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Natural Arthritis Remedies

According to the Arthritis Foundation, nearly 1 in 5 American adults have arthritis or chronic joint symptoms. I am one of them. If you are like me, you are here because

• you are curious,
• you are tired of taking arthritis drugs with side effects, or
• you have just been diagnosed and/or experiencing joint pain and you want to nip it in the bud.

No matter what your reason, I am convinced that something you read here will help you or a loved one diminish your arthritis symptoms. But we need to recognize some things. First, there are many kinds and causes of arthritis. I won't re-hash them here, but the link above should help you learn about the main kinds, and may help you self-diagnose. Second, natural remedies are not going to work like drugs. I can't tell you that they will remove your pain as a pain reliever will, but over time, they may remove your pain so that you don't have to continue taking pain relievers or anti-inflammatories. Often, people take something for a week or two and give up because "it's not working..." This is the mentality of the drug-seeking, quick-solution country we have become. It will take longer than a couple of weeks to improve your symptoms!

Your body does not develop arthritis from the meal you had the day before. In most cases, arthritis IS caused by a lifelong poor diet, and that is why so many adults suffer from it. Our diets are bad, because there is not an immediate repercussion to the poor diet choices we make today. Eventually, some develop gastrointestinal disorders, but others develop allergies or arthritis. Some get all three. Others get cancer. You got arthritis. You have a choice right now to make drastic, life-giving decisions, or continue to make the same choices and take arthritis drugs that DO have life-taking side effects. These side effects are considered acceptable, because like food, they do not kill us immediately. But you have to know that every drug you take cannot be as good as living a life that diminishes your symptoms naturally.

Life Giving Arthritis Remedies

If you are serious about improving your life as well as diminishing arthritis symptoms, here are some well-known ways to do this. In addition to noting improvement in arthritis symptoms, many people experience secondary side effects such as heightened energy, better sleep, weight loss, and improvement in digestive processes when following these suggestions. Follow as many as you want, and enjoy an improved life!

Great Taste, No Pain

Great Taste, No Pain is a book by Sherry Brescia that helps people learn the proper way to eat foods. This information is very important, because your arthritis could be caused ONLY by eating the wrong foods together. This means that changing only this one thing very possibly could help your symptoms. You may be wondering, "how in the world could a person eat the wrong foods together?" This is a foreign concept to many people, but those same people who followed Sherry's advice on proper food combining write letters to her daily with positive results. Sherry does not tell you to wipe out an entire food group from your diet. She tells you when to eat what, and what can be eaten with what. You can learn more about this at www.digestive-system-help.com . Even if you think you eat very healthy, if you are not eating the right foods together (or apart), you are going to have problems.

Diet Changes for Arthritis

It goes without saying that you do need to improve your diet. Depending on your own personal vice, this may mean cutting out sodas, doughnuts, cookies, ice cream, white bread and rice, fast food, or artificial sweeteners. You definitely must improve your diet by adding fruits or vegetables to every meal. Even though there are lots of supplements on the market to get the vitamins you need, they cannot undo the poisons you are putting in your body everyday. It's like drinking a poison with its antidote- it gets you nowhere, but does lead to unpleasant side effects. So even if you take a daily vitamin, you must also take in the right foods (and combine them properly). I know how difficult this is. Believe me- it is a daily battle for me, too. I do have a tool that helps me make the right choices, and I know that it will work for you as well. It is Eating for Excellent Health Now!, which is an audio CD that is a mental conditioning program. Simply put, it re-programs your brain to tell you to eat an apple instead of that cookie (put it down!) It makes you want water instead of a soda. All you do is listen to the CD while you drive, work, or relax, and the thoughts about food choices are implanted in your thought processes. And it is completely painless! I know the feeling of guilt associated with making the wrong food choices. It leads to making more bad food choices. Make the right food choices to begin with because you want to and your guilt is gone! (In case you really don't know the best food choices, you should increase your intake of fruits, vegetables, raw nuts, yogurt, and olive oil, and cut back on red meat, pasteurized dairy, grains, sugar, and artificial additives).    

Drink Water Drink Water Drink Water

Got that? Like improper food combining, chronic dehydration could be the sole cause of your arthritis symptoms. Many people find relief simply by drinking a LOT more water. After extensive research in the "what kind of water is best?" arena, we settled on distilled water. Not only did we receive advice from highly respected doctors and scientists, it just makes sense to us. The biggest argument against distilled water is that it lacks the minerals found in other water. That is okay, because you get your minerals from food! The amount found in water is so negligible, it's embarrassing that people stress over it. Distilling water also removes fluoride, which is something else you want to avoid in your water (along with the toxins, chlorines, bacteria, and viruses). We have our own water distiller, which sits on our kitchen counter along with other kitchen appliances. We distill our own water because we know that the bottled water industry is under-regulated. Also, the bottled distilled water has often been re-mineralized, which is not what you want. After drinking our own distilled water for years, I tried some bottled distilled and it tasted horrible. Our distilled water tastes like nothing, like water is supposed to taste! Add a squeeze of organic lemon, and you have added to the benefits of this life-giving drink. Below, you will see another addition to your water that can make a huge improvement to your arthritis symptoms.

