What foods help your Arthritis?

[tulip]

My mom has a bit of arthritis in one thumb, and a sore shoulder from a horseback riding accident years ago. She has found great relief from taking fish oil every day. I have no idea of any scientific studies, but I thought I'd pass along the information.

[xanesdoc]

I have psoriatic arthritis, which is closely related to rheumatoid arthritis. In addition to my normal stiffness due to the disease, the past 2 years I have been having ankle issues caused by an Achilles Tendon tear. Last week I started a cleanse called "Clean" and have eliminated all red meat, wheat and milk products and processed foods. I have absolutely no pain or stiffness now. My DH thinks I have gone off the deep end when I tell him how good I feel after 1 week on this altered diet, but I feel great!
I think eliminating the wheat and possibly the milk products have lessened the inflammation in my body.

p.s. Someone in my spinning class who also has psoriatic arthritis had stopped all milk products, wheat and alcohol and her symptoms have disappeared. Last year when she told me about her diet, I disregarded it as something I could never do. I am sorry I didn't try this earlier because it is not as hard as I thought.

[lo123]

I have psoriatic arthritis, which is closely related to rheumatoid arthritis.

whoa, someone else with PsA. Not too many of us. I'm glad diet helped you so much!

I wish diet would work for me... I did the elimination diet thing for a month several years ago (no dairy, wheat, yeast, nuts, alcohol, refined sugar, artificial sweeteners--I swear I only ate meat and potatoes). It only made me really hate the diet

[Jolt]

My mom has a bit of arthritis in one thumb, and a sore shoulder from a horseback riding accident years ago. She has found great relief from taking fish oil every day. I have no idea of any scientific studies, but I thought I'd pass along the information.

Omega-3 fats are anti-inflammatory (that's why they're good for your arteries) so that makes sense.

[redrhodie]

I bought some beautiful persimmons today, and I was curious about the nutritional values, and I found this website:

http://www.nutrition-and-you.com/persimmon-fruit.html

From the site:
"Persimmons contain many health benefiting phyto-nutrients flavonoid poly-phenolic anti-oxidants like catechins and gallocatechins as well as important anti-tumor compound betulinic acid. Catechins are known to have anti-infective, anti-inflammatory and anti-hemorrhagic (prevents bleeding from small blood vessels) properties."

I don't know if this will help arthritis, but they're so good even without an excuse to eat them.

[Zen]

Catechins are also in green tea

[Trekhawk]

Well, this will also depend on the type of arthritis..
If it's osteoarthritis, it may respond differently to foods than one of the inflammatory autoimmune types like Rheumatoid Arthritis, Psoriatic Arthritis or Ankylosing Spondylitis....

Disclaimer: all this is my personal experience with autoimmune arthritis...

Some people swear certain foods make their arthritis worse. For me, if I drink some types of alcohol, my fingers swell up and I get stiff. Certain red wines are the worst for me.
If I don't eat my fruits and veggies, I start to flare up. It's really been about a balanced diet. Not too much excess in any area.

For me, the nightshade family has no impact on my body (yay--I LOVE tomatoes).

Yep it is osteoarthritis. So far I have not noticed any one food making it worse.

I have upped the amount of oily fish I eat and thanks to all the tips here I will investigate some of the other foods mentioned.

[OakLeaf]

http://articles.latimes.com/2009/aug...inflammation17

There is some research that says inflammation is a cause of osteoarthritis. IAE, reducing inflammation is a good goal in itself.

[Trekhawk]

http://articles.latimes.com/2009/aug...inflammation17

There is some research that says inflammation is a cause of osteoarthritis. IAE, reducing inflammation is a good goal in itself.

Thanks for the link.

[Dogmama]

LO123 is right on about osteoarthritis vs arthritis caused by an autoimmune condition. What aggravates one may not be a bother for the other.

I have both. I've found (big tears) that chocolate really exacerbates my symptoms. The darker the chocolate, the worse. I love chocolate. Not fair!

I have to take an NSAID called meloxicam. It's Rx only & so far it has worked for several years - longer than most NSAIDs. My rheumatologist is big on stopping the inflammatory condition so that the joints don't get worse. I've tried all of the alternative remedies & nothing worked. I do take fish oil for other things, so maybe I'm getting a benefit there. I still need my meloxicam, though.

Right now I have really bad arthritis & bone spurs in my thumb. I'm doing my best to ignore it, but it doesn't seem to want to go away.

[Trekhawk]

LO123 is right on about osteoarthritis vs arthritis caused by an autoimmune condition. What aggravates one may not be a bother for the other.


Right now I have really bad arthritis & bone spurs in my thumb. I'm doing my best to ignore it, but it doesn't seem to want to go away.

Thanks for the tip.
I hope you get some relief from the pain soon.

[lo123]

I have both. I've found (big tears) that chocolate really exacerbates my symptoms. The darker the chocolate, the worse. I love chocolate. Not fair!

Oh, that's brutal!