Psoriatic Arthritis Diet

This article will detail a psoriatic arthritis diet approach to management of the condition. After being diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis I remember being given a 2 page handout about the medication the doctors wanted me to take to manage my condition. I remember the opening line of the handout saying something along the lines of 'we are not really sure of the mechanism behind how this drug helps psoriatic arthritis, but it does'. Then I remember looking at the list of potential side effects from the medication, it was nearly worse than the psoriatic arthritis itself. For goodness sakes, it recommended that I needed to have regular blood test to check my liver wasn't forming tumors.

I knew taking medicine was not an option. I figured my actions and lifestyle had resulted in my current state and that I could reverse that and get myself out of it. The father of modern medicine, Hippocrates once said 'let food be thy medicine'. I definitely acknowledge other factors in psoriatic arthritis, and these are addressed in other articles, but this article will deal with a psoriatic arthritis diet approach. Psoriatic arthritis is classified as an auto-immune disease; the body is hypersensitive and is destroying its own tissue. The cure cannot be to pump it full of toxic drugs and medications.

A basic way to start on a good psoriatic arthritis diet is simply consuming more live foods. This is just eating more fresh food. Food that has not come in a jar, packet, box, carton or packaged on the shelf. Just eat more fruit and vegetables. Things that have a long used by date, forget about them. An easy starting point is to start having salads with your meals. If the thought of that seems difficult, just add salad to your current meals, you don't have to take away anything. Even if you are eating junk at the moment, just eat it with a salad, simply wrap it in the salad. This will get some good nutrient dense food into your system and help you get the taste of real food. Over time you will crave fresh live food and junk food will be seen as the bland nutritionally empty food that it really is.

If you visit any herbalist, nutritionist or naturopath who is experienced at helping a wide range of problems and diseases, you will see that one of the most highly recommended starting points for a diet is the elimination of diary and wheat. This is particularly evident with the management of auto-immune type of problems like psoriatic arthritis. The reason why is because both wheat and diary are the most heavily processed and commercialized food groups today, and this has effective how our bodies cope with them. Also research is showing the actual molecules can cause a lot of issue with the stomach. Whatever the cause, the result is producing inflammation in the body. At first people may freak out a little, because it is possible that every meal of the day contains wheat and diary and you think you are left with nothing to eat. No doubt it is different and takes some getting used to but there are plenty of recipe books and products now available to make it easy for you.

Consuming good healthy protein is key to the psoriatic arthritis diet. Your main sources of protein are probably going to be beef, chicken or fish, so make sure they are clean and healthy. Make sure they are as natural as possible. All of them should be hormone and anti-biotic free. Your beef should be grass fed, like nature intended and not grain fed. If grain fed the meat loses its balance of essential fats. Chickens can also be grass fed and therefore their meat and eggs will be healthier. Do not buy farmed fish. Protein is the building blocks of the body and natural clean sources can make a big difference to the body.

This article is just a brief introduction into some starting concepts about a psoriatic arthritis diet. A cure for the disease is a strong word, but I feel it is a better solution than masking your symptoms with medication. The body has an innate wanting to be healthy, there may have been some roadblocks that got in the way, if you remove the roadblocks it will want to restore itself back to a health optimal state. Diet and nutrition may only be a small piece of the puzzle for some. For more information on the other pieces of the psoriatic arthritis puzzle that includes diet, nutritional supplements and stress reduction please check out my other articles.