Bragg About It

If you have not already, you need to get cozy with Bragg products. First, you want to start adding Bragg's Organic Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV) with the "Mother" to your water. I am not a "vinegar" kind of gal, but I quickly got used to the taste. After starting this health regimen, I noticed that during the fall/winter season, I was not getting sick as I typically did. It is an all-around health booster, and you can read some personal testimonies of its use for arthritis and other ailments. With a little bit of honey, Bragg's ACV in your distilled water provides so many health benefits that your body is screaming for! While you can purchase Bragg's ACV online, you can probably also find it at your local health food store or natural foods section. If not, buying it from Bragg's is not that much more, even with paying for shipping, which is actually pretty cheap at Bragg.com. (You may need to purchase the following products online as well.)

I also suggest using Bragg's Liquid Aminos, Bragg's Sprinkle, and ESPECIALLY one of their salad dressings. Their salad dressings have been harder to find where I live, so sometimes I get it online. But it is absolutely the healthiest dressing I have found anywhere. While you can make your own, the added seasonings have additional health benefits, and I just don't have the time to prepare each of the ingredients for a homemade dressing. Bragg also has their own olive oil, which you should also increase in your diet!

Supplement Your Diet

After doing all the above, you may still need a little help for joints that have been neglected for a while, or for damage that seems beyond repair. Here are some suggested supplements

Joint Ease Plus - Contains Harpagophytum procumbens (Devil's Claw), Glucosamine sulphate, and Boswellia serata. Contains no gluten, artificial flavors, colors, or preservatives. Please follow each link above to learn more about each of these ingredients, as they may be contraindicated for other health problems you may have.

A quick word about glucosamine: Many supplements on the market contain both glucosamine and chondroitin. A few years ago, I heard a medical doctor with a nutritional supplement company say that chondroitin is ineffective as a supplement- something having to do with the molecules being too large to penetrate the membranes of the joints (I'm paraphrasing). Additionally, there have been no strong scientific studies showing that chondroitin improves arthritis symptoms, nor does it make the glucosamine any more effective. This is why you find glucosamine products with and without chondroitin.

Procosa II - Contains glucosamine sulphate, turmeric extract, vitamin C, manganese,  and silicon (see link for Procosa II for information regarding manganese and silicon). Many people have found numerous benefits taking this particular supplement for arthritis pain. It is manufactured in the US, with high quality standards. To learn more or to purchase, visit www.usana.com and use code 2449861 upon check out.

Herbs for Arthritis

There are many additional herbs (aside from those already provided in the supplements above) that you need to start adding to your diet. The good news is that most of these herbs have numerous positive benefits, so while you are concentrating on healing arthritis pain, you will be improving your health in other ways as well. I'd like to mention one in particular that is found in the link just above. See the information for Epsom Salt. While a bath with magnesium sulfate may work wonders for you, I have personally tried taking it internally with a product called Natural Calm, which is effective as well. As you may know, some arthritis sufferers have calcium deposits at their joints which are often blamed on chronically low magnesium levels. If you do decide to find Natural Calm at your local health food store, do yourself a favor and follow the directions. It is absorbed by the body MUCH more efficiently if you heat the water and make like a tea. Trust me. And do work up slowly; taking too much at one time may lead to diarrhea.

You will also want to start drinking tea. I drink different green teas, some with ginger, some liver detox teas, and peppermint tea for digestion. Ginger is one of the arthritis herbs mentioned above, and is also good for digestive disorders. Now it appears we have come full circle, because I started out talking about food and digestion, and I'm ending with it as well. You have probably heard this before, but all disease begins in the gut. I can't stress enough to start by combining your foods properly so that you get the greatest benefit from the healthy foods that you do eat. It is not a coincidence that I started having arthritis pain at the same time I started having gall bladder problems. Get your gut and your liver healthy, and you will add decades to your life (assuming you aren't already 80 years old reading this!) as well as diminish arthritic pain.

Exercise and Stress

I thought I was done above, but wanted to touch on this. I'm not going to tell you to start walking 5 miles a day. But you do need to start moving more. Swim if you enjoy it. As your pain eases, take advantage of it and move your joints as much as you can bear.

It is also important to keep your life as stress-free as possible. I know that it's easier said than done. I have two small children, and stress over everything for no good reason. It is a daily struggle. Especially if you are a ball of stress, make sure you are getting enough magnesium, because it is depleted by stress. That seems to be one of my biggest issues!

Hopefully you have something to work with here, and can use this information to do some good. Be well, stay healthy, and have a glass of water on me!