It seems like every news program on TV anymore has a health and wellness segment where experts and journalists alike weigh in on the latest health trends and give their advice and opinions.

Most of the time it’s pretty sound and is frequently backed by studies that support whatever it is they are trying to convince people to do or stop doing.

Online articles like this one are the same. The reason they’re so prevalent anymore is that I think most people by and large are honestly interested in health topics- but we still continue to have problems. Why is that? If so many people are consuming this free info, why are there so many preventable diseases still running rampant through society?

It’s amazing the proliferation of reality health shows, news programs, and health columns there are for public consumption anymore. People just can’t seem to get enough of experts telling them what changes they need to make in their lives to increase health and reduce disease.

But why isn’t all that advice translating to better health in reality? With so much information available one would think that people would eventually ‘get it’ and start taking real action.

Old habits, however, die really hard. We can read and watch and listen to all the sound advice in the world, but unless we know that the changes we need to really make are easy to make and even easier to maintain, we tend to fail.

Below, we’ll look at 10 things you can start doing right now to beat back the annoying symptoms of arthritis and maybe even reduce your dependency on arthritis medications.

Let’s start with number ten and work our way to the number one easiest and most important change to make.

Ten- Get a diagnosis. In order to face an enemy, you have to be able to see it and know what you’re dealing with. Tests like Ultrasound for arthritis are being used a lot more these days as a more accurate, less invasive, and much cheaper alternative to x-rays and MRIs.

Nine- Get other diseases under control. If you suffer from diabetes or high blood pressure, you are naturally going to be at higher risk for being negatively affected by damaging inflammation. Get your other diseases and stress under better control and reduce your likelihood of having arthritis in the first place.

Eight- Stop inflammation in its tracks. Countless studies have shown that inflammation is the cause of arthritis…not the effect. Diet is the biggest player, so go back through all the articles you’ve read and ‘logged away’ that talk about what foods to stop eating if you are suffering from inflammation processes and start making some changes to get rid of the fire-causing food.

Seven- Start adding in foods that heal. You might not like some types of herbs or vegetables now, but try to find a way to chop up the vegees you don’t eat a lot of right now and hide them in the food you do like. Start increasing the amounts of vegees and cut slowly back on the delicious-but-offensive foods until you’ve shaped your taste buds to be more responsible

Six-Get off your duff and get moving. Exercise for arthritis, when done properly and in moderation, can become not only something you can be consistent in doing, but you’ll eventually get to where you crave it if you make incremental changes right now. Overdoing it can cause a lot of problems, though, so just start slow and maybe consult a professional trainer who works with arthritic clients.

Five-Get more Vitamin D. Deprivationof this absolutely critical vitamin causes problems all over the body. This is like the superhero fighting the villainous bad guy.

Four- Start cutting back on the pain pills. You’ll want to talk to your doctor to find out how to do this the safest way, but over the long term arthritis pain relievers end up causing more harm than good. This only perpetuates the problem. You may find, anyway, that as you start making changes with your diet and exercise habits that you don’t need as high of a dose as before the changes were implemented.

Three- Keep a diary. Studies show that people who not only record what they eat and when they exercise but also how they feel are more successful in their long-term goals and sticking to a plan.

Two- Stay on the rails. If you start feeling better and you decide, “I’m cured!” and go back to bad habits, where do you think you will wind up?

One- Make a plan. If you are going to start a journey with a destination in mind, wouldn’t it be easier to get there (and less expensive, less apt for getting lost and less frustrating) if you had a map or some traveling directions? Make a general plan with a few achievable goals to start with. Once you master those, you can add a few more in. Eventually, you’ll find yourself in the place you’d always dreamed of being.

Finding the right information is easy. Knowing what to do with it and acting on it- consistently- is a little harder. But you’ll know when whay you are doing is working and that can be really energizing for the motivation to keep going.

Here is a great and easy-to-follow guide to beat arthritis naturally…

Weigh in below and join the discussion… what are you doing to beat arthritis?