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Moving Through Arthritis - What Every Body Needs to Know

March 29, 2026 • Linda Brown, MPT

0:00 | 46:57

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I am so glad you're here today because we are diving into a topic I am truly passionate about: arthritis.

Many people believe arthritis is just an inevitable part of aging, but it actually affects people of all ages and is widely misunderstood and mismanaged. As a physical therapist for over 20 years and a functional nutritionist, I look at the "whole person"—your movement, food, lifestyle, stress, and sleep. Because in the world of joint health, everything is connected.

In this episode, we break down:

The Types: Understanding the differences between Osteoarthritis (mechanical and biochemical), Rheumatoid Arthritis (autoimmune/systemic), and Psoriatic Arthritis.
The Root Causes: Why factors like dehydration, poor mechanics, obesity, and gut health matter more than the date on your birth certificate.
Prevention & Management: Why "motion is lotion" and how to use strength training and anti-inflammatory living to reclaim your function.
The Kitchen Pharmacy: A deep dive into "SMASH" fish, colorful polyphenols, and the foods that either fuel or fight the fire of inflammation.

Whether you are looking to prevent joint pain or are currently managing a diagnosis, remember: your refrigerator should be your medicine cabinet. Grab a cup of tea, and let’s get into it!

"It's not magic, it's biology. Your body wants to feel good—give it a chance."

Thank you for listening to Healthy California.

If you have tried all my suggestions and are still having trouble with your health, and would like an appointment with me, please email me, text, or call me via the contact information below.

My contact:

Linda Brown, MPT, Doctoral Candidate Functional Nutrition

916-426-2543

linda@heal-throughfood.com

www.heal-throughfood.com

I am so glad you're here today because we are diving into a topic that I am truly passionate about, and that is arthritis.

So many people have arthritis these days.

Arthritis affects people of all ages, not just elderly.

I know we kind of think that arthritis just comes with age, but arthritis affects people of all ages.

And it's mostly misunderstood because of this. It's mismanaged because of this.

But here is the good news.

It is very preventable and improvable if you already have the condition.

I've been a physical therapist for over 20 years, and I also work as a functional nutritionist, which means I look at the whole person.

I look at your movement, your food, your lifestyle, your stress, and your sleep.

It's all connected. Everything is connected.

And nowhere is this more true than arthritis.

So today we're going to cover what arthritis is, how and why people develop it, what you can do to prevent it, how to manage it if you already have it, and whether you can reverse it or not.

And finally, we will go over foods that make a difference, because your kitchen is the most powerful treatment tool, and your refrigerator should be your medicine cabinet.

Grab some water, or grab a cup of tea, and let's get into it.

So, what is arthritis?

The word itself comes from the Greek arthro, meaning joint, and itis, meaning inflammation.

So at its basic, arthritis means inflammation of a joint.

But that simple definition doesn't capture how complex this condition really is.

Here's what surprises most of my patients.

Arthritis isn't just one disease. It's an umbrella term for over 100 conditions that affects joints, that surrounding tissues and sometimes other organs.

But for the purpose of today's episode, we're only going to be talking about a few.

We're going to be talking about osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, and briefly, psoriatic arthritis.

Let's talk about osteoarthritis real quick, OA, osteoarthritis.

This is the most common form, and it's typically what we think of as a wear and tear type of arthritis.

But honestly, this term does it a disservice because it makes it sound like it's an inevitable aging process.

And that's not true.

Osteoarthritis involves the breakdown of cartilage many times.

And cartilage is that smooth, cushioning tissue that covers the end of your bones, and it's inside of your joint.

When the cartilage wears down, bones start to rub against each other, causing pain and swelling and stiffness, and then that will reduce our range of motion.

The joints most commonly affected are your knees, your hips, your hands, and your spine.

Those are like the main weight-bearing joints that are the most mobile joints.

But here's what I want you to understand.

Osteoarthritis is not just mechanical.

There is a strong inflammatory component to osteoarthritis.

Research over the last decade has really shifted our understanding.

So it's not just bones grinding on bones, there's a real biochemical inflammation happening in the joint tissue.

And that matters because inflammation is something that we can influence.

You know, I talk about inflammation all the time and how we can reduce inflammation.

Well, this is one of those things.

We can influence the inflammation in our body.

So, and we'll talk about that more in a minute.

