If you’re looking for an easy to make, arthritis friendly recipe, you’ve found it. This is a very good and healthy recipe.

Greek-Stuffed Chicken Breasts Stuffed with Goat Cheese, Rosemary, and Thyme
Yields 4 Servings

4 medium breasts or 2 extra-large breasts

4 small to medium boneless, skinless chicken breasts or 2 large ones (butterflied)
4 T. olive oil to coat breasts
3 tsp. Covender’s all-purpose Greek seasoning (for coating of breasts)

Goat cheese stuffing:

4 oz. goat cheese (soft)
1 ½ tsp. rosemary
½ tsp. thyme
¼ tsp. fresh ground pepper
1/8 tsp. kosher salt
¼ tsp. garlic powder

Preheat oven to 375°F. Line a medium baking sheet with foil and spray with nonstick cooking spray and set aside. Wash, pat dry, and filet chicken breasts. Set to the side. To make the stuffing, place goat cheese, rosemary, thyme, pepper, salt, and garlic powder into a small bowl. Using a fork, thoroughly mix all the ingredients together. We are now ready to stuff the breasts. First, evenly divide the stuffing into 2 or 4 portions, depending on how many breasts you are using. Using your hands, form each portion of cheese into a small log, open a breast, place stuffing in, and simply fold breast back over. Lightly press together. Rub each breast with softened butter and liberally sprinkle about 1 tsp. per breast with Greek seasoning. Use more if needed. Cover with foil and bake for 20 minutes, then uncover and continue cooking for another 20 minutes or until meat reaches 180 degrees.

Recipe by: Melinda Winner

Melinda’s Bio: Melinda Winner is a very talented chef and cookbook author that has devoted her life to helping the physically challenged. She herself suffers from five forms of arthritis and a birth injury. One of the forms of arthritis she suffers from is rheumatoid arthritis. This particular form causes severe pain as well as it is crippling. Melinda does not define her life by her disease as a matter of fact she has used this disease to help millions in their battle against arthritis. Melinda writes a daily blog on blog spot. She also has two completed books, Yankee Cooking with Southern Charm and A Complete Illustrated Guide to Cooking with Arthritis.

She has won many national recipe contests and competed on the Food Network’s Ultimate Recipe Showdown in 2008. This woman has made it her life’s work to help others despite her own diversities. Before Melinda’s illness she wore many hats. She was an art director in the motion picture industry, a celebrity interviewer, and ran a rescue for horses. Melinda has three children which two she adopted, she also has five grandchildren. Melinda moved to Gulfport Mississippi to help in the rebuilding after hurricane Katrina slammed the gulf coast. She volunteered for the Red Cross. Melinda also took the public speaking class at camp Mash in 2008 for the National Arthritis Foundation and signed on to be an ambassador for her congressional district in Mississippi. Melinda was born 1961 in Pittsburgh PA. the daughter of Thomas Painter and Dorothy Lowe Painter.

A report recently published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 300,000 children in the U.S. suffer from some form of arthritis. As our friend, Timothy Spaulding, a Top Health Blogger for the Arthritis Community on Wellsphere and author of the Current Arthritis News and Research Blog explains, some 50,000 to 100,000 of that estimate suffer from juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, a disease that can lead to permanent joint damage.

According to his article, this report says that 1 in 250 children under the age of 18 have been diagnosed with arthritis of another rheumatologic condition.

The study was lead by Dr. Jeffrey Sacks, an epidemiologist with the CDRC. His team studied information from doctor’s offices and emergency rooms across the U.S. One of the findings was that arthritis in children led to 744,000 doctor visits and 83,000 emergency room visits annually.

This is the first comprehensive national estimate of kids with arthritis and it includes a state-by-state estimate of kids diagnosed with arthritis or other rheumatologic conditions.

Here are some key points to the findings:

· The incidence ranges from a low of 500 kids in Wyoming to a high of 38,000 in California.

· Many of these children must travel long distances to receive specialized care. 15,000 children with arthritis are residents of 11 states which have no pediatric rheumatologist and on average they travel 57 miles to see a specialist.

· Those states are Alaska, Idaho, Maine, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Dakota, South Dakota, South Carolina, West Virginia and Wyoming.

Some doctors worry that due to the lack of availability of pediatric rheumatologists many children with inflammatory forms of arthritis are not diagnosed early enough to prevent disability. They say kids might bounce from one doctor to another before someone familiar with the disease makes an accurate diagnosis. In addition, Pediatricians and emergency room doctors might miss the signs of the more serious forms of arthritis and could send kids home without the proper treatment.

