How much does being overweight affect the joints? Look at it this way: when you walk down the street, your ankles, knees, and hips take on three to five times your total body weight. It's not a mystery why arthritis afflicts over 40 million people in the United States alone. With every pound you add to your body, you are adding three to five pounds of pressure to your ankles, knees, and hips.

The flip side of that coin is that for every pound you lose, you're effectively removing three to five pounds of pressure from those same joints. The fact of the matter is this: people who are overweight are more likely to develop arthritis especially in joints below the waist. Over time, the joints wear down and arthritis finds its way in.

Avoiding Arthritis

The United States, more than any other country, wrestles with arthritis. Billions of dollars are spent every year managing this disease. One of the best ways to prevent arthritis is to monitor your diet. In this country, people are obsessed with speed. We want our food fast, our cars fast, our service fast, and our diets fast. Americans eat pounds and pounds of fast food every year then jump into faulty crash diets just before the summer months.

Creating and sticking to a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, and lean meats will ultimately decrease your risk of arthritis. Combine a healthy diet with consistent exercise, and arthritis will find you even less attractive. Combine diet and exercise with frequent stretching (Yoga, Pilates, martial arts) and arthritis will find you absolutely repulsive. Diet, exercise, and stretching don't completely shield you from this disease, but they certainly reduce the risk of developing it.