12 best foods for arthritis (spoiler alert: Cheetos didn't make the list)

I have a list of food items I gleaned from the internet. It is a list of "12 best foods for arthritis."  It's also the worst. Here it is

1. Fish (Mostly Salmon and Tuna at least 2 times a week)
2. Soy
3. Oils (olive, but walnut oil has 10 times as many omega 3 as olive oil)
4. Cherries (or other red fruit)
5. Dairy with Vitamin D
6. Broccoli
7. Green Tea
8. Citrus
9. Whole grains
10. Beans
11. Garlic
12. nuts (walnuts, pistachios & almonds)

Okay, it's not really the worst but after a couple weeks of trying to increase my omega 3 intake for my dry eyes as well as for my weird back issue, I feel ready to throw out my list. Turns out, I can put up with salmon and tuna if I have it every once in awhile. But several times a week? Forget it. Also sometimes I am convinced that flaxseed also tastes like fish. All this leads to me having a weak moment at the grocery store when I bought a giant bag of puffy Cheetos that I have been dreaming about for weeks. Apparently I like to keep one foot on the bandwagon of healthy eating and one foot completely off the wagon while the rest of my body is like "why are you doing this to us?"

Poking around on the arthritis foundation website about what foods to eat is actually fairly confusing. For example, the list above mentions dairy with Vitamin D, but on a different page it mentions to stick with low fat dairy. Well the vitamin D milk I have in the fridge is whole milk. It's like a catch 22 of milk. But what do I know. I am not a doctor or a dietitian. I am just a browser of the internet.

Regardless, I am still trying to push myself to include at least one of these food items into my daily diet (as well as turmeric, ginger and flaxseed, which aren't on the top 12 but are also suppose to be good anti-inflammatory spices/food too).  Minus feeling like I need to take a break from fish, flaxseed and broccoli, I think I am still doing okay.

For the most part, my leg (well, my back) has been doing a lot better. I don't think it's been long enough for a shift in my diet to be the reason for this. (And let's be real, it's not that big of a shift) Rather, it was the steroid epidural I got several weeks ago (and what I will be getting again on Thursday). Still, it doesn't hurt to try and eat healthier. So I stick with this list.

Yet, the fact that Cheetos taste way better than broccoli has not been my only struggle. It's expensive to eat healthy in this country. Really, it's a privilege, which is a whole other side tangent. I just spent like 8 bucks on a bag of cherries because I want to make smart food choices. Then I finally got my MRI bill in the mail and now I am like "crap, I should've have bought those million dollar cherries. Who do I think I am, a baller?"

I am sure I will be eating grilled cheese this week in order to try and keep my expenses low. But at least I have cherries to eat with it. Hopefully that counts for something.  

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