Now that colder weather is upon us, you may feel your joints stiffen up more than usual. Suddenly, walking is a chore, and picking up a pen or typing is agony.
But it may not just be the cold weather that’s freezing up your joints. It could be that the foods you eat are making this worse.
If these are regular staples in your diet, see if cutting them out will do anything to help.
- Sunflower, soybean, safflower, cottonseed, and corn oils. These are packed with omega-6 fatty acids, the lesser cousin of omega-3 fatty acids. Americans already get about 25 times more omega-6 than they do omega-3, which is probably messing with your joints. An unbalanced ratio of these fatty acids, anything over 10 to 1, can cause asthma, cardiovascular disease, and inflammation. Bringing your ration down to 2 or 3 to 1 can help you lower this.
- Sugary (and diet!) sodas. The sugary stuff just has the effect that sugar has, which is raise your inflammation levels. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition did a study that found that over thirty years, women who drank one soda or more per day had a 63 percent higher risk of arthritis than those who don’t drink.
- Tomatoes, prepared any way. It’s been a long-held belief that red fruit increases joint pain in those with a specific arthritis called gout, and now it appears it’s true. Even if you don’t have gout, research has found that tomatoes increase your uric acid levels, which increases your likelihood for gout. If you don’t want to give them up entirely, just cut back slightly, and take a uric acid-reducing drug if your doctor says your levels are high.