According to Spaulding, a provision of the proposed Arthritis Prevention, Control and Cure Act introduced in 2004 called for a better determination of the size of the childhood arthritis problem. Passage of the Arthritis Prevention, Control and Cure Act is necessary as it would encourage more physicians to enter the field and also would highlight the research needs for children with arthritis.

For more articles like this one, check out Timothy Spaulding’s Current Arthritis News and Research Blog.

Fibromyalgia patients are more likely to have tingling and weakness in their legs and arms, poor balance and other neurological symptoms according to a new study conducted at the University of Washington Medicine Sleep Institute at Harborview, Seattle.

Our friend, Timothy Spaulding, a Top Health Blogger for the Arthritis Community on Wellsphere and author of the Current Arthritis News and Research Blog explains in his recent article about Neurologic Signs and Fibromyalgia.

The research team studied 166 fibromyalgia patients and 66 people without the condition. All of the participants were examined by a neurologist and they completed a survey on their neurological symptoms. There were 29 neurological categories that were tested.

The results showed that the fibromyalgia group had:

· Significantly more neurologic symptoms in 27 of the 29 categories than the control group.

· Greater dysfunction in certain nerves in the brain.

· More “sensory” problems, motor abnormalities and gait problems.

Here are some of the biggest differences:

· Sensitivity to light, or “photophobia,” which was observed in 70 percent of fibromyalgia patients but in only 6 percent of the controls.

· Poor balance, which was seen in 63 percent of fibromyalgia patients but only 4 percent of controls.

· Weakness and tingling in the arms or legs, seen in more than 50% of fibromyalgia patients but in only around 4 percent of those without the condition.

Spaulding explains that these findings support several prior studies which appear to confirm that fibromyalgia is a “real” condition and that there may be a “neuroanatomical” cause to the disease.

The findings of the study were published in the latest issue of Arthritis and Rheumatism.

To read more about this study, check out Timothy Spaulding’s full article here and other interesting topics on his Current Arthritis News and Research Blog.

Get moving at the Arthritis Foundation’s Jingle Bell Run/Walk for Arthritis this holiday season. Join the thousands of walkers and runners who will hit the nation’s pavements, pathways and parks this winter to fight the nation’s most common cause of disability. It’s an event aimed at raising desperately needed funds for research, health education and government advocacy to improve the lives of people with arthritis.

The 2009 Jingle Bell Run/Walk is a fun and festive way to kick off the holidays with family, friends and coworkers. There are several options. You can sign up to walk as an individual or start a team and organize your very own holiday-themed costumes. You can even raise funds online by creating a free personal website and emailing donors or collect donations and turn them in prior to the event. Every dollar raised brings us one step closer to a cure. Participants will tie jingle bells to their shoelaces, don holiday attire, and complete a 3 mile route.

Arthritis or chronic joint symptoms are more widespread than imagined, affecting 46 million Americans, or one out of five adults and approximately 300,000 children.

As the nation’s largest holiday run/walk event, the Arthritis Foundation’s Jingle Bell Run/Walk for Arthritis offers a three-mile fun run and a three-mile fun walk with activities for the entire family.

This year’s event will also provide a run for dogs and 1K children’s race.  There are nearly 120 Jingle Bell Run/Walks for Arthritis nationwide with more than 80,000 participants. In years past, the Jingle Bell Run/Walk for Arthritis has raised upwards of $3 million. To find an event near you check out the Arthritis Foundation website.

Eswar Krishnan, MD, assistant professor of Immunology and Rheumatology at Stanford University School of Medicine, has found that high uric acid levels are a link between Gout and Heart Failure.

Our friend, Timothy Spaulding, a Top Health Blogger for the Arthritis Community on Wellsphere and author of the Current Arthritis News and Research Blog explains in his recent article.

Spaulding explains that uric acid naturally occurs in the body as a byproduct of many different foods. High levels are best known as a cause of gout.

According to Dr. Krishnan, the “study shows that high levels of uric acid significantly increase your risk of developing heart failure later in life.”

The good news is that the test for measuring this is very cheap and easily available. In fact, a simple $2-blood test may allow doctors to determine whether a patient is at risk of developing heart failure sometime in their future.

Dr. Krishnan analyzed data obtained from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute participants of the Framingham Offspring cohort study. That study began in 1971 and the participants were followed for cardiovascular events for 25 years.

There were 4,989 participants in the Framingham Offspring study, and of those, 4,912 were eligible for Dr. Krishnan’s study. There were 196 cases of heart failure recorded.

