Diets-Metabolism   [back to the Category]

Minor disorders and nutrition   [read the french version]

Author :   Dr Paule Nathan

Tendinitis

Tendinitis is a common complaint. It has little or no influence on everyday life when it is a one-off, quickly resolvent incident. However, it can question mobility and physical activity when it is stubborn, chronic, recurring and even invalidating. Stoppage is often dramatic and difficult to accept especially for those who regularly devote themselves to sport.


There are osteo-articular, mechanical factors for certain types of tendinitis such as bad spinal statics or equipment ill-use amongst sportsmen and women. Other types can be caused and even prolonged by metabolic disorders and/or an unbalanced diet. In actual fact, several factors contribute to the modification of the innermost structure of the tendons.

What role does nutrition play?
A balanced diet participates in curative treatment and provides a genuine preventive treatment.
Moreover, "tendon saving nutritional advice" ensures faster recovery and, thus, avoids the disorder becoming chronic.

Some advice on nutrition

@ Increase your water intake.
Dehydration weakens tendinous tissue resistance and is very often to blame.
Drink a litre and a half of water per day. Drink more when the weather is hot, if you have a temperature, after an infection or in the case of increased calorie intake levels.
If you take part in a lot of sport, increase your intake when exertion is prolonged or the surroundings are warm. Learn, therefore, to drink before, during and after exertion. Drinking an alkaline, bicarbonate water such as "Vichy" after exertion will help to redress the organism acidification caused by physical activity.
Anticipate thirst at all times. Thirst is an indication of dehydration.
@ Cut down on foods with a high uric acid content even if the level of uric acid in the blood is only slightly increased.
This quantity determination should be automatic in the case of recurring tendinitis. Excess uric acid can cause inflammation and rupture the Achilles' tendon (gout disease).
Please refer to the section on hyperuricacidemia and gout for advice and a chart of foods with a high uric acid content so that consumption of such foods can be reduced.

@ Check on your sensitivity to foods with a high oxalic acid content.
An excess of spinach, chocolate or tea can, for some, provoke or prolong tendinitis. Use the chart as a guide
encadré
Foods with a high oxalate content (in mg per100g):
Rhubarb, asparagus 500
Cocoa, chocolate 450
Tea 370
Beetroot 338
Spinach 320
Sorrel 300
Parsley 190
Dried figs 100
Celery 50
Carrots 33
Chicory 27
Salsify, beet, Brussels sprouts, instant coffee
fin de l'encadré

@ Tendons can be damaged by other metabolic disorders such as an excess of lipids or fats (cholesterol and triglycerides). Seek advice from your doctor.

@ Ensure your diet observes the acid-base balance. Today's diet encourages tendinitis. Alkalizing foods, such as fruit and green vegetables have been forsaken in favour of highly acidifying foods such as red meat and full-fat cheeses. The excessively acidifying nutrition present in developed countries is largely responsible for the increase, observed over the last twenty years, in the frequency of chronic illnesses. Meat products, in particular red meat, seem to be highly acidifying.
Fast food or snack diets (meat-chips-sweetened drink-sweet), and fridge-freezer diets (cheese, bread, pizza, quiche, processed sweets, etc.), provide almost nothing but acidifying foods. These bad eating habits are very harmful for the organism, tendons in particular. This type of acidifying nutrition amongst sportsmen and women increases the wave of acidifying blood that results from exertion and there is a risk that toxins will accumulate in the organism.

For a good, balanced diet:
- alternate the proteins at the various meals; one meal, fish; another, egg, then chicken, white meat, ham, red meat. ---- Every day eat a raw vegetable, a portion of cooked green vegetables, fruit and favour low-fat dairy products.
- Cook. It is possible to combine a balanced diet with a busy timetable.
- During intense periods, cut down on acidifying foods and favour alkalizing foods.

