An additional benefit to undergoing comprehensive blood, DNA and urine tests is that nutritionists and doctors can identify new and better ways to control illnesses and improve health through diets tailored to an individual’s unique genetic make-up and state of wellness. Personalized patient care through lab testing will soon become the standard in today’s medical world.

Comprehensive Metabolic Panel

Sometimes known as a Comprehensive Wellness Test, a Comprehensive Wellness Panel or Comprehensive Wellness Profile (CWP), a Comprehensive Metabolic Panel (CMP) is a full battery of tests that analyze the levels of various enzymes, proteins, and minerals in the blood.

The results of a CMP help doctors get a big picture view of a person’s overall state of health. Elevated levels or abnormal ratios of different blood components can be critical for helping doctors confirm or rule out a diagnosis of a wide variety of illnesses and conditions.

Most CMP screenings include an analysis of liver function, blood sugar levels, kidney function, electrolyte balance, thyroid function, bone health, and thyroid function.

General Wellness Testing

A general wellness test is a full battery of tests to help give doctors an overall picture of your health. Unlike a CMP, a General Wellness Test usually consists of giving both a blood and urine sample for analysis.

The results of a General Wellness Test can help determine critical factors about your lifestyle, diet and overall health. While not specific enough to pinpoint diseases, a general wellness test is a great way to identify problems before they become serious as well as areas of success.

General Wellness Tests are becoming increasingly popular as part of regular check-ups as they give your doctor baseline information to monitor and track changes in your health.

Genetic Testing for Diet

One of the latest trends in personalized lab testing is undergoing genetic analysis to help determine an ideal diet customized to a person’s unique genetic makeup and metabolic factors.

By taking a swab of cheek cells, the field of nutrigenomics (improving diet through genetic analysis) can help identify a person’s genetic makeup and use this information to create a tailored diet. Doctors already understand that genes play an important role in metabolic function, enzyme production, and hormone levels. It is thought that nutrigenomics can help nutritionists and doctors give personalized recommendations of an ideal diet for maintaining a healthy weight and nutritional intake.

Better Patient Care

A lot of people are now using wearable tracking devices to create extensive records about their daily activity, sleep patterns, and other useful health information. Lab tests have a similar benefit. By regularly getting your blood and urine checked, you and your doctor will be better equipped to understand important changes in enzyme, metabolic function, organ function, and blood sugar levels that could help identify the onset of an illness, organ damage, and other problems before they become serious.

Genetic testing, comprehensive metabolic panels and general wellness tests are also useful methods for analyzing exactly how well your body is functioning, your general state of nutrition, and identifying which factors could be contributing to obesity, illness, or other aspects of poor health. This information can then be used by your doctor to diagnose any problems that you’re having and improve patient care.

Being armed with specific detailed numbers about how well your organs, arteries, and metabolic system is functioning is also a great way to identify areas of success. An important component to maintaining good health is receiving positive feedback about what you’re doing right. Even if you are currently in good health now, comprehensive lab tests are a great tool for monitoring fluctuations and changes as you go through life. If health issues do occur later on, your doctor will have invaluable information about your own unique personal health to help accurately diagnose illnesses or other problems.

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For now though, diet labs offer a number of tests to help people understand their current health condition and be better informed about what proactive steps can be followed to lose weight and become healthier.

What Tests do Diet Labs Offer?

Right now, there is no standardized legal description of a “diet lab”, so every facility offers different diet testing. Some of the tests currently available from diet labs include:

