What Foods Should You Avoid If You Have Arthritis?

by Craig Morton

Wondering how to treat arthritis pain? Even though there is no cure for the inflammatory disease arthritis, there are ways to alleviate pain, control inflammation, and stop the disease from progressing further. One of the ways you can reduce some of the negative effects of arthritis is by eating specific anti-inflammatory foods and avoiding foods that inflame your joints and increase pain. However, food will only ever go so far. That’s why AcuPlus manufactures a fast-acting topical formula to address pain caused by things like:

  • Hip pain 
  • Arthritis
  • Knee pain
  • Back pain
  • Neck Pain
  • Tendonitis
  • Muscle Pain
  • And more

If you want to start promoting healing and recovery and reduce swelling and inflammation, order AcuPlus today!

This is a two-part guide, with this first article going over foods to avoid to reduce arthritis pain and the second one providing a list of great, anti-inflammatory foods that can reduce your arthritis pain. 

Foods to Avoid if You Have Arthritis

There are a few different food groups that tend to cause inflammation. Avoid the following foods to help reduce inflammation and start restoring your body’s natural defenses:

#1: Fried & Processed Foods

Reducing the amount of fried and processed foods you eat has been shown to help reduce inflammation and improve your body’s natural defenses against arthritis. So the first foods to avoid if you have arthritis are things like fried meats and pre-packaged frozen meals.

#2: Refined Carbs & Sugar

Eating a lot of sugar and refined carbs can also cause inflammation. Avoid things like candy, white flour baked goods, and sugary sodas to help reduce your arthritic pain. 

#3: Dairy

Dairy may inflame arthritis pain because of a particular type of protein it contains. Due to this protein, some people experience irritation around their joints when they ingest it. However, this is not entirely certain, as some studies, like this 2017, suggest that milk may have an anti-inflammatory effect, contradicting prior research. Because of the contradictory information, it still remains a good idea to only eat small amounts of dairy, and none at all if you experience inflammation regularly when you eat or drink it. Pay attention to your body and how it feels when you eat dairy, or any other type of food. Doing so is the most effective way to hone your diet and reduce the amount of foods you eat that increase your arthritis pain. 

#4: Alcohol and Tobacco

Of course, we all know about how alcohol and tobacco can impact our health in a number of negative ways. However, you may not know that smoking can increase your risk of developing arthritis and alcohol can increase your chances for getting gout. Add these to the list of reasons to drink and smoke either not at all or only in moderation.

#5: Corn Oil 

Corn oil, or any oil high in omega-6 fatty acids may cause increased inflammation. Instead of baked goods and snacks with corn oil, replace it with foods high in omega-3 fish oil instead, which some studies suggest may help address arthritis pain. 

#6: Saturated & Trans Fats

Some studies show that saturated fat can trigger inflammation in your fat tissue. Eating foods like pizza, cheese, and red meat can all trigger an inflammatory response, so keep the saturated fats in moderation. The same goes for trans fats. Trans fats have been known to trigger systemic inflammation since the 1990s. Trans fats are found in foods like donuts, cookies, and crackers. In general, avoid foods that have hydrogenated oils listed in the nutritional facts. 

#7: MSG

Mono-sodium glutamate may add flavor to food, but it can trigger chronic inflammation and impact the health of your liver. MSG is most often found in Asian food and soy sauce. 

#8: Gluten & Casein

If you suffer from arthritis, you may find greater relief by avoiding foods like wheat and casein. Some research has shown that there may be an overlap between people with arthritis and people with a gluten sensitivity, so it may be beneficial to avoid for other health reasons as well. 

Reduce Your Arthritis Pain By Avoiding Foods That Negatively Impact Joint Inflammation 

Be aware that not everyone’s bodies are going to respond the same way to all these different foods. For some people, dairy is totally fine, and for others they have significant increases in pain from it. The best approach here is to speak with your doctor or a professional nutritionist to help formulate a diet custom-tailored for you. If you want to enhance the effects of these nutritional choices, add exercise and good sleep into your routine as well. However, even then, you may still be suffering from arthritis pain. If that is the case for you, consider trying AcuPlus’s fast-acting topical pain reliever to get the relief you need to go on with your life without being as slowed-down by arthritis pain. Order your pain cream today! If you’re looking for the best pain cream on the market, you’ve found it. Try AcuPlus and start experiencing high-quality pain relief. 

In this post, we talked a lot about foods that are worth cutting out of your diet to reduce inflammation and subsequently reduce arthritis pain. It may feel like there is NOTHING out there that won’t cause inflammation. However, that’s not true at all! In Part II of this series, we discuss foods to eat that can help reduce inflammation and joint pain.

 

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