Start with examining your diet:

Drink plenty of water. The recommendation is at least 8 glasses of water a day – you may need to gradually work up to this level. Drink your water “neat” rather than turned into tea or coffee. If you find the taste too bland, add a slice of unwaxed lemon or lime. Green tea is also OK but don’t make it the only way that you drink water.

Eat “close to the ground” by using as few processed foods as possible. The more natural your diet, the better.

This means eating plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables. Do your best to eat these “in season” and if you have a local farmers market or similar, buy your fruit and vegetables there rather than at the grocery store. They’ll be fresher and you’ll also help the environment as they won’t have traveled as far.

Reduce the amount of salt, sugar and fat in your diet. If you buy ready prepared foods, you’ll need to check the label to find out the different values. But it could be time to rediscover the art of cooking so that you are totally in control of what goes into your food.

Experiment with dropping other items from your diet. Take a break from each item for 4 days and see whether or not your arthritis pain is relieved. Do this in “blocks” of food – all dairy products, for instance – or find a local person who does food allergy testing to speed up the process.

If you’re worried about the effect of removing foods from your diet, consider taking a multi vitamin pill on a daily basis to make sure that you’ve got plenty of vitamins and minerals in your diet.

Consider taking a daily probiotic – these help the “good bacteria” in your stomach and aren’t just made up by advertising executives.

You should also check out this natural arthritis relief.