Apples and Avocados for Inflammation
Posted on 24 June 2009
I hear more and more people talk about their arthritis these days. Sore hands, feet and elbows are now common place in our society. Most put it down to bad luck or genetics, maybe even an activity they are doing.
What most don’t know is that your joints like your heart and many other organs rely on good nutrition to function well. Ever hear the hype around anti-oxidants? well they are key to joint health; when you eat fruit and vegetables they provide your body with anti-oxidants which slow the breakdown of cartilage and naturally protect your joints. Here are some of the best Anti-Inflammatory foods…..
Avocados - They are not only amazingly tasty but are packed with essential oils, fatty acids ad Vitamin E which all help with the repair of cartilage and tendons helping fight inflammation.
Chillies - Capsaicin is a potent part of the chili which blocks feelings of pain in the bodies tissue as well as releasing endorphins which act as your bodies own morphine like pain killer. All the more reason for a spicy post workout meal.
Macadamia Nuts - The king of nuts, and the richest in monounsaturated fats. Also packed with Vitamin E and selenium which promote healthy healing.
Red Wine - A glass or two with your steak can give a load of benefits including polyphenols which reduce inflammation in joints. You can also find polyphenols on Green Tea.
Walnuts - Another great nut and the richest in Omega-3 fatty acids which are great at reducing inflammation throughout the body. Make sure you keep taking your fish oil though!
Dark Green Vegetables - Should already be an essential in everyones diet. Research shows again and again the huge role these play in reducing inflammation and reducing oxidative damage. Eat your Broccoli, Spinach and Cabbage.
Apples - the Red Delicious variety are shown to be the variety containing the most anti-inflamtorry anti-oxidants. Don’t peel them though the anti-oxidants you want are 5X more potent in the skin.
Oily Fish - Salmon, Mackerel and Herring to name a few these are probably the best ant-inflatorry of all time. Omega-3 fatty acids are pretty much the best thing for your joints and mind!
One other thing to take note of are the Night Shade family of foods. These include; Potatoes, peppers, tomatoes and aubergines. Some people are very sensitive to these and have been shown to cause inflammation in some people. Again black box these foods, try cutting them out for a week or two and assess whether your situation has improved.
As well as this processed vegetable oils can have a nasty effect on joints. This is thanks to their high content of Omega 6 fatty acids which promote inflammation and take our fat balance further out of whack. Try to monitor food packaging to see whether or not any hydrogenated oils are sneaking their way into your diet. If you stick to minimally processed foods then this should not be a problem.
Its important to get to the route of the problem if your suffering from any inflamed joints and before taking medication or doing physiotherapy I would suggest you try and make some alterations to your diet by eating more anti-inflmatorry foods and reducing your intake of Vegetable Oils and Nightshades.
Try it for a few weeks and watch your inflammation ease.
16 comments so far
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Comment by Jonathan
24 June 2009
I’ve been doing pretty good at most of the list, except going without tomatoes. I pretty much process all of my own food now, but I use salsa as a condiment nearly every day. I thought giving up breads and junk of that sort was tough, but now that they are gone. It is salsa that seems the more impossible task.
Comment by Marc Feel Good Eating
24 June 2009
Hi Chris,
Once again great post.
An avocado a day keeps the doctor away
My dad, who suffers from arthritis in his feet swears by avocados. He eats 5-7 per week and his feet don’t bother him. When he doesn’t eat the avocados….his feet bother him (Age 76)
Marc
Comment by Fatblastzone.com
24 June 2009
Oil-rich fish is my favorite recommendation. I’ve seen people experience huge improvements in joint pain simply by increasing their intake of fish-oil. Red wine is definitely a new one for me. Very informative!
Comment by Grok
24 June 2009
I’m glad you brought up the night shades. I just found out about that a while ago. I’ve seen differences when eating concentrated tomatoes (tomato paste).
I wish avocados were cheaper. I love them, but even the small ones run $1.50+ each around here.
Comment by The Thrifty Mom
24 June 2009
Thank you for talking about the Nightshades!
When I went Paleo, I gave up all nightshades because they are a New World food, and was stunned and delighted that the unexpected benefit was that my Rosacea disappeared and my Arthritis no longer bugs me much at all!
Giving up all grains and sugars and losing over 150lbs had made my arthritis bearable (formerly I had a lot of trouble walking) but nixing Nightshades took away almost all of the residual pain.
