Discussion Board

Hello People,
I would like to start a support group for those of us out there suffering (or not) but have been diagnosed with RA. Those of you out there that have RA know all too well how difficult it can be to live with. I am hoping that we can encourage one another in a positive way. Share our successes and help one another stay on track with this diet. I look forward to your humor, ideas or feedback! Good Day to you ALL.

Hello again,
I was hoping to open dialogue from those of you with or loved ones with RA and what you have done to help yourself or them with this diet or any other encouraging holistic paths.
This diet has helped me (when I follow it) even though it can be very challenging to say the least in social situations that seem to always revolve around food that is typically not the best choices.
I would LOVE to hear your stories.
Thanks.

Thank you Carroll for sharing you and your daughter's journey. I am so very sorry to hear about how difficult it has been for her! What a brave young lady she must be.
I am very interested in hearing more about this LDN you speak of, what is it, and where did you hear about it?
As far as you daughter's dillema about the fish oil, did you try her on flaxseed oil or black currant seed oil instead? Those are both anti-inflamitories.
I am excited to hear back from you.
Have a wonderful weekend, and I am sooo VERY happy to hear that your daughter has finally found relief.

"To be more specific, about 70% of people with the most common form of inflammatory arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, can expect dramatic benefits, and often a cure, in less than 4 weeks of diet change." --Dr. McDougall.

I encourage anyone with any diagnosis of any arthritic problems to read EVERYTHING at this link:
http://www.drmcdougall.com/med_hot_arthritis.html

Glad I found this group. I'm a recent sufferer of what I believe is arthritis. Am loading up on lots of aspirin, DHA, vitamin D. vitamin C, and am planning to do the elimination diet this week to see what else must go from my diet. Am gluten and soy free, but something else offending is still giving me severe leg rash, some hair loss, and now terrible shoulder pain for 5 days now, night and day. Didn't do anything to injure it. Just started happening.

I'm on high deductibles for insurance, so must figure out how to address this with diet and home remedies.

Hope I can hang out on this thread--despite no official diagnosis.

Here is my overall Star McDougaller story: http://www.drmcdougall.com/stars/burgess_laughlin.html

Here are the problems I faced: http://anti-itisdiet.blogspot.com/2007/ ... ation.html

Here is the main solution, a radical change in diet, that I found: http://anti-itisdiet.blogspot.com/2007/ ... ution.html

I also had to do posture-correction exercises: http://anti-itisdiet.blogspot.com/2007/ ... erapy.html

And, now, after six years of experimenting with foods, here is what I eat: http://anti-itisdiet.blogspot.com/2010/ ... i-eat.html

Thanks Burgess. I reread all your posts and wondered about a few things.

Spinach--any worries about oxalic acid with your kidneys?

Mixed veggies--none containing beans, corn or peas?

Olives--high sodium content, processed?

Taurine--do you take it? I've been instructed to take it--especially as a woman with hair loss. But think it's from animal source.

If you Cron-o-meter your daily diet of 50g. protein, how much methionine and Cystein do you get daily? I read we need only .22 daily of methionine, and mine's been about .7 daily. Think this will change as I redo diet plan.

Today, am just doing vegetable juices. Tomorrow am starting dr. McDougally elimination diet. Must go shopping today. Am wondering about a few foods on that elim. diet. I've done skin tests and have been shown to be somewhat sensitive to a few listed foods. Wonder if the fact that the foods will be cooked, will change anything?

Did you take aspirin for pain and for how long?

- I have never worried about oxalic acid. Should I? I have not noticed any short-term adverse reaction. Is there reason to worry about it in the quantities normally eaten?
- The mixed vegs I buy are the "Tuscan" mix, the "California" mix, and the "Stir-fry with Asparagus" mix. They don't have beans in them, except for a small amount of green beans in the stir fry. Since green beans are in the gray area, I can live with a small amount, at least for now. If I decide to tighten further, I can avoid them.
- I don't understand your question about olives. I have recently stopped eating them simply because they are expensive. Most of the food I buy is processed to some extent -- washing, trimming, blanching. I am not worried about that minimal level. Since I use no other salt, I don't worry about the salt in olives. I do eat two canned goods that have salt in them: beets and sauerkraut. The total amount of salt consumed is small. I am salt-sensitive, but not at these levels.
- I don't take Taurine. I don't know what it is.
- I haven't calculated the amounts of the various amino acids. I haven't seen any pattern in particular amino acids and my reactions, but if I have the money someday, I hope to explore that with a registered dietician.
- I took aspirin occasionally, more for bursitis than joint problems, but I have always tried to avoid it. If I have a leaky-gut problem, aspirin may make the problem worse even while relieving the pain.
- Dr. McDougall, perhaps in his newsletter or other description of the elimination diet, suggests that cooking breaks down proteins, thus possibly reducing a reaction. I didn't seen any difference, and not cooking everything was my first step in the ED.

Burgess, taurine is what our bodies make from methionine and vegans are often short--especially if minimizing protein intake.

Oxyalic acid and spinach: dr. Furhman instructed me with my kidney concerns to avoid spinach. For the most part, I do, or at least don't do a large serving more than once in a great while.

