DIET

Diet is the cornerstone to fighting the relentless inflammation that comes with rheumatoid arthritis. Diet is the key to reducing painful flare ups allowing you to exercise (your most potent adversary to RA), sleep better (read rejuvenating, healing, rebuilding), have energy, and bring your body from a state of panic into a state of ease and comfort. You will regain your power over your state of health and your body with diet as your weapon of choice!

There is an optimal diet for humans. (Especially humans fighting chronic disease!) How do we know this? Blue Zones. Blue Zones are populations around the world that are effectively disease free. These populations have diet and lifestyle similarities between them that yield long, healthy lives. When humans who have become overweight, lethargic, or chronically sick adopt the diet and lifestyle fundamentals from those who are chronically well (like the people in the blue zones), their bodies respond by becoming healthy and strong. It happens every time, for every human willing to make Big Changes. When those from the Blue Zones abandon their traditional diet and lifestyle by adopting the SAD diet (Standard American Diet), they become sick and tired just like everyone else who lives and eats the modern way.

Big Changes

As Pam Popper says: Big Changes yield Big Changes. What does this mean? It means if you make big, really big, gigantic changes in your diet and lifestyle, then you will reap big, really big, gigantic changes in your body, your functionality, and your overall well being. Little changes yield little changes. Medium changes yield medium changes. BIG CHANGES yield BIG CHANGES. How much change do you want to see in you life? The more change you want to see, the more change you must make.

Here’s an analogy.

When my two year old daughter plays outside with her siblings, she comes in a little dirty. Her hair is a bit tussled. Her little hands have been splashing in the dog’s water bowl. Her chubby knees are padded with mud from crawling around. This is no problem for me. I can just grab a washcloth, wipe her hands and face, dust her off, comb her hair, and she’s as good as new. She needed only a little work to restore her to her optimal level of cleanliness. Just a little work is all it takes, because only a little change needs to be made.

There have been times, however, when said sweet little daughter and her siblings have gone to play outside and turned on the water hose. They make mud pies, build towns with rivers and canals, make pyramids, and much more. When my little one comes in from playing like this, dusting her pants and wiping her off are not going to cut it. She has mud between her toes, all over her face, on her arms and legs, and matted into her hair. The only way to restore her to her optimal state, is to submerse her into some warm bubbly water, scrub her hair, soap her up, and rinse her off. Even her clothes and shoes must be cleaned. Not to mention the work that must be done in the backyard to restore it.

I hope you can see my point. If you are doing ‘pretty good’, you might not need to make the kind of changes I had to make to restore my health. Only you can decide for yourself what it is you hope to achieve, and the lengths you are willing to go through to make it happen. If you are anything like me, you will need to completely reconstitute practically every nook and cranny of your fridge, pantry, and plate. 

I like to call it the Anti-Disease Diet. Here are the details: 

• Plant Based: Simply put, you should eat more plants than anything else. 90% of what you put between your teeth should come from the earth. Plants have the power to take your health where you want it to go. Cooked or raw, it doesn’t matter. Just eat the plants!
• Whole: The plants you eat should be in their most complete form. That means they should be in a state as close to the condition they were in when they were picked / harvested as possible. All of the processing and breaking down of these plants should be done by you when you prepare them, and your digestive system after you eat them.
• Limit consumption of animal foods (no dairy) to 1-2 times per week: Why only 2-3 times per week? Only one of the five Blue Zones is vegan, meaning they don’t eat any meat, eggs, or dairy at all. The other four zones do incorporate very small amounts of meat into their diets, but never more than 2 or 3 servings per week. If you eat three meals a day plus a snack, that’s four “meals” per day times seven days a week. That means of the 28 “meals” you eat per week, ONLY THREE OF THEM CAN CONTAIN ANIMALS.
• No Dairy: When asked what is the one thing that can make the biggest impact on health, many experts in the field of nutritional medicine have this resounding response, “Eliminate the dairy!” Dairy is nutrient poor, and calorie rich. It’s high in fat, and not the “good” kind (if there is such at thing). Up to 75% of the population has digestive trouble due to dairy. If you are a person with auto-immune problems or joint pain you are the most prone to dairy issues. Clint Paddison, and many of his cohorts considers dairy to be one of the main triggers of rheumatoid arthritis. Colin Campbell used dairy to grow and shrink cancer tumors in mice. It has been associated with a myriad of cancers. The saturated fat in dairy is associated with heart disease. Further, dairy consumption has been associated with and INCREASE in fracture rate for seniors! Meaning the myth that dairy makes for strong bones is just a marketing ploy. Every form of dairy must go for optimal health.
• Low Fat: 15% or less of your calories should come from fat. If you are eating a plant based diet, with minimal meat, no dairy, and no added fats and oils, you will easily meet this requirement. No need to count calories. Fat is calorie rich, and nutrient poor. People seeking health and vitality are consuming calorie poor, and nutrient rich foods every time they eat. This allows them to attain a myriad of health benefits at every meal.
• High Fiber: Every human should consume 45 grams of fiber or more every day. Again, if you eat lots of plants every day, it will be easy for you to meet and exceed this recommendation. No need to count grams. There is only ONE source of fiber, and that is plants. It can’t be found in any animal products. Fiber is a low calorie way to feel full and satisfied. Fiber aids digestion, keeps bowels regular and easy to pass, and decreases your risk of digestive illness. Fiber protects against heart disease, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and diabetes. If you have an auto-immune disease like I do, you might be interested to hear that people who eat high fiber diets have lower C-Reactive Protien (CRP) levels than those don’t consume much fiber. That means, fiber intake is associated with less overall information.
• Mostly water to drink: 64 oz. per day, which is just over three water bottles, is what you need to drink every single day. Don’t skip here, it’s important.
• Understand the Food vs. Treats principle: I am one of the lucky few (that’s sarcasm…) who does not get to take advantage of the Food vs. Treat Principal, because I am using diet to fight arthritis and I simply can’t afford to cheat . . . ever. However, people who are not in my shoes can take advantage of this principal. Basically, if it’s Christmas, have the ham. If it’s Easter, eat the Cadbury Egg. If it’s a birthday, have some cake. New Years, drink the wine. BUT ….. if it’s just Tuesday, eat only what’s on the diet. Save the treats for special occasions, and go back to business as usual the next day.

To get personal help optimizing your diet to decrease symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis, please contact me at cassie.haney@yahoo.com.

Coming Soon: Meal Plans and Diet Aids on the Products Page.