Monday, 30 September 2013

Allergy Arthritis Food Connection

Rheumatoid arthritis as other autoimmune diseases such as type-1 diabetes or lupus can be caused by food allergies. Most people think those type of allergies are not that common if it does not affect them. This is far from the truth since one in three people nowadays suffer from one form of food allergies.

The most common food allergies are nuts, eggs, milk, corn, wheat, just to name a few. Also, besides food allergies, other types can also cause inflammation. Other common allergies are to pollen, house dust, pets, chemicals and drugs.

Let's face it, having to deal with an allergy is debilitating enough to have to worry about arthritis symptoms that it may cause. However, if you are diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis and you know you suffer from one or some of those allergies, is best to avoid trigger them. When it comes to food allergies, the best thing to do is to keep a diet free of food allergy triggers. While this is not proven to work for everyone, for most people it has been noticed a decrease in the severity of arthritic symptoms.

If you are unsure that you have a food allergy, best is to ask your doctor and do some tests. This will help you find out which foods are causing you bad reactions in your body and, thus, eliminate them from your diet.

Allergy Symptoms

It is good to recognize yourself some of the common signs of having a food allergy and get to a doctor. While the worst form of allergy symptom is swelling, usually face swelling, other less obvious symptoms are hay fever, itchy eyes and skin, running nose, bloating and water retention. Since most allergies causes inflammation, they also cause swelling, stiffness and rigidity in joints, all signs of rheumatoid arthritis.

When it comes to arthritis, certain foods are more prone to cause food allergies. If experience this type of inflammatory infection, then cutting back and even eliminate these food from your diet is essential:

grains
dairy foods
pork
beef
eggs
citrus fruits
tomatoes
potatoes
peppers
aubergines
tobacco.

From these foods, grains and particularly wheat are the most culprit. A good way to test yourself to see which one is the culprit, is to eliminate them from your diet for 14 days and then reintroduce them one by one. Then you will notice which one makes you feel ill.

Friday, 27 September 2013

Sugar Arthritis Pain Connection: Find Out Why Sugar Is Bad For Your Rheumathoid Arthritis!

There is a close connection between diabetes and arthritis since one of the main causes of inflammation and joints damage is due to glycation. The later is a process caused by glucose imbalance and insulin resistance.

Normally the body's adrenal hormone cortisone is able to to control out-of-control blood sugar levels, but in time they get exhausted. When you have low blood sugar, your body produces excessive release of adrenal hormones, hence making your body seek by always carving for food, sugary foods in particular.

An imbalanced body sugar level can create problems with calcium absorptions as well. Hence, the appearance of arthritis condition. Maintaining a good blood sugar balance can help you maintain control of your weight and keep free from inflammation.

Blood Glucose and Weight Control

Glucose is the first indicator of our need to feed. When it is low, we feel hungry. This glucose in bloodstream is what it gives us energy. When the glucose levels are too high, the body converts it to glycogen or fat. Glycogen is a short-lived energy that body uses and it is stored in liver and muscle cells.

When the body glucose levels are too low, then our body experience lots of symptoms associated with fatigue, foggy brain, digestive problems, irritability, sweating, etc. you know the symptoms you experience when you are hungry for a long time.

A certain category of people have what is often called glucose intolerance. This is improper saying, as in reality what they experience is a fast high and low glucose levels. This sudden increase and decrease of glucose can make them sick. You can recognize someone having this problem as they are usually too fat and feel quite lethargic without much energy. In time, they start experiencing joints problems as well.

The solution to this glucose intolerance problem when it comes to arthritis treatment is, according to some arthritis specialists, to eat low GL foods, eat protein with carbohydrates and eat small portions few times per day.

Wednesday, 25 September 2013

What are the best exercises for arthritis?

If you suffer from any form of arthritis, just the thought of doing some sort of physical exercise makes you cringe. Yet, physical exercises in moderate forms are key to chronic conditions such as reumathoid arthritis and ostheoarthritis. After just few weeks of exercises, most people notice a decrease in pain and increase mobility. Stiffness, immobility or rigidity felt in joints are a thing of the past.

There are some forms of exercises which should be avoided while others are essential for increasing mobility. Usually, you should avoid exercises that puts lots of pressure on your joints such as tennis or jogging. The types of exercises that you want are those slow in motion such as walking, cycling, or swimming. Another excellent type of exercise for those with painful joints is aqua-aerobics. Those types of exercises are also called cardio exercises as they are help with hurt and lungs.

Another great type of exercise is the so-called flexibility exercise. This one is essential to keep your muscles flexible and avoid rigidity and stiffness, symptoms often associated with arthritis. Having good flexible muscles helps support joints and good mobility.

Yoga is one of the most preferred type of flexibility exercises, not only because it addresses the mobility and flexibility of the muscles, but it helps with relieving stress and depression, often caused by pain. Other types of exercises that you could try from the same category are bending and muscle stretching.

Strength training is also a good type of exercise to try as long as it is moderate. For example, small to moderate weight lifting aids in keeping muscles strong.

