Pain in the neck, knees, shoulders sometimes drives you crazy, reminding you that you should no longer postpone a visit to the doctor. Many people Supplement medical treatment prescribed by a specialist with traditional medicine, but the importance of proper nutrition for joint health is often forgotten. What do nutritionists recommend to pay attention to?
General dietary principles in diseases of the joints
Any special recommendations on nutrition and therapeutic diets (as, for example, in diseases of the gastrointestinal tract) in diseases of the joints does not exist. However, General principles and rules can be formulated. Thus, it is known that nutrition should be directed to the restoration of damaged cartilage, the removal of inflammation in the joints, saturation with the necessary minerals and trace elements, increasing immunity. What is necessary for this, what to include in your diet, and what is best avoided?
- Less calories
Since the cause of joint diseases is often increased weight, increasing the load on the joints of the lower extremities, it is advisable to use low-calorie foods. Starve in any case can not! To get rid of hunger, eat small portions 5-6 times a day. Snacking allowed vegetables, fruit, bread.
- No salt!
Limit the use of table salt. It retains fluid in the body and prevents the reduction of the inflammatory process.
- Prepare correctly
Limit the use of all fatty, smoked, pickled. Optimally-cook food for a couple, bake on the grill or in the oven, stew or boil.
The role of water in diseases of the joints
The water dissolves minerals that we eat with food. It is in the dissolved form that they are absorbed in the body; with a lack of water, this does not happen. Therefore, nutritionists recommend learning how to drink water properly. What’s the meaning of that?
- Quench your thirst with water. Drink it – not tea, juice or other drinks.
- Be sure to drink a glass of water after sleep.
- Drink a glass of water before training or physical work that requires a lot of stress — this will help avoid blood thickening due to loss of moisture by the body when sweating.
- Drink water whenever you feel thirsty. This is especially important in the heat, during sports training and after them, with intense physical work, etc.
The “right” drinking water should be well purified. Do not expose it to prolonged boiling. You can take a conventional tap, let it settle, then freeze and prepare for drinking meltwater.
Friends joints
The main trace element, which is prescribed for all destructive diseases of the musculoskeletal system-calcium, which is not enough for osteochondrosis and arthritis. But for health joints are needed also phosphorus, magnesium, manganese, zinc and selenium, and also special substances — chondroprotectors – glucosamine and chondroitin.
Ideally, the body should get everything you need with food. But in fact, this often does not happen. Why? And what can be done to provide your joints with a full diet?
About calcium and dairy products
Everyone knows that dairy products are a source of calcium. However, not everything is so simple. Getting into the stomach, casein (milk protein) greatly increases the acidity of gastric juice. And the body responds with the production of alkaline elements, primarily calcium. Therefore, the mineral entering the body with milk is completely leveled by what is produced for protein processing.
This does not apply to children under 7 years of age. They have enzyme system copes with the processing of casein. But for adults — both healthy and having joint diseases — dairy products as a source of calcium are useless.
What prevents the absorption of calcium in the body
Thus, it is not enough just to ensure the flow of substances necessary for the body — it is important that they are absorbed, only under this condition will be useful. And on the way of assimilation, for example, calcium, so necessary for the health of the musculoskeletal system, there may be obstacles:
- lack of protein food;
- excessive amount of refractory (animal) fats;
- the use of refined products.
The last point is worth considering in more detail, because it is refined products that we owe the mass appearance of osteoporosis, arthrosis and arthritis.
Such products are devoid of ballast substances (shells that contain vitamins, proteins, trace elements, fiber), the benefits of which were talked about 30 years ago. Now it is believed that this is almost the most useful thing in food, so it is important to include in your diet natural, raw foods and dishes from them:
- wholemeal bread;
- porridge from cereals containing coarse shell;
- vegetable oil is the only unrefined.
Also helps to correct the situation the use of a large number of vegetables and fruits, but only fresh: when canning destroyed not only vitamins and minerals, but also fiber.
The products that are useful for joints
- Phosphorus: where can I get it?
This element plays no less important role in the body than calcium. Phosphorus is rich in sea fish and seafood, all kinds of cabbage, cheese, bran and peas.
- Magnesium: what is useful and where it is contained
Magnesium is responsible for normal bone mineralization and connective tissue health in General. A high content of this substance is found in legumes, green vegetables, cheeses, avocados, nuts and seeds.
- Manganese and products containing it
It is used to restore cartilage in combination with glucosamine and chondroitin. A lot of manganese in by-products, cheeses, egg yolks, potatoes, cooked together with the peel, as well as in seaweed, bananas, nuts.
- Zinc and its sources
This element is necessary for the bones to be strong. Regular consumption of foods with a high content of zinc: seafood, nuts, legumes, beef, bran, pumpkin seeds, honey will help to provide the body with a sufficient amount of zinc.
- Selenium: why you need it?
It supports the health of the musculoskeletal system, is responsible for the elasticity of ligaments and bone strength. To avoid selenium deficiency, eat fish and seafood, mushrooms, liver, eggs, include sunflower seeds and cereals in the diet.