There’s no arthritis diet or special food that can make your joint pain go away. However, arthritis is an inflammatory condition, and eating certain types of foods may contribute to your inflammation.
At LiveWell Pain Management in Elmwood Park, New Jersey, our physical medicine and interventional pain management physician, Dr. Nora Taha, takes a comprehensive approach to managing arthritis.
No single medication, exercise, or supplement works for all. However, we do encourage lifestyle changes like eating a balanced diet to support all the other therapies we use to improve arthritis pain.
Here, we talk about diet and arthritis and what foods may worsen your pain.
Researchers are still looking into how food may affect your arthritis. Some people with gout — a metabolic arthritis that occurs when there’s too much uric acid in the blood — may have fewer gout attacks when they avoid foods high in purines (organ meats, shellfish, and beer). However, not all forms of arthritis improve when you cut out certain types of foods.
Currently, there’s not enough evidence to support any claims that eating certain foods or avoiding others benefits arthritis. However, health experts agree that eating a balanced diet that includes a variety of nutrient-rich foods certainly can’t hurt.
A balanced diet includes plenty of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, healthy sources of protein, and healthy sources of fat. Certain nutrients in these foods, like phytonutrients in fruits and vegetables and omega-3 fatty acids in fatty fish and walnuts, may protect you from inflammation.
The worst foods to eat when you have arthritis are the ones that cause an inflammatory response. Though there’s no direct connection between eating these foods and arthritis, they are known to increase overall inflammation in your body, which may contribute to joint swelling, stiffness, and pain.
Foods linked to an increase in inflammation in your body include:
These foods are high in calories and offer very little nutritional value. Limiting your intake of these foods benefits your overall health as well as your arthritis.
The best diet for health, wellness, and arthritis is a balanced diet. Eating certain foods and limiting your intake of others may help, but a balanced diet ensures your body gets what it needs without leaving you feeling deprived.
A balanced diet also helps you maintain a healthy weight. Getting to and staying at a good weight reduces stress on your joints, easing joint pain and inflammation.
Nutrition is a good place to start when it comes to managing your arthritis, but it’s not going to cure your joint condition. When your at-home interventions fail to provide relief from your arthritis pain, we can help. We offer joint injections and COOLIEF®, a radiofrequency ablation treatment for moderate to severe osteoarthritis of the knee.
What you eat affects your health. Limiting your intake of foods high in added fat and sugar may help your arthritis, but eating a balanced diet filled with nutrient-rich foods is the best way to go.
If you’re looking for a more holistic approach to arthritis pain, call our office today or request an appointment online to set up a consultation with Dr. Taha.