Resistance training is a great way to improve the joint flexibility by targeting the knees, arms, hips, chest and back muscles.
Another important tip when it comes to exercises for arthritis is "cross training". This is nothing more than combing different types of exercises and make a routine from them. For example, one day you do swimming and the next day you do yoga classes. This helps train different types of muscles.

Another thing to remember is that you should not over-do exercises. You should also not necessary feel pain during exercise, not looking to. As a side note, if you are new to it, then a degree of pain at first it is perfectly normal. If, after two hours since you have done your routine, still experience pain, chances are that you have over-done it and next time you should do it lighter.

Tuesday, 24 September 2013

How To Prevent Progressive Arthritis?

Finding yourself at risks of joint replacement is not something you wish to happen. Ostheoarthritis is the most common form of arthritis and preventing it from getting worse is essential for a good quality of life in older age.

There are few things that you can change in your life and and avoid progressive arthritis. Arthritis pain, particularly joints pain can affect your mobility, plus that pain killers can affect your health due to their serious side-effects long term. Hence, once you notice mild arthritis, it is best you take the necessary steps to maintain healthy joints.

Can weight influence arthritis?

One important causes of arthritis is overweight. Increased weight put unnecessary pressure on joints, increasing the pain and damaging the cartilage. Following a weight loss program is essential for anyone with arthritis, especially joint arthritis. This excess weight not only that outs pressure on body's joints, but also on your back and pain. Besides painful joints, people who have obesity and weight issues often suffer knee, back, hip, ankle or foot pain. Losing weight is essential if you want to avoid permanent damage to your tissues which will cause you chronic pain and poor quality of life.

Sedentar lifestyle is causing you arthritis

Arthritis affects a big proportion of women. One of the reason is that women do little physical work besides housework. This is why a sedentary lifestyle can impact the health later on in your life. There are great exercises such as yoga, swimming, walking that can aid in relieving arthritis pain and prevent further damage to your joints. Many people dismiss routine exercise as the pain is too high and feel that this the last thing they would do, yet any doctor will tell you that this is the first thing you should do to get relief from pain caused by arthritis.

Diet and arthritis

It is essential that you eliminate refined and processed foods from your diet as much as you can if you suffer from any kind of arthritis. This will also help with losing weight which is very important when you have osteoarthritis.

Take joint supplements

There are many factors who could influence the nutritional intake a body needs for an optimal functioning. When it comes to arthritis prevention, taking arthritis joints supplements does help with milder forms of arthritis. So, you could use them to decrease the chances of getting progressive arthritis. Vitamin C and D, glucosamine, boron and chondroitin sulfate have been proven to be essential for a good joints health.

Monday, 23 September 2013

Arthritis Food Diet List That Helps With Your Condition

When it comes to preventing arthritis, our diet is very important. Sadly, we start thinking about which diet is more appropriate for rheumatoid arthritis and osteoporosis only when we already start getting the symptoms of these diseases. If you start earlier thinking on how to prevent getting arthritis, then you are one step further in avoiding or delaying it.

The Arthritic Association does recommend you include in your diet foods that are high in wholegrains, raw foods, vegetables and generally natural foods. As you can see, increasing your antioxidants is an important factor when you choose the type of foods to eat.

Fruits and Vegetables

These are the basic of any healthy diet and should be a stable part no matter if you suffer from arthritis or not. By eating fresh fruits and vegetables every day you help your body receiving the vitamins and minerals that it needs to function properly. You know the saying of eating your fives per day if you want to stay healthy. These contain not only the Vitamin E, but also the antioxidants which are benefic for relieving arthritis pain. Studies have shown that people which consume large amounts of fruits and vegetables are less likely to develop arthritis.

Eat Fish Every Week

Do you have inflammatory arthritis? Recent studies done on people suffering from rheumatoid arthritis have shown that by taken cod liver oil few times per week, they needed less inflammatory injections due to less imflammation in their joints. Fish is rich in Omegas and to prevent and also to help soothe your pain, you should eat at least once per week rich fat fishes. Alternatively, you could take daily fish oil supplements. There are lots of fish oil capsules brands on the market to choose from.

Another oil that helps with decreasing the inflammatory joints is olives and olive oil. They contain oleic acid which has the same benefits as fish oil. So, be sure to replace your cooking oil with good quality olive oil whenerever it is possible, for example in salads.

Keep a journal of what you eat

This may sound strange, but by keeping a track of what foods you eat in a day, you can then revise once per week or month what works for you and, more importantly, what foods makes you feel bad. There is a proven connection between nutrition and arthritis, so keeping track of it will definitely help your battle with painful joints.

Arthritis Diet Foods To Avoid

Like in any diet there are foods you should stay away from. If you have any type of arthritis, it is best to not eat chocolate, sugary foods, dairy products, meat products, cereals, citrus foods and avoid drinking alcohol. These should be consumed only occasionally since they aggravate the arthritis symptoms.

Take Arthritis Supplements

Besides a healthy diet and regular exercise, taking natural arthritis supplements does help with the condition. There are lots of these supplements on the market, and if you are in doubt which one works, first you should take a look at their ingredients. For example, those containing superoxide dismutase or SOD are very effective.