So let's talk about rheumatoid arthritis real quick.

RA, rheumatoid arthritis. This one's a little bit different. RA is an autoimmune disorder.

It's an autoimmune disease, meaning the immune system is actually attacking our joints, the synovial lining in our joints.

And that's important because that synovial lining is what produces synovial fluid, and the synovial fluid is what lubricates our joints.

RA causes chronic inflammation, pain, swelling, and over time can lead to joint deformity and damage.

RA typically affects smaller joints first, like your fingers and your wrists and your toes, and it's most oftenly symmetrical, which that just means it's the same on both sides.

Where osteoarthritis sometimes will have more OA in our right knee, more so than our left, but with RA, it attacks joints the same on both sides.

And RA is more often found in women, two to three times more in women than men.

So that kind of hints to me that there might be a hormonal component to this.

Unlike OA, RA is a systemic disease.

That means it's a disease that's throughout your whole body. It doesn't just stay in the joints.

It can affect the heart, the lungs, eyes, blood vessels.

That's why a comprehensive whole body approach is so critical here.

And then let's just talk about briefly about psoriatic arthritis.

So psoriatic arthritis is also an inflammatory arthritis.

Well, of course, arthritis ends in itis, so that's almost redundant, right?

But it's associated with psoriasis.

Psoriasis is a skin condition.

About 30% of people with psoriasis develop psoriatic arthritis.

It can affect any joint in the body and also has a systemic inflammatory character similar to RA.

And there are other forms of arthritis as well that we're not going to go over, but that includes gout, which involves uric acid, uric acid crystals forming in the joints, ankylosing spondylitis, which affects the spine, and then we have a reactive traumatic arthritis, and that might be an arthritis that shows up spontaneously and usually due to some sort of trauma.

And all your markers will say that you have arthritis, but it usually goes away if it's due to trauma and you take care of it, can go away just as fast as it came.

So that's more of a reactive or traumatic arthritis.

And what do all of these have in common?

What do the ones that I mentioned, what do they have in common? Inflammation.

They all end in itis, so that means they all are an inflammatory process.

Whether it's the cause or the effect, inflammation is the center of all of this.

You know, you can look at that as being great news because that means we can address it and we can do something about it.

And we can do that through movement, nutrition, lifestyle, lifestyle modifications, and we're going to go over all that.

But let's go over first, how do people get arthritis?

let's start with osteoarthritis first.

Osteoarthritis, I'm going to start off with dehydration.

That seems something simple, right?

Dehydration, the cells in the joints responsible for making that lubricating fluid, that synovial fluid, right?

I just talked about it.

When those cells are dehydrated, they will stop making that fluid because they're trying to conserve their fluid.

So the lubricating fluid actually stops being made.

And even a little bit of dehydration can cause synovial fluid to be stopped.

So dehydration is something we can fix pretty easily, right?

So we can get arthritis from dehydration.

And then of course, we all think about age.

Well, cartilage does change as we get older, but especially will change if we have those dried out cells not making fluid, the synovial fluid.

And that can happen at any age.

And the longer you stay dehydrated, the faster you will get pain in your joints.

So think about that for a second.

If you can just mitigate dehydration, mitigate arthritis by staying hydrated, that can add a few years to your knees, right?

So chondrocytes are cells that make cartilage.

They become less efficient at repair over time, but age alone doesn't cause osteoarthritis.

It's how we treat our bodies in that time.

It's not age, it's what we do in that time.

So if you take good care of your body and you're 70, you could still have a really good, healthy life, healthy body.

But if you take horrible care of yourself and at age 40 you have arthritis, it's not the age, it's what you're doing in that time.

So it's all about taking care of what you have.

So another way people get arthritis is previous

So this is a big one, right?

Because that's why we all go to physical therapy or have surgeries.

Let's say you've had an ACL repair, torn ACL or a knee replacement.

You are at higher risk of osteoarthritis in that joint because the injury disrupts normal mechanics of the joint and can initiate an inflammatory response.

And that's why we go to physical therapy.

The physical therapist can change your body mechanics and get you back to moving normally sooner.

So injury can cause an arthritis.

I think we know that injury can lead to arthritis, but that's just one of the many ways we can get arthritis.

But the other one is repetitive use or repetitive trauma.

Sometimes we're in occupations that require us to do the same thing over and over and over, like kneeling down, standing up, kneeling down, standing up.

