Guest guest Posted July 15, 2008 Report Share Posted July 15, 2008 Hi Hollyhedge; I'm glad to hear that the gluten free diet is helping. I think you would find at LEAST as much improvement by eliminating all animal products. Dairy products are one of the worst for causing inflammation. What I did (over 20 years ago now) was promise myself I could go back to my old dietary habits after a week if I didn't see any improvement, then I went at it full-force so that I would give it a real chance. My improvement was so remarkable, there was no way I could ignore the dramatic change. I was sold after only a few days, although I endured cravings for a LONG time after giving them up. Dr. John McDougall strongly recommends a low fat vegan diet, and I find the low-fat aspect is very important too for maintaining good energy level. Excess fat in the diet really slows a person down! Deborah Hi Christine - I also have rheumatoid arthritis and have been following a gluten free vegetarian but not vegan diet for some time. While my rheumatoid is a lot better I am still fatigued and flaring and having to take painkillers. Can you tell me to what degree you have improved. Do you still flare and are you on any medication at all. Great news about your improvement. . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 15, 2008 Report Share Posted July 15, 2008 HI Deborah - was the improvement you mention related to rheumatoid arthritis? I will certainly try a vegan diet - I eat vegan quite often but the dairy sometimes sneaks into my diet. The recipes look really good on this site so will try some out - better for my conscience as well as the animals. I will post on my progress. , " Deborah Pageau " <dpageau wrote: > > Hi Hollyhedge; > > I'm glad to hear that the gluten free diet is helping. I think you would find at LEAST as much improvement by eliminating all animal products. Dairy products are one of the worst for causing inflammation. > > What I did (over 20 years ago now) was promise myself I could go back to my old dietary habits after a week if I didn't see any improvement, then I went at it full-force so that I would give it a real chance. > > My improvement was so remarkable, there was no way I could ignore the dramatic change. I was sold after only a few days, although I endured cravings for a LONG time after giving them up. > > Dr. John McDougall strongly recommends a low fat vegan diet, and I find the low-fat aspect is very important too for maintaining good energy level. Excess fat in the diet really slows a person down! > > Deborah > > > > > > Hi Christine - I also have rheumatoid arthritis and have been > following a gluten free vegetarian but not vegan diet for some time. > While my rheumatoid is a lot better I am still fatigued and flaring > and having to take painkillers. > Can you tell me to what degree you have improved. Do you still > flare and are you on any medication at all. > Great news about your improvement. > . > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 15, 2008 Report Share Posted July 15, 2008 Hi rferdinand22; Of plant foods, I find that corn is a trigger for me, especially dried corn products. BTW, I feel the same as you when I see arthritis suffers refusing to change their diet. I have given my arthritis presentation to a number of them and had them politely hand me back the material saying " Oh, I already eat a healthy diet. " Often though, I have heard later that they have improved their diet a bit anyway, so it's worth the try. :-) For Christine, here's a brief report on Rheumatoid Arthritis from Dr. John McDougall. Please note the comments on dairy products: Dietary factors for the development of inflammatory polyarthritis by Dorothy Pattison in the December 2004 issue of Arthritis & Rheumatism found people with a high consumption of meat and meat products have more than twice the risk of inflammatory arthritis than do people who consume less. High intake of dairy products also meant almost twice the risk, and high total protein intake was associated with three times the risk of inflammatory arthritis. Not surprisingly, less fruit intake also means more arthritis. This was a study of 23,630 people from Norfolk, England. His comment: This study adds to the convincing body of evidence that educates people on how to keep their joints healthy and how to cure serious forms of arthritis by changing their diet. Rheumatoid, psoriatic, Lupus, ankylosing spondylitis, and non-specific arthritis are found commonly in populations that eat the rich Western diet. Most importantly, multiple studies have demonstrated that these kinds of inflammatory arthritis can be cured with a change to a low-fat, vegan diet. (Read " Diet: Only Hope for Arthritis " and " Star McDougallers " - Jean Brown, Vanessa, Sabrina, Mayra, Rolling Back Dermatitis...and Phyllis Heaphy. These are found on www.drmcdougall.com.) The patient suffering with painful, swollen joints is anxious for the doctor to make a diagnosis - hoping this will lead to a cause for the arthritis and an effective treatment. The truth is, what you call the problem (the diagnosis) fails to help the patient in any real way. Regardless of whether the doctor calls your troubles rheumatoid arthritis, polyarthritis, non-specific arthritis, Lupus or psoriatic arthritis, the facts remain the same: your trusted health professional has no idea of the cause or cure and the same drugs are offered to you regardless of what you call your aching joints: aspirin, NSAIDs, steroids, Plaquenil, cancer chemotherapy, or other " disease modifying drugs. " Pattison DJ, Symmons DP, Lunt M, Welch A, Luben R, Bingham SA, Khaw KT, Day NE, Silman AJ. Dietary risk factors for the development of inflammatory polyarthritis: Evidence for a role of high level of red meat consumption. Arthritis Rheum. 