-Blue
@ Blue: This is awesome, although I eat mostly paleo I have never tried totally giving up nightshades for any prolonged time, too many tomatoes and aubergines in the diet. Should really give it a try……
Comment by David
24 June 2009
One important thing to keep in mind when troubleshooting your diet is to cut out possible suspects one at a time. If you cut everything at once, you have no idea what did it and you might be sacrificing a favorite food for nothing!
Comment by Rafi Bar-Lev - The Fitness Adviser
24 June 2009
I love when people talk about the healing and medicinal properties of natural foods.
An interesting question though is what exactly is it about arthritis that causes inflammation to kick up, and if there isn’t a better solution to fixing the underlying problem rather than attacking the symptom of inflammation.
Great post.
Rafi Bar-Lev
Comment by Cherry
30 June 2009
I’ve only recently started to eat avocados and I love them. I eat them with my eggs in the morning and on my chicken sandwich in the afternoon. My skin and hair look great. And I’ve noticed that I’m not waking up with the usual aches and creaks in my body.
Comment by Lori|SpiritualTidbits
2 July 2009
Another great side benefit of the green tea: keeps me regular. Just like coffee, but without the stomach irritation.
Comment by Dr. Mariza Snyder
15 July 2009
Not only does inflammation have a severe and detrimental affect on the joints of the body, but also the digestive tract, immune system and cardiovascular system to name a few.
It’s equally important to understand which foods promote inflammation; including an increase in omega 6 rich foods and the Nightshade group.
Pro-inflammatory foods will increase inflammation, increase your pain from the inflammation and may also raise your risk for chronic disease. Loading up on junk foods, high-fat meats, sugar and fast foods will increase inflammation in your body. This is partially due to the unhealthy fats used in preparing and processing these foods, especially trans fats and saturated fats. Processed meats such as lunch meats, hot dogs and sausages contain chemicals such as nitrites that are associated with increased inflammation and chronic disease. Eliminate high sugar foods such as sodas, soft drinks, pastries, pre-sweetened cereals and candy.
Comment by Gabriella
23 September 2009
Dear All -
I can attest that one avocado a day is wonderful in one’s diet and in my area (Santa Barbara, CA) one is lucky to get them cheap enough to eat them several times a day.
The other items we have in great abundance here are home-grown tomatoes. Their taste is great but after eating them for a while my entire digestive system is in flame, bloaded and hurtful. Any of you had this experience?
Lastly, I would like to respond to Dr. Snyder’s comment on fats. While I agree that there are plenty of bad fats around, good, organic saturated fats are not part of the group. I suggest you research the subject on line and particularly the Weston A. Price Foundation’s web site for more information.
You will be amazed at what you will learn!
Cheers and good health, Gabriella
Comment by Rochelle
22 October 2009
I was wondering if tomato paste and passata would count as being the same as eating fresh tomatoes if you are trying to not eat anything from the nightshade family….I make all my own sauces from scratch and like the low fat tomato option…
My partner is suffering a great deal (only 26) and the doctors here in Sweden are RUBBISH. So far their advice has been to take painkillers /anti inflammatory pills every day. This has been for nearly a year now. Personally this advice appals me!!! So I am making him change his eating in the hope that something is going to work! Have started him on omega 3 capsules too.
Any advice greatly appreciated! (We are going back to the doctors today… sigh….)
@ Rochelle: Tomato Passata is great and is actually higher in anti-oxidants than raw tomatoes…..So go ahead and use it in dishes, I regularly use it for soups or making chilli, Try and go for organic and add Basil and Sea Salt……
As for supplements let your boyfriend start taking a TSP of Cod Liver Oil twice a day (after food) and start eating more anti-inflammatory foods like Avocado, Salmon (All oily fish) and Pineapple. Combine that with some exercise and things should start to settle. Also let him learn how to cope with stress as this can be a hige factor in inflammation (check out my archives for posts on relaxation/stress reduction)
Comment by Rochelle
26 October 2009
Thank you so much for your help and advice! I did the grocery shop over the weekend and today he has some walnuts in with his lunch and we have plenty of oily fish now too. That is great news about the passata!
He is lucky that I am the cook of the house so if he wants to eat he has to eat what I make (haha)… actually I love to cook so it will be great to try new recipes that are going to help him.
Thank you again and thanks for a great site!!!
Comment by amelia
19 January 2010
i wish everyone could read articles like this and understand how to just BE healthy. in response to an above poster’s question (Rafi Bar-Lev):
“An interesting question though is what exactly is it about arthritis that causes inflammation to kick up, and if there isn’t a better solution to fixing the underlying problem rather than attacking the symptom of inflammation.”
arthritis IS inflammation; any -itis means inflammation. if there were no inflammation, then there would be no arthritis.