Are you wondering if a change in diet might help with the health of your joints? There’s a lot of evidence out there that limiting the amount of inflammatory foods in your diet could help to reduce the pain caused by osteoarthritis.
If you’re looking for ideas, veganism or a plant-based diet could be something useful for you to consider. Cutting out or limiting the animal products you consume could seem like a drastic change, but the benefits are worth it!
Read on to learn more about what a vegan diet is, how it can have a positive effect on joint health and the discomfort caused by osteoarthritis, and how you can incorporate more positive eating habits into your lifestyle to help lower inflammation.
What is a vegan diet?
A vegan diet is a diet that excludes all animal products. Unlike a vegetarian diet, this is not just limited to meat products, but also anything containing dairy (like cheese and yoghurt), eggs, or honey.
Some vegans replace meat in their meals with plant-based proteins that mimic meat, like certain forms of seitan (vital wheat gluten) or soya mince, and others might choose not to eat meat substitutes and instead pack their meals with other sources of protein, like beans and legumes, or tofu.
Aside from the fruits and vegetables you’re already familiar with, there are many products available that you can use to create tasty and filling dishes if you choose to follow a vegan diet, and loads of products you may already know that just happen to not contain any animal products.
What is osteoarthritis?
Osteoarthritis is a degenerative joint disease that causes the cartilage on the ends of your bones to wear down, exposing the bone and reducing the ability of the cartilage to protect against the friction caused when your joints are used. This can make even the simplest of activities more painful and difficult, depending on the joints affected. Walking can become more uncomfortable, or typing, or even just the act of standing up and sitting down. Everyday life can become much more complicated as the damage to the protective cartilage progresses.
How could switching to a vegan diet help you?
A vegan diet could help reduce joint pain by eliminating some foods that are known to cause inflammation in the body. Many dairy products, including cheese and butter, as well as red or processed meat, contain high levels of saturated fats, which have been linked to increased inflammation and could potentially worsen the discomfort caused by arthritis. Dairy products are also a common trigger for inflammation for those who are lactose intolerant.
A vegan diet naturally emphasises not only removing certain things from your diet, but also incorporating lots of amazing anti-inflammatory foods that can help support your joint health and reduce the effects of inflammation throughout your body.
Maintaining a well-balanced vegan diet can mean finding new ways of filling your diet with the nutrients and vitamins your body needs to keep you healthy. Loading up on more fruits and vegetables can help you to receive vitamins and antioxidants – leafy greens and berries in particular are great for this! Whole grains, beans, and lentils are loaded with fibre and protein, which can help to promote a healthy gut, which is linked closely to lowering inflammation. These foods can be incorporated into your diet in place of more highly processed foods or refined carbohydrates, including things like white bread and pasta.
Incorporating vegan habits into your lifestyle
For many people, switching to a vegan diet could help reduce joint pain by removing those trigger foods that cause inflammation and substituting them with plant-based ones that promote healthy joint function.
You don’t necessarily need to change everything, though! A vegetarian diet could feel like a less drastic change, and even just introducing more vegan habits can still help to make a huge difference. A varied diet including more fruits, veggies, and whole grains could be a simpler step towards better overall health, including your joint health.
Not everyone is going to be equally affected by the consumption of dairy or meat, but it could make a difference for you. It might help to have a chat with your GP if you feel uncertain about the changes you are trying to make to your lifestyle.
Changes to your diet are not a quick fix, but could be beneficial in the long term. If you are experiencing joint pain and discomfort, FlexiSEQ contains unique SEQ Tech™ which delivers plant-based phospholipids into joints to help lubricate and protect damaged cartilage. Drug free and clinically proven, FlexiSEQ is suitable for maintaining the health of all synovial joints.
