Healthy Eating Tips to Manage Arthritis

Healthy Eating Tips to Manage Arthritis

A nutritious diet plays a significant role in managing and reducing the symptoms of arthritis. So, here are some  nutrition tips for arthritis  that would keep your meals interesting while helping you keep arthritis and its symptoms in check.

Eat fiber-rich food
Inclusion of food items such as almonds, avocado, whole-wheat pasta, and other fiber-rich food items can help manage arthritis. First, they help keep a check on sugar levels, lower cholesterol, and promote weight loss, which can alleviate pressure from joints. Studies have also found that fiber-rich foods also lower knee pain and osteoarthritis.

Include plant-based proteins in your diet
Plant-based proteins available in lentils, nuts, dried peas, grain quinoa, beans, and tofu helps in reducing inflammation. It also helps in the reduction of swelling and pain caused by rheumatoid arthritis. Plant-based proteins also help in the reduction of oxidative stress.

Avoid sugar-sweetened drinks
Added sugars can increase the level of chronic inflammation in your body, which can subsequently damage tissues and organs in the body, which includes joints as well. Also, sugar-sweetened drinks are attributed to obesity and weight gain, which are known to worsen arthritis symptoms.

Consume cucumbers, broccoli, and tomatoes
One of the  nutritious tips for arthritis  is to include fruits and vegetables the likes of broccoli, tomatoes, and cucumbers. Broccoli contains sulforaphane, a compound that can help in preventing or slowing down osteoarthritis. Tomatoes, on the other hand, belong to nightshade vegetables and are rich in nutrients. Last but not least, cucumber contains silica, which is an excellent element for joint health.

Types of fat you should avoid
In case you have arthritis, you should avoid food items rich in omega-six fatty acids. These include vegetable oils, sunflower, and safflower oil. Other kinds of fat that should be avoided included saturated fats like cheese and butter. 

Stop consuming processed food
Processed food items like fast food, crackers, cookies, and doughnuts contain a high amount of trans fats, which increases bad cholesterol in the body, thereby increasing inflammation. Trans fat is even detrimental to your cardiovascular health.

Eat till you are mildly satisfied
Overeating is one of the worst things you can do when you have arthritis. A wise eating habit that a person with arthritis can follow is to eat to a point where he or she feels mildly satisfied. You might not want to reach a level where you feel full or feel overstuffed. One way to check this is if you feel the need to loosen your belt buckle, it means you are overstuffed.

If you have arthritis, make sure your diet is under control. However, diet alone may not be sufficient to keep arthritis in check. So, with these tips for arthritis, follow some or the other kind of aerobic exercises.