That can be hard on your knees as well.

Or if you're an athlete that does the same thing over and over, that repetitive trauma can also ruin our joints.

However, if our joints are strong and if our body mechanics are good, we can mitigate that.

So let's say we have a runner that has poor body mechanics and is dehydrated and they don't have proper form.

They are not going to be able to run as far or as long as someone that has really good nutrition and good body mechanics and they end up being 70 years old still running marathons as opposed to someone with poor body mechanics and they're 30 and they can't run half a marathon.

So it's something to think about.

It's just that repetitive use and what are you doing to keep yourself healthy.

If you think about an athlete, like a pro athlete, they do everything they can to stay at an elite level.

So if you are in sports, do what the pro athletes do.

They take care of themselves.

They eat right.

They get massages if they have to get massages.

And if you can't get massages, at least just eat healthy, stay hydrated, do your stretches, do your exercises, go to your trainer or your therapist and have them give you good stabilization and postural exercises to keep your body mechanics good.

And then another way people get arthritis is obesity.

Obesity isn't just about the weight on your skeleton. It's about the adipose tissue on your body.

Every pound of body weight, of course, adds roughly 4 pounds of force on the knee joint.

But adipose tissue produces inflammation.

We have these inflammatory cytokines, and those inflammatory cytokines signals systemic inflammation.

So it's not the weight on your frame as much as it is the adipose causing those inflammatory signals in your body to create inflammation.

And then another way people get arthritis is muscle weakness.

This one I address every single day is muscle weakness.

That's what PTs do. That's my work. That's the work.

Weak muscles, especially around the hips and the knees and the back and the core, mean that the joint absorbs the impact instead of the muscles and the ligaments and the tendons supporting it.

When the muscles aren't doing their job, the cartilage pays a price.

And if we're talking about our back, that cartilage would be more like a disc.

Other things that cause arthritis are poor movement patterns.

And this is what we address in physical therapy all the time.

Movement quality matters as much as the quantity. Actually, movement quality matters more than movement quantity.

It doesn't matter how much you move. If you're moving wrong, it's a recipe for disaster.

So get that movement quality down first, and then you will be able to move more and better and longer.

And if you're moving incorrectly, you know, whether that's the way you're walking or squatting or carrying things or just your general posture, you can change that.

And it's just a matter of strengthening things, getting them back in balance, and creating like a normal distribution in your joints.

Because over time, that imbalance degrades cartilage in specific areas.

The body is actually made perfectly.

And if you are out of balance, in one direction or the other.

I mean, out of balance, meaning like you're stronger on one side than the other, or you are tighter on one side than the other.

There's an imbalance there, and that throws your body mechanics off.

And that's what physical therapy would help you with.

So that's how you would get osteoarthritis.

Let's talk about rheumatoid arthritis real quick.

It's a little bit different.

Rheumatoid arthritis, you know, is an autoimmune disorder. And so genetics plays a pretty big role in this. but not the complete role.

We have specific genes like the HLA-DR4 gene, that increases susceptibility.

But just because we have the genetics does not mean that's our destiny.

Because we can change how that is triggered.

So that's genetics.

I'm going to put that down as being a small portion of the rheumatoid arthritis.

And then there's gut health and the gut microbiome.

This is fascinating and well researched.

The gut microbiome plays a massive role in immune regulation.

And injury is an immune response, or fixing an injury can be an immune response.

And an imbalance in gut bacteria is strongly associated with the development of autoimmune conditions.

And that's something that you can look up.

There is a strong correlation between the gut microbiome and autoimmune conditions, including RA.

And if you have an autoimmune disorder, you will likely have another one.

So, and you don't want that, right? Because an autoimmune disorder is uncomfortable at the least.

But then to have another autoimmune disorder, inflammation, again, is in the center of that.

If you're inflamed and you have an autoimmune disorder, that inflammation can also lead to another one.

Another way you can get osteoarthritis is a trigger like smoking.

It's the strongest modifiable risk factor for rheumatoid arthritis.

So smoking triggers an immune response that can trigger autoimmune disorders, especially if you have the genes for it.

So if you have the genes for RA, you want to stay away from anything inflammatory.

And then another one is hormonal factors.

Because RA is most common in women and often improves during pregnancy, hormones clearly play a role.

