The right foods can keep you free of stiff joints, swelling, and fatigue while also promoting longevity and overall health. Choose to eat right by eliminating problematic foods and increasing your daily intake of vegetables, fruits, and whole grains. These foods are high in dietary fiber, which helps move food and wastes through the digestive tract before they have a chance to form toxic substances. Many degenerative illnesses, including arthritis, are related to a diet low in fiber. Whole foods also put less overall stress on the body, because they are more easily digested and contain fewer toxic substances than processed foods.
Dietary fats are an important consideration for anyone with arthritis.
Most animal foods contain large quantities of fat, mostly saturated fats, which raise levels of inflammatory compounds in the body and increase arthritic symptoms. Arachidonic acid is a fatty acid found primarily in animal foods such as meat, poultry, and dairy products, and to a lesser extent in fish and vegetables. Whole foods, however, are typically high in healthy fats, including the essential fatty acids, which research has proven help decrease inflammation and improve the health of people with rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, and osteoarthritis. Acidity is measured as a pH of 0.1 to 6.9. The numbers refer to how many hydrogen atoms are present compared to an ideal or standard solution.