• CBC – Otherwise known as a “Complete Blood Count,” this common test will measure the functioning of your immune system, as well as the oxygen levels in your body. The test can reveal certain forms of malnutrition, including anemia, as well as the presence of inflammation in cell tissues, which can be linked to the consumption of certain types of food and drinks.
• Comprehensive Metabolic Panel – This full-spectrum test of your blood will reveal important insights into how your kidneys and liver are functioning. Your blood glucose levels will also be measured, which can reveal the presence of diabetes or an elevated risk of contracting Type II diabetes. Thyroid and other metabolic disorders can also be identified with this test, as well as abnormally low Vitamin D and/or calcium levels.
• Ketones – This test will measure the number of ketones in your urine. High levels can indicate the presence of diabetes or an excess of high glycemic index foods in your diet.
• Liver Panel – When people are obese, there is a strong correlation between high enzyme levels produced by the kidney. This test can also identify long-term damage to the kidneys.
• Serum Iron – This test measures the level of iron in your blood. Low levels may indicate anemia, iron deficiency due to dietary or other causes, as well as other forms of malnutrition.
• Lipid Profile – This is the test that measures the various forms of cholesterol in your blood, an important marker for tracking and monitoring your overall health.
• Serum Magnesium – This test can identify problems related to a loss of magnesium which can occur due to malnutrition, the consumption of diuretics (which include “water pills”), and excessive use of laxatives.
• Serum Phosphorous – Consuming too many diuretic drinks (which includes soft drinks, coffee, and tea) can lead to low calcium levels. High levels of phosphorous in the bloodstream can result from overusing common antacid products.
• Amylase Test – Performed on urine samples, the amylase test can reveal damage to the pancreas and/or salivary glands.
• Thyroid Panel – This test can reveal problems with the thyroid gland, including hypothyroidism (low levels of hormones produced by the thyroid glands). The thyroid is the “control center” of the body’s metabolic function, and can play a key role in difficulty losing weight.
• Transthyretin – Also referred to sometimes as prealbumin test, this can reveal certain deficiencies in the liver and the thyroid glands, as well as some forms of malnutrition.

It is also recommended that anyone visiting a diet lab get a standard check-up where vital signs are measured. These include blood pressure, pulse rate, and your temperature. Abnormal vital signs may indicate a fever, inflammation, dehydration and issues relating to blood pressure .

How Much Do Tests at a Diet Lab Cost?

Every diet lab charges different prices for their services. The tests listed above require just a small blood sample and/or urine sample but many diet labs send their blood work and/or urinalysis work to a third-party laboratory. In some cases, these tests may be covered by existing health insurance. Always check with your insurance provider for the exact details about which tests have partial or complete coverage.

Interpreting Your Diet Lab Results

The internet is replete with advice about how to interpret the results of your diet lab work but only a medical professional or nutritionist can give you an accurate diagnosis of the current state of your health. Working with the results of your diet lab tests, you and your nutritionist or healthcare professional can then develop a diet and exercise routine to help you succeed in losing weight and enjoying a healthier life.

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Many diet labs are now offering a new test that examines your DNA in order to discover the best diet for your unique needs. According to the claims by a number of diet lab companies, they will analyze your DNA and then give you a full report telling you what supplements you need, and exactly what diet best works for your genetic markers to help you lose weight and stay healthy

For decades, diet labs have analyzed blood and urine samples in order to reveal nutritional deficiencies and markers that can indicate the onset of common dietary-related diseases like high cholesterol, blood glucose levels, and thyroid gland activity. Now, many diet labs are claiming that they can analyze a simple Q-tip swab of the DNA cells in your cheek to craft the perfect diet.

This Emerging Field is Called Nutrigenomics.

While early results look promising, it is still too soon for experts to conclude whether or not it is possible to design a better diet simply by analyzing a person’s DNA. Some doctors support nutrigenomics because it is already established that genes control enzyme levels, metabolism, and hormone production. It is a reasonable assumption that understanding how an individual uniquely metabolizes and processes foods can help determine how many calories they need and any deficiencies in nutrition that can be addressed with the use of supplements. Furthermore, many common conditions such as Type 2 diabetes and certain forms of coronary disease are already known to be heavily influenced by inherited genetic factors

Using a DNA Test to Create a Customized Diet. 

Supporters of nutrigenomics say that an analysis of an individual’s DNA can be used to successfully design a diet to help keep them healthy and at a good weight. For example, conventional wisdom recommends that people eat a low fat diet if they have a history of heart disease in their family and/or have high levels of the so-called “bad” LDL cholesterol. Likewise, a low-carbohydrate diet may be recommended for individuals whose DNA reveals that they have high blood pressure or abnormal levels of triglycerides.

