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.

But when you're vulnerable, as I am, that is the time be as easy as possibly on your gut.  But for me there are other issues.

I reject eating meat and fish products entirely, and dairy products almost so, all because of the lack of ethics in animal husbandry, in favour of commercial profits.  And of course there are strong arguments for and against a pure plant diet.  This is despite web sites advocating meat and fish diets.

At my recent visit to my dietician a strong recommendation was for the so-called Mediterranean Diet.  Obviously even this diet is a myth for two reasons at least.  Each country on the Mediterranean Sea has its own unique "interpretation" of this kind of diet.  Also some of these countries are amongst the most obese.

So looking at obesity, a close correlation to bad health can be found in countries where fast food outlets are prolific.  As Science Daily puts it, "The conclusions, published in the journal Critical Public Health (De Vogli, Kouvonen & Gimeno, 2011), are clear: the density of Subway's outlets is positively associated with the prevalence of obesity across 26 advanced economies in both men and women."   In my opinion the survey of Subway outlets might just as easily be replaced by any burger bar or similar and the conclusion would be the same.  Some countries have taken this to heart to the point of even banning fast food outlets.

There are other diets one might mention, such as the Paleo Diet, a diet that starts from the premise that our ancestors lived through the palaeontological era and argues our diet should get closer to what people living in that era might have eaten.  However in my opinion such a diet is a lot of marketing hype with little to back it up

So, I will take the good aspects of thealthe Mediterranean Diet and ignore the bad.  That it turns out is a plant-food diet.  Thus I am able to:

• avoid being part of the problem of abusing animals for our food wants,
• be part of the solution to climate change, 
• solve my arthritis problems in the short term and 
• also significantly reduce my risks of all major killers including heart disease for the long term.