Arthritis: Diet Versus Prescription Drugs
By Dr. Randi Fredricks, Ph.D.
One the most common health complaints of pain is arthritis.
This can be as simple as an ache in your joints. Arthritis can effect people in therapy and pain is a common reason for someone to seek a therapist.
Diet is the single most important thing that a person can do to control arthritis. A good, alkalizing diet is important. Weight is
another critical factor. Although osteoarthritis (degenerative joint disease) affects more women than men, a man who is more than 20
pounds overweight doubles his risk of knee and hip arthritis.
Some experts believe arthritis is a nutrition caused disease. According to one study, arthritis is allergy related. Even more dramatic
is the fact that for many people, arthritis symptoms completely clear up during a fast. What doctors and scientists are now saying is that
many forms of arthritis are aggravated by foods. While food allergies don't cause arthritis, they may, along with poor eating habits and
genetic susceptibility, encourage your body to attack it's own joints.
Other recent studies show a connection between "leaky gut syndrome" and rheumatoid arthritis. What this means is that some arthritic
individuals have sieve-like gastrointestinal tracts that allow partially digested food into the bloodstream. If this is the case, the
gastrointestinal tract needs to be treated. To make matters worse, many drugs used to treat the symptoms of arthritis interfere with the
absorption of valuable nutrients, depleting the body of nutrients and compounding problems. In reality, not a single drug in the entire
pharmacopoeia is entirely free of side effects. Every drug shows a toxic allergy response in food tolerance tests.
This means
that many drugs actually interfere and worsen overall health, immunity and the very arthritic diseases which they are suppose to relieve.
The good news is that the body is a self-healing entity that can heal itself when the cause of disease is removed.
You need only identify
which foods aggravate your arthritis. While you're doing your detective work, you can also have your doctor
perform a simple blood test
to detect food culprits.
There are six helpful recovery steps for overcoming arthritis;
Cut out all stressor foods. Stressor foods are useless junk foods.
Repair the gastrointestinal tract with healthy eating.
Cut out all allergy foods.
Rebuild damaged joints and health with restorative foods.
Where overweight exists, reduce gradually reduce it to normal
(with reducing restorative foods).
Eliminate gastrointestinal stress by learning to eat properly.
All forms of arthritis are worsened by unwise eating practices. We're talking about the way we eat food, not the food itself.
Those suffering from arthritis need to upgrade eating techniques to eliminate the gastrointestinal complaints and the arthritic disease
to which they are linked. This can be as simple as not mixing orange juice with yogurt.
While you're beginning your recovery, there are a few guidelines to follow. Foods to be avoided include refined foods, saturated fatty
foods from meat and dairy products, wheat pastries and high gluten foods, cholesterol, fat, nightshades, mustard, salty foods, caffeine,
colas, chocolate and highly spice foods. Foods to be added include artichokes, cabbages, cold water fish, fresh fruit and vegetables,
leafy greens, garlic, olive oil, onions, sweet potatoes, eggs (in moderation) and parsley. A good arthritis shake can be made with an
organic veggie drink by adding 4 TBS each wheat germ, lecithin granules, and brewer's yeast flakes. Good chlorophyll should be
taken according to directions.
Freshly-made raw potato juice, fresh alfalfa, alfalfa tablets and alfalfa sprouts have been shown to be very beneficial in European
clinics. Sour cherries, sour apples, organic bananas and pineapples are very beneficial.
Make sure to get plenty of the correct kind of exercise. It's important to keep your joints and muscles moving.
Supplements
Take a good multi-vitamin daily, and add the following if missing. Other supplementation should include quercitin with
bromelain twice daily. Other supplements that have been found to be helpful are Ester C 500 mg with bioflavonoids,
CoQ10, royal jelly, and enzyme therapy. Effective anti-inflammatory supplements include DPLA, omega-3 flax oil, borage seed oil,
grape seed PCOs, and vitamin A.
Bromelain, an enzyme in fresh pineapple,reduces swelling and inflammation in osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis and gout.
Bromelain can also be purchased in tablet form and taken as prescribed on the bottle. Other beneficial supplements include shark cartilage,
bee pollen, and glucosamine salts (sulfate, hydrochloride, and N-acetyl glucosamine).
Maitake mushrooms have been found to help rheumatoid arthritis. Doctors in European clinics have watched the alkaline action of raw juices
and vegetable broth dissolve the accumulation of deposits around joint tissue clinics. In addition, one quart of raw goat's milk daily,
either fresh or fermented, has been helpful in alleviating arthritis symptoms.
For inflammation, the use of supercritical COX-2 inhibitors can be a natural and very effective approach. They don't have the side effects
of many of the anti-inflammatories prescribed today and they work quickly, usually within a few days. I recommend Zyflamend by New-Chapter because
the company grows their own organic ingredients.
References (To view, roll mouse over the "References" heading; to hide, click on the heading)
Darlington, L. G. (1991). Dietary therapy for arthritis. Rheumatic Diseases Clinics of North America, 17(2), 273-286.
Roubenoff, R., Freeman, L. M., Smith, D. E., Abad, L. W., Dinarello, C. A., & Kehayias J. J. (1997). Adjuvant arthritis as a model of inflammatory cachexia. Arthritis and Rheumatism, 40(3), 534-539.
Hudnall, M. (1999). Illness and disease vitamins, minerals and dietary supplements. Minneapolis, MN: Chronimed.
Panush, R. S. (1991). Does food cause or cure arthritis? Rheumatic Diseases Clinics of North America, 17(2), 259-272.
Kjeldsen-Kragh, J, Haugen, M., Borchgrevink, C. F., Laerum, E., Eek, M., Mowinkel, P., Hovi, K., & Oystein, F. (1991). Controlled trial of fasting and one year vegetarian diet in rheumatoid arthritis. Lancet, 338, 899-902.
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