DNA tests can also reveal the presence of, or lack thereof, of certain enzymes. Some people may be unaware that they are lactose or gluten intolerant, so a DNA test can reveal important clues about how to eat a balanced diet. DNA tests can also reveal the presence of certain markers that will put some people at a higher risk of developing inflammatory diseases or diabetes, giving them advanced warning to make changes in their diet in order to stay healthy.

Is DNA Diet Testing Worth It? 

One advantage that DNA testing at a diet lab has over more traditional analyses from blood and urine samples is that you do not need to be present at the lab to give a sample. Most diet labs offer a simple mail-in kit where you take two cotton swabs (Q-tips) and send your sample off to the laboratory to be analyzed. While some diet labs charge a steep premium for their services, the price can often be far lower than traditional blood and urine analysis.

The verdict is still out on whether DNA testing to create a perfect diet is effective, however, many people believe that the low cost and simple process of mailing a cheek swab sample is worth a try. Certain DNA markers can reveal deficiencies in enzyme or hormone production, giving people valuable information about which types of foods or supplements are best for their unique needs. Other experts downplay the value of DNA diet testing, believing that eating a healthy, balanced diet outweighs the benefits of any special insights revealed by analyzing a person’s genes.

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The Short Answer

The unfair truth is that, yes, men do lose weight faster, on average, than women. A number of scientific studies have been conducted which demonstrated that men lose weight faster than women when following identical diet plans and exercise regimes.

While no one fully understands why men have an advantage over women in terms of rapidly shedding excess pounds, it is believed that testosterone plays a key factor. Both men and women naturally have testosterone, but men have far larger amounts. Furthermore, men’s bodies have a higher percentage of muscles and lower percentage of fat than do women’s bodies, giving men an additional advantage for losing weight more rapidly.

How Women Can Even the Score

Muscle mass is the single most efficient method for burning excess calories. Women who engage in strengthening and toning exercises like yoga, weightlifting, and endurance training at the gym will be able to burn fat more quickly. Intensive cardiovascular and aerobic sessions will help burn fat, but increased muscle mass will help women burn off calories around the block.

Not All Fat Is the Same

While many modern women despair over the difficulty of shedding excess weight, it is also important to remember that fat plays a vital role in women’s bodies, being necessary for functions like healthy ovulation, menstruation, and mood regulation. Starving yourself, or engaging in extreme calorie restriction diets, can have far-reaching harmful effects that definitely do not merit the temporarily ability to lose a few pounds. The key to maintaining a healthy weight is to eat a balanced and nutritious diet, and to focus on developing toned muscle mass.

Men tend to accumulate excess fat in the middle of their bodies, which has been demonstrated to lead to an increased risk of developing heart disease. Women, conversely, tend to carry excess weight below their waistline and in other areas of the body, which carries a lower risk of succumbing to a heart attack and other forms of heart disease.

In modern times, the ability to lose weight rapidly is often seen as a blessing. However, it should be always kept in mind that our bodies were designed for periods of both scarcity and abundance. Historically, women’s bodies were more resilient to fluctuations in food availability, giving them the advantage over men when times were leaner. When supplies of food were scarce in the past, it was men who suffered first, as they have a greater need to replenish vital body fat and calories to avoid malnutrition and starvation.

The Multiple Benefits of Getting Stronger

When women perform strength training exercises and start to develop muscle mass, this does a lot more than help burn off excess calories. Stronger muscles leads to stronger bones, and can help women prevent the development of osteoporosis, a degenerative diseases that primarily affects women.

Staying strong and eating healthy will lead to a virtuous cycle, causing you to feel more motivated and happy when you look in the mirror, which will then encourage you to stay strong and focus on your exercise and dietary goals. Then when you do over-indulge on your favorite treats, your increased muscle mass and improved physique will help make losing weight a lot easier.

