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EXCLUSIVELY DEVOTED & FOCUSED ON VENOUS DISEASE

It is common knowledge that your dietary choices affect many aspects of your health and general wellbeing. New studies suggest that what you eat also affects the severity of varicose veins symptoms by aggravating the risk factors, interfering with proper blood circulation, or directly impeding blood flow in the veins.

Is Your Diet Causing Varicose Veins? | Vein Specialist in Ventura & LA

The items you eat can either make existing vein problems worse or improve your vascular function and ultimately reduce the severity of varicose veins.

Foods that make varicose veins worse

Considering that being overweight is a risk factor for varicose veins, any foods that cause you to add weight also increase your risk of venous problems. These include:

  • Refined starches
  • Soda and alcohol
  • Dairy products including whole milk
  • High-sugar foods
  • Oily foods

You can avoid weight gain by consuming nutritious foods and counting your daily calorie intake. You should also be careful about consuming foods that increase water retention, because it increases pressure on the veins. This can cause the veins to swell and the valves to get damaged, allowing blood to pool and form varicose veins.

Some of the foods that increase water retention and should be avoided include:

  • Processed meats
  • Canned foods
  • Many types of cheeses
  • Pizza
  • Pickles
  • Other salty foods

In addition, you should avoid foods that increase the risk of constipation, as it makes you more likely to getting hemorrhoids, or swollen veins in the anal canal. This can also cause damage to veins in your lower legs, resulting in the formation of varicose veins. Consider reducing your intake of red meat, chocolate, dairy products, bananas, and refined starches, while increasing your intake of foods rich in fiber, such as legumes, fruits and veggies, whole grains, and drinking lots of water.

Foods that provide relief for varicose veins

Besides avoiding the foods mentioned above, consider increasing your dietary intake of leafy green vegetables; fruits and vegetables rich in anti-inflammatory vitamins C and E; and natural diuretics that help to flush away water, like cucumbers, asparagus, celery, and herbs.

Although maintaining the right diet can reduce the risk for venous problems, varicose veins are largely hereditary, so you cannot prevent them completely. If your varicose veins are painful or a cosmetic concern, please visit a nearby vein specialist for diagnosis and discussion of minimally invasive treatments that can help your case.

Healthy veins rely on muscle contraction and valves to keep blood flowing forward – and against gravity – in your legs. But when these valves weaken, blood can begin to flow backwards and pool in the veins that are close to the surface of the skin, resulting in varicose veins.

Professions with Higher Risk for Varicose Veins | Vein Specialist Ventura

There are certain risk factors for varicose veins, including genetics, weight gain, gender, age, and prolonged standing or sitting. This means that people who work in professions that require them to spend a lot of time behind a desk or on their feet are at risk of developing varicose veins.

Some high-risk professions include:

1. Nursing

Nurses spend hours on their feet, care for one patient after the other. Moving around is not necessarily bad as it engages the leg muscles, which helps to push blood in the veins. But since they spend more time in a stationary position than in motion, the veins in their legs are forced to work hard against gravity, causing them to wear out faster than normal. This increases the risk of varicose veins.

2. Food and beverage service industry

From chefs to waiters to bartenders, these occupations require you to spend a lot of time on your feet either preparing meals/drinks or attending to patrons, with minimal movement especially during off-peak hours.

3. Office work

Any kind of work that requires you to sit at your desk for extended periods puts you at risk of developing varicose veins.

4. Hairdressing

Hair stylists and barbers spend a lot of time on their feet with minimal movement, which translates to minimal leg muscle movement and high risk of varicose veins.

5. Teaching

Teachers have one of the most sedentary lifestyles because they’re either sitting or standing, often beyond work hours when reviewing their students’ work, which puts them at considerable risk for varicose veins.

How to Avoid Varicose Veins

Although it is not possible to completely eliminate the risk of varicose veins, you can slow down their progression by taking a few precautionary steps, such as scheduling regular breaks to walk around, maintaining healthy weight, and wearing custom compression stockings as advised by your vein specialist.

Varicose Vein Consultation in Los Angeles & Ventura County

Please visit the Center for Vein Wellness or schedule a consultation with Dr. Shah to discuss your case and vein treatment options. We have multiple locations in Los Angeles and Ventura County.