OBESITY AND ARTHRITIS
Excessive body weight puts unnecessary pressure on the joints and can exacerbate the condition. Doctors strongly recommend that people who are overweight lose the excess through appropriate exercise and a well-balanced, low-fat diet.
Researchers, using a reliable measure called the WOMAC pain score, found that with an 8-10 weight loss, 40 per cent of the women reported only half as much pain, and a third experienced a fifty per cent improvement in functions such as walking up the stairs and getting in and out of cars. According to rheumatologists, when you walk, your knee absorbs a force equal to about three times your body weight with each step, losing even 7-8 kg. Relieves each knee of more than 20 kg. Load with every stride.
It’s also well known that being overweight increases the risk of getting OA in the first place. Obesity in itself exerts some metabolic influence on bone and cartilage.
SUGGESTED WAYS TO LOSE WEIGHT
• Eat only light, simple food for three days before you go on a week’s fast. This prepares the body for the rigours of fasting. Compared to frequent long-term dieting, fasting for a week every month has no adverse effects on the body. The muscles and the skin lose neither their smoothness nor their elasticity. Since the fast is later to be supplemented with a diet rich in vitamins and minerals but low in calories and harmful toxin-producing foods, fasting does not damage the general health or debilitate the body, as is the common misconception.
Instead of starting with a total fast, you can start with a juice fast for ten days. Longer fasts for up to a month can also be undertaken, preferably under medical supervision. Follow the juice diet with a raw fruit and vegetable diet for two weeks. Include filling fruits like apples, papayas, grapefruit, sprouts, nuts, seeds, and salad vegetables. These are high in dietary fibre and will not only ‘wash’ away, as it were, a lot of the fats before they are assimilated but will also work against constipation which might result from a limited diet.
• After this initial period of strict control, you can resume your regular diet, carefully monitoring your calorie intake. Increase your regular dietary intake of fresh fruits, vegetables, and salads. Don’t worry about the calories. This will add to your overall calorie intake, which will be slight. Also, take wholegrain cereals and whole pulses (with outer covering). All high-fat foods like chocolates, butter, ghee, cheese, and ice cream should be curtailed. Oil intake should be restricted to several teaspoons of unsaturated vegetable oils. All refined foods like white bread and biscuits should be avoided.
• Since sugar is high in calories, use sugar substitutes as far as possible. Honey is not only an excellent sugar substitute but also a known remedy for obesity since it can mobilise the extra fat and put it into circulation to be used as energy. You should take ten gm. of honey with hot water every morning and increase this intake slowly over the weeks.
• Some of the other things you should avoid are soft drinks and candy. Also, prevent legumes and potatoes, for these are high in calories. Salt intake should also be reduced since this leads to more water being retained in the body, thus increasing your overall weight. Use cooking methods like steaming and boiling rather than frying or roasting. And if you are still drinking milk, make sure you take only skimmed milk. Also, bring plenty of water, up to 10 to 15 glasses daily. This keeps you well hydrated and washes off the saturated fats. Most of all, avoid negative emotions, hostility and depression because these are the states which drive you to take in more food without being very much aware of what you are doing.
• Often, it is found that people on a diet lack the requisite willpower to sustain the regimen over some time. Often the impulse to eat something is uncontrollable, even between meals. A simple remedy for this would be to chop up about 3 to 4 cucumbers and have them one at a time between meals, taking time to chew them and taking in a lot of water along with them. Cucumbers are low in calories and will not affect your weight loss programme too much. At the same time, they will provide you with that feeling of fullness. Remember this—anytime you feel hungry, have a carrot, a sliced tomato, some radish, and have a small salad meal but don’t eat anything else, not even fruits.