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Dear Friends,

Several people have asked about the diet that controls my arthritis. Here it
is.

WARNING: I have no idea if my diet could be harmful to someone else. I
started the diet on my own, but later went to a nutritionist. She thought I
was doing a great job, but I had been missing some important information,
like best vegetable sources for calcium. Please use appropriate caution.

If I understand it correctly, my joints ache and swell when my body doesn't
like something I eat. Therefore I eliminate whatever my body doesn't like.
This is the same concept as dealing with the CD diet. Unfortunately, my body
doesn't like a lot, probably partly due to CD. (I can tell my body is unhappy
with a food because my symptoms increase some time after eating it.) I also
cut out foods that have been shown (according to my reading) to aggravate
arthritis.

Here is what I eliminated in the begining:

flour (any kind) and all baked goods
processed foods
dairy (except for an occasional pat of butter for flavor)
mold (cheese, mushrooms, store bought fruit juice, coffee, tea, berries)
sugar (cane, honey, maple syrup, molasses, etc.)
fruit (too high in natural sugar) except some fresh lemon juice
yeast
nightshade vegetables (potatoes, green peppers, etc.)
any beverage besides water
cooking oils except olive

WHAT'S LEFT? Rice, corn, most vegetables, nuts, beans, seeds, meat, fish.
Unfortunately, some of those bother some people, too. To stabilize my weight
I increased good fat (flax oil, a little sesame oil, nuts). I drink LOTS of
water... it flushes the system and speeds recovery.

THE REWARD: In 3 days the swelling in my arthritic hands had disappeared. In
4 days the pain in my joints was gone. I was ecstatic!

THE HARD PART: I had been a junk food junky. The withdrawal was horrible. And
the overgrown yeast in my system (some will laugh at this, but I'm convinced
it's true) screamed for sugar! I got relief from Stevia at the health food
store. I got a little nervous when my weight started to drop very fast, but
that stopped when I added more oil. I'm one of the CD people who have a hard
time digesting fat. At first increasing the fat made me sick, but as I
started to heal, I could tolerate more and more.

HAPPIER DAYS: I've added back some foods, one by one, that I love. Potatoes
(no skin), peppers, 1 or 2 servings of gluten free bread per week, 1 piece of
fruit per day, rice crackers and cakes, corn chips, hummos, store-bought
applesauce, etc.

WEAKNESS: Sometimes I break down and eat a bunch of those awesome Pamela's
cookies. Also, hard to admit, chocolate syrup on a spoon.

Okay, my friends. I'm told this works for other people with arthritis, too.
I've seen xrays in a book that show almost unbelievable improvement. What do
you think? Will you try it?

BONUS: My daughter stopped eating sweets. She now snacks on hummos and corn
chips. It wasn't my idea (I guess in a sense it was).

Best wishes,
Mara in MA

P.S. It would give me great joy to know I helped someone.