The post Is it Easier for Men or Women to Lose Weight? appeared first on SmartChoiceMD.

Obsession or Information? 

Many people believe in the conventional wisdom that daily weigh-ins will provoke a lot of anxiety. Many medical researchers, however, believe that incorporating factual information about your weight on a daily basis is a healthy step towards monitoring your current condition, and taking corrective measures when necessary.

One recent study conducted at the Duke Global Health Institute in North Carolina discovered that people who weighed themselves on a daily basis positively correlated with maintaining a sustained program of weight loss and healthy living. Researchers believe that daily weigh-ins can promote a virtuous circle – when you can see tangible proof of success, you’ll be more likely to continue on the path that led you to sustained and healthy weight loss.

Conversely, individuals who only weighed themselves once a week or less frequently were often surprised to discover that they had gained weight in the interim. University students who participated in the study who only weighed themselves once a week gained an average of five pounds over 12 weeks, while students who weighed themselves daily had no net weight gain.

Whereas some people fear small daily fluctuations in their recorded weight might cause depression or anxiety, experts have demonstrated that a long-term view of daily weigh-in statistics empowers people to take more proactive steps in watching what they eat and otherwise maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Over time, people who weight themselves daily will start to see patterns, helping them to identify activities or foods that might be counterproductive for losing weight, or maintaining a healthy weight, alerting them that the need to take corrective action.

How to Weigh Yourself Daily

The secret to getting accurate results when weighing yourself is to perform it at the same time every day. Most experts recommend that you weigh yourself first thing in the morning, after using the bathroom, in order to get an accurate reading. Many experts liken the process of weighing yourself to brushing one’s teeth and other daily hygiene habits, something that will rapidly become a habit. Always wear the same clothes (or lack thereof) when weighing yourself, to negate the added weight of your garments.

Experts also recommend that people use technologically advanced scales that are equipped with an internet connection, making tracking and recording your daily weigh-ins easier. Many scales sold today also measure other functions, such as body fat percentage, giving people additional data points to monitor their overall health.

If you notice a significant increase during one morning’s weigh-in, that can help you be more aware of what you eat the rest of the day. Furthermore, if you’ve recently taken healthy steps towards losing weight, and see a corresponding drop in weight on the scales, this will help keep you motivated and enthusiastic about your program.

The post How often should you weigh yourself? appeared first on SmartChoiceMD.

Salmon

While it may not feature in too many holiday dishes, salmon is a wonderful source of healthy Omega-3 fatty acids, shown to significantly reduce stress. If you’re a vegetarian, you can get a similar boost of healthy Omega-3 fatty acids from consuming (raw) walnuts.

Turkey Breast

There’s a good reason why people feel so relaxed after consuming a big Thanksgiving dinner featuring turkey. Known as tryptophan, many meats, especially turkey breast, contain large amounts of this amino acid, which has been proven to have a calming effect on people. Low in fat, and reasonably priced, turkey breast is a great go-to meat for the holidays. If you’re a vegetarian, try eating tofu, beans, or seeds, as these foods also contain significant quantities of tryptophan.

Cashews

These delicious nuts are packed full of essential vitamins and minerals needed to maintain good health. Cashews, in particular, are also bursting with plenty of zinc, which has been shown to reduce anxiety and stress. Not only are cashews a delicious, fun snack, but they are also high in healthy omega-3 fatty acids and proteins, making them a smart choice any time of the year.

Dark Chocolate

Although we call a wide variety of foods “chocolate”, only dark chocolate has a good concentration of the cocoa plant, which is widely considered by health experts to be a “superfood” due to its high levels of essential vitamins and minerals. Dark chocolate that is at least 70% cocoa will help you to relax, lowering stress hormone levels, and helping to improve blood circulation. Oh yeah, and it tastes good too!

Blood Oranges

Once a favorite to fill stockings hung by the chimney with care, blood oranges are still an excellent holiday food to help reduce anxiety and stress. With even more Vitamin C than other varieties of oranges, blood oranges have been shown to reduce blood pressure levels and the stress hormone cortisol.

