First of all, I am not a doctor or medical professional of any sort. This information is based entirely on my personal experience with the WFPB way of eating (WOE) and its affect on my RA and hypothyroidism.
I definitely agree with VeggieSue. You will probably need to follow an elimination diet to determine your personal food triggers. Your daughter as well. Just because you can eat a particular food does not mean your daughter will be able to eat that same food with no problems. I finally realized that
all food is suspect for my body until I prove otherwise.[b][/b]. I will admit that following an elimination diet (ED) can be boring as far as the food is concerned but it is well worth the effort to be totally pain free. Also, be aware that just because you have eaten a food your entire life with no problems does not mean your body will not suddenly reject it.
Since 1991 I have taken thyroid medication. That is the only medication I take at 66 years of age. Last November my TSH was 0.904 with a Ref Range of 0.4-4.5. Due to this WOE I have been able to eliminate several meds that I had taken for many years. My RA was diagnosed in 2010. In January 2013 I started the WFPB way of eating after watching the Forks Over Knives documentary and have never looked back. I was totally pain free of the RA flares within a couple of weeks and enjoyed the wonderful WFPB array of foods and meals I could eat. However, at about the six-month mark I started experiencing mild RA flares again. After that continued for a few months with me trying to figure out the cause of the flares, I decided to go on an elimination diet to see if I could discover the reason for the new flares. While I did get some additional relief from the flares at first on the ED, it was not the same level I experienced when I started the WFPB WOE. Also, while my joints were sensitive again at this point, I have never experienced the level of severe, debilitating RA pain since starting this way of eating.
At the point I started the elimination diet, I was 100% compliant with the WFPB plan. Happened across a post on the forum about someone reacting to oats and/or rice which affected their RA. I decided to eliminate both from my diet even though they are listed as "safe" food on the elimination diet list. Sure enough, as soon as I eliminated both oats and rice from my diet, the rest of the RA flares stopped and I was totally pain free again.
The purpose of an elimination diet is to help you determine your personal food triggers. I can eat cooked tomatoes but no fresh tomatoes. My best friend can't eat tomatoes at all. The only grains I can eat are corn, buckwheat, and quinoa. My friend cannot eat corn at all. My body does not tolerate the high fat foods such as nuts and seeds, nut and seed butters, and avocados - not even chia seeds or flax seeds. I can't eat citrus, green chilies, and a number of spices. Absolutely cannot eat anything with gluten and absolutely no meat or oils of any kind. My body reacts almost immediately to the gluten and fats. My body does not tolerate any alcohol at all, even just a little bit used in cooking. While all these foods are compliant foods for the WFPB plan, my body does not tolerate them.
Friday I saw a friend I had not seen in a year. She follows the progress of my RA WFPB experience as she has a younger sister who was diagnosed about the same time I was with RA. While the sister did try to control her RA with diet for a short period (never WFPB), she decided she just could not give up the meat and her wine and started medications. The friend told me Friday that her sister's hands have continued to become more debilitated and deformed. In fact, her feet are so bad now they are even turning out. Her doctor has said she will need surgery on her tendons to correct the problem. The other meds were not really helping so the sister is now taking infusion treatments at a chemo clinic twice a year. That does help once it kicks in but is takes a few weeks and it loses its effectiveness before she can undergo her next treatment.
Here are some links to a newsletter and other material by Dr. McDougall concerning this way of eating and various types of thyroid issues.
https://www.drmcdougall.com/misc/2005nl ... hyroid.htmhttps://www.drmcdougall.com/health/educ ... e-thyroid/Here are some links to the success stories of people who control their various forms of autoimmune types of arthritis. I believe Leslie and Nicole both also have Facebook pages pertaining to their arthritis and will answer questions.
https://www.drmcdougall.com/health/educ ... ie-craine/https://www.drmcdougall.com/health/educ ... e-s-oshea/https://www.drmcdougall.com/misc/2014nl ... ncases.htmI wish you the best on your and your daughter's continued journey to get relief from the Hashimoto's.
by Oatsandbeans » Sat Apr 07, 2018 5:02 pm 