Even though the mechanisms aren't well known, they're obviously complex, but knowing that there's hormonal factors, we want to make sure that our hormones are in check.

Another one that may cause rheumatoid arthritis is chronic stress and trauma.

Even if that trauma was years and years ago,

Chronic stress does a number on our nervous system and triggers an immune system response because it's inflammatory.

You know, chronic stress is inflammatory. It's a fight and flight response.

And when we are in a constant state of running from a tiger, things like our digestive system, our reproductive system, our hormonal system, it all is blunted.

Because the last thing we want to do when we're running from a tiger, we don't need to digest the time.

We don't need to think about procreating at the time.

We don't think about sleeping, you know, because we're running from that tiger, right?

So chronic stress is a way of us constantly running from that tiger.

So chronic stress is inflammatory and trauma. And when I say chronic stress, I mean chronic stress and trauma.

It's all inflammatory.

And then another thing for a cause of rheumatoid arthritis is diet, diet and gut permeability.

I talked earlier about gut health and the microbiome, but gut permeability is also gut health, but it's not the microbiome as much as it is leaky gut.

Things are getting through that gut barrier that aren't supposed to.

And then things end up in our bloodstream and our body doesn't know what to do with it, so then it triggers an immune response.

So nutrition is a main key for people with rheumatoid arthritis.

So the bottom line is arthritis has multiple causes, which involve a combination of genetics, lifestyle, environment, and the way we move, or even the way we don't move.

And that means that there's a lot we can do.

That's pretty empowering, knowing that some of these things, besides genetics, some of these things we can change.

And even if we have the genetics, we can make lifestyle choices to turn that gene on later or put it into remission.

There are things that we can do even if we have the genes.

Okay, so that's how you get arthritis.

How do you prevent it? Let's talk about that for a little bit.

Now, when I talk about prevention, I like prevention because in most of chronic diseases, inflammation is the cause of most chronic diseases.

And the best treatment is prevention.

So if the best treatment is prevention, let's figure out how to prevent this.

I'm going to say move regularly and move well.

I can't stress this enough.

And it's not just because I'm a physical therapist.

Motion is lotion for the joints. And synovial fluid, which is that lubricating fluid, circulates in your joints when you move.

It actually signals the cells in your joint to create more synovial fluid through movement.

Otherwise, it's not going to. So motion is lotion, and that's absolutely true.

The cartilage doesn't get nutrients from the blood.

It gets nutrients from the synovial fluid and the nutrients that are inside the joint itself.

So every time you move, you're literally feeding your cartilage.

You have to move to keep your joints healthy.

And it's not just about how much you move, it's how you move.

So see your physical therapist.

They'll recommend a balanced movement protocol, and that would involve strength training, mobility and flexibility work, cardiovascular exercise.

So strength training builds muscles around the joints, especially the hips and glutes and back, the quads, or all the muscles that surround your knees for that matter.

You want strong, supportive muscles acting as natural shock absorbers, especially around the core, because we all have back trouble as well and back arthritis.

So strength training is going to improve all that.

And then a physical therapist can also help you with mobility and flexibility.

Maintaining a full range of motion in your joints.

It's always best to maintain full range of motion.

So even though your joints move, it has to move through full range of motion.

If you have full range of motion, you have to be strong through that whole range of motion.

And a joint that can't move through its full range of motion is going to have problems.

And then you're going to end up seeing your physical therapist anyways.

So you might as well start moving, start becoming flexible, start becoming mobile.

And then the other thing about moving is that cardiovascular exercise that I just mentioned.

If you have arthritis and you can't tolerate heavy lifting, it's still important that you do strength training because you need to keep the muscle strong.

But if you are doing cardiovascular, exercise to keep your heart strong and your blood pumping, your vessels pumping, then you can do things like swimming, cycling, walking, rowing. It's all low impact and it can keep your joints moving and your body healthy without that excessive joint impact.

So I need you to move and movement for prevention of arthritis.

And then another way you can prevent arthritis is maintaining a healthy body weight.

And it's not just because of the amount of weight on your frame, it's the fact that the more muscle you have on you is a determiner of longevity.

But also the more muscle you have on you, the more you're going to have anti-inflammatory cytokines going through your body.

So having more muscle is anti-inflammatory.

Having more adipose tissue is inflammatory.

