Nutrition for Healthy Joints

August 17, 2020

If your joints are giving you trouble it can be debilitating. Taking care of them through proper nutrition and supplementation can provide relief … but it’s hard to know where to start. Listen in as two nutritionists share how they help clients with joint issues, and it can help you too.

 

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Transcript:

KARA: Welcome to Dishing Up Nutrition. Today's show is brought to you by Nutritional Weight & Wellness. I have some questions to ask you right off the bat. Are your joints giving you trouble? Are you eating to feed your joints the nutrients they need to stay healthy and functioning well? Are you taking vitamin supplements to support your joints? Today, Carolyn and I will be discussing nutrition for healthy joints, both food and supplements for healthy joints. My name is Kara Carper. I'm a licensed nutritionist and I'm in the studio this morning with Carolyn who is a registered and licensed dietitian. Carolyn, you have a personal story about joint health and I really think listeners - we know they love our personal stories. And I'm wondering if we could just kind of start out the show, taking a minute to share your story and you've been a really active person. So maybe you could tell how you've kept your joints healthy. And I know you also had a surgery, a hip surgery. So talk about that and what was that recovery like. Sorry. Welcome to welcome to the show, Carolyn. It's good to be here with you.

CAROLYN: Nice to see you too Kara. I haven't seen you for a long time.

KARA: Yeah, it's been awhile with COVID-19.

CAROLYN: Exactly. Well, I really do have a personal story and you know it started back when I was probably at my mid twenties. I decided I was going to start running. So at first I was running like a few miles a day, but then that wasn't enough. I kind of got the running bug. By the time I was in my thirties, I was running at least 10 to 12 miles every single day and somewhere between 20 and 30 miles on the weekend. So, I really did not realize that I was really stressing out my body by doing that much running. I wasn't giving myself a break, not even for a day.

KARA: Yeah. So can you talk a little bit more about that and then, you know, what, what helped you?

CAROLYN: Well, a lot of different things helped me more recently than then I'll just kind of finish my story because unfortunately doing that much running, of course I had injuries. That would probably be the only time I didn't run. I, I fell, you know, I, I was damaging my cartilage way back when, and, so unfortunately at the age of 66 now, you know, fast forward 33 or more years, 36 years really. I ended up having to have a hip replacement and you know, Kara, I so wish I had had Nutritional Weight & Wellness whispering in my ear that 40 years ago, because guess what? I was eating low fat. I certainly wasn't taking any supplements. And, if I did have fat, I'd have one of those processed oils or even margarine. And guess what? I loved my cereal, I had my bagels. So I had that high carb thing as well. So now of course I've been eating really, really healthy. Unfortunately my hip was beyond repair basically by...

KARA: You had mentioned kind of the bone on bone situation.

CAROLYN: Yeah, definitely bone on bone. I was in a lot of pain before my surgery, so I tried a lot of things before the surgery. But now after the surgery, I recovered so quick, I was...

KARA: I remember that cause we were in the studio together and I said, didn't you just have a hip surgery? So you, yeah.

CAROLYN: Right, right. It was in late January. So, anyway, now of course I eat really well. I don't overindulge in carbs of any kind. Basically my carbs are the good, good veggie carbs and fruit carbs. And I pretty much am taking almost everything that we're going to be talking about today. I do my Omega-3s. I do Key Collagen. I do Glucosamine so, you know, we're going to get into all of that a little bit later.

KARA: So yeah. All those supplements Carolyn just mentioned, we will talk about in more detail as well as we're going to definitely dive into more of what Carolyn just shared as far as how processed fats, processed oils, processed carbohydrates, cereal, bagels can just exacerbate inflammation, which just makes the pain worse and leads to more of that joint breakdown.

CAROLYN: I actually, I should say that before I had the hip surgery, every once in a while, you know, I would indulge in a piece of pizza and, Kara, just one slice of a very thin crust pizza would put me in pain the next day. It was just awful. So obviously I really try to avoid that whenever I can.

KARA: Well, thank you so much for sharing that. So it sounds like it was to recap: it was a combination of that kind of over exercising combined with some injuries combined with some processed oils, processed carbs, just leading to more inflammation over time.

CAROLYN: Over time. Yeah.

KARA: Well, our goal today is to help all of you understand how to incorporate an anti inflammatory diet into your everyday meals so that you can preserve your joint health. And we don't want you to need to end up having surgery. There's a lot that can be done to prevent that, but it has to be done proactively.