@ my advice
All those keen to continue with their sport for as long as possible should take the following advice.
- Be aware of excessive consumption of foods likely to weaken your tendons.
- drink sufficient water
- eat a balanced diet: "a little but enough of everything".


encadré
Alkalizing foods.
@ fruit:
- acidic fruit (behaves like a base within the organism); orange, clementine, mandarin, lemon, grapefruit, pineapple, redcurrant, pomegranate.
- slightly acidic fruit; strawberry, tomato, apple, pear, peach, grape, cherry.
- sweet fruit; dates, figs, sweet grape, sweet apple, banana.
- dried fruit; pear, apple, grape, fig, ripe banana.
- bland fruit; melon, watermelon.
- oleaginous fruit; dried almonds.
@ vegetables:
- low starch content: asparagus, aubergine, broccoli, cardoon, mushroom, chicory, cabbage, cauliflower, chives, pumpkin, cucumber, gherkin, marrow, courgette, cress, endive, spinach, French beans, lettuce, corn salad, sweet pepper, gourd, radish, broad-leaf endive.
- moderate starch content: artichoke, beetroot, carrot, celeriac, Brussels sprouts, turnips, parsley, dandelion greens, swede, salsify, fresh peas.
- high starch content: sweet chestnut, potato, Jerusalem artichoke.
@ lipids:
avocado, olives.
@ low-fat milk products:
mother's milk, cow's milk for children, dry milk curd, low-fat fromage frais, low-fat yoghurt.
@ eggs:
the yolk.

Acidifying foods.
@ fruits:
- slightly acid fruit; apricot, plum.
- dried fruit; prune, apricot.
- oleaginous fruit; walnuts, hazelnut, pistachio nut.
@ vegetables:
- low starch content: sorrel, leek, rhubarb.
- moderate starch content: shallot, onion.
@ carbohydrates:
honey.
@ pulses:
broad beans, dried beans, dried lentils, split peas, soya beans.
@ cereals and by-products:
oats, wholemeal wheat, refined flour, maize, wholemeal barley, wholemeal rice, buckwheat, wholemeal rye, processed bread, wholemeal bread, pasta, semolina, cornflour, potato starch.
@ full-fat milk products:
butter, fresh cream, cow's milk for adults, French cheeses such as Comté, Gruyère, St Paulin, Emmenthal and goat's cheeses.
@ eggs:
the white.
@ animal protein:
Beef, beef heart, brains, poultry, fish, shellfish.
@ miscellaneous:
alcohol, cocoa, condiment, spices, pastries, artificial sweeteners.


To sum up
@ Acidifying foods: red meat, egg white, cereals, full-fat cheeses, sweet products.
Thus steak-and-chips-cheese-bread-sweetened drink is dreadful for tendons; or ham mashed potato cheese for the youngsters
@ Alkalizing foods: green vegetables, fruit, egg yolk, low-fat milk products.
Everything that we no longer eat with our current "fridge-freezer" eating habits.
@ The ideal: a little but enough of everything.

Tendon saving diet.

@ Certain foods are temporarily ill-advised.
-meat such as:
Any meats that are fatty, hung, marinated, salted, smoked or tinned.
Mutton.
Pork, with the exception of cold, roast pork with the fat removed.
Snails.
Offal.
Game.
Goose, battery-reared duck, boiling fowl.
-certain soups.
Meat stock, fish soup, soup cubes.
-all cold meats with the exception of low-fat boiled ham.
-Fish such as:
Salted, smoked or tinned fish.
Shellfish.
Fatty fish: eel, lamprey, moray.
-fats such as:
Butter, lard, horse and beef fat.
Cooked fat, sauces made from cooked fat, fried foods, mayonnaise, béarnaise sauce, stews.
Olives.
Peanuts, hazelnuts, walnuts, coconut, pine nuts, almonds, pistachio, cashew nuts.
-confectionery products:
Cocoa, chocolate.
-certain drinks:
Tea.
Wine, cider, beer, alcohol and fortified wines.