Have Joint Pain? What Are You Eating
If you have joint aches and pains, what you're eating could make them worse.
Many joint aches and pains are caused by arthritis, literally inflammation of one or more of your joints.
This means that your knee pain, hip pain, and back pain could all be affected by what you’re eating.
Arthritis doesn't just affect older people, lots of young people have arthritis, especially those who have been athletes/dancers (e.g. me), been injured or are super active.
Osteoarthritis is the most common type of arthritis (there are over 100 types) and is mainly caused by the wear and tear of the cartilage in the joints but what you eat can also play a big role.
Eating "inflammatory foods" can add to inflammation of the joints making them more painful.
According to the Mayo Clinic, "What you eat can have an impact on how you feel....Avoid processed foods, carbohydrates and unhealthy fats when possible because these can contribute to inflammation. Instead, choose to eat more fruit, vegetables, whole grains and fish as part of a healthy diet."
So for January, I decided to be much stricter with my diet to see how it would affect my joint aches and pains.
I challenged myself and went on an “anti-inflammatory diet” for the whole month of January!
I generally follow a Mediterranean diet eating mainly plant-based with meat occasionally. But during January, I changed my diet a lot to see what a difference it would make to my joints.
Here's what I changed:
My homemade granola with fruit for breakfast instead of toast
Rice cakes instead of bread or crackers
Fish instead of other types of meat - I eat a lot of sardines
Nuts and seeds instead of sweet snacks (cookies) - I make my own trail mix with a mix of nuts and seeds (walnuts, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, almond slivers) and some raisins
Olive oil instead of other types of oil
Sweet potato and yam instead of flour-based carbs and rice
Fruit and raisins when I'm feeling for something sweet
Water with lime juice, herbal teas instead of sweet drinks
Oat milk instead of regular milk
Alcohol-free beer (Heineken 0) versus alcohol
I update you here on how these changes to my diet made me feel.
Want to know more about what kind of yoga will help you to relieve your joint pain? See: The 10 Best Yoga Poses for Joint Pain
IN CASE YOU DON’T KNOW ME…
I’m Karin, a certified Yoga and Pilates Teacher and Wellness Coach based in Kingston, Jamaica.
I help women over 40 go from feeling achy to feeling great!
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