Psoriatic Arthritis: Beneficial Diet
When diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis many patients are given a wealth of information about what they should and shouldn’t do. What can help and what won’t. There are a variety of medications that can be taken, but these can all have long term effects that are less than attractive. With medications not being an option, or a last course of action for many individuals, something has to change. I decided that if my actions and lifestyle had perhaps caused the disease or contributed to it, I could change these things and change the course of the disease as well.
Hippocrates once said ‘let food be thy medicine’ and in terms of psoriatic arthritis this makes good sense. While diet alone will not cure psoriatic arthritis, there is something to be said for the fact that we are what we eat. We are also what we do. If you don’t use it, you’ll lose it, as they say. In addition to other treatment options, a psoriatic arthritis diet approach can be beneficial. Psoriatic arthritis is classified as an auto-immune disease; the body is hypersensitive and is destroying its own tissue. There is no cure, so why fill your body with medications if food and lifestyle can help.
The best psoriatic arthritis diet will include many live foods, which means consuming fresh food that has not been processed and is no found in a jar, packet, box, and carton or packaged on the shelf. Simply put, eat more fruits and vegetables and cut out items that have a two year shelf life, as these are just full of chemicals that work to preserve the food and that cannot be good for your body. You can get started by consuming salad with all of your meals. Don’t take anything away from the meal to start, just add the salad in. Eating junk? Eat a salad or fruit with it. This will help you get the food that you need to better your body, and will also allow you to develop new cravings…for healthy food. Over time you will find that you stop craving the bad foods and start craving the live foods.
If you visit a natural or homeopathic doctor you will quickly be told that you should avoid all dairy and wheat, as it is known that there are many issues with these products and the aggravation of immune system disease. What and dairy should be cut out because they are one of 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. It can be difficult to get used to a diet with out all of these foods, but in time you will find you no longer want or crave them.
A good psoriatic arthritis diet will include plenty of protein. 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, meaning hormone and chemical free. 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, as they have been treated with a variety of chemicals and hormones. You should focus on having all of your protein be as fresh and as possible.
Diet alone will not cure psoriatic arthritis, as there is no cure. But diet will change the course of the disease and make it more manageable. Additionally, you will be healthier than you perhaps ever been because you are cutting out all of the unnecessary elements to your diet.
