Healthy Eating

Jan 12, 2006

Rheumatoid Arthritis Can Be Beaten

Rheumatoid Arthritis - Lupus and Carbohydrates
As you know, if you’ve been reading my articles, I believe that nature’s design of food cannot be duplicated at this time. I also believe that about 100 years ago we began to move from a lifestyle that depended on the fish we caught and the fruits and vegetables we grew in our gardens. All of that coupled with the work (exercise) we engaged in as a matter of gathering food and making a living produced excellent results.
Unfortunately, we seem to have slipped into a downward spiral of fast foods, prepared foods, unhealthy fatty acids, salt, processed sugar, hydrogenated vegetable oils and high fructose corn syrup, along with many names that involve the use of chemicals and additives that are detrimental to our health. Prescription drugs have not produced cures nor preventatives to this troublesome existence. Instead, they have exacerbated the problems by adding more chemicals and deadly side effects. Obesity is at an all-time high, and diabetes, Alzheimer’s, stroke, heart attack, MS, Lupus and arthritis are at epidemic levels in the United States. Of all the industrialized nations of the world, we have dropped to a ranking of 25th, while other nations have developed cures, lifestyles and universal health care that has raised their levels of healthy living and longevity.
As a victim of rheumatoid arthritis, I believe a preventative measure will be found in changing the foods we eat. Even more important is the revelation that we may be able to reverse the damage, if we start changing our food addictions to a more natural and healthy intake of fruits, vegetables and fish-rich in omega-3, designed by nature.
And so, as many members of our society gather information from real research, we find that many are in agreement that a Nutrition-Based-Regimen is the best way to restore our bodies and our minds before they take us down the path to a sure and painful death.
Since I have started this endeavor, many doctors of nutrition, clinicians, and even medical doctors have joined me in this effort. You are being given the best possible information for making eating a lifestyle change.
Rheumatoid arthritis is a devastating disease that has been around for centuries and leads to a most painful existence that results in the deterioration of large joints in the hip, knees and back. The replacements of body parts are not an effective approach to solving the painful problem. A painful existence continues equal to that people experienced before surgery. However, it is a very profitable business for the surgeons and we all know what they say about killing the goose that laid the golden eggs. Arthritis is a $115,000,000,000 BUSINESS. Ninety-nine percent of the 115 billion dollars is spent on drugs and surgery — both poor options for this condition, since arthritis is mostly caused by malnutrition and joint infections.
In fact, if arthritis is caught prior to permanent joint damage, neither arthritis drugs nor surgery is needed. Switching from offending foods to the right healing foods and supplements to rebuild joints will resolve most cases in a year or less. But that would mean a loss of revenue to the pharmaceutical companies and the surgeons and doctors who use prescription drugs and surgical procedures that just don’t work. With the most stubborn cases a very-low-dose prescription of Minocycline, also caused Minocin may resolve the problem over a period of a year.
Diet of Inflammation: Putting an end to the American diet of inflammation that consists of food and non-foods that trigger inflammation and pain in the body would be a good start towards relieving the pain. Anti-inflammatory foods induce healing prostaglandin, and inflammatory foods induce inflammatory prostaglandin.
When 80% of the foods you eat induce inflammation and pain — you are in trouble as evidenced in the 30 - 40 million people taking anti-inflammatory drugs every day.
Before we left natural foods and began eating processed foods, our entire food supply was balanced.
We ate healthy restorative foods like raw fruits and vegetables, fresh meat and fish, seeds and nuts, raw dairy, eggs, and healthful oils like first-pressed virgin olive oil, cod liver oil, coconut oil and flax oil. These outweighed the small amounts of inflammatory foods like wheat, grains, processed oils, fried foods, alcohol and sugar.
Today we have reversed that balance with 90% of our foods inducing a state of chronic inflammation or pain. When once we ate oils with plenty of omega-3 fat content, today we eat mostly inflammatory, processed oils loaded with omega-6 fats. A proper ratio of omega-3 to omega-6 would be four to one, or even ten to one! The way to end this is to toss all processed vegetable oils and salad dressings, and use only the healthful oils.
Prior to processing our food, we ate plenty of protein, good fats, and carbohydrates in proper balance. Today we consume mostly carbohydrates—much of it in the form of wheat, grains, and processed, inflammatory foods. Many of us try to offset this problem with synthetic chemicals that supplement makers call vitamins. We can offset this imbalance, but not with synthetic chemicals which can often make things even worse.
There is really no option other than to do away with the bad foods and start eating the good foods. Ironically, it is exactly what I did as I attacked the problems in my lipid profile. When you get better, get off the drugs and start rebuilding your joints with nourishing foods that will feed and restore your joints. Then start a regimen of exercise like tennis, badminton, biking or swimming. If you did nothing but stop eating all the bad stuff and started eating the good stuff, you would begin feeling better. Not all people will eat the same good foods. Some cannot tolerate dairy and others suffer if they eat nightshade vegetables like potatoes, tomatoes, eggplants and bell peppers.
We can individualize our intake of foods with a Mediterranean-type diet. If you are overweight or diabetic, you would do best with a low-carbohydrate version of this diet.