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Arthritis is a common degenerative disease of joints that has over 100 types. As it’s degenerative, you can’t expect it to be cured. It can get worse over time, resulting in severe joint problems that don’t allow you to move or carry out your daily activities in a normal way.
However, here’s the good news:
You can certainly ease the symptoms and even control the illness through changes in your lifestyle. Research has shown that along with proper physical therapy and medicines, you can control arthritis through dietary interventions as well – avoiding certain foods and beverages certainly reduces the risk of chronic arthritis as you age.
Wondering what foods to avoid with arthritis? Let’s dig deeper to know what foods and drinks to avoid with arthritis. But before that, have a look at what arthritis is.
Arthritis wears and tears your joints due to ageing, injury, or autoimmune response. It’s not an uncommon joint condition. In fact, 40% of men and 47% of women suffer from arthritis at any stage of their life.
Out of many types of arthritis, the most common are:
Other than osteoarthritis, these types of arthritis result due to the autoimmune response in which the immune system starts eating the joints. If not treated on time, arthritis starts spreading throughout the body, making all the joints weak and vulnerable. Arthritis causes pain, inflammation, and stiffness in joints.
Arthritis can’t be cured but you can definitely stop it from worsening by making changes in your lifestyle, getting proper treatment, and going for therapy.
Do you know about low-level laser therapy for arthritis? It’s a safe and effective treatment that helps relieve symptoms of arthritis and even improves your condition, a great deal. Learn more about Arthritis Treatment in Pakistan with BioFlex Laser.
Sweetened drinks are never good for your health and even worse if you have arthritis. This is because sweetened drinks increase inflammation and make the symptoms flare up. So, it’s better to avoid all sorts of soft drinks, fizzy drinks, soda, and sweetened juices.
Added sugars are present in more food items than you think. They’re not only in desserts, sweets, and bakery items but also in sauces and ketchup. These food items also flare up arthritis by increasing the inflammation.
All the highly-processed foods such as fast foods, frozen foods, and food with preservatives are a no-no in case of arthritis. These processed foods are a typical example of foods that cause inflammation of joints – resulting in pain.
Red Meat has the tendency to increase swelling and inflammation in the joints if you have arthritis. So it’s best to avoid red meat as much as you can. Red meat also increases bad cholesterol in the body, making you obese and obesity can make the symptoms of arthritis worse.
Advanced Glycation End Products (AGEs) are the molecules that are formed as a chemical reaction between sugars and protein or fat. Naturally, AGEs are present in uncooked meat and they are produced as a chemical reaction when meat is grilled.
AGEs, when accumulating in the body, increase oxidative stress and inflammation, worsening your arthritis.
Too much salt in the food isn’t good for arthritis patients. Especially canned food and processed food that have a large quantity of salt in them. Salt has sodium in it that increases inflammation and swelling. So, minimize the intake of salt to ease the symptoms of arthritis.
Gluten is the protein found in unprocessed wheat, barley, and rye. Gluten is known to flare up arthritis and other bone degenerative diseases as gluten increases inflammation that can worsen arthritis. It’s better to choose gluten-free wheat for daily use.
Vegetable oils have omega-6 fatty acid that isn’t really good if it’s more than omega-3 fatty acid in your body. This disbalance increases inflammation. Let’s make it simpler: eat food that contains more omega-3 fatty acids such as fish. Avoid using too many vegetable oils as they have excessive omega-6 fatty acid. The bottom line is that you have to maintain the balance of omega-3 and omega-6 in the body to control arthritis.
Let’s look into the foods that should be avoided in specific types of arthritis. These foods cause inflammation and worsen the symptoms.
READ ALSO: DOES HUMIDITY AFFECT RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS?
No. Tea is actually good for arthritis as it contains strong anti-inflammatory substances.
No. Oranges have Vitamin C that maintains healthy joints.
Yes! Cucumber contains silica that maintains healthy joints. Add lots of cucumber to your daily salads.
Tomatoes are thought to worsen the arthritis symptoms as they produce a toxin causing solanine that’s believed to increase inflammation. However, there is no evidence that excluding tomatoes relieved the symptoms.
No! Oatmeal is great to relieve arthritis symptoms as it lowers the C-protein levels. High levels of C-protein in the body cause inflammation.
Another no! Bananas are good for arthritis as they are rich in magnesium which increases bone density.
Arthritis is a degenerative disease of joints that can get worse with time. You should make changes in your lifestyle to control arthritis. Studies have shown that avoiding certain foods and drinks that cause inflammation can control arthritis symptoms. Read above to know what foods to avoid with arthritis and foods for arthritis relief.
You can also opt for non-invasive and scientifically proven laser therapy to alleviate arthritis. It’s a modern technique that uses a safe laser beam to stimulate the body’s natural healing mechanisms.
Learn more about Laser Therapy by BioFlex Pakistan for arthritis and many more conditions.
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