 
A healthy diet is vital to building healthy nerves. Studies have shown that choosing the right foods and preparing them correctly can definitely improve symptoms of neuropathy and even prevent further degradation of your nerves.
What foods should you eat?
There are specific vitamins such as vitamins A, B, C, and E, which are great in helping nourish and build healthy nerves. You will want to pick foods which are good sources of these vitamins and add them to your meals. For example:
- fish and eggs are good sources of vitamin B12 and B1
- broccoli, cauliflower, and other cruciferous vegetables are excellent sources of vitamins E and C, Omega 3s and various other minerals
- yellow, red, and orange vegetables are good sources of vitamin A and C
- leafy green vegetables such as kale, spinach, collards and Swiss chard contain calcium and magnesium, which are vital for healthy nerve endings and nerve impulse transmission
You can learn more about the value of B vitamins in this Cleveland Clinic guide to B Vitamin Benefits.
Inflammation often accompanies the symptoms of neuropathy. Therefore, you should also add foods to your diet that help reduce inflammation, which can reduce neuropathy symptoms. Foods such as:
- kelp
- salmon
- turmeric
- shiitake mushrooms
- papaya
- blueberries
For more ideas, here’s a helpful list of anti-inflammatory foods from Harvard Health.
We recommend making sure the fruit and vegetables you eat are fresh and raw. Frozen and cooked vegetables lose a good deal of their nutritional value. The exception to this rule is blueberries. They are just as healthy frozen, as they are fresh and certain antioxidants in blueberries may become more available to the body when frozen.
It is also very important to cut out foods that are harmful to the body. Refined sugar, aspartame, MSG and complex carbohydrates are definitely in the harmful category and can do lots of damage to your nerves.
There are plenty of good natural substitutes for refined sugar such as stevia, monk fruit and erythritol. There are a lot of very tasty, prepared foods that don’t use these harmful ingredients and are much better for you.
Taking a good look at your diet and making as many positive changes as you can, will definitely help supply the right nutrients you need to build and maintain healthy nerves.
Further Reading:
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Want to better manage your blood sugar levels? Check out our article on the Diet that Supports Healthy Blood Sugar Levels to see how low-carb choices can make a difference.
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Looking to improve heart health with your diet? Read Let’s Talk About High Blood Pressure for insight into how your meals and movement affect circulation.
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Curious about insulin resistance and how it relates to diabetes, which can then all to commonly lead to neuropathy? Read What Is Insulin Resistance and How Does It Affect Your Body? and learn more about insulin sensitivity and how it works.