CAROLYN: Yeah, absolutely. And it's really all about food first, but we also want to share specific supplements that will help you support your joints. In addition, we're going to address supplements that may help you manage your joint pain, because that definitely is a big part of it when you get to the bone on bone thing.

KARA: And if you have stiff and achy joints, you're not alone. The CDC, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, estimates that at least 63 Americans suffer from chronic joint pain, aching, and stiffness.

CAROLYN: Knee replacement surgery really has become a very routine procedure in many hospitals. In fact, almost 600,000 people have a total knee replacement every year and nearly 1 million hip and knee replacement surgeries are done in the U.S. Annually. Yes. Guess what? I really did say 1 MILLION hip and knee replacement surgeries. What is even more frightening is that number is projected to increase to three and a half million in the next few years.

KARA: Just in the next few years.

CAROLYN: That's amazing. Isn't it?

KARA: That's an incredible statistic. Some damaged joints are from injuries. I mean, you had talked a little bit about that with your story, but most are from inflammation that slowly breaks down the joints causing damage and the National Institutes of Health, or the NIH, estimates that 105% increase in the number of surgeries in the next 20 years will occur. Today over half of surgeries performed are for people under 65.

CAROLYN: Well, at least I got to 66 Kara!

KARA: I was just thinking, cause you said you're 66. The research has indicated that the rising obesity levels are a major cause of total knee and total hip replacements. And a large scale study showed that obese individuals in Spain had at least a two fold increase in the likelihood of total knee replacement compared to those of normal weights. The NIH stated that reducing obesity could, you know, can help reduce the need for hip and knee surgery. I do hear that. You know, it's kind of like that excess weight can create...

CAROLYN: Well, and then didn't we get statistics this year that said our Minnesota obesity rate is going up. I'm sure it is in other states as well. And you know, that's just amazing that it just continues to increase even though we've been doing all of these things. So certainly carrying extra weight puts stress on the joints, but we want to look deeper into why those joints breakdown. This brings me back to a client story from last year. Susan, she was really excited to tell me that when she stopped eating sugar, the intense pain in her left knee stopped. Oh, I can identify with that. She went on to say that whenever she ate sugar, her knee felt like it was full of shards of glass giving her intense pain. She also said as much as I like sugar, I actually have an addiction to sugar and the pain stops me from allowing any and all sugar from going into my mouth because she said she cannot stop with just a little. For her, it was about, you know, one little bit leads to a lot.

KARA: Well, good for her for realizing that when you have an addiction to something like sugar sometimes you can't do just a little bit. Right? Well, it's time for our first break and you're listening to Dishing Up Nutrition. Today we're discussing nutrition for healthy joints, both foods to eat and foods to avoid. Additionally, we're discussing special supplements to support joint health. And if you have any questions about any of the supplements that we're going to talk about today, call our office at (651) 699-3438. You can also go to our website: weightandwellness.com to learn more. We'll be right back.

CAROLYN: Well, welcome back to Dishing Up Nutrition. As our listeners know Nutritional Weight & Wellness is all about nutrition education. And for the month of August, we are offering all of our online individual classes for only $10 per class. That's a real steal, isn't it? So one of my favorite classes is *Going Gluten Free The Healthy Way*. Another favorite class of mine is *Eating to Reduce Pain and Inflammation*. So check out our website, weightandwellness.com and sign up for one or several of these classes. It's a great deal.

KARA: It's a really great deal! $10 and you know, most of them are an hour or more. Yeah. And you can do it in your own time, in your pajamas if you'd like.

CAROLYN: Yeah, exactly.

KARA: And I, as far as I know, I think I like bought one of those classes at one point. I think you have like a couple of days to watch it. So it's just super convenient. I would recommend taking advantage of that. So before break, we were talking about while Carolyn shared a client's story. Someone who had basically a sugar addiction, but gave that up because the sugar was creating so much pain. So sugar does definitely create more pain and inflammation. Now let's talk for a minute about inflammation. Inflammation is a normal process in the body. It's a normal response to injury or attack. So let's just say you sprain your ankle. Well, your immune system is triggered to deal with that damage. If you could look inside your ankle, you would see white blood cells pouring into the damaged area to remove debris caused from the injury. We know there's inflammation because a sprained ankle would become inflamed and swollen. After a period of time, your immune system has completed its job. So then if everything's happening as it should, the inflammation and swelling would go away. So that's just a scenario of a normal inflammation response.

