What you eat and drink makes a big difference

Avoid possible food irritants

Some people are allergic to certain foods and pollutants.  If your ancestors’ bodies never had to deal with them, your system may be missing specific digestive enzymes. Therefore, each of the below items could be irritants for you.

1.  Avoid colas and sodas like the plague.
Phosphoric acid in these drinks leaches minerals from bones and leads to osteoporosis.  This acid also suppresses your ability to absorb the trace mineral manganese, which is necessary for strong joints.

2.  Avoid certain pollutants
The usual free radical culprits that you drink, eat and smoke or chew are:  Alcohol, chlorinated tap water, high fat diet and tobacco.

3. Give up “nightshade” plants:
Nightshade plants are:  eggplants, green and red peppers, potatoes, tomatoes.

Nightshades ordinarily offer good nutrition, but for some people they become irritants.  They contain substances which set off the release of solanine, a crystalline alkaloid.  Certain people are especially sensitive to even small amounts of solanine. Find out if you are one of them by avoiding these particular foods long enough to tell whether you feel better when you don’t eat them.

4. Give up other possible food irritants
Some people are allergic to dairy (including ice cream), corn, meats, wheat, oats, rye, eggs, citrus foods, nuts, and coffee.  Ordinarily they are fine, but many people with arthritis may be sensitive to one or more of them.

4. Perform your own testing procedure for possible irritants

• Avoid all of these foods for two weeks to cool the joints. If you feel better, than you have an allergy problem.  If you don’t feel better, something else is the problem.
• Then begin adding one of them back at a time.  Make one change at a time so you can clearly tell whether that change alone eases your pain.  If the addition does not cause pain, that food is safe to add back to your diet.
• Keep adding back one food every two weeks and check out how you feel.
• If you’re not sure, give it another two weeks.
• By taking this approach you should be able to determine which particular foods may be irritants for you.

These foods are good for you

Foods and supplements with antioxidants are good for you
Eat foods high in antioxidants, and take them as a supplement every day.  You want to stop the inflammation cycle.  Take vitamins C, D, and E, beta carotene, and the mineral silica.  They help strengthen the connective tissue in your joints.

Cod liver oil
Cod liver oil is packed with EPA and other omega-3 fatty acids.  In an English study (Cardiff U in Wales, UK), people who took a table-spoon of cod liver oil daily reduced their arthritis pain and reversed the destruction of joint cartilage.

You want cod liver oil rather than fish oil because it’s loaded with Vitamin D, and another study showed that people who got the most Vitamin D had the lowest risk of arthritis.  Of course you can get “D” from the sun, but that’s hard to do in the winter in a northern climate.

Detoxify with raw foods
Two-days a week eat only fresh raw fruits and vegetables (and their fresh juices).  They are highly concentrated sources of catalytic (scrubbing) enzymes.  They are protein-like substances that break down, dissolve, and ultimately eliminate toxic free-radical wastes that irritate your joint- muscle system and contribute to arthritis distress.  Cooking kills these enzymes.

Give up cooked foods for two days a week.  Your ancestors lived this way centuries ago when they did without fire.  You can too – for only two days every week.

Digestive enzymes
Take them starting with the second month or your detox program.  Once you have been on a raw food detox for a month, add digestive enzymes in the form of a supplement.  Some people’s digestive systems are so poor they need assistance.  Protease digests protein, amylase digests fat, lipase digests carbohydrates, and cellulose digests fiber. These enzymes are available at many health food stores.

Drink water, pure water
Cartilage is made up of 75% water in adults.  Lots of water translates into more resilient joints.   Regardless of what ads claim, sodas and sports drinks aren’t good substitutes.

Eat fish
Eat fresh or frozen fish at meals 3 to 5 times a week.  Omega-3 fatty acids found in fish oils produce “good” prostaglandins (hormone-like substances) that tend to serve as building blocks for internal biochemical products without causing as much inflammation or pain as Omega-6 fatty acids for some people.

Fish high in omega-3 fatty acids are (in order of potency):  haddock, cod, pollack, northern pike, sole, tuna (in water), red snapper, flounder, and salmon.  Haddock and cod are Friday night favorites.   The “fake crab” in your grocery store is often made up of pollack.   Canned tuna (in water) is an easy way to store this staple.

You can’t miss by simply serving fish three times a week for a month – preferably broiled or baked. Again, if you feel better, it’s a winner.

Eat manganese-rich foods
Include leafy green vegetables and beans in your diet.  Spinach, mustard and collard greens, long grain brown rice, pineapples and various beans and legumes are good sources.  You also want to check into a multi-vitamin mineral supplement with at least 5 mg of this mineral a day.

Flaxseed
Add it to your home cooking.  Plant based sources of omega-3 fatty acids are topped by flaxseed oil, followed by extra virgin olive oil, canola oil, walnuts and walnut oil, leafy green vegetables and soybeans. If you don’t find bulk flaxseed, flaxseed bread, or other flaxseed bakery products in your local grocery store, you can order online from Natural Ovens of Manitowoc.

Garlic
Eat it daily.  When you eat garlic, your digestive system, through enzyme activity, will extract a substance called allicin.  Your enzymes take the allicin to promote a scrubbing action that cools down inflammation. Garlic, via the allicin action, is said to be able to help you conquer arthritis pain.

Potency is highest in the garlic bulb itself.  Take three cloves, chop them finely, and add to a raw vegetable salad, sandwich, soup, or cooked dish.  Chew a garlic clove or two daily (if you can handle the taste, and the people around you can handle the odor).

Garlic capsules (without the odor) are available at many health food stores.  If you use them, make sure that they contain active allicin.   Without the allicin, they probably aren’t effective

Ginger
Take it daily.  To boost the effects of dietary changes, take ginger root in a tea or added to vegetables – about one-half to one teaspoon per day, fresh from the grocery produce department or powdered from a health food store.  The ginger stops white blood cells from making the chemicals that cause inflammation.  The effect can be boosted by adding fatty acids such as flax seed oil or evening primrose.

Niacinamide
It is a form or niacin (vitamin B3).  Dr. William Kaufman performed extensive studies that demonstrated the therapeutic effects of niacinamide in the treatment of osteoarthritis and impaired joint mobility.  You can buy this supplement at health food stores and pharmacies.

According to Dr. David Williams, “B3 is only one of a list of B vitamins.  If you are deficient, it could be because of over-the-counter and prescription drugs.  The proper absorption of the B vitamins requires high levels of active bacterial flora in the bowels.  Antibiotics, diuretics, oral contraceptives, acid blockers, all forms of anti-cholesterol medications, and practically all forms of pain killers either interfere with vitamin B absorption and or/destroy beneficial bacteria flora in the bowels.”    http://www.drdavidwilliams.com/

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