Natural Cures for Common Illnesses

Arthritis is not one single disease but consists of more than 100 different diseases that cause pain, inflammation, stiffness and functional problems in one or more joints.

There is reason to believe that our nutrition can have a positive effect on this condition. For example, patients suffering from rheumatoid arthritis or osteoarthritis would benefit from adding fat from fish in their diet and patients with gout should avoid alcohol and foods rich in protein. There are even some indications that arthritis may be caused by some kind of food allergy.

Just take a look at a few tips to fight arthritis:

You need to have a balanced diet and avoid crash diets or fasts. The calcium intake should be increased, in order to prevent the development of osteoporosis later in life.

You need to drink plenty of fluids and avoid alcohol.

Your weight must be maintained within normal levels. Obesity worsens the symptoms of arthritis and the joints affected by arthritis suffer more when you have excessive body weight, because of the burden on the joints. Also, excessive body weight increases the risk of osteoarthritis. Increased physical activity and exercise can help in weight loss, but the patients may find it hard to exercise due to the pain or other functional limitations in the joints. For this reason, usually the method of weight reduction in these patients is a diet rich in nutrients, but low in calories.

You need to consume a lot of fish containing omega-3 fatty acids to reduce the inflammatory reactions caused by your immune system. Patients who eat fish one or two times a week can take advantage of the beneficial effects of omega-3 fatty acids. Also several studies have shown that eating fish at this frequency can be effective in preventing other diseases such as asthma and prostate cancer.

If you notice that a particular food aggravates the situation, then you should keep a food diary in order to see whether this happens regularly or randomly. However, you should not impose restrictions for a whole food category without consulting the doctor. The development of the disease may accidentally coincide with a change in your diet, which does not necessarily mean that a specific food is responsible for the improvement or the worsening of arthritis.

You need to include healthy fats in your diet: Diets very low fat are not recommended in cases of rheumatoid arthritis, since they can result in reduced levels of vitamin A and E in the blood and exacerbate the condition. Instead of reducing the fats in your diet, it would be better to eat only healthy fats.