Healthy Eating for Women

Most of us take for granted that we’ll stay strong and healthy, able to do whatever we’d like for years to come. But when arthritis enters our lives, even the slightest movement becomes painful, sometimes impossible. It hurts to shake hands. It’s hard to open a jar or write with a pen, and it feels like we are on a one-way street to the infirmities of old age.

If joint pain has slowed you down, you’ll want to look at the latest from the world of nutrition. Research shows that for a surprising number of people, a few simple diet changes can make joint problems improve—or even disappear altogether. The disease comes in a great many forms, so let’s start with a look at what kind of arthritis you have. Here are the most common types:

Rheumatoid arthritis.

This causes joint pain and stiffness, usually starting in the hands or the feet. Sometimes the pain spreads to the shoulders, elbows, hips, knees, ankles, and neck. It is an autoimmune disease, meaning that your white blood cells—which are supposed to be fighting against bacteria, viruses, and cancer cells—have begun to attack you. Specifically, they are attacking the tender synovial membranes that line the inside of each joint. As time goes on, this attack damages and deforms the entire joint. For reasons that no one has yet figured out, rheumatoid arthritis affects women about three times more often than men.

Osteoarthritis.

This is also called degenerative joint disease and can be thought of as wear and tear on the cartilage that cushions the ends of the bones inside the joints. As cartilage wears away, the bones start to rub against each other, causing pain and making movement difficult. It is very common in older people—ten times more common than rheumatoid arthritis—and usually shows up in the hands and the weight-bearing joints—the hips, knees, feet, and the back. If you have arthritis in the finger joints closest to your nails, it is probably osteoarthritis rather than rheumatoid.

Gout.

This occurs when crystals of uric acid form in the joints, sparking inflammation and pain. It comes in acute attacks, usually starting in the big toe and spreading to other joints. Unlike rheumatoid and osteoarthritis, gout strikes more often in men.

Ankylosing spondylitis.

This is a form of arthritis in the spine. It leads to stiffness in the lower back and eventually to damage to the vertebral joints. It occurs most often in young men.

In this chapter we will look at how foods can ease your joints, focusing especially on rheumatoid arthritis, where diet changes have brought remarkable results for many people. If you have osteoarthritis or ankylosing spondylitis, please review this section as well, because the same diet changes that often work for rheumatoid arthritis may be helpful to you, too. Then we will look at the important role foods play in gout.

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