CAROLYN: But we have another type of inflammation and that's called chronic inflammation. So Kara, I think that's what I had. What has happening to me. I had that chronic inflammation.

KARA: It sounds like that when you shared your story.

CAROLYN: In this day and age, many of our bodies are in constant inflammation and as a result of our food choices. I was had that chronic information from both sides of my food choices and because I was stressing it out every single day. So this long term inflammatory response can be actually an underlining cause of arthritis, Alzheimers, and autoimmune diseases, such as crohn's or MS, fibromyalgia, or chronic inflammation and pain in your joints. So this chronic inflammation actually creates pain and tissue damage. And then that excess sugar in our diets seems to be the leading cause of pain and inflammation and destruction of cartilage in your joints.

KARA: So here's a simple way to understand the damage that sugar can have in the body. Too much sugar in your diet: it leads to higher blood sugar levels. Well, that makes sense, right? Like you were talking about eating cereal or bagels or, you know, sugar like...

CAROLYN: Cake.

KARA: Like cupcakes. But all of those foods, whether they're straight sugar or processed carbs, they create higher blood sugar levels. They could lead to something like prediabetes or even diabetes. Well that results in too much insulin circulating through the blood and that leads to inflammation. So the bottom line is the habit of eating too much sugar usually leads to the breakdown and the damage of tissue in the joints. And research has found that high fructose corn syrup is the most inflammatory form of sugar. If you're wondering where you find high fructose corn syrup, it's in soda, it's in a lot of processed foods, it's probably in your sweet... Your flavored coffee drinks. That's just a few examples, but we just encourage you to check the labels. Check the labels of everything. But if you have processed foods in your home and you turn it around and look at the ingredient list, you will most likely see high fructose corn syrup listed.

CAROLYN: Yeah, I think it's in just about everything that's processed. You know, the trick is eat real food, whole foods.

KARA: The fewer ingredients the better.

CAROLYN: Right. Exactly. With ongoing swelling and inflammation the texture actually of the cartilage can change from this nice smooth texture to a really rough and crackled cartilage. And my surgeon showed me pictures. I had an MRI and it was really, it's all cracked and it was torn in a number of different places.

KARA: Oh interesting!

CAROLYN: And he said, yeah, this is pretty bad. So, so I actually have seen that cracked and torn cartilage. So this means stopping. You have to stop that ongoing inflammation and it is essential to help relieve the pain and to stop any further cartilage damage. Cause when you're in pain, it's really natural to reach for aspirin or ibuprofen. But over time, these nsaids, or nonsteroidal anti inflammatory drugs, can further damage and break down the joint. And yeah, they're ... everyone reaches for the that ibuprofen.

KARA: You know, it's understandable. It's like you're in pain, but we just feel that instead of like kind of masking the problem, it's kind of a bandaid approach. It's not getting to the root cause. Getting to the root cause would be figuring out what foods are... what beverages and foods are creating that inflammation.

CAROLYN: And we're going to talk a little bit later about one of the supplements that isn't one of these nsaids that helps relieve pain, that Joint Revive, I believe is the name of that supplement.

KARA: Yes. That's a wonderful one, we'll talk about.

CAROLYN: I know I use that. I also use Kaprex before my surgery.

KARA: Yeah. Great. Well, we'll talk a little bit more about food. And then like Carolyn said, we'll dive into supplements as well. I had already mentioned some foods that can create inflammation in your joints. And some of those that we've already said are cereal. Cereal for breakfast or bagels for breakfast, toast, bread, pasta, pastries, even pizza. Those all could be your source of inflammation. All of those products contain gluten. And many of you have probably heard of gluten before. That's a protein that's found in a lot of grains. The most common grain that contains gluten is wheat and some people experience stomach problems when they're eating foods that contain gluten. Again, pizza, pancakes, pasta, bread, pastries. Recent research has found when people follow a gluten free diet, they, first of all, they have less joint pain, but it can also improve things like eczema and they have fewer headaches. So I mean, there's a lot of benefits to....

CAROLYN: Going gluten free.

KARA: Getting gluten out of the diet.

