Stiff Joints? Here Are 3 Nutritional Strategies to Help
Many people believe you need to be “old” in order to experience any type of stiff joints or joint pain. However, that’s not always the case. Repetitive motion and stress to a joint through exercise and training is enough to cause problems and stiff joints. To remedy this situation and even help prevent it, you can implement some nutritional strategies into your daily routine and nutrition plan.
When your joint health becomes compromised (such as with the shoulders, knees, elbows, and hips), essential everyday movement can become painful and unpleasant. Not having full mobility of your joints due to inflammation or injury can severely alter your way of life. We depend on our joint health to allow us the ability to move properly and function. Therefore, we must place special attention on keeping them healthy, or it could get to the point where physical therapy or surgery is needed to fix the situation.
Below, you will find three critical nutritional strategies to help with stiff joints. While one may be enough to see some decent results, implementing all three will help provide you with the best results.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and is not meant to treat or diagnose any condition. It is recommended that you speak with your doctor before starting any exercise program, changing your daily nutrition, or adding any supplements to your regimen.
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3 Strategies You Need to Help Prevent and Manage Stiff Joints
Try the strategies below if you suffer from stiff joints.
1. Eat More Healthy Fats
Fats in our diet prove to have many benefits, such as proper hormone balance and crucial hormone production. Healthy fats are also a great way to help improve stiff joints by allowing the joints to stay properly lubricated. When joints lose their lubrication, they can become stiff due to the varying levels of inflammation and pain within the joint itself.
When you are looking at which fats to consume, think along the lines of extra virgin olive oil, fatty fish (such as salmon, tuna, and halibut), grass-fed meat and whole eggs that contain a high dosage of omega-3 fatty acids, and nuts (such as almonds, flax seeds, walnuts, and chia seeds).
In addition, healthy fats help reduce inflammation, pain, and slow cartilage destruction in the body – which includes the joints. To go along with the things you eat on a daily basis, try to stay away from the highly processed foods (bread, pasta, pre-packaged products), which cause inflammation. In doing so, you can drastically cut down your risk of stiff joints and pain.
2. Reduce Your Sugar Intake
As difficult as it may seem to part ways with this sweet and delicious substance, if you want to alleviate your stiff joints and reduce your joint pain, you need to reduce your sugar intake drastically. While natural fructose from fruit isn’t part of this conversation, it’s all of the added sugars commonly found in the food you purchase from the grocery store.
Consuming processed sugars is a sure-fire way to create an inflammatory response in the body. If you have a sweet tooth, your best bet to minimize the inflammation caused by foods containing high amounts of sugar is to find an alternative food option. Even if you don’t have a sweet tooth, you’d be surprised how much sugar is in everyday products and many of the meals you consume.
As an example, the next time you purchase a fruit-flavored yogurt, instant oatmeal, flavored coffee, bottled green tea, granola bars, and even nutrition bars, look at the nutritionals. You would be surprised how much added sugar each of these (what many would call) “healthy” foods and beverages contain.
The next time you go to the grocery store, make it a point to look at the nutrition label of everything you pick up before you decide if you’ll buy it or not and look to see how much sugar and added sugar it contains.
3. Drink Water Throughout the Day
It should come as no surprise that one recommendation is to drink more water throughout the day. Water is incredibly important for all bodily processes and one that can help improve the symptoms of stiff joints and joint pain.
Water also has the ability to flush out harmful toxins in the body that can cause inflammation in your joints. Additionally, maintaining proper hydration levels can help keep your joints lubricated by increasing the amount of synovial fluid.
As an example, go ahead and picture your joints as sponges. If you were to take two dry sponges and rub them together, there’s going to be quite a lot of friction taking place – and the sponges could even start to break down and tear (imagine what that means for your actual joints). But when your two sponges are fully absorbed with water, they move much more easily and fluidly.
Stiff joints can also be caused by the breakdown and everyday wear and tear on the joint itself. Your own body weight could be the culprit of your joint issues. Consuming adequate amounts of water can help you improve your weight loss or weight management by replacing beverages that are high in calories, carbohydrates, and sugars (which per #2, you should already be looking to reduce).
Your best bet would be to invest in a refillable water bottle that you can easily wash and reuse. In the morning, fill it up and take it with you wherever you go. Sip on it throughout the day. When it’s empty, simply fill it back up again and repeat the process. If you exercise, you’re going to want to pay special attention to your water intake as you’ll need to replenish lost fluid from your workout where you were sweating.
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