Joint pain is a very common complaint, especially among the elderly. When the body is weakened and the cartilage of joints has degenerated, the result is joint pain.
One of the most debilitating diseases a person can have is joint pain, but certain foods seem to exacerbate it.Here are 5 worst foods for joint pain.
5 Worst Foods For Joint Pain
1) Gluten-Containing Grains
Grains have been vilified by many some nutritional experts, and with good reason. The most common type of grain in modern diets is wheat; this is due to its high gluten content (which gives dough its elasticity). Wheat itself has not changed much in the last few hundred years; however, the way we process it has…due to milling techniques developed in the 19th century. This processing involved adding toxic chemicals like chlorine dioxide, which basically makes it a poison (to be fair, the amounts used in flours and other products like soy sauce are not serious). It also involves stripping away most of the minerals found naturally in whole grains.
Since we’re talking about joint pain we can’t forget gluten; while it does provide some protein for your body, it also contains large amounts of glutamic acid which is essentially MSG (which is excitotoxic and destroys brain cells). Many people who do not need to be on a gluten-free diet experience reduced joint pain when they eliminate wheat from their diets – this includes all types of flour made from processed wheat.
2) High Omega 6 Vegetable Oil
Canola oil has been touted as healthy for many years now due to its low saturated fat content, but vegetarians and vegans should avoid this oil like the plague. The truth is that it not only contains a high amount of omega 6 fatty acids (which causes inflammation), but it also contains large amounts of erucic acid (a toxin and an irritant with no nutritional value).
3) Hydrogenated Oils / Trans Fats
Reducing your intake of hydrogenated oils is always a good idea; these are simply fats that have been subjected to hydrogenation which makes them solid at room temperature. They contain very few nutrients aside from their calorie count, and as such they do more harm than good as far as joint pain goes. Even if they’re marked as trans-fat free, there’s no guarantee that they don’t contain trace amounts like .025g per serving (the FDA allows anything less than 0.5g to be listed as 0 grams).
4) Sugar
Sugar is rapidly absorbed by cells and sent directly to the liver where it is converted into saturated fats and triglycerides. It also inhibits the absorption of vital nutrients such as zinc, chromium and magnesium which are critical for strong bones – it reduces calcium uptake by 30%!
5) Non-Organic Potatoes
Potatoes produce acrylamide when they’re baked or roasted; this chemical has been linked to cancer risk in lab animals, but needless to say it’s not something you need more of in your diet. Besides, potatoes should be considered a starch – not a vegetable.
Avoiding these foods is the first step you can take for pain relief. When coupled with an anti-inflammatory diet rich in fruits, vegetables and other healthy food choices, your chronic joint pain may subside within a short period of time.