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There are two schools of thought on rheumatoid arthritis diet and its impact on the disease;
while one group maintains that there is little a person can do with the help of food to control
pain and degeneration of cartilage, the other school of thought insists that everything that we eat
has an impact on our body and mind.
Eating certain foods or avoiding certain foods may help your rhematoid arthritis symptoms.
However, according to the Arthritis Foundation, there is no scientifically substantiated "arthritis
diet” for either rheumatoid arthritis or osteoarthritis.
On the other hand, if you find certain foods worsen your rheumatoid arthritis symptoms and
others help your symptoms to improve, it makes sense to make some adjustments in your diet.
The idea that eating healthy can improve your overall health is a universally accepted concept.
So, it seems like a good idea to believe that food plays a very important role in our day-to-day
life. It is not difficult to see the connection between food and rheumatoid arthritis or
osteoarthritis.
Here are a couple of things to keep in mind.
A recent study suggested that 30% to 40% of people with rheumatoid arthritus may benefit from
excluding suspect foods that are identified with an elimination diet. An elimination type of diet
has you removing suspected trigger foods from your daily diet.
Then, after a while, you slowly add the suspect foods back into your diet one at a time and
watch for increased pain and stiffness. For some people, eliminating those foods that seem to
trigger pain and stiffness may help decrease rheumatoid arthritis symptoms.
Some studies show that saturated fats may increase inflammation in the body. Foods high in
saturated fats, such as animal products like bacon, steak, butter, and cream, may increase
prostaglandins, which are the pro-inflammatory chemicals in your body. These are chemicals that
cause inflammation, pain, swelling, and joint destruction in rheumatoid arthritis.
If you can avoid saturated fat in your diet, you might be able to avoid aggravating already
existing inflammation. So, it makes sense to try removing fat from your diet.
Eat small quantities of food many times a day, rather than three large meals every day. Eating
small meals each day allows the body to digest well and process everything you ate before the next
meal.
This reduces the acidity in the stomach during this time. Since acidity is a known culprit with
athritis, this kind of arthritis diet can prove helpful in this regard.
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