The Worst Foods for Arthritis

Saturated Fats

This category includes fats primarily found in animal products, such as fatty beef, pork, and lamb, poultry skin, ice cream, butter, whole or 2 percent milk, regular cheese, bacon, bologna, salami, pepperoni, and beef sausage. Saturated fats are also found in palm oil and palm-kernel oil — you probably won’t find bottles of those oils in your pantry, but you will find them in the ingredient list of any number of items on your shelves, including crackers, cookies, and nondairy creamers. To limit your intake of saturated fats, choose reduced-fat or fat-free dairy products, lean cuts of beef and pork, and skinless chicken and turkey. As for packaged foods, you can find the saturated fat content listed on the Nutrition Facts panel; I advise choosing snack foods with no more than 2 grams saturated fat per serving and meal items with no more than 4.5 grams per serving.