Healthy Eating for Women

These foods have been commonly found in research studies to trigger arthritis symptoms:

dairy products
corn
meats
wheat, oats, rye
eggs
citrus fruits
potatoes
tomatoes
nuts and peanuts
coffee

Dairy products are the most common trigger, as is also true for migraines (see chapter 11). This means all dairy products, including skim or whole cow’s milk, goat’s milk, cheese, yogurt, etc. Similarly, the meat category includes all meats: beef, pork, chicken, turkey, fish, etc. While this list applies principally to rheumatoid arthritis, people with other forms of the disease sometimes benefit from eliminating these triggers, too.

To find out which food (or foods) is bothering you, simply avoid these ten foods for about three weeks to let your joints cool down. In their place, have generous amounts of these “pain safe” foods, which do not contribute to joint problems:

brown rice

fruits: apricots, cranberries, pears, prunes, etc. (avoid citrus fruits, bananas, peaches, or tomatoes) . cooked green, yellow, and orange

vegetables: asparagus, broccoli, chard, collards, lettuce, spinach, squash, string beans, sweet potatoes, etc. (some people react to raw varieties)

water: plain or carbonated . condiments: salt, vinegar, maple syrup, and vanilla extract

After three weeks, if your symptoms have improved, reintroduce the trigger foods into your diet one at a time, every two days. Have a generous amount of the food you are testing, so you can tell how it affects you. If your joints flare up again, eliminate the offending food, and let your joints cool down again before bringing in another food item.

If you would like extra power against arthritis, you should know that medically supervised fasting has shown remarkable results for many people. Whether its value comes from the fact that fasting eliminates all diet triggers (along with all other foods) or from some other biochemical response to fasting is not yet clear. The vast majority of patients improve, often dramatically.

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