Easing Arthritis Part 4

Today I said I would talk a little about what foods to focus on if you have arthritis and especially if you are having pain. The number one food to focus on is those containing omega 3 fatty acids. These are foods like deep sea fish, brightly colored fruits and vegetables, olive oil, dark green leafy vegetables and flaxseed.

Read the labels on foods that you are buying that are already prepared. Do they contain any of the culprits I mentioned yesterday.

Our ancient ancestors had virtually no arthritis, but there diet was equally split between omega 3 and omega 6. Today we are way over the scale on the omega 6s and way under on the omega 3s.

Easing Arthritis Part 3

The step in easing your arthritis pain is to watch your diet. Yes you may be feeding your pain! I've talked about many of these foods before in great detail, but it bears mentioning some of the culprits again.

Some of the foods that promote inflammation are red meat and high fructose corn syrup. Both these contain lots of omega 6 which is not the omega that you want. These fatty acids actually promote inflammation.

One of the biggest promoters of inflammation is sugar, especially processed sugar which is in almost every processed food in the grocery store. In these very same processed foods there is often saturated fats which also promote inflammation. A side not here is the fact that these foods are contributing to the obesity in this country and if you have arthritis and you are overweight, just think for a moment about the stress you are putting on your joints, especially knees, hips and the spine. Is it any wonder that we are seeing such an increase in the number of hip and knee replacements. How many people do you know that complain of back pain? Are they overweight?

Tomorrow - some foods to focus on.

Inflammation Continued

If the inflammatory process continues beyond when it is helpful, then we can develop things such an increase in pain in the area. In joints this process may result in loss of cartilage. Remember that I have mentioned previously that heart disease specifically is often related to inflammation.

While we tend to think of injuries as being the cause of inflammation, there are other triggers such as poor diet and lack of exercise. The goal always is to relieve the pain and slow the progression.

So the first thing to look at is your diet. Avoid foods that tend to promote inflammation. These are foods that contain omega-6 fatty acids such as red meat and high-fructose corn syrup. Other prime candidates in this list are processed sugars and saturated fats. Most of these types are foods if present in the diet have also lead to an increase in weight, which further stresses joints and exacerbates the inflammatory process.

Olive Oil

Since I've been writing about fats, I thought I would give you a little extra information about olive oil and what all of the terms mean. You may remember I said to buy extra virgin olive oil. What you may not know is what extra virgin means. This is the highest grade of olive oil because it is produced without using high heat or chemicals. The color of the oil represents the age of the olives when they are picked. A more green grassier olive oil has a stronger flavor and is made from an earlier harvest - the olives are not as ripe. Later harvests yield a milder more yellow oil.

Virgin olive oil is produced the same way as extra virgin olive oil. The difference is in the amount of oleic acid present. Oleic acid is omega 9 fatty acid, which is a monounsaturated fat. The body can produce this if it has enough omega 3 and omega 6. When there is a deficiency of either omega 3 or omega 6, the body will produce omega 9 to try to compensate.

Ordinary olive oil is another form of virgin olive oil. The difference here is that is contains more oleic acid and impurities. It is a lesser quality oil and should only be used for frying or where you do not want the flavor.

Polyunsaturated versus Monounsaturated Fats

The polyunsaturated fats are those found in fish such as salmon, trout, sardines, mackerel and tuna. It's also found in flaxseed, walnuts, canola oil, dark leafy green vegetables such as Kale. The polyunsaturated fats include omega 3 and omega 6. Obviously we want to get more omega 3 than 6. The omega 3 really helps in cutting down inflammation which I believe is the real culprit rather than cholesterol.

Omega 6s are readily available in liquid vegetable oils, nuts, seeds, dairy products, eggs, and meat. Focus on getting some of the omega 6s, but mopre of the omega 3s. Get fish into your diet 2-3 times per week. Walnuts are a great snack as well as having many benefits. Put some flax seed meal into pancake batter, coffee cakes, cookies. Make your own salad dressing with olive oil and some fresh squeezed lemon.

Check labels and really be careful with processed foods as these contain mostly fats that are not good for you.

Reducing Inflammation

I've had a lot of questions about arthritis and treatment options. I want to take a few minutes to address this as it seems to be a big issue for many people.

First and foremost if you are having arthritic pain, look at your diet. Certain foods will tend to increase inflammation and hence you experience more pain. Foods that are high in Omega-6 fatty acids tend to promote inflammation. These are foods that have high-fructose corn syrup, red meats, and foods with processed sugars and saturated fats. You may want to go back and review the entries on fats. If you click on fats you will go to the first posting on this topic.

If you think about the foods high in Omega-6 fatty acids, these are the same foods which contribute greatly to being overweight or obese. Extra weight adds stress to joints and further exacerbates inflammation. More tomorrow

Conjugated Linoleic Acid and Milk

A bit more on conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) found in milk and beef and it's properties. I talked yesterday about building muscle and decrease abdominal fat. CLA also boosts the immune system to help us fight off disease. CLA is a polyunsaturated Omega 6 fatty acid.

In addition, CLA tends to lower food allergies. This can be very beneficial especially since we are seeing more and more food allergies these days.

Disease and Omega 3

More and more research is being done on the effect of omega 3 and many diseases. Most of us are aware of omega 3 and coronary artery disease. The thing that intrigues me the most is the link between omega 3 and brain and psychiatric disorders, especially ADHD and autism.

When I was in training, it was rare to see a child with autism and there was no such thing as ADHD. So what's happened in the last 40 years? We are eating more processed food which means less omega 3 and more omega 6. There are new studies out now that indicate that children with these disorders who are given more omega 3 show less symptoms of ADHD and autism.

The old adage that we are what we eat may well becoming true in yet another arena.

Getting Omega 3 in Your Diet

So how do we get more omega 3 in our diet? One of the best sources is fish, like salmon (wild salmon is best), herring, mackerel, and sardines. Tuna also contains omega 3, but less than the other fish mentioned. Another excellent source of omega 3 is flax. You can add fresh ground flax to your smoothie to increase your omega 3.

Word of caution about flax. To be it's best, you should not buy ground flax as it needs to be refrigerated once it is ground. If not it will spoil quickly. Flax seed that you grind and add to a smoothie or shake type drink will help to counteract the bad effects of processed foods which give us way too much omega 6.

Omega Three

One can't talk about fats without talking about the omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids. The American public gets way more than they need of the omega 6 fatty acids and usually way less of the omega 3. So what's the difference?

Omega 3 includes linolenic acid which I mentioned the other day. The ones that you may be most familiar with are EPA and DHA. I won't confuse you with the scientific name, because many of you have probably heard of EPA and DHA. There are other fatty acids included in the group, but these are the main ones.

Omega 6 are fatty acids that are found in most of what we eat today. In fact the ratios are that we get 10 times more Omega 6 than Omega 3 and that the Omega 6 may block the good effects of Omega 3.