Arthritis and diet - are they really connected?

My personal experience with diet and arthritis seems very backward when thought about logically.  I had had various aches, pains and swelling for years, but my arthritis became it's most severe ever only a few months after I completely changed my entire diet for the better.  My entire food life up to that point had been filled with whatever the heck I felt like eating.  The major changes were that I had suddenly and completely cut out ice cream, sodas, fast food, fried food, fatty food and excessively sugary food, and any food that had anything artificial at all even in trace amounts, including any food that had "natural flavor" (which is in reality artificial in most cases).  I replaced my nearly entire diet with fresh fruits and vegetables and was actually briefly meat-free until I found a local slaughterhouse that grew antibiotic-free, grass-fed cows and such.  about five months after the dietary switch and being down 30 pounds and absolutely filled with energy, I was mule-kicked in the arse with racking, unbearable arthritis pain almost everywhere.

While I did calm down on my avoidance of food additives, my diet stayed pretty healthy for a long time.  Fatty and fried foods slowly found their way back in though, but about two months ago I cleaned up my diet once again.  I eat very very clean now and make a wide variety of different types of meals.  I feel "better" now (although I attribute this mostly to the increase in physical activity and exercise) but my arthritis symptoms seem very very unchanged as of this time (i.e., the symptoms are still very there).

Hi there,

How are you doing?  Wow, you sure have been through the diet mill haven't you?  I sure do give you credit for being that disciplined!!   Just left a post for nana about this same subject.  Saw my rheumy today, and we went discussed this very thing.  She said that she has been keeping track of her patients to see if there is any diet/ra connection, and so far, she can't find one to recommend to everyone.  She feels it's a very individual thing.  Some people seem to do better if they stay away from certain foods, but for others it makes no difference.  She suggested charting foods and symtoms to see if there are any common triggers for me, and it will just take alot of trial and error on my part.  It sounds like you've already pretty much done that.

She also is tracking supplement use among her patients to see if there is anything to recommend there as well, and so far, she just said to stick with a multi-vitamin, calcium, fish oil, and the folic acid she perscribed.  Oh, and I did get my vitamin D levels checked, guess that can be found sometimes with ra.

Hope this helps some!

Take care,

jody