Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 48:50 — 89.5MB)
Lifestyle, diet and nutritional supplements are foundational for joint health.
In this interview with Neil E. Levin we will discuss how to support joint health. We will discuss the tissues involved and the specific nutrients that have been shown to provide structure and function support for those areas.
One of my pet peeves is the commercials that show people suffering with joint pain with activity such as gardening or dancing. The suggestion is that pain medication solves the problem. Just taking over-the-counter pain medications will make you better. Now you can dance and garden and do all of the things you haven’t been able to do. As if these medications fix your problems. They do not.
This is not to minimize the importance of pain management as a medical necessity. A big part of the problem is that many of the pain medications have side effects as well as benefits. Some of these side effects can be profound and even life threatening. So let’s be clear at the start: If you have a disease and need treatment, see your doctor. Let your doctor treat the disease.
Whether you have a serious health condition or not, you need to be well nourished.* A body that is well nourished will do better than one that is poorly nourished. When you have a problem such as joint discomfort, there are several things you need to figure out.*
Getting Started
- What is the problem? One of the biggest challenges for the average person is only thinking in terms of the “disease”. A nutritional approach seeks to help the body repair and maintain health.
- Is this a medical issue that needs medical intervention? See your doctor. Understand the benefits and risks of the medications. You can provide nutritional support for some types of side effects such as nutrient depletion from drugs.*
- What are the tissues and organs that are affected? In joint health we consider the cartilage, bursa, tendons, ligaments, synovial fluid, muscles and bones. Is this local or systemic?*
- What lifestyle and diet choices can you make to improve your health? Seek to make better choices. The foods you choose to eat are foundational for health.
- What specific nutrients support your structures and their functions? Neil discusses many of the most notable nutritional supplements that support joint health.* Some of the nutrients we discuss are glucosamine, chondroitin, MSM, hyaluronic acid (HA), collagen and egg shell membrane.* Neil discusses the foundational importance of omega-3 for proper immune system expression.*
- What specific nutritional ingredients have been studied for your issue? The above mentioned ingredients have been clinically studied. Make sure you are buying the clinically studied materials and use as directed. If you buy a product that is not from a reputable company, you run the great risk of buying inferior products.
- What companies have you found that make quality products that you trust? When you discover a good company, then you can have confidence to explore their products. If this a new company for you, then what gives you confidence to try their products? Learn to make distinctions in the marketplace and hold yourself responsible to find reliable resources. Good companies are happy to provide confidence to the consumer. NOW is one of those good companies.
- What products have you identified that you would like to try? No one has the crystal ball to tell you what will work best for your body. You have to try different products to discover what works best for you.
Then the process becomes experiential. You try a product or a program and see what works for you. Then you evaluate the level of success. Then you adjust if necessary and try again. The more you know, the better choices you will make. Better choices lead to better outcomes.
NOW has a significant variety of joint support products. They have a wide variety of branded ingredients and you can explore them here.
A successful and healthy outcome is the result of ongoing commitment to the process. Health is the journey of a lifetime. This is your process of discovery. The best success comes from being committed and being consistent.
CLICK HERE for a link to all interviews with Neil E. Levin.
About Neil E. Levin, CCN, DANLA –
Neil E. Levin is the Senior Nutrition Education Manager and a product formulator for NOW®. He is a board-certified clinical nutritionist with a diplomat in advanced nutritional laboratory assessment. The U.S. Natural Products Association (NPA) presented Neil its Industry Champion Award in 2008 for “people who have made notable individual contributions to the natural products industry above and beyond what is expected to achieve commercial success.” Neil’s interviews and articles are published in magazines and newspapers. He has been featured in many radio interviews and television news reports. Neil blogs at www.honestnutrition.com; is on Facebook (Honest Nutrition) and Twitter (neilelevin).
{ 0 comments… add one now }