Comments on: Fun Ways to Fight Rheumatoid Arthritis with Nutrition

By: Stacie

Stacie — Mon, 09 May 2011 23:58:29 +0000

I would really love to believe that there is a cure for RA, something as simple as a diet change or taking Apple Cider vinegar or something of the like. I have tried vegetarianism, mostly vegan(I still had honey) and am now trying gluten free.

Although many of the dietary changes I have made in some way or another helped decrease my pain for sometime, it never completely “cured” my symptoms. I still woke up still, regardless if I had or had not been exercising. I still experienced joint pain. Overall, it helped my energy levels and decreased my pain for some time but I still had flare ups.

I would love to see/know if supplements/vitamins would help decrease pain or RA symptoms. Has anyone noticed any difference?

By: Glenn May

Glenn May — Sun, 17 Apr 2011 23:31:43 +0000

You are missing the boat on RA cures; the honey and vinegar diet was proven to work by the late Dr Jarvis in 1958 as described by Dr Saul at the above website. I was cured in 48 hours! [With a daily dose; I call it cured when it eliminates symptoms even though ongoing dosing due to leakey gut syndrome!]

By: Lucy

Lucy — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 22:59:09 +0000

I have been managing my RA with a low carb diet for several years. I discovered the response of High Protein when I tried the Modified Atkins diet several years ago. It cut out most White foods except fish.

By: lisa

lisa — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 23:42:13 +0000

I believe my RA is related to having had irritable bowel syndrome for over 14 years. FOr years I thought the key to health was lots of vegies and fruit and whole grains and not much meat. So that’s what I ate, and my IBS symptoms lessened and worsened over the years, although I was never really free of intestinal trouble of some kind. ANd I was always prone to infections, colds and flu’s etc.
By the time I had what I now realise were the early signs of RA i was feeling super tired all the time and visited a naturopath who put me on an ani-candida diet. My energy level impoved remarkably right away and I follwed his recommedations for two months, during which time I lost about 15 kilos. However then I had the RA flare up and was in pain all over my body. At first i thought it was just candida “die-off”, which i had read alot about. The swollen finger didn’t go away (and still has not over a month later) so I started to think it was more serious than candida die off. I’m not sur eif the change in diet brought on the RA or what, but anyhow I started to invetigate the role of diet in RA and came across info regarding the metabolic diet. I have been following those ideas for about 9 days and already I can’t believe what a difference this has made. MY digestion is NORMAL after years of not being. I have cut out some of the supps I was taking , since I now understand things a little differently. I am what they call a “protein” type, meaning i need to get alot of calories from animal protein and fat and only about 30% from carbs. I think that eating mostly vegetarian type food for the last 20 years has contributed to my now poor health. It makes sense… something like 60% of your immune system is in your gut/intestines…and RA is an auto-immune diease right? So that basically means that my immune system is not functioning correctly. how coud it when it’s been fed all the wrong things for the last 39 years?? I had gut trouble as as an infant! I am interested to see whether following this diet will bring me further relief of the RA, so far i have alot less pain, and I don’t know if that is to do with having daily seafood (which I have been doing since i read it was a cure for RA and seafood is on my list of recommeneded foods for my type), or just because of the metabolic diet generally. the funny thing is all the foods that are on my list are the foods my body has been CRAVING all those years i thought i was eating “healthy” !
I know i probably sound like a crackpot, but i will keep eatng this way because my body loves it and i do feel better. if i wasn’t feeling beter perhaps i would be discouraged. has anyone else here tried the metabolic way of eating for RA??

By: Lucy

Lucy — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 06:35:04 +0000

I know there are a lot of nutritional ideas. but I found for myself when I tried to loose weight with the modified Atkins diet with my Rheumatologists ok that:
1)increase of protein–some every meal
2)decrease of processed carbohydrates like breads, pastas, and desserts decreased a lot of my pain.
I then also increased my activity even if I hurt because once the “juices” got flowing It was easier and less painful.

Now I know that this does not work for every one but it worked for me, and if I am haveing a large increase in pain I review my diet to see if I have fallen to far off of the wagon and it helps to decreas some of my pain. I know that it probably will not matter eventually but it does now.

By: Kelly Young

Kelly Young — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 21:54:41 +0000

Here’s the link to the post on supplements I promised. More to come on RA Kitchen soon…

By: Kelly Young

Kelly Young — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 05:11:56 +0000

Kate, I have a feature post begun on supplements. I’ll get to it asap. We do need to do the most we can to be healthy, even if it is not the cure to RA! RA’ers need to eat healthy even more than others for lots of reasons…

Just checking: does your doc prescribe a folic acid dose? It should probably not be an otc folic acid because the FDA can’t require that the exact dose is correct in each tablet. It is cheap by prescription and this way you get exactly what the doc wants you to have, which is usually at least 1000 mcg / 1 mg per day.

My Rheumy has not really discussed the other supplements with me. But as I mentioned here, one reason that I love my gp is that he does. I think taking time to talk to people about nutrition is a good quality in a doctor, so maybe your pcp would be willing to look at a list with you. He goes over my lab work and looks for anything we can do to fight my various deficiencies which are mainly caused by RA.

Oh, by the way, try taking flax oil for Omega-3 if you cannot take fish oil.

By: Kate O'Hara-Cohen

Kate O'Hara-Cohen — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 23:26:50 +0000

Kelly, I would love to see your list of supplements! I would love to see everyone’s list of supplements. I know that there are some things that I should take, but I have no idea how much to take. My doc doesn’t help much with this and I don’t really trust the folks that actually sell this stuff. I mean, some of them are also fans of the coffee enemas! LOL

I take:
Nature Made folic acid with DHA 2 600mcg/day
Nature Made biotin 2 2500mcg/day
Costco chewable calcium with vit. D (2)

I know that I should take fishoil but I’m allergic to shellfish so I’m a bit leery of it. A friend has just given me some omega 3 oil made for vegetarians. I’m going to try that.

Any other suggestions?

By: Kirstin

Kirstin — Fri, 29 May 2009 22:04:46 +0000

What a great trick!

Reading this and realized I forgot to take my meds today. Thanks for the reminder.

By: marykhris

marykhris — Thu, 28 May 2009 00:57:02 +0000

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