Olives--just wondered about the sodium. I've had to watch sodium for hypertension and effect on kidneys. Right now, am using sodium as only spice with elimination diet.

Got a question. I'm using only the posted fruit, veggies on the elemination chart in the newsletter Deec. 2002. It says, all green and vegetables including:

Does this mean I can only use those on that list? For example, kale is a green veggie, but isn't on that list. Would I need to work that in later over 2 days just to test it?

Thanks for your input. I really appreciate it.

No. It means what it says, "all green and yellow vegetables, including ...." the ones he lists as examples.

Based only on my own experience, I would say don't worry about any vegetables for now. Exceptions might be the "nightshades" -- tomatoes, eggplant, and white potatoes. Some individuals say they have problems with them. I didn't and I am not convinced that others have. However, note that two of them are fruit (they contain seeds). To be cautious, you might test them later.

Trying to correlate foods with arthritic pains is very chancey. Too many other factors might be having an effect too: especially weather changes and defective posture.

Unless a change in level of pain is dramatic, and throughout your body, it is difficult to draw conclusions. But you have to try. And don't be worried if for some foods tested you get mixed or indefinite results. Just add that test food to your records under "Not Sure." Even after developing this diet for myself over a six-year period, there are still foods that I am not sure about, but avoid just to be safe. And I do my posture exercises every day. Tedious but effective.

For reasons I explained on the site,

http://anti-itisdiet.blogspot.com/2007/ ... foods.html

I tested one food per week. Two days at the beginning of the seven days was for actually eating a particular test food. The rest of the week was for seeing if I had a reaction and for letting the system clear if I did have a reaction.

You will need to go through the first week without any test food, just the presumably safe foods. If you see any improvement, or at least no consistent worsening, then you could add a test food. Personally, I would add the presumably safe foods first, to build up the range of foods you are eating.

Based only on my own experience, I would avoid at first all seedy foods such as grains, legumes, nuts, and seedy fruit such as figs, tomatoes, and possibly even cucumbers and summer squash.

The process can be long and difficult. Best wishes for that journey.

P. S. -- If you haven't already, be sure to look through the titles on my site, in the archives and they key words list.

Thanks so much, Burgess.

I plan to add cabbage, cruciferous veggies to my list. Are bananas non-citrus? What about apples? I did skin tests on the following that showed no problems:

apples, bananas, oranges, strawberries--but won't do oranges or strawberries becasue they are on avoid list. I have large flareup to pears and pineapple, and very much so to canteloupe and grapes. Will avoid these for sure. Would like to add apples, bananas, mangos to my list, but don't know if mango is considered tropical.

Veggies--have slight flare up to celery on veggie list and to cucumber--these are both ragweed family as is canteloupe. Wondering if I should avoid for now--even though celery is on the list. I miss onion and garlic and tested wonderfully on those with the skin test. Will avoid mushrooms, as those are on most itis lists as problems and they do give me a stuffy nose and had a slight flareup on skin tests to them. What do you think about onion and garlic on the elimination diet?

Also--all nightshade showed a flareup on skin tests, especially potato. I am allergic to tomato plants, so tomato is probably one of the offenders causing me issues.

I noticed you have maple syrup in your diet. If I use organic pure, would that be permissible on the elimination diet? Brown rice would be so enhanced with it. Not sure if I'm allergic to maple trees, but would like some sort of permissible sweetener. Stevia gives me headaches. Avoiding it for sure.

I test fine with all legumes, green peas and limas being the lowest, and also lowest in protein grams. I don't usually eat more than half cup green peas or limas per day or more than quarter cup any other beans...but have stopped all legumes for elimination diet. Yesterday was the first day in eons that I've ever stayed under 35 grams protein for the day.

Another question for Burgess:

Am wondering if you used glucosomine, fish oil, B-12 sup, vit-D supplement for your healing? I am right now, as these are the typical ones that if low can result in itis problems.

Jellen,

Your pattern of adverse reactions (from skin tests, in your case) is radically different from mine. For that reason, I don't think my experiences will do you any good.

Suggestion, for this thread of discussion: Make three lists of all the foods you have tested: adverse reaction, no adverse reaction, not sure.

Then look for the common denominator for the adverse reactions. What do they all contain that the foods in the second category don't contain?

I have no further suggestions to offer.

P.S. -- No, I am not using any supplements other than B12 right now. I have not found any supplements to be effective. The only solutions for me were posture correction and eliminating certain foods (all animal products and all seeds).

Thanks Burgess,

My categories look like nightshades for sure, grape anything for sure, yeast and fungus for sure. Some nuts show some flareup, while others are in great ranges.

Am still searching for perfect sweetener. Ones I would consider are xylitol, honey, pure maple syrup, dates. Am open to suggestions. Would the high fructose issues of dates or honey be a problem?

Appreciate input for any folks who might have something to add here. Sorry to have hijacked this thread for allergy info. Please all go back to your discussions of RA.

Thank you,
Jellen

Hi Burgess,
You talk a bit about your posture exercising. You share more about it?
Thanks!