So maintaining a healthy body weight is going to keep more muscle, which is anti-inflammatory, and less fat, which is pro-inflammatory.

So that's the main reason for maintaining a healthy body weight.

And then you want to protect your joints from injury, of course.

If you're an athlete or do physically demanding work, invest in proper mechanics, proper footwear, proper clothing.

Do an adequate warm up and cool down.

Don't play through significant pain.

And if you have pain, figure out why.

Because one serious joint injury can change the trajectory of that joint health for decades if you don't treat it properly.

Another way you can prevent arthritis is to support your gut health, especially if you have a family history of autoimmune arthritis.

I mentioned gut health earlier, but eating a diverse, fiber-rich diet supports a healthy microbiome, which then reduces inflammation.

Avoid processed foods, avoid excess sugar.

And then also unnecessary antibiotics.

Don't just take an antibiotic just to take an antibiotic.

Especially if you're sick, try to figure out how to get rid of that sickness before you reach for that antibiotic.

Antibiotics will wipe out your gut flora, that microbiome, and you have to start over.

And in the meantime, as you're starting over, you're setting yourself up for other disease process.

And another way you can prevent arthritis is give your body what it needs to heal.

You can't avoid everything.

You can't avoid injuries sometimes. You can't, there's just a lot of things you can't avoid.

But then there are things that you can, like we just went over some things you can change.

If you are in a position where you have an injury and you don't want to develop arthritis, give your body what it needs to heal.

This means minimizing inflammatory lifestyle.

So you need to get good sleep or you need to manage your stress.

You need to be physically active.

You need to avoid processed foods.

You need to quit smoking.

You know, smoking is that big, the biggest modifiable risk factor that you can do for pretty much many chronic diseases.

But get rid of that smoke, avoid excess alcohol, and hydrate.

That's what your body needs to heal.

It needs good sleep, stress management, good food, and hydration.

These all drive the inflammatory environment that either initiates or accelerates arthritis.

So if you have arthritis or you're starting to get arthritis, how then can we manage that?

What can you do to improve or manage your quality of life if you're already headed down that road?

I want to be very clear. A diagnosis of arthritis is not a life sentence of pain or limitation.

I've seen plenty of people, plenty of my patients, that manage their arthritis, including myself.

I have arthritis on my back. I've had it since an injury when I was 13.

And there have been days where I can't bend over to tie my shoes or even put my shoes on or walk across the floor, and there are times I've been out for two weeks because of back pain.

But once I learned how to manage it, I'm doing 50 mile runs, 100 mile hikes,

I do CrossFit regularly, a few times a week, and there's really nothing I can't do.

And that's living with arthritis in my back.

So let's figure out how to manage it.

This is my wheelhouse. This is what I know.

And exercise is one of the most effective treatments for arthritis. Not rest, but movement.

So for OA patients, the key priorities are strengthening the muscle around the joint, improving movement patterns, restoring and maintaining range of motion, reducing pain through manual therapy like massage or soft tissue work and modalities, modalities like heat or ice, and then hydration.

That's a good place to start.

And then of course, a healthy anti-inflammatory diet.

So that's how you'd manage it if you already have it.

Another way you can manage it is like aqua therapy.

If you can't go out and do exercise for your heart, like running or biking, try aqua therapy.

The buoyancy of the water reduces the load off your joints.

And it's fun and it's a great form of exercise.

Another one is Pilates or yoga. With Pilates, I know you can strengthen without necessarily having weight through your joint.

Because in Pilates, you can get into positions where you strengthen through full range of motion without putting stress of impact through that joint.

And with yoga, you have also good stretching through full range of motion.

Pilates and yoga are great forms of exercise.

And then of course, to manage arthritis, you want to live an anti-inflammatory lifestyle.

And anti-inflammatory lifestyle does not mean taking an anti-inflammatory pill.

So an anti-inflammatory lifestyle means managing your sleep and your stress and your diet.

And we'll talk about diet in a second, but sleep, this is a non-negotiable.

The body needs to sleep to heal.

During sleep, your body repairs tissues, regulates inflammatory pathways, regulates hormones, regulates blood sugar, and chronic sleep deprivation elevates inflammation.

And you need about 7 to 9 hours of sleep to repair.

So even if you're one of those people who say that you don't need 8 hours of sleep, you may not think you need 8 hours of sleep, but your body does.

