Can Your Eating Habits Affect Your Arthritis?
Joint pain, swelling, and stiffness, the hallmarks of arthritis, can really slow you down. Unfortunately, more than 58 million American adults experience some type of doctor-diagnosed arthritis that limits their activities. When you experience a reduced range of motion that comes with arthritis—you know, sore knees that make running impossible or stiff shoulders that cause you to sink not swim—it’s easy to become inactive and gain weight, which can even make symptoms worse.
Anti-inflammatory drugs are commonly prescribed to arthritis patients to offer instant relief, but there’s something else you can try that will likely benefit your joints and your overall health: changing your diet to eliminate eating habits associated with causing the inflammation throughout your body that exacerbates arthritis symptoms.
While there aren’t many large-scale studies specifically on diet and arthritis, research has shown that certain types of foods can trigger chronic inflammation in the body over time. This low-grade inflammation, an immune response that’s constantly engaged, can damage healthy cells and organs leading to diseases like arthritis as well as diabetes and heart disease.
Excerpted from Eat This, Not That!
