My joint pain has been ok for a while; you know not gone but workable from day to day. So since it hasn't been getting better or worse I decided to see if a change in eating would help out.
I started off adding a lot of fruit and veggie trying to aim for 5 servings a day without making any other changes in food choices. I didn't see any change in my joints or pain level at all but I figured that adding more healthy stuff was a good change and decided to continue.
Last week I was reading a bit about sugar and inflammation. I decided to cut out sweets. Today is day 6 and I can already see a change in the stiffness and pain in my foot, finger, and knee. It may or may not but due to sugar so I'm taking a wait and see on it however a day with decreased stiffness and pain is always worth celebrating and sharing.
Refined sugar can do bad things to anyone's body. I rarely eat refined sugar, and definitely notice a change when I do.
I think investigating your diet is a good thing for anyone to do. Any little changes, as well as big changes, we can make for the better - even if it's just a little improvement - is a good thing. :)
Great to hear you are eating more fruit and veg as it can only help your bodies overall health. It does take commitment and it does take time to eliminate all the toxins from your body from eating the wrong types of foods. If you think refined sugars improve you, then you might consider eliminating or cut down on the refined white flours, saturated fats and trans fats and the chemical additives that are in manufactured foods. It is also important that we eat good oils and don't eliminate fats completely out of our diets.
I found that it was far easier for me to make gradual changes to my diet, this way I have been able to stick to it and my body does seem to cope when I occassionally can't always eat what I want when I am out socially.
I recently was given a bag of boiled lollies (candy) full of sugar and I gradually ate them all and I was so bad for a few days. I can't say for sure if it was that but it did seem like it.
I try to ensure I include the foods that will boost my immune system, reduce inflammation, repair damaged cells and remove the free radicals. Plenty of information is available on the net with a little research. I eat plenty of green leafy vegetables, citrus and berries, garlic, onions, ginger, parsley, turmeric and chillies. Eating better can protect you from other diseases and should boost your energy levels. I simplify it by eating as many colors as possible in fruit and veg every day.
Be aware that some fruits and vegs might increase your joint pain slightly. Don't reject them because of this as this usually means that something in them is working very hard at fighting diseased or damaged cells. It will settle down in a matter of a few hours. Tomatoes, eggplant and chillies do it to me, now only occasionally. I do restrict the amount of my intake of these foods to eliminate this effect.
I find eating foods high in protein helps a little with the pain. I include some protein in every meal. Maybe that is worth a try.