Can Diet Help to Cure Arthritis? Or Can it Make

Can Diet Help to Cure Arthritis? Or Can it Make it Worse?
Wendy Owen

The medical profession mostly rejects the idea that there is any connection between diet and arthritis (with the exception of gout), but many naturopaths and holistic practitioners disagree.

There are many factors to consider with regards to arthritic diets and nutritional healing, and no hard and fast rules can be applied. For example, some people are allergic to certain foods, and these allergies can indeed worsen some types of arthritis.

Eating foods that contain sodium nitrate or tartrazine can worsen the inflammation of rheumatoid arthritis, while ingesting foods containing a substance called hydrazine can contribute to systemic lupus erythematosus, an arthritic condition connected to lupus, Eating black walnuts can cause flare-ups in people with a rare type of arthritis called Behcet’s Disease.

These are just a couple of examples of foods which could negatively impact on people with certain types of arthritis so as you can see the whole topic can get very complicated!

The term arthritis covers over 100 different diseases and conditions. Since it would be impossible to cover all of them in one article such as this, we will look at the most common condition: osteoarthritis and tackle rheumatoid arthritis and gout in future articles.

Osteoarthritis is mainly a disease of wear and tear. However there is one thing to avoid. Don’t take large doses of Vitamin A, since there is some evidence that it contributes to cartilage deterioration. Cartilage deterioration is the main cause of osteoarthritis.

There are holistic healers who will swear that a good diet can alleviate many of the painful symptoms. A diet high in fish is recommended as it contain high levels of Omega 3 which helps reduce inflammation and also has many other health benefits.
However if you live in an area where the sea has a high concentration of mercury, fish oil capsules are a better bet. Buy a known brand name to ensure maximum bio-availibility.

Including vegetables and sufficient low fat protein in the diet ensures optimal health and avoids weight gain which puts a heavy strain on arthritic joints

Some osteoarthritis sufferers benefit from the food supplements glucosamine and chondroitin in relieving symptoms of pain and stiffness. As above buy a reputable brand.

The National Institute of Health is currently studying glucosamine and chondroitin, so more should soon be known about the effectiveness of these products for osteoarthritis. People taking blood-thinners should be careful taking chondroitin as it can increase the blood-thinning and cause excessive bleeding.. Seek medical advice first.

Visit http://www.natural-arthritis-medication.com your resource for information on natural remedies for arthritis. The author Wendy Owen is a natural health writer and researcher. Join our list and receive a free 6 part arthritis mini course

Copyright Wendy Owen – http://www.insomnia-connection.com

How to Treat Common Warts at Home

Common warts plague many people. If what they have is truly a common wart, then it probably is not anything dangerous at all. However, it can be a big nuisance. It can make them feel self conscious and it may be uncomfortable. Fortunately, common warts can often be treated at home.

The standard treatments for common warts are mainly different salicylic acid products. These preparations come in liquid, ointment, gel, and or specially coated adhesive pads. Some examples are Compound W ointment and Mediplast pads. Dr. Scholl’s also makes a liquid.

You should never use salicylic acid products if you have diabetes or a problem with your immune system. If you don’t have any such conditions, and you do use them, do so with caution. Follow the directions carefully.

If you leave the acid on healthy tissue, the acid will eat into it. The preparation that stays on the common warts will dissolve away the warts. You can eventually rub it off with a pumice stone.

Besides this, there are home remedies you can try. Using about 25,000 i.u. of Vitamin A from fish oil capsules can help. Open the capsules and spread it on the wart. Rub it in once a day. The advantage of this method and most other home remedies is that good tissue around the common warts is not damaged.

Other oils and juices can be used in a similar way for common warts. Vitamin E oil, castor oil, and clove oil are said to help with common warts. Aloe vera juice, milkweed juice, and the milky juice of unripe figs have been known to have a positive effect. Even dandelion sap has been used.

Some people rub their common warts with chalk. Some use a raw potato to rub it. A poultice of flaxseeds, flaxseed oil, and raw honey can be put on warts. The poultice should be changed every day.

Tea tree oil, when rubbed on the common wart, is said to melt the wart away in a little over a week. You can soak the wart in water for twenty minutes. Then dry it and apply vinegar. After this dries, wash and dry your foot again. Doing this regularly is said to remove common warts.

Some people advocate the use of garlic for removing common warts. Some would have you crush the garlic. Then hold it in place on the wart with a bandage. Some simply recommend taking garlic supplements.

Applying fresh cut pineapple to the common warts is supposed to get rid of them in just two or three days. The problem with this method is that you have to constantly cut into fresh pineapples. You will have more of the fruit than you know what to do with.

Perhaps, in the end, the best treatment for common warts is no treatment at all. These warts often go away with no treatment at all. About half of all warts will disappear with no help within two years. So, if you have common warts, you might try doing nothing at all.

Fish Oil Effects That You Can Avoid

There has been a lot of buzz about fish oil and its benefits. Researches and studies have proved the numerous health benefits that fish oil can give. But every coin has two sides. So, is it possible for something beneficial like fish oil, to have bad effects, as well? Yes, it is possible.

