Want to fight your osteoarthritis? Get off the couch! Moving is the best medicine to fight osteoarthritis pain.
Regular, moderate exercise offers a whole host of benefits to people with arthritis. Mainly, exercise reduces joint pain and stiffness, builds strong muscle around the joints, and increases flexibility and endurance. It reduces inflammation from arthritis and related conditions and lowers the risk of other chronic conditions. It also helps promote overall health and fitness by giving you more energy, helping you sleep better, controlling your weight, decreasing depression, and giving you more self-esteem. Furthermore, exercise can help stave off other health problems such as osteoporosis and heart disease.
So, it's obviously a no-brainer. You've got to move. But sometimes it's not so easy to get started. When you're achy and sore, the last thing you want to do is exercise.
One of the best ways you can manage your osteoarthritis is by eating healthy and keeping your weight under control. When you eat right and stay fit, your body is in great shape to battle inflammation as well as keep extra pressure off painful joints.
The best way to start down the path of good nutrition and health is to make great choices when you sit down to eat. You don't have to go on a strict diet to gain benefits from good eating. Just choose the right foods in the right portions and much of the battle will be won. Keep reading for some easy ways to make some nutritional changes and advice on how to stay motivated when the going gets tough.
Here are some more recommendations to help keep you on a healthy-eating track.
- Eat plant-based proteins. These are generally lower in saturated fat than meat-based proteins. Beans, lentils, dried peas, nuts, tofu and the grain quinoa are excellent protein sources.
- Don't drink your calories. Drinking even one sugar-sweetened soda a day can increase the risk of developing higher blood pressure and cholesterol. Quench your thirst with water instead.
- Resist the urge to fill your pantry and kitchen counter with starchy, fatty and refined foods. If you don't buy them, you won't eat them.
- For a healthy treat, opt for an orange or a glass of orange juice. Research has shown the importance of vitamin C and other antioxidants in reducing the risk of osteoarthritis and its progression.
- Stop eating when you feel mildly satisfied but not yet full. If you need to loosen a belt buckle after a meal, you're overstuffed.
- Record what you eat; even lean people underestimate how much they consume by 10-15 percent. And it has been proven that keeping a food diary can lead to weight loss. Weigh yourself regularly to monitor your progress.
- If you're sad, excited or depressed, take a walk rather than binging on high-fat foods. Emotional eating can quickly pull in the pounds.
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