CAROLYN: Yeah. I have a lot of my clients going gluten free for a number of different things. So, if you're having any trouble with these health problems, maybe you should be switching to a diet of like meat, fish, vegetables, and only beneficial natural fats at every meal and snack. And I bet if you follow this type of eating plan for six weeks, so cut out all of those processed foods and then take inventory of your symptoms again, you are going to discover that you have less knee pain or less shoulder pain, less hip pain, fewer headaches, more energy. Maybe you might have your eczema clearing up as well. Better moods AND you're going to have an increased metabolism. So it's very possible that those gluten grains might be causing that inflammation in your body.

KARA: And the symptoms of a gluten sensitivity can really vary from person to person. Some of the symptoms might be brain fog. If you've ever eaten a sub sandwich and then within an hour or so, you just felt kind of fatigued and you had brain fog. That could be because you have a gluten sensitivity. A gluten sensitivity can also appear as muscle pain. And we often hear that gluten can create digestive problems as well, such as bloating. But a lot of people don't realize that foods that contain gluten can lead to our cartilage breaking down, perhaps in the knee or in the hip. And like Carolyn, you mentioned it can lead to weight gain and slower metabolism too.

CAROLYN: Yeah, yeah, really. So, our long time listeners know that gluten is often an ingredient in most processed foods and we've found that there are two key dietary factors that can lead to generalized chronic inflammation. One dietary factor is a high carb, high sugar diet. The other is the use of those vegetable oils, such as soybean or corn, canola or cottonseed oil.

KARA: Would this be a good time for me to tell a client story?

CAROLYN: Yeah, sure!

KARA: It just kind of popped into my mind. It was a long time ago and actually the testimonial is on the Weight & Wellness website.

CAROLYN: Oh cool.

KARA: I believe... his name was Jeff. And he did agree to do the testimonial obviously, so I can share his story. But you know, I met with him years ago and he came in with eczema and really bad joint pain. He was unable to... he had to stop playing softball. I believe it was. Or he couldn't use his shoulder. He had ton of shoulder pain and eczema. And I did not realize it was time for our break already. So let's head to our break and I'll share that when we come back. You're listening to Dishing Up Nutrition and with COVID our world is kind of turned upside down and a lot of people are having sleep problems. So when we come back from break, we're going to share some ways to get a better night's sleep.

CAROLYN: Welcome back to Dishing Up Nutrition. If you just joined us right now, Kara and I will give you a short mini class on how you can get to sleep and stay asleep. I think so many people, Kara, are having trouble sleeping during COVID. So hopefully this will help a lot of people. So my number one thing is eat a small snack at bedtime. So a good choice would be like a half of an apple with one or two tablespoons of a nut butter. That fat, that of course a nut butter is a really healthy, natural fat, right? And that helps keep our blood sugar balanced throughout the night. So people that wake up at three o'clock in the morning or whatever, it's usually their brain waking them up because your brain needs that energy throughout the night. So having that fat and the apple, that carb, the good carb there is going to help stabilize your blood sugar for a longer period of time through the night.

KARA: And that's such a simple snack and nut butter could be peanut butter, almond butter, there's great cashew butter. Sometimes I like to have a healthy fat, an avocado, as part of my bedtime snack, maybe half of an avocado and I have a cup of blueberries.

CAROLYN: Yeah, that was great.

KARA: And then the second tip is to take 400 to 600 milligrams of magnesium glycinate. And most people... I'd say three out of four are thought to be deficient in magnesium. And magnesium, it's a mineral that really helps to relax muscles. It's a very calming mineral and glycinate is just a specific form. That's very absorbable.

CAROLYN: Yeah, it's the glycinate... magnesium has to be attached to something for it to be absorbed. And glycinate is a smallest molecule. So that makes it very absorbable. And I think it's really important to, again, stress that because the most common form of magnesium out in the drug stores or wherever is magnesium oxide, and that's actually kind of can be very upsetting and is not as absorbable. And I don't know about you, but I take magnesium every single night.

KARA: I do too. And I actually take the 400 milligrams.

CAROLYN: That's exactly how much I take too.

KARA: It works great. I've been doing that for years.

CAROLYN: So to fall asleep, you could take two to five milligrams of melatonin and all you do with this is you place it under your tongue and let it dissolve. So, that's usually the best form to have. You could also do a liquid would be another good form, but taking it just like you would a pill and swallowing it usually isn't as effective.

KARA: Right. So you want to look for like the sublingual.

CAROLYN: There. I couldn't remember that word.

KARA: The little tablet that dissolves and they're meant to go under your tongue. You wouldn't want to swallow the sublingual. You just let it dissolve.

