Relieving Rheumatoid Arthritis Through Food Exclusion

The rheumatoid arthritis diet also involves food exclusion as part of the strategy in improving the condition of arthritis patients. Food exclusion is considered one of the most effective approaches especially for rheumatoid arthritis patients as there is growing evidence to suggest that food allergy maybe one of the main reasons that triggers inflammation not only in rheumatoid arthritis but also in other types of arthritis.

Since food allergy can cause inflammation in rheumatoid arthritis, identifying which food that causes the inflammation and pain in joints is important. The thing about the food exclusion diet is that it’s experimental and it may or may not work for certain arthritis patients.

There are cases in which the symptoms of an arthritis patient may disappear completely when certain food is cut out from the diet. On the other hand, the inflammation may return if they eat the smallest amount of the allergen. But it’s worth to try if all other things seem to fail.

The bell peppers is a potential food that can cause food allergy.

Overall, certain rheumatoid arthritis patients may find that their condition improves to some extend if they cut down on a certain food, but it does not improve further if they cut the food out entirely. As a result, it is important that each patient experiments with his or her own diet and is not put off by the experiences of other people.

Of course, not everyone will find that changing their diet will cure, or even improve, their arthritis. However, most people will benefit from eating a balanced and healthier diet and most arthritis will definitely benefit from losing some weight.

There are some statistics that suggested that up to as many as 40 percent of arthritis sufferers (especially those with rheumatoid arthritis) may benefit to some extent by improving their diet. Of that 40 percent, a small number of patients may find themselves miraculously cured of the disease.

Potentially Allergic Foods

All food is possible to cause allergic reaction. It is possible that the allergy may show itself as arthritis and it’s especially true for rheumatoid arthritis where in most cases, food allergy has been the main reason that triggers the inflammation.

To complicate the issue, people can have an allergy to more than one food. So to test properly for an allergic reaction, you need to try all foods, alone and together.

Tomatoes might be one of the few food that causes allergy.

Certain families of foods seem to be most frequently involved. The following are some of the foods that are mostly related to causing allergic reaction that triggers inflammation and swelling in joints:

• Dairy products such as milk, cheese, cream, butter and yogurt.
• Vegetables from the deadly nightshade or solanacae family such as red, green and yellow peppers, potatoes, tomatoes, tobacco, chillies and aubergines.
• Citrus fruits, especially orange juice,
• Wheat and all wheat derivatives.

To give you a head start on rheumatoid arthritis diet exclusion plan, you can start with the above mentioned food and check if some of them are included in your current diet.

Exclusion Diets For Rheumatoid Arthritis

An exclusion diet specifically designed for rheumatoid arthritis can be implemented to improve the overall condition of rheumatoid arthritis patients. Some food is possible to cause allergy that leads to rheumatoid arthritis. An exclusion diet can sometimes work to reduce the pain and inflammation caused by arthritis. Rheumatoid arthritis as well as other types of arthritis patients will benefit substantially in most cases to exclude those foods that trigger the disease. The improvement that has been seen includes reduced pain, improved mobility, less joint deterioration, reduced use of drugs and fewer side effects.

Wheat is one of the common food that causes allergy.

For certain rheumatoid arthritis patients, the effects are so positive that the exclusion diet plan has even cure the disease. For most arthritis, excluding foods that their bodies cannot tolerate will not rid them of their arthritis, but it may improve their condition sufficiently to be worth the effort of excluding those foods.

Before embarking on an exclusion diet, a nutritionist should be consulted by people on a lot of medication; who have health problems in addition to arthritis; who are very young or old; and anyone who is pregnant. A diet that excludes more than one group of foods (dairy products, citrus fruits, wheat and so on) should never be followed in such cases, except under medical supervision.

There are two methods of identifying the troublesome food that maybe the possible cause of rheumatoid arthritis and other types of arthritis:

• allergy test
• keeping food diary

Allergy Test

Allergy test can be taken to figure out the specific food that might cause allergy in your body. There are various types of allergy test ranging from the low cost test to the sophisticated test.

