Healing arthritis with food may sound new to you but the power of food has been known since ancient times. The father of western medicine, Hippocrates said “Let food be thy medicine” – Hippocrates was an ancient Greek physician, born around 460bc . . . so this concept of food as healing is not just a fad of natural medicine.
Just think about this : if we did not eat, we would eventually die. This demonstrates the extreme importance of food. It sustains life or takes it away. What we eat literally effects everything about us. What types of foods we eat can be the difference between health and disease.
There is substantial evidence that foods are a contributing cause of arthritis. The symptoms of arthritis completely disappear for many people during a fast. This proves that food plays a major role in the development and treatment of arthritis. This is good news because you can do something to improve or rid yourself of arthritis.
Check this out: taken from “How to Eat Away Arthritis” by L. Aesoph, N.D. ” the case of Arther H. whose doctor had been treating him for rheumatoid arthritis for seven years. Arthur finally became so frustrated with his doctor’s lack of success that he consulted an allergist. Sensitivity tests revealed that had developed allergic responses to milk, wheat, and potatoes. When Arthur eliminated these foods from his dies, the arthritis disappeared within two weeks.”
Isn’t that amazing!!
The key to achieving health with nutritional therapy is identifying those foods that destroy health and those that restore health. Health destroying foods are called stressors because they stress the body and cause problems. Stressor foods are overly processed, refined, filled with sugar, chemicals and additives. Basically they have been stripped of their nutritional value. Examples are: fast food, processed baked goods, white rice, refined flours, cereals, luncheon meats, candy, etc. – basically most modern day foods! The healthy or restorative foods are whole natural foods that have not been processed or changed. Foods that re eaten just as they are grown such as fruits, vegetables, beans, brown rice.
However, the tricky thing here is that even these restorative foods can trigger arthritis. This is due to a food intolerance or allergy. These food sensitivities are common in people with arthritis. The top common allergy foods that aggravate arthritis are sugar, wheat, milk corn, soy, caffeine, eggs and chocolate. Because everyone is unique you may not be reacting to any of these but another food. The key here is to identify which foods are a problem for you.
This is the first step I took in recovering from arthritis. I began looking at the foods I ate and self testing for food intolerance’s. First, I eliminated wheat and dairy from my diet and began to feel better. My symptoms of pain, stiffness and swelling were reduced. I also discovered with additional allergy testing that I have a severe reaction to raspberries and melons and few others. I ultimately changed my diet to mainly natural, unprocessed foods and still eliminate those foods that were problematic for me.
Removing those foods the body reacts to allows the body to start healing. Sometimes people are able to resume eating these foods again after a certain time frame , sometimes not. I think giving up certain foods is a small price to pay to feel good again and be symptom free. This may seem like a daunting task but there are many self help methods you can use to find your trigger foods. I used a great book How to Eat Away Arthritis: Gain Relief from the Pain and Discomfort of Arthritis Through Nature’s Remedies