Green Leafy Vegetables

While it may be tempting to head straight to the desserts during the holiday season, don’t neglect to eat your vegetables! Adding a simple salad filled with lots of green leafy vegetables like spinach, kale, or rucola will help tremendously in lowering your anxiety and stress levels. Green leafy vegetables are high in folate, which has been shown to help people feel more calm, happy, and energetic.

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The 80/20 Rule

This famous equation works equally well during the holidays. Give yourself permission to indulge in your favorite treats 20% of the time, while remembering to stick to your healthy diet and exercise regime the other 80% of the time. Many people celebrate the holidays by staying on their regular track during the weekdays, and then give themselves permission to indulge during the weekends.

Managed Indulgence

Saying no to your favorite holiday drinks and goodies can be almost impossible. But when you decide to give in and sample some of those delicious sugary foods, do so without a guilty conscience, but don’t let it get out of control. If you order a holiday drink at your favorite coffee shop, order a standard size, not the huge one. And if your coworker brings in a fresh batch of cookies, eat one or two, don’t bring a handful back to your desk.

Just a Taste

If a coworker or loved one is pressuring you to eat some wicked holiday treats, it can be hard to say no. Go ahead and put a little on your plate, but be sure to stay on track by filling the rest of your plate with vegetables and other healthy fare. If the pressure to eat every sugary, high-fat dish becomes overwhelming, try a polite excuse like, “Yes, I will try it later,” or “I’d love to eat more, but I filled up earlier.”

Being Different Makes You Stronger

While it may look like everyone around you is gorging themselves on unlimited holiday goodies, it is possible to stay strong by choosing to be different. Remember that in a few weeks that those people are going to feel stuffed, sickened, and force to vow to change their ways on New Years’ Day. If you can remain committed and on track during the holidays, transitioning to the new year will be a breeze. By remaining committed to a healthy diet and exercise routine, you might just inspire those around you to employ a little self-control.

Party With a Full Belly

Office and other holiday parties can be a real blast, but if you arrive with an empty stomach, it’ll be almost impossible not to overindulge on fat-packed goodies and sugary treats. Eat a healthy meal at home first, or bring your own lunch to work, and then you’ll have the power to resist all those tempting goodies. After the party is over, and the other guests are groaning and moaning, you’ll be glad you ate a healthy meal beforehand.

The post How to Enjoy the Holidays Without Packing on the Pounds appeared first on SmartChoiceMD.

7 EASY TIPS

No Evening Meals

Nighttime and your sleep period is when your body repairs and restores vital functions. Although you might be tempted to snack before bed, experts recommend going to bed a bit hungry and then enjoying a full breakfast. When you eat four hours or less before going to sleep, your body will have to work to digest that food and will spend less time burning fat.

Take a Break from Alcohol

While many people enjoy a glass of wine with dinner or sharing a beer with friends, alcohol and weight loss do not a good combination make. Beer, especially, is roughly the equivalent of bread, and overloading your body with carbohydrates won’t help you shed those unwanted pounds.

Health experts recommend slowly re-introducing alcohol back into your diet (think Turkey day!) once you’ve attained your desired weight and have ingrained healthy dietary and exercise habits.

Drink Lots and Lots of Water

It seems strange, but many people in wealthy nations are actually dehydrated even though they drink plenty of liquids. Drinks other than plain water can often serve as a diuretic, forcing your body to use more water to process it than any hydration gained from drinking the beverage.

Drinking lots of water also helps your body’s systems operate more smoothly and efficiently, much like how clean oil in a car helps the motor and other vital parts running better. If you can’t stomach drinking another glass of water, try eating more watery foods, such as thin (more broth) soups and juicy vegetables and fruits.

Get Enough Sleep

Probably the greatest open secret about losing weight is that getting enough rest is a key part of losing weight. During the night, as you sleep, your body’s hormone balance and other key functions are reset and restored, helping maintain a healthy metabolic function.