CAROLYN: I know everyone thinks and it does help you fall asleep, but I actually find, I mean, I take, I take melatonin. Every night, I take about three milligrams. I think it has improved the QUALITY of my sleep overall.

KARA: Oh, definitely. Yeah, it is. It's kind of known for its ability to help fall asleep, but a lot of people have a better sounder night sleep as well. Our fourth tip here is to take one or two capsules of an amino acid called GABA, g a b a, and that can really help calm both your body, like if you're kind of ramped up, but it can also help calm your mind. I actually do take that. Personally I take one to two of those before bed, every night.

CAROLYN: Good, good. Our fifth tip is to take two to four capsules of the 5-HTP and this is really effective to help control those really worried thoughts. So this might be a really good one during COVID because there's a lot of worries out there.

KARA: Oh yes. And, and rightly so, you know, there's a lot going on, but at that 5-HTP basically it's a form of tryptophan, which is another calming amino acid. So that's a great one. Our sixth tip is now if you're in perimenopause or menopause consider adding natural progesterone cream. The brand that we recommend it's called Progest. I know we have that on our website weightandwellness.com as well. And whenever I use progesterone cream, that's the brand that I like to use.

CAROLYN: Yeah. Well, I use it every single night. I'm obviously in menopause or past menopause, I don't even know what to say about it anymore. I did not resolve all of my sleep problems until I started consistently doing Progest cream. And I can tell if I forget to take it a few days in a row, or like, I forgot to bring it to the cabin a few weeks back and ugh I was really kicking myself.

KARA: You could tell that you didn't have it?

CAROLYN: Yes!

KARA: Oh, no.

CAROLYN: So if you're wondering where to start and what to start with, you could send us an email or call us at (651) 699-3438 and we will be sure to give you some of our best suggestions. So Kara just before we're going to go to break, you were going to tell us a story. You're going to tell us a testimonial.

KARA: Yes, I was. I apologize for starting it and then just getting cut off. But, yeah, so this client, I just thought it was appropriate for today's topic because he came into Nutritional Weight & Wellness with really bad eczema and shoulder pain. And he said, the thing that's really the worst part about it, he said, I can't even lift my arm in the air to reach back and scratch the eczema, which was on his back. I'll never forget that. But, he was a little hesitant, but he did agree to remove gluten from his diet. And he also, removed sugar, a lot of like the kind of treats and sweets that he was eating on a regular basis. And then we still... Carolyn and I will still discuss a few healing supplements for joints. And he also did take a couple of those supplements. So it was a simple, it was a pretty simple plan. Not saying it was easy, but it was simple. Gluten free, sugar free, some Omega-3 fish oil.

CAROLYN: And what happened?

KARA: Well, it took, I would say within the first month he said his eczema was halfway gone, which was a huge improvement in one month. But his shoulder pain was also like 75% better, but he kept at it. And within three months his eczema was gone. His shoulder pain was gone. So it took the body a little while to heal. You know, it did take one to three months, but he could not have been happier with the results.

CAROLYN: Yeah, that's great. I know I had a male client fairly recently that took... he came in and he was just all blotchy. His face was all blotchy. And so we went off gluten and again, he wasn't real happy about that, but, when he took the gluten out, the next appointment, which I believe was like three or four weeks later, his skin was completely clear and he walked in and says, "I can not believe this. I did not believe you, Caroline." So it's a pretty amazing.

KARA: The power of food, either adding healthy foods or removing trigger inflammatory foods. It's amazing. It really is.

CAROLYN: So, we were just talking about those bad oils too, Kara, before you started on your story.

KARA: Vegetable oils. You had mentioned kind of a list of vegetable oils or processed oils that are inflammatory. So basically it's that combination of processed oils and processed carbs and sugar that really are creating so much inflammation in the body. And when we compare sugar intake and obesity, it's no surprise that as sugar intake went up, so did the obesity rate. And remember what I said earlier, people with extra weight have an increased risk of joint problems, especially knees. Many of our clients have found when they dramatically reduce their consumption of sugar. Well, first of all, they just naturally started losing weight and they had less pain and inflammation, whether it's shoulder, knee, or hip. And so again, just the power of food is just amazing. Can't be emphasized enough.

