This month’s blog looks at nutritional supplements, dietary advice and remedies for arthritic and muscular pain. I have listed my tried and tested remedies plus a muscular pain relieving therapeutic bath recipe. Is your body feeling the Autumnal vibes? The leaves are falling; our joints are clicking and crunching. Snappy, crackly noises have been the constant soundtrack in the soma yoga classes of late! Why do our bones crack like this when we are doing slow gentle exercises?

The somatics movements act as a perfect remedy for clicking joints; these specific yet gentle movements ease the pain in our muscles. We must also need to look at our dietary and nutritional needs and step up on the foods enriched with omega 3, Brazil nuts, green tea, vitamin C, tart cherries (a must for arthritics).

When I was first diagnosed with arthritis, the doctors were all doom and gloom, blar dee blar, telling me I would need to live my life on pain-relieving medicine. Of course medication has its place, but luckily for me, I decided to find another way of healing. You can too; I read many books on diet for curing arthritic pain. Along with the somatic and yoga exercises and regular relaxation sessions, diet is crucial for pain relief.

Many of my students ask about nutrition on this subject, here are the key points. My tried and tested most beneficial nutritional advice on relieving arthritic type pain is:

• Apple cider vinegar: take 2 tablespoons with one tsp of honey in some warm water, twice a day. (Tastes foul, try with an apple juice chaser!)
• Avoid tomatoes and acidic fruits.
• Eat a diet rich in omega 3.
• Step up the vitamins and minerals in your diet.
• Try a turmeric and boswellia nutritional supplement. I had great results from the pukka supplement called `active`.
• I can highly recommend this recipe to make your own golden turmeric paste, click here
• Avoid all processed meats and food. Avoid red wine, coffee and high fat dairy products.
• Eat more greens and onions. Eat loads of salad and vegetables. Include cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli and cabbage. (I personally can’t eat too much of these foods, as my digestion isn’t that great! Pop!)
• Try tart cherry juice.
• Try ‘Chywanaprash’ an ayurvedic multi-vitamin tonic butter. Can be taken on a spoon or added to warm milk or spread on toast.

Epsom salts Bath Cure

Try a very warm bath with 4 tablespoons of Epsom salts once a week to reduce the toxins from the system. Have this bath just before you go to bed, make sure you have a warm shower in the morning to wash off the crystals. This is a deeply therapeutic bath and has pain relieving properties; it will make you feel very tired. Only do this treatment once a week to avoid fatigue. You want to feel relaxed not cream crackered!

So it’s time for luxurious rest and constant feeding with the right foods. Nurture and support yourself holistically and you will reap the rewards. Start a new gentle exercise regime, learn how to deeply relax and eat well, adding in nutritional supplements to give you a boost you deserve.  Arthritic pain can be cured in this way through diet and exercise. Hopefully we can reduce the snap, crackle and popping from our bodies!

For further reading my book recommendations are:

• Pukka Life by Sebastian Pole
• Drug-free cure to Arthritis by Margaret Hills
• Say No to Arthritis by Patrick Holford
• The Source by Dr Woodson Merrell and Kathy Merrel

Hope to see you at a somatics session soon.

Blessings,