Top 10 Tips for Healthy Joints

These are my top 10 tips for keeping your joints healthy:

• Take 250–500 mg glucosamine sulfate (GS) three times a day with meals. GS promotes healthy joint cartilage and maintains joint fluid thickness and elasticity.
• For a one-two joint-promoting punch, eat plenty of essential fatty acids like fish (salmon and mackerel are best), raw nuts, seeds, and flaxseed. Put some ground-up flaxseed on your cereal or add it to your shakes or smoothies.
• Combine GS with 200–300 mg chondroitin sulfate, which promotes joint health and elasticity of tendons and ligaments; as well as natural anti-inflammatories like feverfew, white willow bark, bromelain, boswellia, and cat's claw.
• Methylsufonylmethane (MSM) is an organic sulfur compound that has been used traditionally to help your body build cartilage, collagen, and connective tissue—all of which are necessary to keep your joints strong and pliable. I began using MSM after a particularly bad bout with my shoulder and I really attribute much of the improvement I experienced to this remarkable nutrient*.
• Drink 1 or 2 cups daily of ginger or green tea, a natural inflammatory.
• Exercise regularly at least three times a week—to increase muscle strength, and restore range of motion and flexibility.
• Take a 4:1 ratio of omega-3 oils (fish and flaxseed) and omega-6 oils (evening primrose, borage oil, or black currant oil). In other words, if you consume 4,000 mg of fish oil, take 1,000 mg of one or a combination of omega-6 oils.
• Avoid sodas, caffeine, and chocolate.
• Take 100–250 mg daily of the herb curcumin, a natural pain reliever without the tendency to trigger gastrointestinal bleeding.
• Take 200–400 mg of SAMe 2–3 times daily for pain control.

*Results not typical