CAROLYN: So when you eat foods with those bad oils, like soybean, corn oil, canola oil, or cottonseed oil, you're very likely will be experiencing more aches and pains because these manufactured fats lead to an imbalance of your body's fatty acid ratio. That means too much Omega-6 to Omega-3 fatty acids. So when you eat those processed refined carbs, such as convenience... that are in those convenience store muffins with sugar and bad fats, you have the perfect storm for inflammation that can break down your joints over time. And I think it's almost ready for our next break, aren't we Kara?

KARA: I think we... yes, it's about time to go to break. And I think when we come back, we will dive in and turn our attention to supplements that are going to help support healthy joints and for less pain and inflammation, just to kind of recap the food, you want to feed your joints natural unprocessed fats, grass fed meat, or wild caught fish, lots of vegetables, a variety of antioxidants. Of course, those come from fruits and vegetables. So we'll head to break and then we'll give you the rundown on those supplements, but you're listening to Dishing Up Nutrition. We understand when we're under extra stress, weight gain often follow us. So we want to invite you to take our Nutrition 4 Weight Loss program. And we offer this life changing 12 week program to you as an online series. So you kind of like the individual classes you talked about earlier, you can take this whenever it's convenient for you. Or, now this is kind of newer, if you prefer, you can join the 12 virtual classes via zoom. And so that's kind of exciting Nutritional Weight & Wellness is doing these zoom classes. So Carolyn will share the dates and times available for the zoom classes. And she'll talk more about what's included in this wonderful 12 class series, as soon as we come back from break.

CAROLYN: Well, welcome back to Dishing Up Nutrition If you're someone who prefers video conferencing or meetings via zoom, we are now offering, as Kara said before break, our Nutrition 4 Weight Loss 12 week program on two different days and times for you. So it's going to be Tuesday evenings from 6:30pm to 7:30pm CDT, starting Tuesday, August 18th. And my goodness. I think that's just next week, isn't it?

KARA: I don't know how it became August already.

CAROLYN: I don't know either! And Wednesdays from noon to one starting Wednesday, August 19th. And I am happy to say that I am actually teaching this class series with Leah. So it's going to be really fun. It's going to be my first Nutrition 4 Weight Loss zoom class.

KARA: Excellent! It's going to be a great class.

CAROLYN: I have been doing other zoom classes and they've been really fun too, but this is my first Nutrition 4 Weight Loss 12 week series. So I'm really excited about that. So with this upcoming Nutrition 4 Weight Loss series, we are offering three individual one on one appointments by phone or zoom with one of our dietitians or nutritionists to help you be successful. And remember I said earlier for the month of August, we are offering all of our online individual classes for only $10 a class. So at Nutritional Weight & Wellness, we are making every effort to support you during this very unusual time in all of our lives. You can check out all of our options by calling (651) 699-3438. Or of course you can go to the website at weightandwellness.com.

KARA: Carolyn, that is such a great deal too, those Nutrition 4 Weight Loss series, with how fun to do it for zoom and with three one-on-one appointments. It's typically two, is that correct?

CAROLYN: Right. Yeah.

KARA: So that's a really nice deal. So just to kind of recap what we were talking about right before break...

CAROLYN: Food wise.

KARA: We were talking food and gluten, sugar, processed vegetable oils, some examples that you had given of oils that we want to avoid are soybean, corn, canola, cotton seed, or you might just see vegetable oils.

CAROLYN: You know what I tell all my clients, I said, if you're looking at the oil display in the grocery store, if it's in a clear bottle, it's processed because oils are damaged by light. So you're going to get your best oils usually in a dark bottle, but still you gotta check the label to see exactly what it is, but that's a quick, easy thing for people to remember.

KARA: That's a really good recommendation. I picture like the plastic bottle of corn oil or you can see the yellow oil. Because oil is very fragile and easily damaged. Becomes rancid and oxidized... that's creating more inflammation in the body for sure. Because the oils that we, that we're eating really play a role in whether we're creating inflammation or reducing inflammation.

CAROLYN: Right. Exactly.

KARA: You know, that's why we really want more of those Omega-3 healthy fatty acids.

CAROLYN: Right. Right. And we're going to get those from salmon, cold water fish, or a supplement of course. So that I guess brings us right...

KARA: Speaking of supplements!

CAROLYN: Speaking of supplements, the first supplement that we use to support joint health is Omega-3 fatty acid. I often recommend Omega-3 1000 or the new Omega-3 Extra Strength. And you would take at least two, but you could take up to four soft gels. That's going to really help control that inflammation and pain. And really this is one supplement I tell everybody, well, unless you're eating cold water fish every day, you are not getting enough Omega-3s. So this is kind of a absolute for most of my clients if their willing to take supplements.