Like your mind might not think it needs it because there's too many things to do, but your body does.

And actually your mind does too. Your mind needs to file away all the previous day's records. So you do need to get better sleep and good quality sleep.

And the other thing is stress management.

I mentioned earlier, stress is inflammatory, so you need to manage your stress.

Chronic stress elevates cortisol. Cortisol increases blood sugar, and cortisol is pro-inflammatory, so it increases inflammation.

You can manage stress by going for a walk outside in nature.

Meditate, pray, breath work, yoga, take things off your plate.

Take things off your schedule.

I mean, the last thing you want to do is add one more thing onto your schedule because I'm telling you to meditate.

Like, when do I have time to meditate?

Well, if you don't have time to meditate, then you probably have too much on your plate.

Think about what you can take off your plate.

And then if you have arthritis and you're trying to manage it, you can manage it with heat and cold.

Heat increases blood flow and relaxes muscles around stiff joints. I find that heat does better with chronic arthritis long-term.

And cold reduces acute inflammation and pain. So cold can take away pain and dull the pain down and take away swelling that might cause pain.

But sometimes you can alternate heat and ice and heat and ice.

Try them both and do what works best for you.

So I get asked this all the time.

Can arthritis be reversed?

Well, for osteoarthritis, cartilage has a limited ability to regenerate.

Once it's significantly downgraded, it has a hard time regrowing just because it doesn't have a lot of blood supply.

However, there are still things you can do to manage the pain and the stiffness.

Sometimes the pain comes from just, again, being out of balance.

And if you get yourself strong and moving normally, you might not get rid of the arthritis, but you definitely can get your daily function back.

And I am living testimony to that because one minute I was not able to walk across the floor. But now I am doing these crazy hikes and crazy runs and doing CrossFit.

And I've had arthritis in my back my whole life.

Pain in arthritis is driven by inflammation, so you have to get rid of the inflammation.

It's driven by muscle dysfunction, so you have to get rid of that dysfunction.

It's not a structural damage.

It's more of a systemic inflammation.

So you got to get rid of that inflammation.

And that's through the diet and the lifestyle and the strengthening, supporting muscles.

Again, we're going to go over that diet.

There's other things you can do that are promising therapies, and that's like PRP therapy. PRP stands for platelet-rich plasma.

And there's also stem cell therapy. I have seen plenty of people get stem cells in their knees and actually ended up running again and hiking again, playing golf again.

So stem cells, there's a lot of research on it, and the stem cell technique is getting better and better.

So that shows a lot of promise for cartilage repair, getting new cells in there to repair the cartilage.

And if I can say one thing about cortisone shots, cortisone shots can help get rid of pain because it gets rid of inflammation, but it only gets rid of inflammation temporarily.

But the long-term effect of cortisone is it destroys the joint.

So even if you want to get a cortisone shot to get rid of the pain while your body is trying to repair the joint, cortisone actually degrades a joint and it will get rid of inflammation, yes.

But if there's any other way you can reduce your pain while your body is trying to repair itself, I would try to avoid cortisone shots if you can.

I am not in your body, so I can't tell you what to do. I'm not living in your pain.

I'm just letting you know, cortisone shots are not the answer if you can try other things, like PRP or stem cell or other shots that they can give you that doesn't have cortisone in it.

And then, so that was for osteoarthritis.

For rheumatoid arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis can go in remission.

So when you're in remission, you can do all the strengthening stuff that we talked about, including getting your gut right, stress management exercise.

But if you are having a flare-up, you don't want to push that joint because that is going to trigger your body to fight the joint, fight itself.

But you can, obviously, you can still do your stress management and sleep.

Just don't push the joint while you are having a flare-up.

You might not have a full reversal of arthritis, but you can become functional again.

You can become functional again. And again, I am living proof of that, I have arthritis, but I am completely functional.

Let's go over foods. Foods that help arthritis.

Any arthritis, all arthritis.

So here are the highlights.

Foods to embrace. We'll talk about foods to avoid and foods to embrace.

Foods to embrace.

fish, fatty fish. I call them smash fish. Actually, Dr. Mark Hyman calls them smash fish.

Smash stands for salmon, mackerel, anchovies, and sardines and herring

These are anti-inflammatory. They have a lot of omega-3s, specifically EPA and DHA.

And you can try to aim for two to three servings a week.