If you have fish oil capsules or liquid at home, then you would have to make sure that it would not be exposed to heat, light and oxygen. When exposed for too long, the fish oil would get oxidized and would get bad. Once the fish oil gets bad, it would lose its nutritional value. Aside from that, bad fish oil and fatty acids are said to contribute to the development of cancer and other diseases.

Minor side effects of fish oil would include a fishy aftertaste, diarrhea, and fishy burps. Some would report nose bleeding as a side effect of fish oil intake. Aside from this, you would have to be conscious with vitamin A, E and D. Accumulated or large doses of these vitamins can eventually lead to poisoning.

There are also serious side effects of fish oil. If these side effects happen to you, it is best to consult a health care professional. You would have to stop taking fish oil supplements or it could mean other serious ailments.

Fish oil is said to increase the risk of bleeding, especially gastrointestinal bleeding. So if you would notice red blood on your stool and vomiting blood, the consult a health care professional immediately. Serious effects could also include hemorrhagic stroke or bleeding in the brain. Common symptoms would include vision and speech changes, numbness or loss of strength in the limbs and frequent and painful headaches.

If you have diabetes, then it would also be better to check with your doctor if taking fish oil supplements is safe. Taking fish oil supplements can sometimes result to hyperglycemia or high blood sugar. Be watchful or conscious of allergic reactions. Symptoms that you are allergic with fish oil supplement include rashes, itching, swelling, wheezing and difficulty in breathing or swallowing.

To avoid the minor side effects, you can take the fish oil supplement along with your meal. This would get rid of the aftertaste and make it easier to digest. It is less likely for you to experience abdominal or stomach pain. There are few who keep their supplements refrigerated. It is said that keeping them frozen or cold would help lessen gastrointestinal problems or side-effects.

Too much is always not good. The problem is we do not how much is too much. There is maximum amount that an individual should take. But there is a recommended amount, for male it is 1600 mg while women are recommended to have 1100 mg.

As mentioned, we should be cautious with Vitamin A,E, and D overdose. How do we deal with this?

Read the labels. Know what kind of supplement you are taking. You have to know if the fish oil supplements you are taking exceed the recommended level. To avoid an overdose of Vitamin A and D, avoid using fish oil that includes the internal organs like liver.

Fish oil is something that can very essential in improving our physical and mental health as long as it is taken in recommended doses and amounts. Let us remember that fish oil is not a magic pill that would immediately remove us of any ailments and pains. Its effects can be gradually noticed over time.

The Dark Side of Fish Oil: The Side Effects

First you need to understand that fish oil has a lot of benefits. The omega-3 fish oil belongs to the essential fatty acids which our body needs. Our body does not have any capabilities of producing the omega-3 so we rely on external sources, mainly fish rich in oil, as our main source. The fact that it is labeled essential fatty acid means that our body really needs it and the lack of which could result to a variety of health consequences.

Among the known benefits of taking omega-3 includes reducing the risks of having heart disease, can reduce the development of cancer cells, prevents pregnancy complications, improves eyesight and helps prevent depression. We can have a longer list but I wont trouble you with that, needless to say the benefits of fish oil are real. But unknown to quite few, the fish oil supplements that we all think of as friends has the dark side too, has side effects which when left uncheck can be quite harmful and can even prove to be fatal.

If our list of benefits is quite long, the side effects not as many. The side effects only manifests when one overdoses with the intake and can even disappear after a few days. Sometimes that body just needs to get used to the fish oil and once it has adjusted, the side effects would disappear. Some of the minor and immediate side effects include a fishy after taste and diarrhea.

These two often appears during the first few days of taking the fish oil. These symptoms should disappear after a couple of days but in case they dont changing brands of fish oil supplements might help. But setting up a meeting with your doctor would be the best idea.

After a couple of weeks of taking fish oil capsules, you might notice some fishy burping before and after each meal. This can just be because your body is still adjusting. Give it a couple of days and the burping might stop. Although, you should check the expiry dates of your of your supplements. You might also want to consider that what you have been taking are bad quality produce. Changing brands might help. Some suggest keeping the supplements in a freezer to prevent the various gastrointestinal side effects.

On the other hand, blood thinning is something that you cannot eliminate by just simply changing brands. You see omega-3 from fish oils is great for the heart because it is a natural blood thinner. They help coagulate the blood which helps prevent blood clots which helps prevent heart diseases.

But because omega-3 is already a blood thinner, people who are already taking blood thinning medications should avoid the intake of either the fish oil or the blood thinning drug. The possible problem with this is that people will get too much blood thinners resulting to patients bleeding out. The bleeding could be internal which can damage organs and could result to something fatal.

You should watch out for signs of internal bleeding like black stools or the presence of blood in the stool or vomiting of blood which are all signs of gastrointestinal bleeding. When you bleed in the brain the signs could be changes in your vision or speech, numbness of an arm or leg, and severe headache.

The dark side of fish oil is just that, one part of a fairly good supplement. There are ways to prevent the side effects and most of them through proper consultations before you even start taking those fish oil supplements.