Foods for Osteoarthritis

Growing a Garden Full of Foods for Osteoarthritis

When thinking of planting a garden, make sure you choose plants that have the potential to strengthen your joints. You could go out to your garden once the foods are mature, pick them to eat and before long see improvements in your osteoarthristis. Sounds like a winning plan to me!

Which Plants Should I Choose?

• Select foods high in sulfur. Your joints need sulfur to be strong, but the American diet is not particularly high in sulfur unless you make a point of it. High sulfur foods include broccoli, mustards, cabbage, onions, garlic, watercress, kale, asparagus, chives, avocados, cauliflower, and tomatoes.
• Select seeds that are heirloom, not commercial. Commercial seeds have been hybridized, changing the original content of medicinal constituents in the foods. You can't expect food to nourish you totally. If man, in his great wisdom, decided that a plant needed more lycopene or omega 3 or whatever chemical constituent he fancied, he altered the distribution of all the nutrients in the plant – for good.
• Add medicinal herbs and culinary herbs, such as any of the following:
  • Lime Basil – Use in seafood dishes.
  • Lemon Basil – This herb adds punch to your beverages.
  • Borage – Add to your salads; the cucumber flavor of the leaves is spectacular!
  • Chervil – Add to salads and soups for flavor.
  • Chives – Add this to salads, soups, and omelettes.
  • Dandelion – This is a good liver cleanser. Eat the leaves in salad – about five a day are plenty, plus it will cleanse your liver, too.

• Echinacea purpurea – This plant is a great medicinal plant for infections, but plant the other variety Echinacea angustifolia along with it so you'll have both. Together, you could kill most infectious organisms with them as tea.
• Parsley – High in vitamin A, this culinary herb is also great for cleansing the liver.
• Plant calendula flowers – Not only are they pretty but they are medicinal. Use the flowers and leaves to make a tea and then pour the tea into the bath water. Great for relieving joints in this manner! As an alternative, consider your bath water is the tea and just add the flowers and leaves to your bath.
• Comfrey – When your joints hurt, take a comfrey leaf and mash it (or chew it) and put it directly on the joint. Then wrap the joint with another leaf and hold it in place with a bandage. You'll feel better in no time.

Start planning your garden for this upcoming planting season. Use these plants to your benefit and see what happens – your whole life could change!