And wild-caught fish is preferred.

And if you don't eat fish, you might want to think about supplementing, supplementing omega-3 fatty acids, the EPA and the DHA.

And then you want to have very colorful fruits and vegetables. The more color, the better.

These foods are rich in polyphenols and antioxidants, and that decreases inflammation.

They neutralize free radicals.

And the ones that stand out are like berries, blueberries, tart cherries,

Those are known for reducing joint pain.

Strawberries as well, and they have, strawberries have good form of vitamin C.

Leafy greens like spinach, kale, Swiss chard, they're all rich in vitamin K, folate, and antioxidants as well.

Broccoli contains sulforaphane, which can slow down cartilage damage.

Bell peppers are high in vitamin C. We need vitamin C to build collagen. To build collagen, actually, we need vitamin C and magnesium.

And collagen is in our bones, it's in our joints, it's in our ligaments, tendons.

We need collagen for everything, especially for trying to repair.

But you can't just take collagen and expect for our knee pain to go away.

To build healthy collagen, you need vitamin C And magnesium.

But bell peppers have a great amount of vitamin C, more than an orange actually.

And then extra virgin olive oil.

Olive oil has been shown to inhibit inflammation as much as ibuprofen actually.

So use it liberally on your salads and your vegetables.

And if you're going to cook with it, only like saute low heat cooking.

It's not good at a high heat point.

If you need to cook at a higher heat point, you can use like olive oil or ghee.

And then turmeric and ginger.

Use them constantly.

Just get used to putting them in everything.

Turmeric you can put in your smoothie and soups and rice.

You can put ginger in all that same stuff too.

You can make ginger tea.

They're very anti-inflammatory. They just need to be in your kitchen at all times.

And then there's bone broth. Bone broth is rich in collagen.

Again, if you're going to have anything with collagen, you want to take vitamin C and magnesium, but collagen is going to be what helps rebuild those joints.

And it's actually good for your gut as well.

I would think about a cup a day if you have arthritis.

And then you want nuts and seeds, especially walnuts and flaxseeds and chia seeds.

They're good plant-based sources of omega-3s.

They're anti-inflammatories.

A small handful of walnuts A day is going to be plenty.

But think about nuts and seeds to help with arthritis.

And then green teas, fermented foods,

Fermented foods like yogurt, kefir, sauerkraut, kimchi, miso, they support a healthy gut microbiome, which is great for immune system, and especially if you have rheumatoid arthritis.

So those are good anti-inflammatory foods to eat.

So let's think about what we shouldn't eat, what we should avoid.

Well, this is not going to be a big surprise.

Sugar and refined carbs, this is a big one.

Sugar directly activates the inflammatory pathways.

And there's sugar in everything. So get rid of it.

And even if you have to wean yourself off of it, sugar is so hard to get rid of and controlling that you might have to wean yourself off of it because it does have a strong effect on us, like a drug.

So things that have sugar, pretty much everything. Reduce anything that might cause a sugar spike.

And then you think about sodas, candies, white breads, pastries, ice cream, all have sugar in it.

They're going to fuel that fire.

Anything that processed or ultra-processed foods, they're loaded with vegetable oils and they're high in omega-6, we need to have higher omega-3, not omega-6. And they have additives and preservatives. If they have a shelf life, they're going to probably be filled with preservatives, and that drives inflammation.

It comes in a package with more than five ingredients and you can't pronounce any of it.

Just stay away from it. Put it back on the shelf.

Another thing is trans fats and industrial seed oils like corn. If you were to see how they get oil out of corn, you'd be surprised. It's not easy.

They have to highly process corn to get corn oil.

Same thing with soybean and canola and margarine. Margarine is partially hydrogenated.

Margarine is not actually natural.

All those are very inflammatory.

So try switching to olive oil and avocado oil and coconut oil, much healthier forms of oil.

To help with arthritis, think about avoiding gluten.

Not for everyone, it's individual, but for many people with autoimmune disorders, removing, like RA, removing gluten significantly reduces symptoms.

Try thinking about doing a 30-day elimination on the gluten, and you'd be surprised on what happens with your pain.

Same thing with dairy. Try A 30-day elimination trial with dairy. Dairy is individualized.

Some people can tolerate it, but it is a thing that as we get older, we lose the enzymes for being able to process dairy.

