Arthritis Diet - Food Effecting the Arthritis

An arthritis diet is not a strict diet. Rather, think of an arthritis diet as a list of foods that you ought to avoid and foods that may be beneficial for alleviating the symptoms.

Below are the foods that you ought to avoid while on an arthritis diet:

• Fast food restaurant soda
• Starchy foods like potatoes
• Red meat (minimal intake only)
• Foods high in saturated fat
• Greasy foods
• Fried foods

And here are the foods that may help relieve the pain:

• Fruits high in vitamin C, including oranges, apples, and strawberries
• Oily fish
• Foods high in vitamin E
• Grains, such as wheat and brown rice

There are many factors to be considered with respect to arthritis diets and nutritional healing, and each factor may not apply to each individual. For instance, certain people are allergic to specific type of foods. Indeed, these allergies can worsen arthritis conditions.

Rheumatoid arthritis can be inflamed with the ingested foods that contain sodium nitrate or tartrazine. And if an ingesting food containing a substance called hydrazine can contribute to systemic lupus erythematosus, an arthritis condition connected to lupus.

Behcet’s disease is a rare type of arthritis. Eating black walnuts can cause flare-ups in people with this rare arthritis condition. Thus, variety of foods can trigger variety of arthritis conditions. The best way to approach the condition is to examine each arthritis condition and tailor one’s approach based upon the specifics.

There are over 100 different varieties of diseases and conditions related to arthritis. As it is not possible to cover all these 100 different arthritis conditions, we will look at the most common conditions: rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, fibromyalgia, and gout.

Arthritis Diets & Rheumatoid Arthritis

An abnormally low zinc level is most prevalent in rheumatoid arthritis sufferers. Several independent studies have been conducted where rheumatoid arthritis patients have been given increased doses of zinc and showed marginal improvement.

Copper Therapy

Since long time studies have been conducted on the effects of copper on rheumatoid arthritis, and although results vary there seems to be some case for using copper to improve the condition, although most of the medical profession dismissed the copper therapy as relatively ineffective.

Copper therapy is not discouraged however when approached from food sources, and may work on some individuals. It is better to go for copper-rich foods instead of copper supplements.

Because copper supplements can cause side effects which include change in sense of taste and smell, loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, abnormal blood clots, chills, anemia, increased joint pain, and kidney problems, and excess copper can cause cirrhosis of the liver in patients prone to Wilson’s Disease.

Copper Rich Foods

Few copper rich foods are lamb; goose; squid; pork; pheasant quail; duck; salmon; organ meats including heart, kidney, liver, brain; shellfish including crab, shrimp, lobster, oysters, scallops, and clams; meat gelatin; soy protein meat substitutes; tofu; nuts and seeds; chocolate milk; soy milk; cocoa.

Rheumatoid Arthritis - Foods To Be Avoided

Many nutritionists and naturopaths suggest the rheumatoid arthritis patients to avoid dairy products all together, as they seem to exacerbate rheumatoid arthritis flare-ups.

Arthritis Diet – Overdosing Of Vitamins & Minerals

Some vitamins and minerals can actually worsen certain conditions, and the overdosing of vitamins can be dangerous. Thus it is always good to go for food therapy when you want to attain any desired increase in vitamin or mineral intake.

Arthritis Diet - Osteoarthritis

For some osteoarthritis sufferers, glucosamine and chondroitin have showed success in relieving the symptoms of pain and stiffness. These supplements can be found in pharmacies and health food stores.

However, because the FDA does not monitor these supplements, the purity of the products or the dose of the active ingredients cannot be specified. The National Institutes of Health is studying glucosamine and chondroitin, so more should be known about the efficiency of these products for osteoarthritis in the near future.

Osteoarthritis patients who are taking blood-thinners should be careful about taking chondroitin as it can intensify the blood thinning and cause excessive bleeding. Fish oil supplements have been shown to have some anti-inflammation properties.

Increasing the intake of dietary fish and/or fish oil capsules sometimes can reduce inflammation of arthritis. Deterioration of cartilage is also a point of concern to the osteoarthritis patients. Therefore those with osteoarthritis should avoid large doses of Vitamin-A, since there is some evidence that it contributes to cartilage deterioration.

Arthritis Diets - Fibromyalgia

In the case of fibromyalgia, although clinical proof is once again sparse, there is a great deal of personal experiences of improvement of this condition when certain dietary practices are followed.

Eliminating wheat, Aspertame, alcohol, caffeine, dairy, citrus, sugar, and tobacco seem to be universal in those that have had success with treating the illness through Arthritis diets.