2004 Dec;50(12):3804-12. Here's a much longer (too long to post) and more detailed overview from Dr. McDougall on the same topic, expanded and with many case studies: http://www.drmcdougall.com/med_hot_arthritis_diet.html Deborah I have also experienced relief from my arthritis symptoms by following a VGF diet. Occassionally I have a flare up, typically associated with a bit of dehydration - i fly frequently, or after eating lots of legumes, tomatoes or grapefruits. My symptoms are swollen, red and painful joints, most frequently my knuckles although all of my joints become inflammed. It goes away with lots of water and cutting back on the legumes, tomatoes or grapefruit. The relief has been dramatic and I just want to shake every arthritis sufferer I know until they promise they will at least try the VGF diet. It breaks my heart to know how much pain they are in as well as how toxic those arthitis meds can be. Congratulations Christine. Your story is an inspiration, pass it on. --- . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 15, 2008 Report Share Posted July 15, 2008 Someone mentioned tomatoes as being a trigger; I wanted to chime in that a number of those with achy joints attributed to fibromyalgia find that nightshades (potatoes, tomatoes, peppers of any kind, and eggplants being the most commonly consumed) are major triggers for them. Other foods that I have discovered in the nightshade family are: tomatillo, tamarillo, physalis, goji berries (really!), and pepino melon. Pam On Tue, Jul 15, 2008 at 12:19 PM, Deborah Pageau <dpageau wrote: > Hi rferdinand22; > > Of plant foods, I find that corn is a trigger for me, especially dried corn > products. > > BTW, I feel the same as you when I see arthritis suffers refusing to change > their diet. I have given my arthritis presentation to a number of them and > had them politely hand me back the material saying " Oh, I already eat a > healthy diet. " Often though, I have heard later that they have improved > their diet a bit anyway, so it's worth the try. :-) > > For Christine, here's a brief report on Rheumatoid Arthritis from Dr. John > McDougall. Please note the comments on dairy products: > Dietary factors for the development of inflammatory polyarthritis by Dorothy > Pattison in the December 2004 issue of Arthritis & Rheumatism found people > with a high consumption of meat and meat products have more than twice the > risk of inflammatory arthritis than do people who consume less. High intake > of dairy products also meant almost twice the risk, and high total protein > intake was associated with three times the risk of inflammatory arthritis. > Not surprisingly, less fruit intake also means more arthritis. This was a > study of 23,630 people from Norfolk, England. > > His comment: This study adds to the convincing body of evidence that > educates people on how to keep their joints healthy and how to cure serious > forms of arthritis by changing their diet. Rheumatoid, psoriatic, Lupus, > ankylosing spondylitis, and non-specific arthritis are found commonly in > populations that eat the rich Western diet. Most importantly, multiple > studies have demonstrated that these kinds of inflammatory arthritis can be > cured with a change to a low-fat, vegan diet. (Read " Diet: Only Hope for > Arthritis " and " Star McDougallers " - Jean Brown, Vanessa, Sabrina, Mayra, > Rolling Back Dermatitis...and Phyllis Heaphy. These are found on > www.drmcdougall.com.) > > The patient suffering with painful, swollen joints is anxious for the doctor > to make a diagnosis - hoping this will lead to a cause for the arthritis and > an effective treatment. The truth is, what you call the problem (the > diagnosis) fails to help the patient in any real way. Regardless of whether > the doctor calls your troubles rheumatoid arthritis, polyarthritis, > non-specific arthritis, Lupus or psoriatic arthritis, the facts remain the > same: your trusted health professional has no idea of the cause or cure and > the same drugs are offered to you regardless of what you call your aching > joints: aspirin, NSAIDs, steroids, Plaquenil, cancer chemotherapy, or other > " disease modifying drugs. " > > Pattison DJ, Symmons DP, Lunt M, Welch A, Luben R, Bingham SA, Khaw KT, Day > NE, Silman AJ. Dietary risk factors for the development of inflammatory > polyarthritis: Evidence for a role of high level of red meat consumption. > Arthritis Rheum. 2004 Dec;50(12):3804-12. > > Here's a much longer (too long to post) and more detailed overview from Dr. > McDougall on the same topic, expanded and with many case studies: > > http://www.drmcdougall.com/med_hot_arthritis_diet.html > > Deborah > > I have also experienced relief from my arthritis symptoms by > following a VGF diet. Occassionally I have a flare up, typically > associated with a bit of dehydration - i fly frequently, or after > eating lots of legumes, tomatoes or grapefruits. My symptoms are > swollen, red and painful joints, most frequently my knuckles > although all of my joints become inflammed. It goes away with lots > of water and cutting back on the legumes, tomatoes or grapefruit. > > The relief has been dramatic and I just want to shake every > arthritis sufferer I know until they promise they will at least try > the VGF diet. It breaks my heart to know how much pain they are in > as well as how toxic those arthitis meds can be. > > Congratulations Christine. Your story is an inspiration, pass it on. > > --- > > . > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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