How to Control Rheumatoid Arthritis Through Diet

Many foods exacerbate the pain of rheumatoid arthritis but the good news is that there are also foods and food supplements that help relieve the pain and even the symptoms. If you alter your diet to include the beneficial foods and eliminate those that make they symptoms worse, you can control rheumatoid arthritis through diet. Today doctors and scientists are discovering more links to the foods that you consume and specific ailments.

Things You'll Need

• Fresh fruits and vegetables
• Food diary to discover offending foods
• Omega-3 oils
• Olive oil
• Herbs

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Instructions

• 1

  Start by eliminating most foods and add them back into your diet gradually. Everyone seems to have a different trigger food that brings a great deal of pain to the joints. Since rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease, it makes sense that each person has a different trigger. Some people find that tomatoes, chocolate or even milk might make joints swell. By using a simple diet and adding foods gradually back into your diet you'll be able to find your trigger foods and eliminate them. A study done by R.S Panush in the Rheumatic Diseases Clinics of North America, 1991, showed that symptoms disappeared if patients were on severely restricted diets or fasting, symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis disappeared and reappeared when they reintroduced milk.

• 2

  Eat foods that help like papaya, red bell peppers, cilantro, oranges and corn. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (August 2005), showed the findings of an 8 year study by the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom comparing the effects of higher intake of beta-cryptoxanthin, zeaxanthin, lutein, lycopene, and beta-carotene, found that those that had the highest intake of beta-cryptoxanthin had the lowest incidence of inflammatory polyarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis that involves two or more joints.

• 3

  Eat foods that contain a lot of vitamin C according to the "Annals of Rheumatic Diseases" July 2004. The study done by the Arthritis Research Campaign, Epidemiology Unit, University of Manchester found that people that ate foods lower in vitamin C were more likely to develop inflammatory polyarthritis.

• 4

  Take fatty acids such as Omega-3. These oils are in fish and other sea creatures. While there is still controversy whether it actually helps reduce inflammation, according to a study done at the Department of Medicine, Albany Medical College, noted a significant decrease in inflammation and tenderness of the joints.

• 5

  Include olive oil in your diet. The same study of omega-3 from fish oil also involved a group that took olive oil daily. This group also had a decrease in joint inflammation.

• 6

  Create the diet that contains colorful fruits and vegetables. Colorful fruits and vegetables contain the beta-carotenes and vitamins that help reduce swelling, use them as much as possible for meals and snacks. Eliminate all foods that create flair ups.

• 7

  Increase your herbs and spices. Turmeric found in curry and Indian dishes contains powerful anti-inflammatory property from the curcumin, according to studies by the Phytomedicine Research at the University of Arizona. Many of the herbs not only add additional flavor to your dishes, but also additional trace elements to your diet for rheumatoid arthritis.