Caffeine

Experts agree that drinking too much coffee or other sources of caffeine isn’t good, a little caffeine in your blood stream will help curb your appetite while simultaneously removing free fatty acids, helping you to lose weight.

Protein and Fiber – At Every Meal

Fiber in our foods has no nutritional value, but it does serve as an important part of our digestive system, essentially acting a cleanser, removing toxins, dead cells, and other waste from our bodies. Fiber also helps you feel full, triggering your brain’s sense of satisfaction, which will help keep you from reaching for an unhealthy treat. In the morning, you can enjoy a healthy whole grain breakfast, but to achieve the best results, it’s important to eat a source of fiber with every meal and snack.

Likewise, a good source of protein with every meal helps your body burn fat and build muscles, which leads to a righteous cycle as more muscles burn more fat, helping you to steadily lose unwanted weight. Vegetarians can enjoy protein-rich foods such as beans, peanuts, and pulses, while omnivores can add low-fat meats like chicken and turkey to every meal in order to maintain a well-balanced diet.

These handful of easy and helpful tips will help you ease into the holiday season a bit lighter, as well as your clothes!

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If you do decide that eating meat is the right choice for you and your family, it is absolutely essential that you understand the entire farm-to-fork process that results in the meat on your dinner table.

Ethics

Probably the most important consideration for most people is the ethical implication of how their meat is sourced. Regardless of any other factor, it is indisputable that raising animals in unnatural, confined, and hostile environments adds an unnecessary layer of cruelty to the entire process. Even if scientists could not prove that stressed animals produce hormones that get passed on to the human consumer, provoking chronic inflammatory responses and other illnesses, it is self-evident that an unhappy animal will not produce healthy, quality meat.

While few of us will ever be able to acquire all of our meat from the hunting of wild animals, it is possible to buy meat sourced from animals raised with care and compassion in a humane environment. Commercial feedlots and other industrial farming operations are the complete opposite of a natural environment for animals, and the resulting meats and other animal products reflect that in their taste, reduced vitamin and protein content, and increased levels of parasitic bacteria, stress hormones, and other inflammatory substances.

Genetics

Much of the meat on sale today at our local supermarket comes from animals that our grandparents would not even recognize. Chicken, and other forms of poultry in particular, are now being genetically bred and engineered in laboratories, resulting in animals that bear little to no resemblance to their wild, natural ancestors. Many of the animals raised and bred for meat today are crippled by genetic problems to the point that they would be completely unable to survive on their own in a natural environment.

Diet

Many people are deeply horrified to learn that a lot of animals being farmed today are being fed unnatural diets that bear absolutely no relation to their biological dietary requirements. Cows and other ruminants are herbivores, meaning that they are designed to eat only plants and only plants, but commercial farmers have been given permission by governmental regulatory agencies to feed them animal waste and even the meat of other animals. Unable to choose their own feed, today’s farmed animals are unwillingly consuming completely unnatural foods, resulting in a host of strange and disturbing illnesses such as Creutzfeld-Jacob Disease, more commonly known as “mad cow disease”.

Pollution

Animals naturally produce waste as part of their life cycle. When animals are raised in a healthy and sustainable way, their waste is recycled as fertilizer, helping to grow the next generation of grasses and other plants that form the basis of their diet. Unfortunately, in the United States and many other developed countries, animals are now being farmed in gigantic industrial feedlots, known by the acronym CAFO (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations).

The Environmental Protection Agency has estimated that spillage and large-scale environmental pollution caused by CAFO has already caused hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of damage to the environment. The liquid overflow from CAFO lagoons is an extremely toxic substance, leading to the mass killing of fish and other wildlife in the area, to say nothing of the permanent poisoning of lakes, rivers, and underground water reservoirs. Although the use of CAFO farming techniques has led to a temporary financial profit in the short run, the long-term cost to the environment is incalculable, and will be something that our children, and children’s children, will be paying for in the decades to come.