KARA: It really is. And the reason why most... almost everyone seems to be deficient in Omega-3 fatty acids. It's an essential fatty acid. That means it's essential to the body, but unfortunately, our bodies don't produce it. We have to get it from outside sources. So like you said, yeah, great cold water fatty fish is a wonderful source, but if you're not eating a good serving of that every day and you're not taking a high quality omega-3 soft gel, you are likely one of those people that's deficient.

CAROLYN: Exactly.

KARA: Now a new supplement that several clients have found to be very beneficial for their joints. It's called Joint Revive and this supplement contains magnesium glycinate. It also has undenatured type two collagen, and hops extract and that's been found to help decrease pain. So the recommendation on the bottle is two capsules per day. And you know, my mom, I was, I spoke with her last night and she said, yeah, that's fine. You can go ahead and share my story. But she had a knee, a knee injury or a meniscus tear, I should clarify. And unfortunately this all happened right before COVID-19 shelter in place. And just, she was unable to have a surgery because there was a lot more urgent things going on at the, at the hospitals. So she was in quite a bit of pain March, April, May at the kind of the beginning of COVID situation. So she, because she was unable to get that surgery, she really had to rely on diet, you know, her food choices and supplements to kind of just lessen than that pain and inflammation. And I recommended this Joint Revive, and she started out with two and it was, it helped a little, but it's safe to take more than that. I suggested "Mom, why don't you take four per day?" And that really made a huge difference.

CAROLYN: Yeah. That's exactly what happened to me.

KARA: Oh I didn't realize that!

CAROLYN: Because two didn't quite cut it. So I ended up with four. But that, you know, my pain was pretty intense. Obviously your mom's pain was pretty intense, so, you know, that's...

KARA: Yeah. Kind of our point is that it says two capsules, but if you are still in pain, you can take four per day.

CAROLYN: Yeah. Right. So another supplement, many of my clients find helpful in supporting cartilage is, I always get this one wrong, Chondro... is that how you say it?

KARA: Oh that one is hard to say. Chondro Relief.

CAROLYN: There we go: Chondro Relief Plus. The key ingredients are MSM, glucosamine, and chondroitin sulfate. It is a must to take at least three per day to be effective. But really, I often start with about six per day for about six weeks. That will really help nourish the cartilage and keep in mind that it's really important to feed your joints sufficient nutrients.

KARA: Now, one supplement that many of the staff at Nutritional Weight & Wellness have been taking daily. It's called Key Collagen, which contains four patented proactive peptides. That's a mouthful! To support healthy skin, strong nails, flexible, strong joints, strong bones, healthy ligaments, and tendons. And it's such a popular product. It's unfortunately on back order, but we'll be getting it back in mid September and Dar and Nutritional Weight & Wellness believe it's the only collagen product that has these four peptides that are necessary to support the tissues in the body.

CAROLYN: Yeah, there are a lot of collagen products out there, but people really need to look at the peptides in them. So that's again, I take that one every single day. That's part of my smoothie. So I love that product. So if we are intentionally starting to feed our joints, I believe we could reduce the number of knee and hip surgeries in the U.S. It is really refreshing to understand that the correct nutritional habits.... nutrition habits can actually support our joint health and save us from that ongoing pain. Okay. I think we should recap.

KARA: Yeah, we have just 30 seconds or so to recap.

CAROLYN: Well, I think one thing that really stood out for me, Kara, is when you said 105%, there's going to be 105% increase in the number of hip and knee surgeries in the next 20 years. That's amazing. Right? Scary.

KARA: It is a really very scary statistic.

CAROLYN: Number two, stay away from sugar, right? Processed carbs, all of those things, high fructose corn syrup, remember sugar equals inflammation, and that's going to lead to that joint breaking down. Have beneficial, natural fats, avoid gluten, and try some of these supplements we just mentioned.

KARA: Right. Like the Omega-3, the Joint Revive, Chondro Relief, and Key Collagen. Exactly. So, our goal at Nutritional Weight & Wellness, it's really to help each and every person to experience better health through eating real food. It's a simple, but it's a really powerful message. Eating real food is life changing. And we know that times are stressful and we really appreciate you tuning in. Wish everyone the best. Thanks for joining. Be safe and be well.

CAROLYN: See you next week.