Do you have Achy Joint Pain?

I think most of our complaints stem from our unhealthy habits, such as:

Our bodies are not getting enough movement and we are not strengthening our muscles.

When I talk about exercise, I think people visualize a few hours in the gym every day or they want to go full speed ahead like someone who is an athlete that has been exercising for a long time. I encourage people to start out slow so they don't get injured and have to stop or get tired of it real fast and quit. When we fit it in our schedules and start making it a habit, we don't think about doing it anymore, we look forward to doing it.

My favorite exercises that are easy to fit in with little expense!

• Walking
• Tai Chi
• Yoga
• Mini Trampoline (check weight limit on these)
• Swimming
• Small weights and stretch bands
• Surge training

Joints need exercise!

You want to be sure you are exercising properly with correct body alignment, not to hard and not too fast. You want to slowly get into exercise and over time strengthen your muscles.

Inactivity causes muscles to become weaker and works against your optimal joint flexibility and comfort.

The weight we are carrying is also important. I don't think we take this serious enough when we consider joint pain.

Carry around something that feels heavy to you. A sack of sugar or a bag of sand, 5 pounds, 10 pounds, 20 pounds, whatever weight you think is heavy.

It is going to be heavy. Average body weight includes skeleton, organs, blood, water. All the other weight is fat that our bodies are not made to carry. Each additional 2.2 pounds of body mass increases the compressive load over the knee by 9 pounds. Losing as little as 11 pounds can help decrease that load by a factor of five!

You need to be aware of something if you want to do something about it.

Your body suffers by getting inflamed and acidic. We are surrounded by toxins, viruses, bacteria and fungus. Striving for a healthy life and body helps deal with this. Our bodies try to protect us from these with fat and anti-bodies.

Sugar, sodas and starchy foods can cause joint pain. The average American consumes 134 grams per day when we should have no more than 25 grams of sugar (or less). We should have a small amount, everything in moderation.

Here's some things you can do or take to help alleviate joint pain!

• Tart cherry juice (has anthocyanins and bioflavonoids that support joints and the whole body)
• Omega 3 and vitamin D (good for your joints and the rest of the body)
• Nature's Sunshine has products that support joints, Joint Health and Joint Support
• Acupuncture
• Addressing stress and our emotions
• USANA has Procosa II that promotes optimal joint health. It also supplies important compounds necessary for the maintenance of healthy cartilage.

It takes a long time to start helping the body absorb small amounts. The pills are big and you have to take a lot of them. They can add up in cost, be difficult to digest and cause gastro-intestinal upset.

If you have diabetes or hypogleycemia you want to be cautious and monitor your blood sugar levels.

It's that easy...now go have fun!