If you find that even getting out of bed is painful then you know just how debilitating joint pain can be. It is that deep down pain that makes you stiff and severely limits your range of motion.
Joint pain can affect the following areas of your life:
Brushing your teeth
Showering
Steering when you drive your car
Writing letters
Typing on a keyboard
Chopping vegetables
Walking
Sitting
Standing
Stooping
Bending over
Reaching above your head to grab something
Household chores
Gardening
Brushing your hair
So you get the idea - joint pain can make even the simplest, most mundane daily tasks painful and even unbearable. It can take a perfectly fully functioning person and reduce them to someone who has a hard time getting out of bed. It is a shame that joint pain can affect someone's life so profoundly and yet there really aren't a ton of options to relieve it. Most of the remedies involve prescription medication, which could have side effects.
One all-natural remedy involves drinking the juice of the prickly pear cactus. This juice, called Nopalea Juice, is said to fight inflammation. It is believed that joint pain stems from chronic inflammation. It just makes sense that inflammation could cause the joint pain. Nopalea juice is touted as a natural anti-inflammatory and natural anti-oxidant. This is because its main ingredient, the prickly pear - or Nopal cactus - is said to have both of those properties.
The cactus contains a special class of antioxidants called betalains. These are found in the pigment that is contained in the cactus. A few other foods contain these special cancer-fighting betalains, including Swiss chard and beets. It is believed that the prickly pear cactus contains a large amount of these betalains.
A Time Magazine article that was published on the magazine's cover nearly a decade ago made the connection between chronic inflammation and a host and variety of other ailments and diseases. It is believed that inflammation, which is the body's natural response to bacteria and invaders, doesn't always know when to turn itself off. What happens is the inflammation response continues on and goes haywire, which means the body is essentially fighting itself. This may lead to diseases including colon cancer and Alzheimer's.
The well-respected Dr. Mehmet Oz has talked about the benefits of the prickly pear cactus on at least two episodes of his show. He included the plant, which is native to the Sonoran desert, as one of the seven natural wonders of the world. He did a demonstration showing how it can help people with diabetes. His demonstration involved an hourglass and showed how the fibrous nature of the plant helps to regulate blood sugar levels within the body's bloodstream. It naturally filters the sugars and slows down their entry into the body.
On another episode, Dr. Oz joked with comedian Jimmy Fallon that ingesting the prickly pear cactus was a great way to relieve the symptoms of a hangover.
It's no surprise that people have found relief from everything ranging from acne to hangovers to arthritis simply by drinking this juice.
