Rheumatoid Arthritis Diet

Rheumatoid arthritis comes with significant amounts of pain, stiffness that restricts mobility and fatigue. As these effects grow in strength and get worse over time, it is only natural that sufferers look to ways and means to find solutions to deal with the situation over and above the recommended medication. Being considerate of one's diet is one such popular method. However, there is no solid proof that a particular diet will eliminate the risk of rheumatoid arthritis or reduce its effects. This however does not disqualify the thinking that one's diet helps those living with the condition. As such it certainly does call for a closer look at a rheumatoid arthritis patients menu.

To begin with it is commonly believed that some food types increase symptoms while others decrease them. This may differ from person to person and as such it is best to take this on a person by person basis. For starts you can remove suspect food items from your diet for a certain period. Then start reintroducing selected suspect food items into your diet and watch its affects on the symptoms. Pretty soon you will know what types of food increase the effects of your symptoms and what food items have no marked influence. This practice will provide you with the ideal rheumatoid arthritis nutrition plan.

Being overweight also considerably contributes to the level of symptoms and thereby the level of pain a person experiences. This is purely because the excess weight adds more pressure to your joints, especially those joints that bear your weight. Research indicates that the action of walking alone increases the pressure on joints such as ankles, knees and hips by about three to five times of a person's body weight. For example a single pound of excess weight can add three to five pounds of increased pressure to one knee alone. Compare this with a ten pound weight loss and you are looking at loss of pressure in the range of about 30 to 50 pounds. This alone will provide a person with significant relief and as such a weight watchers diet can also prove to be ideal for a person with rheumatoid arthritis.

In addition to the above, certain fat types can also increase the effects of pain and inflammation for those with this disease. For example saturated fat, commonly found in food items such as butter, cream, bacon and steak tend to increase pro-inflammatory chemicals known as 'Prostaglandins'. These chemicals cause inflammations that could lead to swelling, joint destructions and increased levels of pain. There is also evidence that meat items with more than normal levels of arachidonic acids can also result in increased levels of prostaglandins which could yet again increase inflammation and thereby pain. This is why some people with this disease find a vegetarian diet to be helpful, but as mentioned earlier this does not apply to all patients with rheumatoid arthritis, with some sufferers seeing no significance or any difference by switching to a supposed rheumatoid arthritis diet that excludes meat.