If you have been suffering with any form of arthritis and find the nasty side-effect of joint inflammation really frustrating, then you have my full sympathy. Arthritis, which is the collective term for any condition that impacts the joints, can impact every aspect of your life. It can affect your sleep pattern, make you feel tired and emotional as you combat the pain, it can make you feel irritable and depressed. Of course, the other negative is that it can and does impair flexibility and general movement.
It’s easy to turn to painkillers to help control the pain and to give you some degree of normality each day, but rather than just accepting your lot and relying on the pills from pharmaceutical companies, there are often things that you can do to help combat joint pain from the inside and out.
The following foods have been found to reduce the inflammation and are worth adopting into your diet where possible:
Cherries – If you enjoy cherries then indulge yourself once they come into season. Cherries have been found to contain an extract that is up to ten times more powerful as an anti-inflammatory than many pharmacy drugs. If you don’t like cherries, you can eat strawberries or blackberries instead.
Cayenne Pepper- may not be your first thought as a tasty or healthy treat but add cayenne into some of your recipes and you will find surprising results that it can help to reduce some of the anti-inflammatory compounds due to capsaicin .
Blueberries – Blueberries are renowned for their healing properties but they are also great at reducing inflammation. This is because they help to increase those compounds known as heat shock proteins. These heat-shock proteins generally reduce as people become older and as a result, damage joints and tissues occur.
Ginger – Even if you are not a fan of the strong taste of ginger, you can easily benefit from its natural anti-inflammatory busting qualities. Add a slice of ginger to a bottle of ice-cold water and sip throughout the day. Ginger also works well with a slice of lemon in water for a zingy tasty drink.
Fish Oils – Even if you don’t like fish, you should incorporate fish oils within your diet. It’s easy to take capsules which are available from health shops and as the oils work directly on the immune system by suppressing the compounds that are proven to attack the joints.
Green Veggies – Dark green vegetables in particular are highly beneficial to help balance your body chemistry and they contain important minerals such as magnesium and calcium.
Turmeric – Many people do not realise that turmeric is so beneficial to improving the health of your joints and it is easy to add into your diet by having some home-made curries.
Walnuts – opt for unsalted walnuts that contain lots of omega 3 fatty acids as these can help to decrease the pain associated with inflamed joints. But you can also use flax seeds too if you are not keen on walnuts.
It’s important to take responsibility for your own health and not to just rely on prescription based drugs as these can have horrible side-effects. Whilst it’s important to always seek proper medical assistance and diagnosis, don’t forget that nature often has all the solutions in its own first aid collection. By just incorporating a few of the ingredients listed above, then you could be making a natural and effective counter move against arthritis which is a terrible debilitating disease if it gets out of control and would wreak havoc on your joints. Couple eating well with some gentle exercises like swimming or yoga for joint mobility and you will see the difference.
