Arthritis Diet - Best Anti-Inflammatory Foods

When it comes to eating correctly to avoid as much joint pain as possible, there is a certainly an argument to be had that particular foods can definitely help alleviate the inflammation around the joints and provide considerable more pain relief than if you consumed other types of food.

For both osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis, the significant evidence points at plant based foods at reducing inflammation.

Arthritis Diet - Foods to Eat

Vegetables: Brocoli, boc choy, romaine lettuce. These vegetables contain magnesium which while they act not so much at reducing swelling but rather a natural way of re-building bone density, which should be part of every arthritis sufferers diet.

Reishi Mushroom: The spores inside the reishi mushroom according to medical science contain the most powerful natural active inflammatory compounds known to man.

When consumed orally as they have been for some centuries now in the Far East to treat such conditions; in the West, the chitin around the mushroom is cracked in pharmaceutical labs and manufactured into supplements. The cracked reishi spores are claimed to be 70 times more powerful at reducing inflammation than if consumed orally.

Fruit: The tart cherry and pineapples The tart cherry contains a great deal of anthocyanin, this is the active compound that blocks the Cox-1 and Cox-2 enzymes, those enzymes in part responsible for inflammation in the joints.

Pineapples on the other hand contain the ingredient bromelain. Excellent when it comes to assisting with digestion, bromelain also helps soothe flared up joints, along with muscle injuries, gout and menstrual cramps.

It is also capable of soothing swollen tissue, but to capture as much bromelain as you can, you would need to eat the stem of the pineapple, so search for bromelain supplements online if you want to get the most out of this fruit.

Additional foods to eat: Low fat yoghurt and fish - especially sardines, mackerel and salmon, the Omega 3 trio and steamed turkey and chicken in small quantities would seem OK for some but not for others.

Plus some good fats are advised like fish oil, avocado, olive oil, nuts and seeds.

Arthritis Diet - Foods NOT to Eat

Gluten: On all accounts do not eat foods which contain gluten. It's a binder, thickener and flavour enhancer of food containing manufactured proteins, which even doctors will even point out, that in almost all cases when a person removes gluten from their diet, swelling of the joints subsides.

Nightshade plants: Avoid these also which include bell peppers, paprika, blueberries, potato, tomato, cayenne and okra.

Poultry: Although some light servings may not affect you, for others it can, so chicken or turkey may or may not be advised - down to the individual.

Additional foods NOT to eat: Eggs, sugar, caffeine, all dairy products, citrus and especially high fatty processed foods and trans-fats found in fast food - a definite NO.

These ingredients alone on what to eat and what not to eat, should give you a good basis on which to begin a diet which targets reducing inflammation around the joints completely naturally and healthily, and gives you some insight on why perhaps your joints in your hand feel particularly painful after a BBQ for example.