If you have to eat dairy or you like to eat dairy, choose the dairy that's fermented, like sugar-free yogurt.

And then, of course, you want to avoid alcohol.

For some people, nightshades, Nightshades would be like eggplants, tomatoes, peppers.

And again, not everyone, but with RA particularly, some people are sensitive to nightshade.

So it'd be something to try to do an elimination on for 30 days.

And then there's supplements. Supplements with some good evidence behind it.

If you don't eat a lot of vegetables, you just don't like vegetables and you can't seem to get it in your diet, you might think about supplementing to get some of those nutrients back.

Again, we need the nutrients in order to heal ourselves.

So omega-3s, I had already mentioned omega-3s, you can get it from fish and the chia seeds and the flax seeds that has EPA and DHA. If you're going to supplement, make sure it has EPA, DHA. The omega-3 fatty acids have EPA and DHA.

Curcumin and turmeric, those are supplements.

And those have been actually known to be comparable to the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory meds.

So something to think about that you can supplement with that instead.

Collagen peptides. So collagen peptides have been growing in evidence that it supports cartilage and reduces joint pain. But remember, to build collagen, you need vitamin C and magnesium.

So if you're not getting enough vitamin C and magnesium, then you might want to think about supplementing that.

Vitamin D. Vitamin D is associated with both bone health and osteoarthritis and autoimmune disorders.

So most people with arthritis are low in vitamin D. And where do you get your vitamin D?

Everything's fortified in vitamin D now. And the best place to get it is from the sun. So think about vitamin D.

Magnesium, I had mentioned that we need that in conjunction with vitamin C for good, strong bones and to build collagen.

Magnesium, has over 300 reactions in our body.

So it's pretty important and we are deficient in it.

Another supplement that people have been trying is the glucosamine, glucosamine and chondroitin.

There's mixed evidence on this, although I have taken glucosamine for many, many years because I said I have arthritis in my back.

I took glucosamine for many years and when I stopped taking it, I realized that I needed to take it. I don't take it anymore. I haven't actually taken it for years because I eat an anti-inflammatory diet.

And with that anti-inflammatory diet, I don't need to take glucosamine. But there was a time in my life where I did and I couldn't go without it. But that has changed.

So I want to bring it all home for you.

Arthritis is one of the most prevalent and fastest growing conditions in America, but it's not something you just have to accept and suffer through it for the rest of your life.

There are things you can do to manage it and become functional again.

The body can heal itself if we give it what it needs.

If we give it what it needs, it can heal itself and it might take a long time, but that's what the body does.

It grows, it repairs, it fixes.

We just have to give it what it needs to do that.

And that is good quality food and sleep and hydration.

It can't be running from the tiger all the time.

And as a physical therapist, I've seen people that were bone on bone start hiking again and playing golf again and running again.

And as a functioning nutritionist, I've seen people with inflammatory markers that change their diet and their inflammatory markers went way down.

So it's not magic, it's biology.

And you can do this. You can do this.

So here's what I want you to take away from today.

Move your body, move it regularly, move it intentionally, and move it well.

Eat foods that fight inflammation, and not fuel it.

Support your sleep, manage your stress, protect your gut, and if you have arthritis, don't just accept it as normal.

Seek out a comprehensive, multidisciplinary approach, like see a functional nutritionist, a functional medicine doctor, a physical therapist, a massage therapist, a counselor.

Have your team that you're building for your health, have that at any given point to help you get healthier.

Because you're not your diagnosis.

Your body wants to feel good.

Give it a chance.

And I'm living proof of that.

As usual, here is a verse that I kind of thought about for this week.

It is from Proverbs 3, 7 and 8, and it says, do not be wise in your own eyes, for fear the Lord and shun evil. This will bring health to your body and nourish your bones.

And even though that may not be about eating the right foods or decreasing stress, it does remind me that if you're wise in your own eyes, that means you are living life your own way.

And that usually leads to stress and lack of sleep and not having faith or trust that you're being taken care of.

So before we know it, we just end up living this lifestyle of stress. and then we have too much on our plate.

And then we end up having inflammation in our body and we just don't, that's like the last thing we need, right, is to have so much going on and then have to worry about our health.

So I'm going to read that one more time.

Proverbs 3, 7 and 8. Do not be wise in your own eyes. Fear the Lord and shun evil. This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones.