Food And Arthritis

Add the RIGHT foods to your diet to REDUCE arthritic pain and inflammation.
Include the WRONG foods to your diet and INCREASE arthritic pain and inflammation.
My choice? A life-journey based on a low-oil whole-food plant based diet.
Whatever your current state of health, make yourself healthier - you deserve it. Start your plant based diet journey today.

Tuesday 26 April 2016

The Importance of Using Ice Packs

Last night as I lay in bed some pain started to build in one hand.  Knowing arthritis as I do, I knew without fail, possibly slowly, but surely the pain would build and spread.  I had taken an anti-inflammatory drug too recently to take another at that moment so I decided to leave the warmth of my bed and get an ice-pack filled with gel from the freezer compartment.

I have a few of these ice-packs.  They are flexible and so mould themselves to the shape of my body and wrapped around the joint and tied with a velcro tab.  For my ankles it is much better if my wife does it.  She can really get a tight fit, which helps the cold temperature become really effective.  However right now I wanted the ice initially around my wrist.

Monday 25 April 2016

Two suprising side-effects of a detoxing

I have been feeling cold recently, and persistently so.  It took me some time to realise it was because I was on this detox diet.  A consequence was digestive system was not being used so much: it takes very little to digest a cucumber and celery juice drink.  And if that is all you are drinking all day then your stomach is not going to generate heat.  So that natural hot-water bottle below your waist is staying cold and so it is possible if not likely you might feel cold also.  My solution is to stay in a warm environment which has meant turning up my thermostat.  Leaning on a handy radiator has been a more pleasant pastime than normal.

Also I have found my ears getting blocked with, I guess, wax to the point of being unable to hear normal conversation.  I have put this down, in part, to the lack of using my jaws to chew food stuffs.  It is amazing to think the fact of chewing food might help keep your ears clear, but that's the way it seems to me.  Moving your jaw up and down also moves the bones and joints in your ear.

Friday 22 April 2016

Navigating Dietry Spectra

I spend a lot of time researching my arthritis, and believe me there are lots of diets out there arguing they can help with arthritis.  Many of these are similar versions of the same thing, however others seem, to me, to be at the other end of the dietary spectrum.

Let me be clear the daftest diet will cure someone of something.  Some years ago I remember some woman saying she lived happily and entirely on a diet simply of crisps: breakfast lunch and dinner.  In reality this is testament to the success of the human body in adapting and correcting most whatever is thrown at it.

Thursday 21 April 2016

The Dietician Visitation

Driven to the end of my tether just 2-3 weeks ago I have elected to go on a stomach & gut reset diet.  Many people have heard of the 5/2 diet where you have two days every week just drink and thus no food, and indeed many people have, I think, had positive experiences and some have built it or something similar into their lifestyle.  My diet choice starts off in a very similar way, that is just liquids.

After the first two days my diet goes in a very different direction.  It concentrates on paying attention to your body, listening for changes.  For instance I can play back (in my mind) exactly my bowel movements in the last week and can describe in detail what they felt like.  It is this attention to detail about my body that helps me understand when foods are helping or hindering progress, and by how much.  It also helps me pick out subtle differences that may depend on quantities or other foods combined during cooking.

Wednesday 20 April 2016

Flying to Dublin & back in 24 hours

If you have Arthritis going away anywhere and any-time is a challenge.  You find yourself in situations where your diet is difficult to control, where your sleep is difficult to control and your rest is difficult to control.  This makes journeys such as this one very difficult.  The prospect of eventually being sat in the cramped space of a small airline seat, the long walks from car to departures lounge, from there to aircraft.   Not much fun.

But I survived and more than that, I survived more than I dreamed possible.  I came home and found, after waking up from a twelve hour sleep, that I had no inflammation and my pain was in control.  This is in stark contrast to previous trips away where I have needed several days to recover.

Friday 15 April 2016

Re-evaluating My Vegetarian Lifestyle

As a couple we went vegetarian back in 1979.  Now that I have hit this road-block of chronic arthritis and seemingly the only way out is to head towards a vegan diet I am spending some time re-assessing the vegan lifestyle, and I am finding I am hit with some surprises.

Looking back I always knew there was serious cruelty to meat and dairy animals in the food industry, not matter what country you live in.  I kind of lived in a pleasant holier-than-thou state thinking that at least I was avoiding the worst by avoiding meat and fish.

Thursday 14 April 2016

On a downer

I did not post yesterday.  The morning started well with no inflammation and little pain and so I was feeling so pleased with myself.  But then, from nowhere, inflammation built up and thence followed by pain.  The increase did not stop through the day and into the night.  This was despite building up the meds.

What did I do wrong?  My Methotrexate day is Tuesday so perhaps I had been well with that boost and now I am on a downer as a quid-pro-quo.  I think I have had this kind of roller-coaster effect in previous weeks.  Must ask my doctor, though I suspect he will have no opinion.

Wednesday 13 April 2016

Dowsing results are in

Many people with arthritis look for help wherever they can find it, partly because of the all-consuming pain and life changing nature, and also because you just need help, any help.  I had an offer of being dowsed to ascertain any food intolerances.  Here are my results:
  • Dairy - Cows’ dairy products give a strong negative reaction. Goats’ dairy products, however, are good for you. Sheep dairy products are OK as are soya cheese and milk, but neither has a strong positive reaction.
  • Meat - Chicken is the only meat that seems good for you - red meats definitely not. Quorn is also OK.

Tuesday 12 April 2016

Some notable video blogs

One of the worst things about any illness is a feeling of loneliness.  Very helpful to me has been some of the video blogs.  One of the first I came across is someone who describes himself as the RaHealthCoach.

My Approach to Food

As a couple, we turned vegetarian back in 1979 and have never regretted that decision: in fact rather the opposite.  From my own standpoint I have always argued that decision was made on health grounds, and indeed I attribute 40 years of holding my Psoriatic Arthropathy at bay to that decision.  And apart from the odd unintentional mistake I have neither eaten fish nor meat since that time.

Our form of vegetarianism is what I think of as a wholefood approach, so bread is mostly wholegrain, and rice is brown.  We have always prided ourselves on cooking as much as possible from raw ingredients.

Our daughter, Jane took our interest towards veganism, but until this last year that has been more of an interest.  Lovely cheeses have ruled out leaving dairy behind entirely.   That said cow's milk took a dive and instead we have had either soya or almond milk.

Last year as my arthritis started to flare badly I took a personal decision to drop gluten from my diet.  It took around 3 months to really become fully gluten free as it took time to become aware of gluten-free alternatives.

Late last year I began to understand important and relevant health benefits of juicing and so I bought myself a juicer and again that brought me closer to veganism.  This year I started dropping dairy products in earnest and thus began to achieve a vegan diet.  That process again took a month or two, but it was only when I was at an absolute low and the Paddison Program gave me both the motivation and also the route forward to being finally able to declare to myself fully vegan.

My toenails

Whilst I'm on a downer I'll get my toenails out there.  They have not been the most attractive part of my body - ever.  But Psoriatic Arthropathy has taken is toll.  The toenails are very thick and distorted.

Because of stiffness in my knees I have difficulty in both trimming and filing them.

Anyway at least they function.

Not my best elbow

My right elbow is painful this morning. I have not been able to straighten it for 40 years and these days it seems to live at a right angle.
This can make sleeping at night not pleasant.   Rotating in bed relies on elbows so having one that isn't working can mean it takes some minutes to turn to find a more comfortable position.
Time for a tablet methinks.

Monday 11 April 2016

How bad is my Arthritis?

My starting point is to try to quantify how "bad" my arthritis is.  Fortunately I am being monitored with regular blood tests by my doctor.

Paddison goes on about CRP, the C-reactive protein.  Here's a chart of my readings over recent years.

The top value is around 100 mg/L and so far as I can see in terms of research is horrendously high.  Even Clint Paddison only reached aroud 20mg/L.

Clint seems to say that this is his main indicator for severity of inflammation of arthritis.

My Meds

Here's the drugs I have taken/am taking...
  1. Methotrexate.  Is the main drug of choice by doctors for people with bad arthritis.  It has been around for a long time (since the 1940s).  Initially used for cancer (100 times the strength used for arthritis), somehow they found it help arthritis patients.  No-one (as far as I can see) knows why it helps, or exactly how it helps - but it does.  I'll write more about this later.  For now I am on the lowest dose, which I take once a week - Tuesdays at 4pm.
  2. Folic acid.  Goes with MTX to counteract MTX main goal which is depleting the immune system, by design.  Arthritis is an immune system disease.  Stop the immune system working and you stop arthritis.  The dosage of folic acid must match the dosage of MTX.
  3. Codeine.  An NSAID, it is my main anti-inflammatory, and today the dosage was doubled.
  4. Arcoxia. Is an emergency NSAID drug because codeine just has not been sufficient.  It is not a nice drug.  My doctor is happy that I take it because I am on regular blood tests.
  5. Paracetemol.  Whilst a "normal" person is advised to take this drug for no more than a day or so without seeing a doctor, in my condition it is welcomed as one of the safest drugs for pain relief.  So, bring it on.
  6. 10% maximum strength Ibruprofen gel: is used to reduce inflammation in specific areas, eg my wrists and ankles.  The active ingredient is diclofenac, which I am banned from using these days, except in this form.  On some occasions I have had generous dollops applied all around my feet.
  7. Ferrous Fumarate: High-strength iron tablets to combat anemia.  Started taking it May 2016.
  8. Diclofenac Sodium: An NSAID which I have possibly taken for 30 years or more, but usually not more than a blister pack per year.  Stopped taking it around June 2015.

A History of My Arthritis

Forty years ago, around the age of 23 one Sunday in spring I went cycling. By the time I got home I felt stiff in my knees.  So I rested up.  By the next morning my legs were like balloons and soon to hospital I went.

Six months of physiotherapy and a diagnosis of Psoriatic Arthropathy was the result. Not just my knees were affected, rather almost every joint in body seemed to have aged another 30 years.
This was followed by 40 years of stability leaving me to work,  play badminton, swim and walk at the weekends.  All I needed was a blister pack of Diclofenac Sodium per year of so.

My Juicer

About last September we bought a juicer. Initially we justified getting an expensive one because we had a LOT of apples from my allotment (which I have done nothing on since then).  We bought a Tribest Slowstar and have been very pleased with the choice.
This juicer uses an auger to squeeze the juices out of fruit and veg at very slow speed rather than using centripetal high speed common in many makes. Features that stand out are:
  • Easy cleaning: it just needs taking apart and rinsing.
  • Extracts all the juice: so no need to reinsert fruit and veg a second time.
  • Quiet operation: so it can be used late at night out early morning without waking everyone.
  • Easy feed hop: so bits of veg do not drop everywhere as you add trying to feed them in.
  • Ten year warranty. Now that's a product you can have confidence in using daily.
After juicing apples I moved onto green veg. But I lost my way with no structure as to the best thing to juice for my health needs and how to make that with meals - that is until I came across the Paddison Program.
Now I cannot imagine life without it and use it twice a day.

Good Foods for Arthritis

Did you know that some foods are naturally good for people with arthritis? Take for example the humble pear. Once it is beginning to ripen it is easy to eat, not to sweet, and has ingredients that will help to reduce inflammation. (Beware of clear pear juice since this loses these key ingredients.)

One of the best is turmeric which has curcurmin, and again this has a powerful anti-inflammatory effect. So why not get used to sprinkling some in any suitable dish while cooking?

Here is my table of foods that are good for people with arthritis.
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Amaranth, Buckwheat, Cauliflower, Celery, Cucumber, Green Tea, Kale, Quinoa, Turmeric, Turmeric root, Baby Spinach, Black Pepper, Cabbage, Carrots, Spinach, Sweet Potatoes, Blackberries, Blackcurrants, Blueberries, Cherries, Rocket, Sauerkraut, Savoy Cabbage, Pineapple, Tempeh, ChickPeas, Raspberries, Strawberries, Walnuts, Avocado, Rapeseed Oil, 

Quinua Buckwheat and Cabbage Dish

With a bit of Tamari sauce, freshly ground black pepper,  and a sprinkling of turmeric this Quinua Buckwheat and Cabbage Dish is easy, quick, tasty and nutritious.

Start by rinsing the Buckwheat and Quinua in plenty of water and removing any floating particles.  Do this until clean.  Then add to a pan covered with about twice the water on a moderate heat .

Chop about three leaves of cabbage and stir in.  Then add Black Pepper and Turmeric.

Continue to cook, stirring occasionally until cooked, which should be no more than ten minutes.

Enjoy!