Thursday, September 13, 2018

Joint Health: Don't Let Your Joints Become Squeaky Wheels

It only makes sense that healthy joints equal a more active and enjoyable life so taking good care of your joints is an important part of your healthcare. It also makes sense that exercising your joints will help keep them moving and active. But did you know that according to health expert Jason Theodosakis, M.D, there are foods you can add to your diet to support joint health? And when talking about joint health, consider this doesn't just mean the point where the two bones come together. It also includes cartilage, the tissue between the joint bones, tendons, the tissue that connects muscles to bones, ligaments, the tissue that connects bones to other bones, and synovium, the lubricant fluid that protects from bones rubbing each other. To keep your joints working for you and keeping you active and mobile, just doing the right type exercise and making sure you are eating foods that help keep joints strong can make a big difference.

Exercise for Joints
A big problem when it comes to joint health is being overweight. Joints carrying around too much weight are at an increased risk of being damaged and developing arthritis. A regular program of exercise can help keep your weight down and not put this type of stress on your joints. There are studies that propose aerobic type exercise that increase the heart rate to be good for reducing swelling in joints. If you are not healthy enough for this type of exercise or have joint conditions already that prevent it, then you can go with a lower impact type aerobics like step aerobics or some type of other exercise that still gets your joints moving like possibly walking, swimming, or bike riding. The main thing is to get up and move. If you have a job that requires a lot of sitting, take breaks to get up and move around. The less you move in the day the more at risk you are to have stiff and painful joint problems. Your exercise program should also include exercises that build strong muscles and ligaments like some type of weight training. These help support the joints and protect them.

Besides exercise, you can help protect your joints and strengthen them by maintaining good posture when sitting or standing and distribute weight equally on both sides so that you aren't putting too much stress on the joints on any one side of your body. Be sure to always protect your joints during activities that have the risk of injury by using pads, braces, guards or a helmet. When exercising your joints, make sure you are doing exercises correctly as you can cause damage by not doing them the way they are intended. If you are not sure what exercise will be good for you or how to do specific exercises, seek out a professional for advice. Some exercises may not work for you due to other health conditions you have, so check with your healthcare provider to make sure the exercise program you plan to embark on is one that is within your limits. Even if you are doing the correct exercises for you in the correct way, exercise can take a toll on joints. This algae joint support supplement provides the enzymes bromelain, papain, protease, lipase, and serratiopeptidase that can help provide cellular nutrition for the body to be able to recover more quickly from the stress of exercise.

Diet for Healthy Joints
Diet too is another way to control weight so as not to overburden joints. Consider that every pound of weight you gain causes your knees to be under four times the amount of stress. That's a lot to expect of your knees if you add on a lot of extra pounds. That means eating a diet with lots of vegetables, fruits, healthy fats, whole grains and lean proteins just like you would for a weight loss diet or any other kind of healthy diet plan. The fruits and vegetables are an especially important part as they provide you with antioxidants to fight off free radicals that can be damaging to joints. Make sure for joint health that you are particularly including the antioxidants vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin E and selenium. Good food sources for vitamin A include dark green leafy vegetables like spinach, carrots, pumpkin, cantaloupe, mangoes, butternut squash, and asparagus. For vitamin C make sure you are eating foods such as grapefruit, papaya, oranges, mangoes, berries, broccoli, red peppers and asparagus. Vitamin E can be added to the diet by eating foods such as avocados, whole grain bread and cereal, peanut butter and seeds such as sunflower. And selenium can be found in salmon, Brazil nuts, oatmeal and brown rice. If your lifestyle just doesn't support your getting all the antioxidant providing foods you need, a wholefood supplement may be called for. This algae antioxidant supplement can help provide those missing antioxidants from your diet.

Omega-3 fatty acids are another component of a joint health diet as these can help with swelling and joint pain especially for people with arthritis. Research studies have reported that supplementation with omega-3 has led to participants being able to use less NSAID's to control their joint pain. Fatty fish such as salmon, herring, sardines and tuna are good sources of omega-3 as are green veggies, nuts, seeds, and AFA bluegreen algae. Olive oil will not only give you another way to get omega-3 fatty acids, but the University of Catania in Italy has reported findings in animal studies that using extra virgin olive oil helped produce more lubricin which is a protein in the synovial fluid that lubricates joints.

Don't forget adding in foods that will build strong bones and muscles since these help support the joints. That means calcium from foods such as milk, yogurt, broccoli, kale, and figs and the vitamin D to help the body absorb the calcium. Muscles also need protein to stay strong. Stick with lean sources of protein such as chicken, lean meat, beans, legumes, soy products and low-fat dairy. Kefir and yogurt not only give you calcium and protein, but also provided probiotics that help with the digestive system. One study done with kefir reported the bacteria L. casei was found to help reduce inflammation and stiff joints in participants.

Alternative Solutions for Joint Support
Turmeric which contains the antioxidant curcumin has been found in research to be as effective at relieving joint pain and inflammation as 800 mg of ibuprofen. Glucosamine supplements have also been found effective in keeping cartilage healthy and supporting joint health. Healthy joints naturally have glucosamine and chondroitin in the cartilage. This glucosamine algae supplement also gives you chondroitin, and UC-II® undenatured collagen to nourish joints and their supporting tissues. Another supplement option that has been found in research to be effective with controlling joint pain and inflammation is orange peel extract. This is due to the nobiletin which is a bioflavonoid found in it. To get some of this from real oranges be sure to leave the white layer on the orange when peeling it or use the whole orange with the peel on to grind up in a smoothie type drink.

No one wants to be stuck sitting on the sidelines, especially when it comes to enjoying life. Taking care of your joints will help insure that you stay active, mobile and able to keep on going.

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Sources:
http://www.naturemade.com/resource-center/articles-and-videos/joint-and-bone-health/food-and-nutrients-that-fuel-joint-health#a0qT20MK1ga8RAyc.97
http://www.webmd.com/arthritis/caring-your-joints
http://www.runnersworld.com/nutrition-for-runners/joint-food

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