I recently needed to make a diet change due to my RA

[mdmc]

Hello Group.
I recently had a flair up of Rheumatoid Arthritis symptoms. Pain and swelling, pain, and more pain.
My Rheumy told me to stop-
smoking
caffeine
red meat
dairy
sugar
refined carbs (white bread, pastas, yadda, yadda)

Me and my gf have gone vegan, and are working hard at cutting out refined sugar and caffeine. I love coffee and chocolate, so those have been hard on us.

We made the "mistake" of looking at the peta website. Now we are vegan, and don't eat any flesh. I had worked at a meat packing plant during hs and college, so I knew the real deal. The peta website just reminded me.

So now I eat a lot of soy products, fruits, and veggies.

I just found this group so I thought I'd post and read a little today. Thanks, mm

[livetohike]

1. Welcome to the group!

:hi: Hope your dietary changes make a big difference in your health asap :-). Be sure to check the recipes thread for some ideas on meals.

[mdmc]

2. thanks for the tip

I've been doing the vegetarian thing since 6-10-09. Vegan is a bit harder. Harder still, imho, is getting off coffee and chocolate. And ice cream. I miss real ice cream.

I really need to check out the recipe thread - thanks for the heads up. :)

[livetohike]

3. You're welcome. I'm not a vegan, but have been eating

vegetarian since 1970.....I do drink a lot of coffee and have chocolate once in a while, though. Oh, wine too. I'm not a purist, obviously.

[Ignis]

4. There's a low-carb vegetarian mailing list out there somewhere.

Aha! Here's the website:
http://www.immuneweb.org/lowcarb/

I know that's now specifically what you're looking for--and it's not all (or even mostly) vegan--but it gave me a lot of ideas when I was looking for a way to lower my refined carb intake and shed a few pounds after I broke a rib in a bike accident a few years ago.

The biggest change for me was finding meals that didn't require bread, pasta, or rice to make me feel full. But if you incorporate a LOT more veggies into your cooking, you'll hardly miss those carbs. You can also find low-carb tortillas that will give you a quick "carby" fix while adding lots of fiber to your diet.

Welcome to the group, by the way. :hi: The animals thank you and wish you a long, healthy life as a vegetarian.

[flvegan]

5. Congrats on the dietary change

though I'm sorry that you had to endure a health problem getting there.

Welcome to the group!!!

[handmade34]

6. I am so excited for every person that quits meat....

welcome to sanity and hopefully good health

http://www.letsactnow.org/

[CrispyQ]

7. Good for you!

I hope your new diet helps with your issues.

Welcome to the group!

[CrispyQ]

8. Good for you!

I hope your new diet helps with your issues.

Welcome to the group!

[MuseRider]

9. My RA is much better

since I became a vegetarian a year ago. I am lucky my RA is not bad, had it now for about 20 years and my joints still look normal even though they do not function quite as well as they used to and the pain is sometimes unbearable. Still, I am lucky.

I stopped eating red meat after reading an article about RA about 10 years ago. Went the rest of the way just last year.

Good luck with this. I hope it helps you. RA can be awful, I saw it destroy several older relatives on both sides of my family. Killed one, the meds killed one and the others were crippled for years. Thankfully we usually do not have to look at that end anymore.

[mdmc]

10. My RA was caught pretty early

My mom has it and we all pretty much thought that the pains I was experiencing were due to undiagnosed RA.
On my first visit to my Rhumy he diagnosed me by sight. My blood test came back neg for rheumatoid factor. But all tests since then have had a positive ra factor.

I caught it early, and only had to suffer untreated for about a year. A little less then a year.

[MuseRider]

11. I am glad to hear that.

I hope your meds keep your joints from damage. I have been through all the meds you can take up to the IM drugs like Embrel. I refuse. I totally stopped my meds, Imuran at that time, when I got pneumonia about 5 years ago and never started again. I intend to stay that way if at all possible. Like I said, I am so very lucky that I get the pain, the exhaustion but the joint damage is very minimal. I hope you are like that as well. Your new diet should help that along quite nicely.

[mdmc]

12. I'm now taking embrel and methotrexate

so I am on some mad dangerous drugs.. hope that the diet helps ..
peace and low stress

[katkat]

13. carob?

Would carob be acceptable as a chocolate substitute and with your diet?