Over the weekend, a question came in regarding fish oil and arthritis, and the person who wrote in wanted to know what foods to eat and what supplements would help with her arthritis problems.
Generally, with regard to food, you should eat foods as close to their natural state as possible. This means vegetables, lean meats, whole grains, fresh fruits, and dairy. You’ll notice that processed foods aren’t on the list, and neither are fast foods.
When you go to the grocery store, you should only shop in three areas, at most: The area for meat/poultry/seafood, and the vegetable and fruit areas. All the rest of the packaged products can just sit on the shelf, undisturbed by you.
That’s a good goal, but often unrealistic. You are going to eat some processed food at some point (or, maybe a bit more than that.)
Just keep this in mind: Processed foods have been stripped of essential nutrients, such as minerals, vitamins, enzymes, amino acids, fatty acids, and other elements that provide real nourishment for your body.
Food manufacturers usually strip out the essential elements you need for a very simple reason. It’s called “shelf life.” They don’t want their product to spoil, so they take these essential elements out to retard spoilage. They also add other elements in, which aren’t good for you either, but that story will fill a month’s worth of articles.
Not getting any of these items, in the proper amounts, particularly the correct balance of fatty acids, often results in inflammation.
The long chain omega-3 fatty acids help block the dietary omega-6 fatty acids (so high in the Western diet, which actually promote inflammation), restore the correct lipid balance your body needs, and are absolutely essential to combating the pain and joint stiffness of inflammation.
The simple truth is that pharmaceutical grade fish oil will assist you in combating the inflammation of arthritis. It isn’t always easy to eat the right kinds of food. But taking pharmaceutical grade fish oil can make up for a lot.