Best Diet For Someone With Osteoarthritis

The best diet for someone with osteoarthritis is a whole food diet. But, since that answer may seem too simple, let's look a little closer.

Essentially "whole food" means food that isn't processed. When natural food is processed many of the important nutrients are removed or rendered useless.

For example, whole grains contain protein, carbohydrates and essential fatty acids. When they're made into bread, pasta or flour, the fatty acids are removed - not because they aren't good for you, but rather because they can become rancid and spoil.

This would shorten the "shelf life" of the product, cutting into the manufacturer's bottom line. Therefore, they take these essential fatty acids out of your bread.

So you can see why it's important to eat food as close to it's natural state as possible. This ensures they're still loaded with vitamins, minerals, amino acids, enzymes, fatty acids, and other vital factors that contribute to your health.

Okay, now that you're ready to eat whole foods, which foods should you choose for osteoarthritis? Good question.

Besides eating a well balanced diet of whole grains, vegetables, fresh fruit, lean meat and dairy, you'll want to focus on the specific foods that prevent inflammation, improve collagen and promote healthy cartilage and bones.

The main food in the anti-inflammatory category is oily fish. Two to five servings a week plus daily fish oil supplements will help your body overcome chronic inflammation.

Some secondary anti-inflammatory foods include things like blueberries, red and black grapes, beets, citrus and garlic.

The best foods to improve collagen, which gives your tissues more strength and elasticity, are those in the citrus family.

For healthy bones, you need strong collagen as well as calcium from dairy or eggshells and amino acids from quality protein sources.

And finally, to make sure you're keeping your joint cartilage intact and to repair any that might get damaged you need glucosamine. Shellfish, including the shell, are the best food sources for this.

Now I know it's not always easy in our fast paced lives to eat as well as you should. So if you're truly committed to the best diet for someone with osteoarthritis, then you should also supplement your diet with natural food based supplements.

The best supplements to help prevent and relieve symptoms of osteoarthritis are omega 3 fatty acids from fish and glucosamine hydrochloride from shrimp and lobster. The first relieves inflammation and the second protects your joint cartilage.

These two work very well together to produce incredible results. And a glucosamine supplement is a lot easier that eating the shells of shrimp and lobster.

Also consider supplementing your diet with calcium and vitamin C complex, especially if you're a woman. Both are important for your bones and C complex gives you the added benefit of supporting healthy collagen.

Since the best diet for someone with osteoarthritis is whole foods, it's time to throw away all those processed and packaged foods. They offer you nothing but nutritionally empty calories.