The low cost inexpensive tests are usually offered by healthy food stores which test the basic six potential allergens. On the other hand, the more advanced and thorough blood analysis covers as many as 100-200 foods. The thorough blood test in some cases also includes additional information and advices from a certified nutritionist.

The allergy blood test seems to be a good alternative to arthritis patients who have difficulty in embarking on a strict exclusion diet for each of the possible groups of potentially allergic food. The blood test is a fast and easy approach in identifying certain food that causes allergy. No matter what the result of the test is, arthritis patients are highly recommended to verify the results by excluding the particular food from the diet for a period of time.

A word of caution here is that when the test results show that a very large number of foods are involved, arthritis patients should get the advice of dietitian or nutritionist should an exclusion diet be taken later on. Arthritis patients should not embark on a diet exclusion plan without first consulting a nutritionist. It is possible that the patient might suffer from starvation.

If there is a genuine bad reaction to a number of foods, professional nutritional guidance must be taken to work through the problem and find a balanced solution,

Keeping Food Diary

Other than taking blood test to determine the food that causes allergy, another approach is to keep a food diary that records everything taken as food throughout the day to single out the problematic food. The diary should record the food taken for a couple of weeks. The patients should note down everything eaten in the day, from licking the marmalade spoon after breakfast to finishing off the children lunch.

Moreover, the diary must include notes on the arthritis condition especially for rheumatoid arthritis. Things such as when the condition is worse or slightly better should be precisely jolted down. The way to do the food diary here is to note down the condition of arthritis after each meal.

After the arthritis patient has kept track of the food diary for about a week or so, he or she might notice some kind of pattern. For instance, when reading the previous entries of the diary, the patient might notice that the pain and inflammation in the joints gets worse after 30 minutes of drinking a heavy glass of orange juice for breakfast. This thing is important and it holds clue to which food that makes the condition of arthritis worse.

The next step to discover whether a food is having an adverse effect in arthritis is to exclude it from your diet for a period of at least one month. You need to be patient when trying to pinpoint troublesome foods as the process may take several months.

Embarking On An Exclusion Diet

In most cases, the following list of food is mainly associated with arthritis according to statistic.

• Dairy products
• Citrus fruit
• Wheat
• Solanacae Family of Vegetables

The food that you suspect you may be allergic to must be rigorously excluded from the diet for at least two weeks or preferable one month. It takes a surprisingly long time for the food to work its way out of the body completely and anyone genuinely sensitive to the food will react to the tiniest trace in the system.

It is relatively easy to exclude some food from your diet, such as citrus fruits, as it is usually easy to identify them or dishes in which they have been used. It is far more difficult with the other three groups as tomatoes, potatoes, dairy products and wheat products and their derivatives are used in almost every kind of ready-made food.

Potential Foods to Avoid

These lists show some of the products and ingredients that are not necessary instantly identified as a source of the foods to be excluded. This is extensive enough to highlight the problem – many more individual items could be added later.

WHEAT Food
Couscous
Curry powder
Farina
Instant hot drinks (such as coffee, tea, chocolate)
Semolina
Soy sauce (except wheat-free tamari)
White pepper in restaurant ( can be adulterated with flour)

Solanacae
Aubergines
Bell peppers
Chilli peppers
Potatoes
Tomatoes

Dairy Products
Batter
Butter
Buttermilk
Cheese (including cream, curd and cottage cheeses)
Cream (double, whipping and single)
Ghee
Skimmed milk powder
Synthetic cream
Yogurt

CITRUS Fruit
Clementine
Grapefruit
Lemons
Limes
Mandarins
Mineolas
Oranges
Satsumas
Tangelos
Tangerines
Ugli fruits

Conclusion

All in all, the diet exclusion plan for rheumatoid arthritis might be an effective way to improve the condition of arthritis. The patients might see an improvement in reduced pain in joints, increased mobility and significant reduction in inflammation. The diet exclusion plan may or may not work for some arthritis patients. The result vastly depends on the individual. But statistic shows that as many as 40% of patients reported an improvement in their condition after excluding certain types of food. A word of caution here is that before excluding certain diet, arthritis patients are encouraged to talk to a nutritionist to prevent starvation or even malnutrition.

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 21st, 2010 at 5:02 pm and is filed under Food Exclusion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.