Today most of us strive to maintain our body weight, size and health, to do that we have to understand what we are cooking and eating. It is very vital to provide not only ourselves but also our families’ healthy meals. Healthy meals help us to grow both physically and mentally. Healthy foods can boost our body immune system and also protect us from server illness such as diabetes, cancer and heart diseases. Eating too much or too frequently does not mean that one is eating healthy, the best to make sure you are eating healthy is to observe and choose your diet; make sure you are eating a balanced diet. 

A balanced diet is a diet that comprises all the right nutrients your body requires. The right nutrients include Vitamins, Carbohydrates and Proteins. Eating a balanced diet helps the body to grow faster, run smoothly, improves mental abilities, reduces the risk of getting sick, and helps the body to relax and sleep well.

There is a lot of information all on the internet about healthy foods, with all this information, sometimes it can be hard to know what is true or false. Definition of good food is quite confusing, but healthy food is food that rate high on Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity (ORAC) scale. Most or all healthy food contain antioxidant ability; they are low in salt, sugar and Trans fats.

Most people consider that healthy eating should include 5-7 portions of fruits and vegetables a day that is not true; eating only vegetables does not also mean that one is eating healthy. A healthy balance diet should be 3-4 vegetables and 2-3 fruits 2-3 grains (such pumpkin seeds, ground nuts, cashew nuts, brown rice and whole grain barley) and finally a 2-3 portion of low fats protein such as fish and skinless chicken. It is common for people to have favorite meals that is not bad just remember that one food cannot make you healthy on its own, try and vary and balance your diet.   

Arthritis

Arthritis, a word that originated from the Greek meaning joint inflammation. This is a disease that causes a joint disorder leading to inflammation of one or more joints. They are over 80 types of arthritis, but the most common one is Osteoarthritis. This type of arthritis has affected more than 17 million people in the United States and the rest of the world. This type of arthritis is known for breaking down cartilage that is in between the joints. Cartilages prevent bones from grinding together and when they are worn out the bones grind together so very painfully. The most affecting joint include the knee joint.

Symptoms of arthritis in knees

A Slow increase in pain in the knee are- arthritis in most cases occur suddenly, but sometimes develop slowly in your body. When it develops slowly you may start experiencing some unusual pain, mostly when you wake up in the morning, when you kneel, when climbing stairs or when you wake up from a sitting position. You may also start finding it hard to go for either short or long walks because of the discomfort you have in your knee.  

Swelling of the knee joint- when you start experiencing pains in your knee joint that means that the cartilages protecting the bones has started wearing out. After a while inflammation of the tissues will begin due to the development of bone spurs otherwise known as osteophytes this will cause swelling when you stay inactive for long periods of time.

Popping sounds from your knee joint- as I mentioned earlier arthritis wears out the cartilages connecting the bones. When these cartilages are totally damaged the bones will grind together and when walking you will experience a grinding sensational around your knee joint.

Awful range of motion- over a period of time the knee joints will be increasingly affected by arthritis, and it will make it hard for the joints to glide together properly. This will affect your movements, if you were moving swift and simple you will start using a cane to move.

Finally, knee deformities- as the days go by, you may start noticing some changes to your knee area. The knee will start pointing to each other because the muscles surrounding the knee will be weakened and become thin giving a sunken appearance to your knees.

 Arthritis knee exercises

The leg risen while lying- while lying flat on your back (it can be a bed or on the floor) put your arms aside and toes up. While keeping your legs straight, stiffen up your leg muscles and gradually lift your legs several inches making sure you have also tightened up your stomach muscles to help you push your lower back down. While counting to five keep raising your legs up and down slowly.

The hamstring stretch while lying down- just as before lie on your bed. Slowly lifting one leg be still bent, then bring your knee back toward your chest. Put your hands together behind your thigh and stiffen your leg. Start pulling your straight leg backing up toward your head up until you start feeling a stretch sensational. Hold for 40 to 60 seconds, then slowly bend back your leg back to the floor.

Walking- sometimes walking is the best exercise we can do. What makes it special is that it is not hard and strenuous like exercises. While walking you will not have the feeling that you are exercising so you won’t be in a rush to stop. This helps in blood circulation in the body works well when blood flows well and also it prevents swelling of the knee joint. This is recommended while experiencing symptoms of arthritis in the knees.