Welcome to ‘Dear Laura’ - a monthly column where I fashion myself as an agony aunt and answer the questions that readers submit. If you’d like to send in a question for me to answer next month - then you can submit it here.
I’m happy to answer Qs about anti-diet nutrition, developing a more peaceful relationship to food and weight-inclusive health, annoying diet trends and news stories, body image challenges, and, of course, challenges with feeding your kiddos. Please give as much detail as you’re comfortable with and let me know if you’d like me to include your name or keep it anon.
Please remember that these answers are for educational purposes only and are not a substitute for medical or nutritional advice; please speak to your GP or a qualified nutrition professional if you need further support.
So, let’s start with the question:
Dear Laura…
I suffer from chronic pain in my hips and have done for around 12 years. During my pregnancy 4 years ago, I suffered from ‘pelvic girdle pain’ which didn’t go away after having my baby and has been gradually getting worse/more debilitating. I’ve seen various different (bad) physios and have been working with a good physio consistently for over a year doing clinical pilates and some manual therapy. I also recently had an MRI scan which showed significant inflammation in my hips and have recently had a steroid injection in one of them (which, hasn't helped so far).
The thing is, people keep asking me if I’ve tried an ‘anti-inflammatory diet’. My sense is that it’s probably bullshit, but I wanted to get your opinion since I’m in so much pain and feel like I’m running out of options. For background, I’m vegan (not that I count, but I definitely get 30 plants a week). I generally eat well, but I do eat plant-based products that would be considered ‘ultra-processed’ or higher in sugar. I don’t feel like giving up little pleasures like a vegan croissant or chocolate (or lets be honest, spooning Biscoff from the jar). I guess my question is, is the juice worth the squeeze? An anti-inflammatory diet sounds super restrictive and like it could mess with your head to always worry whether or not something is causing inflammation. Are there any other weight-inclusive recommendations you would make instead?
And follow-up: are people just low-key telling me to lose weight and using the ‘anti-inflammatory diet’ as a sort of socially acceptable way of doing that? I don’t weigh myself, but I know my BMI would be in the ‘ob*se’ range. I’m straight size, so I’m not getting the outright fatphobia I know other people deal with, but I guess it’s worth asking about the relationship between weight and inflammation too?
Love, Laura
Ok yes. I did write a question to my own column. What are you going to do?
But fr, several people in my life have been recommending the ‘anti-inflammatory diet’ after an MRI showed I have significant inflammation in my hips. It was pretty easy to dismiss my hairdresser – tempted as I was by their Hair Skin and Beauty supplement (!!). It was less easy to ignore my physiotherapist who has mentioned it more than once. When I told her that I didn’t think there was any evidence to support that, she said ‘well, shouldn’t you be able to figure it out?’.
Y’all she dared me.
My initial revulsion to the idea of an ‘anti-inflammatory’ diet was, I think, tangled up with the hyperbole that comes out of the Wellness World. Notorious grifter Mark Hyman asks provocatively ‘Is your body burning up with hidden inflammation?’ citing diet as a primary cause. (I wouldn’t click on that link if I were you). Flimflam man David Pearlmutter enshrined the (fake) link between carbohydrates and inflammation in his book Grain Brain. He claimed that carbs cause brain inflammation and trigger anxiety, depression, and ADHD. Madeleine Shaw has blamed sugar for causing inflammation. Dairy, gluten, nightshades, and more recently UPFs all get blamed for ‘causing’ inflammation.
Conversely, we’re told that everything from turmeric to greens powders are ‘anti-inflammatory’ and will cure any ailment under the sun. Deliciously Ella even has a daily turmeric shot which, she claims, is an ‘easy win for anti-inflammatory goodness’. Ok then.
Here we see many, many levels of dietary reductionism, for sure. But that’s not the same thing as saying there is no relationship between diet and inflammation. We’re going to tease out that relationship a little more. But first, a primer on inflammation.
