Have you gone after a craving but your partner or your children are doing surveillance on you? They become agents of your food choice. For sure, it’s difficult to go against your comfort foods but it’s better to avoid them than feel another joint pain later.
While rheumatoid arthritis usually affects men and women between the ages of 30 and 60, did you know that it can also affect children and young adults, ages 16 to 40 years old? With regard to diet, around 75% of people with RA have to do something with their food choice and nutrition.
In every physical illness comes a solution that plays a big part in maintaining the body’s locomotor movement skills. You can achieve this as we move on to the article in which we will elaborate on how important it is to determine the proper nutrition for rheumatoid arthritis.
What is Rheumatoid Arthritis?
Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune and inflammatory disease, which means the immune system is attacking healthy cells in the body by mistake. In RA, the affected areas are mostly the joints of hands, wrists and knees, usually triggering many joints at once causing chronic pain and deformity.
Signs and symptoms like tender and swollen joints (o sakit sa tuhod at pamamaga), fatigue (maaring magdulot ang rayuma ng sakit sa katawan at gout), fever, and weight loss are manifested if there are no appropriate means to apply medication. Getting the numbers, approximately 18 million people are living with Rheumatoid arthritis based on the most recent analysis of the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) in 2019.
What Are The Risk Factors Of RA?
With the occurrence of rheumatoid arthritis, there is a higher risk of heart attack and stroke due to inflammation. There are existing factors that cause rheumatoid arthritis and can serve as indicators to analyze a person with persistent RA.
- Age. The number one risk factor is age which involves a family RA history and other existing comorbidities. Throughout the time, most adults aged 60 years old and above experience RA.
- Sex. RA does not choose gender which can cause more damage but still considers women are more at risk than men at 3.6% and 1.7% respectively.
- Acquired Genes. If you’re born with the genes susceptible to having RA, you can also inherit some environmental triggers that may exhibit at an early age.
- Body Figure. With excessive weight, it will be hard to do physical activities. Some joints become more wimpish as a result of obesity and unhealthy nutrition.
Risk factors are important and knowing them one by one helps you make precautionary measures as you begin your diet and choose the right medicine for RA.
Follow The Correct RA Diet
Diet won’t cure rheumatoid arthritis but picking the right, healthy food choices will help control the inflammation. One recommended diet for rheumatoid arthritis is the Mediterranean Diet.
Here’s a list of anti-inflammatory foods that contain nutrients to ease joint pain and get yourself back on track:
- Oily or fatty fish
- Fruits & Veggies
- Nuts
- Peas and Beans
- Whole Grains
- Olive Oil
Here’s a list of food to avoid when you have RA:
- Carbohydrates and processed foods
- Fried and oily foods
- Sugar
- Red meat
- Alcohol
- Saturated fats (e.g. pizza, cheese, pasta dishes)
- Mono-sodium glutamate (MSG)
- Gluten ( found in wheat, barley and rye)
- Casein (found in dairy products)
A positive healthy lifestyle is a result of discipline from the foods you eat. Swollen joints are rebuilt and strength is recharged. As might be expected during other illnesses, you’re allowed to have small bites from the prohibited foods while having an RA. After all, you can always plump on taking a medicinal drug for RA so long as it is consulted with your doctor.
Your RA Diet Matters
As most people say, “Prevention is better than cure”. Adhering to the recommended diet helps in delivering the right nutrients our body needs and in maintaining a healthy weight. Excess weight adds pressure to the aching joints and excess body fat produces cytokines which promote inflammation. Remember to always be mindful of what you eat so pain is properly controlled and for you to achieve a good quality of life.
