Rabu, 11 Juli 2012

What Are The Best Foods For Arthritis?

Interested in learning about a diet built to fight arthritis? Or what the best foods for arthritis are? Did you know that diet can reduce inflammation and assist your body the healing of damaged joint tissue? This article will tell you what you need to eat to ease the pain and symptoms of arthritis.

Since the 1950’s, people’s diets all over the world have deteriorated. Today, the majority of people living in first world countries focus more on convenience than health.  

This focus on convenient, along with today’s foods contents of antibiotics, hormones, pesticides, extra fat, extra sugar and flavor enhancing chemicals, has led to a ton of health problems and the rise of diseases such as, diabetes, heart disease, obesity and arthritis. 

Eat drink and be healthy: The Harvard medical school guild to healthy eating goes further into the topic of today’s increase of disease and its link to diet.  

Diet is also known to be the number one cause of gouty arthritis. Gout used to be referred to as the disease of the kings or the rich man's disease. This was because the rich were the only ones who could afford to eat the foods that were linked to gout.  

A diet built to help beat arthritis should be rich in foods that assist our body in reducing its inflammation, and low in foods that can cause inflammation. Some of the best foods for arthritis are foods that reduce our body’s creation of inflammation.

Anti-Inflammatory Alkaline Foods

For health reasons, a lot of people follow the alkaline diet. The alkaline diet has a ton of great health benefits, including: assisting the body’s ability to remove free-radicals; in-turn reducing our chances of disease and lessening the impact of stress on our body. Some of the best foods for arthritis are alkaline.

Alkaline foods are simply foods on the high side of the pH scale. PH is a measurement of acidity or alkalinity. The pH scale runs from 0-14 with seven, in the middle, being neutral. Everything below seven is acidic and everything above seven is alkaline. If we focus on consuming foods with a pH higher than seven, our body’s pH will rise, reducing the inflammation our body is able to create.  

The best foods for arthritis on the alkaline side of the scale are generally the more healthy foods, such as green vegetables and complex carbohydrates. Meat is generally acidic, but some more so than others. It is important to note that a food which is acidic or alkaline outside the body doesn’t necessarily have the same effect after it has been eaten and digested.

An example of this is citrus fruits. Citrus fruits are acidic by nature, but turn alkaline in the body due to their high content of alkaline vitamins.  

Unfortunately, there are foods that are great for us in some ways, yet are acidic and can upset the pH balance we are trying to achieve with our arthritis diet. An example of this would be tomatoes. Tomatoes are good for you and can assist your body in the removal of free-radicals, but they are not one of the best foods for arthritis.

Alkaline Foods & Meals

Most vegetables should be included amongst the best foods for arthritis and are usually alkaline. Alkaline vegetables include, but are not limited to: wheat grass, broccoli, parsley, garlic, raw spinach, barley grass, carrots, cucumbers, asparagus, lettuce, onions, peas, celery, okra, squash, corn, and celery.

Most fruits are also alkaline and include: apples, pears, lemons, limes, papayas, berries, melons, avocados, cherries, grapes, figs, kiwi, dates, and bananas.

It is important to note that the cooking process will not destroy a foods alkalising ability, yet some forms of cooking can lessen the pH elevating affect by draining nutrients. Boiling vegetables is one of those methods we would like to avoid.

These alkaline foods can be made into a variety of meals by adding a complex carbohydrate and a lean meat, such as brown rice and yams for carbs and fish or chicken for a lean meat.

I have found brown rice to go very well with fish and spinach. Steamed broccoli with a non-fat cheese sauce tastes great with yams and spiced chicken. There are a ton of very healthy alkaline meals you can make with minimal effort. Feel free to get creative.


Author Michael Martin is a Sports Nutritionist that has been in the business of naturally treating people’s arthritis since 2002. Want to learn more about the best foods for arthritis? or a natural arthritis treatment?just click the links and check it out.

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