Last month I ran a 4-day Arthritis Reset group program. We had a great turnout, and during those four days together several myths revealed themselves through participant questions. Let’s take a look:
Myth #1: Arthritis is an inevitable part of aging.
Myth #2: There is no way to reverse arthritis.
Myth #3: My doctor said I need to stay on medication the rest of my life.
Myth #4: I’ll never be able to exercise again.
Myth #5: My doctor said that my arthritis is not connected to food, stress or any other underlying medical condition.
To which we say: False, false, false, false, false!
Here are some truths:
Truth #1: Arthritis is the #1 disability in the country and more than 50 million people needlessly suffer with it.
Truth #2: Arthritis is afflicting more and more young people every day.
Truth #3: Arthritis is an inflammatory disease, and very often the root cause has nothing to do with age!
Truth #4: Food, stress, your gut microbiome and underlying medical conditions all influence the expression of arthritis
Truth #5: You can live a vibrant, pain-free life.
In fact, that’s why Dr. Susan Blum wrote her bestselling book, Healing Arthritis. Since its release, we have helped thousands of people learn that arthritis is NOT inevitable, and that by following the 3-step Arthritis Protocol, arthritis sufferers will be on the road to living a pain-free life.
We are on a mission to help people all over the world reverse their arthritis! If you suffer from arthritis, we want to help you too. We invite you to join us for the Healing Arthritis Challenge — a 10-week arthritis gamechanger. Dr. Blum with host 2 LIVE calls and I will host 10 Q&A support calls. You will learn exactly what you need to do to reverse your arthritis and we will be with you every step of the way. → Show Me The Challenge!
Here’s a common question: “What can I do to stop my arthritis pain?”
While most doctors offer prescription medications that create a whole host of new problems, we offer a 3-pronged approach to begin your journey to living pain-free.
3 Ways to Stop Arthritis Pain Starting Now
1. Make pain-free food choices: In fact, the single most important influence on reducing your pain is the food you eat!
Here’s what you need to do:
Increase the number of healthy foods you are eating.
- Your grocery list should include antioxidant rich dark leafy greens like spinach, kale, swiss chard; and deep, colorful berries like blackberries and blueberries. Aim for 50-75% of your food you consume each day be produce!
- Include healthy fats in every meal, such as extra virgin olive oil, avocado, avocado oil, nuts, seeds and wild caught salmon
- Fit lots of fiber onto your plate in the form of whole grains, legumes and veggies — to feed the good bacteria of the gut. (Avoid gluten if you know you are sensitive to it, or if you have autoimmune disease).
- Spice your foods with turmeric, the bright yellow indian spice that’s not only delicious but also combats inflammation.
Equally important: Avoid inflammatory foods — this includes highly processed foods made with white flour and white sugar, and practically everything that comes in a box. Avoid processed flour products like baked goods and cookies, and sweetened dairy products like ice cream. Shop the perimeter of the store – buy real, whole foods in their natural state.
Even better, we highly recommend following Dr. Blum’s Leaky Gut Diet for Arthritis, which eliminates known arthritis triggers for a period of time, and then reintroduces them in a methodical way to create your personal nutrition plan. Join us for the Healing Arthritis Challenge – I’ll be helping you navigate this healing food plan start to finish.
2. Give Stress the Boot. When it comes to arthritis, the impact of stress is largely overlooked. However, stress and trauma have serious consequences on your gut, your immune system, and your arthritis pain. Improving your resilience in the face of stressors will keep your arthritis from flaring.
Here are a few hot tips:
- Simplify your schedule. If you are suffering from arthritic pain this is a cry for help from your biological system. Give yourself time and space to renew and rebuild the resilience that you are lacking. Open space in your week to just be.
- Find time for sleep. Make sure you are getting over 8 hours of sleep a night. Work backwards from your wake-up time and get into bed 1 hour prior to that. Make a routine at bedtime that is relaxing and supportive – take a bath, sip some tea, read a pleasant book.
- Make room for movement. You don’t need to add a strenuous exercise routine right away unless you find that that helps your pain, but work towards getting there. To start, just make a plan to have a short walk outside, or put down your yoga mat and gently stretch and move your body beyond the confines of the standing and sitting of your normal day.
- Book a massage – or other bodywork – for pain relief and stress reduction. Acupuncture, craniosacral, myofascial release are all good options to check out.
- Explore mindfulness meditation. This can be a simple as listening to a guided meditation on an app or with our Blum Center recordings. It can also be as simple as breathing in and out throughout your day with intention.
3. Heal Your Gut Microbiome.
Your gut microbiome, the 100 trillion or so bacteria that live within you, are key players in the health of your immune system and a healthy gut is mandatory for preventing and treating any inflammatory disease. It’s clear that healing the gut to heal the joints is a valid, scientifically supported approach to treating arthritis. In fact, hundreds of research studies and articles have been published in the past decade proving the gut-arthritis connection, and showing us how system-wide inflammation begins deep inside your digestive system.
How do you heal your gut? Through using food as medicine, mitigating your stress response and using supplements to support your gut microbiome. Powerfully deal with stress: Less stress = less pain.
To Recap Dr. Blum’s Steps to Heal Arthritis:
Step 1: Use Food as Medicine
Step 2: Heal Your Gut Microbiome
Step 3: Build Resiliency to Stress
Sounds simple, right?
Here’s one last TRUTH: Most people succeed when they have someone with them every step of the way!
The great thing is you don’t have to do this alone!
If that’s you – you want someone to walk you through each step and you love the power of community, please consider joining me and Dr. Blum for the Healing Arthritis Challenge. We will teach you LIVE the exact 3-Step Protocol that we use with patients at Blum Center for Health.
You will learn the best food plan for arthritis, the precise supplements and dosage we recommend for an arthritis-free life, how to build resiliency so that life’s stressors won’t affect your health, and what your gut has to do with your arthritis symptoms.
Ready to live a pain-free life? Join us