Flavor

If you have been eating meat produced in commercial farming operations your entire life, and have never tasted natural, healthy meat produced by animals consuming a proper diet, you don’t know what you’re missing. Once you’ve tasted free-range meat produced from animals that were eating a proper diet, and raised in a natural, healthy way, you will instantly sense the difference, as every bite will be more flavorful, savory, and delicious. Because the industrial farming process completely deadens the flavor, all major fast-food and restaurant chains have to rely on artificial flavoring and food additives in order to make their flavorless industrial meat simulate the natural deliciousness of healthy, free-range meat produced from animals that consumed a proper, natural diet.

Conclusion

While it is certainly tempting to buy the most affordable cuts of meat at your local supermarket, ultimately there is no such thing as cheap meat. The meager immediate cost savings of commercial CAFO farm operations will ultimately blow back on all of us in the form of a polluted environment, stressed out animals passing on sicknesses and diseases to their human consumers, and the incalculable ethical price of adding unnecessary cruelty to the raising and production of meat for human consumption.

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Medical researchers have conclusively proven that working to rid excess weight is the absolutely best step anyone suffering from osteoarthritis can take to help reduce pain and swelling of the joints. Simply put, obesity adds extra strain on the entire body, including the joints.

Working together with a trusted healthcare professional, it is possible to enjoy a healthy and balanced diet that will rid the body of excess weight, and help reduce the stress load on inflamed joints.

Foods to Avoid

Increasingly, the world is becoming aware of the dangers of consuming an overly-processed diet that is heavy in such foods as bread, white rice, and pasta. These refined cereal products can work to further inflame the sensitive areas of the body, including the tender joints in the hips, knees, back, hands, wrists, and other areas susceptible to developing osteoarthritis.

Trans fats, as well as an overconsumption of saturated fats, particularly in fried foods, can also work against your body’s natural ability to reduce inflammation and swelling in the joints.

Cold Water Fish

Research has shown that a diet containing rich sources of cold water fish is an excellent way to obtain protein and give your body the necessary ingredients to help reduce swelling and pain in tender joints afflicted with osteoarthritis. Species such as salmon, halibut, mackerel, herring, and tuna are all cold water fish, and contain a great balance of Omega 3 fatty acids and other healthy nutrients.

Fruits and Vegetables

It’s no surprise that a diet containing plentiful amounts of fresh fruits and vegetables is also effective in reducing the symptoms of osteoarthritis. Best are organic fruits and vegetables, free of pesticides, insecticides and other chemicals, preferably consumed in their whole – or as close as possible – state. In many cases, flash frozen vegetables are a great alternative when fresh vegetables are not available. Less ideal are canned fruits and vegetables, or heavily processed vegetarian food products.

Different government agencies around the world have varying recommendations, but a simple rule of thumb is that adults should consume about two cups of fruits per day, and three cups of vegetables. A mix of different-colored fruits and vegetables is recommended, both as a way to ensure a broad spectrum of full nutrition as well as to add variety and excitement to your diet.

Fresh fruits and vegetables are natural sources of antioxidants, which science has shown can drastically reduce inflammation in the joints.

Nuts, Seeds and Beans

Nuts, seeds, and beans are nature’s way of preparing all of the necessary ingredients for a new cycle of plant life. Consuming nuts, seeds, and beans is a great way to get vital minerals, as well as a surprising amount of protein.

When eating seeds and nuts, it is critical to eat them in their raw, uncooked state, as most nuts sold in grocery stores are actually fried and heavily salted.

Beans, on the other hand, are usually not safe to eat raw, and must be thoroughly cooked. Other similar plants called pulses are great for reducing inflammation, including chickpeas and lentils. It is really simple to make delicious and healthy soups mixing beans/pulses with vegetables, and it will simultaneously work to give your body what it needs to reduce the pain and swelling of osteoarthritis.

Dairy

For osteoarthritis sufferers who choose to consume dairy products, it is important to choose fresh, whole products like yogurt and soft cheeses over heavily processed items like hard cheeses and cheese-based snacks.

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