After adjusting for a long list of variables including smoking, weight, alcohol use, diabetes, kidney problems and use of anti-hypertensive medications, Dr. Krishnan found the occurrence of heart failure was significantly higher among those with high uric acid levels.

So if you suffer from Gout make sure to talk to your doctor about your risk for heart problems. Also check out Flexcin the all-natural Joint Pain Supplement. The primary component of Flexcin is CM8™, which relieves joint pain at its source, reduces inflammation and irritation of the joints and tissues. It has been helpful for many sufferers of arthritis, gout, bursitis, sports injuries and fibromyalgia.

This study appeared online in August in the journal circulation of Heart Failure. Check out Timothy Spaulding’s full article here and other interesting topics on his Current Arthritis News and Research Blog.

We all know that a healthy diet is important but what about it effecting Arthritis pain. The foods arthritis sufferers eat can play a key role in the management and reduction of pain. Some foods can reduce some symptoms, others can trigger painful attacks. The elimination of animal protein, nightshade vegetables, and dairy products has helped some people with arthritis. The results are not the same for everyone, but many people report that if they follow a healthy diet, they see improvement in the arthritic pain. So, what arthritis foods should you avoid and which ones should be included in your daily diet?

Here are some foods to avoid which most people report lead to more pain when ingested:

· Nightshade vegetables: Tomatoes, white potatoes, peppers, belladonna, and eggplant

· Citrus fruits

· Dairy Products

· Phosphorous rich food: Red meat, red flesh fish, organ meat like kidney, liver, processed meat, and soft drinks.

· Corns, wheat, oats, rye, and barley

· Eggs

· Fried food, vegetable oil, margarine: Omega 6, present in vegetable oil, worsens inflammation.

· Alcohol

· Coffee

· Foods that are rich in oxalic acid or oxalates: Star fruit, black pepper, parsley, poppy seed, rhubarb stalks, amaranth, spinach, chard, beets, cocoa, chocolate, most nuts, most berries, and beans.

· Foods that easily get mold which can cause allergy: Potatoes, sweet potatoes, nuts, berries, cantaloupe and honeydew melon.

Not everyone reacts the same to the food groups above so it’s recommended that arthritis suffers monitor the type of foods that can aggravate the pain.

Here are some foods that are found to be friendly to arthritic conditions:

· Green, yellow, and orange vegetables: Artichokes, asparagus, broccoli, chard, collards, lettuce, spinach, string beans, summer or winter squash, sweet potatoes, tapioca, and taro.

· Anti-inflammatory foods: Ginger, garlic, turmeric and apples.

· Brown rice: This is recommended instead of corns, wheat, oats, rye, and barley

· Cooked or dried fruits: Cherries, cranberries, pears, prunes.

· Fish: Salmon, mackerel, herring, tuna, as they are rich in Omega 3 essential fatty acid

· Nuts & Seeds: Walnuts, almonds, linseeds, pumpkin seeds which are unsalted

· Water: Drinking plenty of water is known to help.

It is advised to include arthritis friendly foods in your diet for four weeks without any trigger foods at all. After four weeks, you can easily identify foods that cause flare-ups by bringing back the food which you eliminated previously into your diet one at a time. Observe when the pain increases and note your dietary changes. It is not advised to reintroduce major triggers such as meats, dairy products, or eggs into your diet. They can also cause hormone imbalances that may lead to joint pain.

Many people who are changing their diets are also changing their choices for medication by choosing to go all-natural. Flexcin is helping thousands of people around the nation and even the world find relief in a safe and all-natural arthritis pain solution. The primary component of Flexcin™ is CM8™ (cetyl myristoleate). Of all the ingredients in Flexcin, CM8™ is the most powerful. CM8™ functions in three different ways. First, it acts as a highly effective lubricant in the joints, muscles and other tissues, allowing them to move smoothly. Decrease or loss of morning stiffness is commonly noted shortly after commencing treatment. Next, CM8™ functions as an anti-inflammatory. Relief from swollen joints is often seen after the 4th or 5th week of treatment. Third, it is also an immune system modulator, which can be effectual against autoimmune diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus and juvenile arthritis. CM8™ relieves joint pain at its source, reducing inflammation and irritation of the joints and tissues. It also has been helpful for many sufferers of muscle tension and fibromyalgia. All of these characteristics make CM8™ the most important ingredient in Flexcin.

In addition, Flexcin is proudly manufactured in the United States in a state of the art facility under the strict guidelines of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Good Manufacturing Practices, or G.M.P. Before you buy any drug, medical food or dietary supplement, always ask whether it was manufactured under FDA GMP Standards.