, but also improved nutrition can decrease the pain experienced, especially if you are decreasing inflammation. By decreasing pain, you may be able to lower the amount of pain medication you take. These medications also carry a number of uncomfortable side effects. Decreasing the amount of medications you take is always a good goal. Our bodies were not designed to have all of those chemicals pumping through the body.

This information, and the information to follow, can be found in Eat Well, Live Well with SCI by Kylie James and Joanne Smith. Click HERE for all information.

Be sure to read the last post about nutrition: https://scitotalfitness.com/what-is-nutrition/