Some time ago, after being on my anti-rheumatoid arthritis diet for around twelve months and being completely free from any symptoms, I decided to carry out an experiment to confirm the efficacy of my RA diet-cure.
In the back of my mind I always had the nagging doubt that maybe my recovery was a fluke or had been brought about by some other unrelated factors.
In order to be sure that my diet was working, I decided to suspend it and deliberately try to make myself ill again, and develop the full range of rheumatoid arthritis symptoms. Then, once RA was re-established, I would return to my diet-cure and see if I could repeat my original recovery back to full health.
Prior to starting my diet, I’d had RA for about twenty five years and I was aware of a number of foods that would trigger symptoms almost immediately (within half an hour of eating). These included meals like; fish & chips, pizza, eggs on toast, cheese on toast and any packaged or highly processed meals like vegetarian pies and sausages for example.
Also, specific food items such as; vinegar (including the much vaunted cider vinegar), butter, garlic, lemon juice and many others. Worst of all was anything fried or roasted, or anything containing chemically hydrogenated fat or trans-fats.
I had learned about these RA food triggers from very painful experience.
I began by eating some of my favourite foods and meals from the past, healthy stuff by normal standards, for example; goats’ milk yogurt with chopped bananas, beans on wholemeal toast, baked spuds with goats’ cheese (never actually tried lama cheese though!) and sweetcorn – and most of these foods were organic too.
The ‘More Good News’ Bit
I had expected to become ill within a few hours or perhaps a day and was very surprised when a few days later, I was still perfectly well. I couldn’t understand it, normally by this time I would have expected the backs of my wrists to have developed a sharp stabbing pain, my left knee should have become warm at least, and I should be feeling tired and fairly rough.
I decided to try some of the more aggressive food items to see if I could get things started, I wasn’t looking forward to the outcome but I had to get my experiment going somehow.
I began to eat fried eggs on toast, fried mushrooms and tomatoes, home-made soups with garlic, onions and lemon juice, I ate lots of toast with butter on (actually more like slices of butter with toast on!), I made vegetarian sausage butty’s (full of chemically hydrogenated fat) with tomato ketchup on and I even ate some highly processed ‘foods’ like chocolate, fizzy drinks, cakes and crisps… Still nothing happened, I was still fine and had no symptoms; even after several weeks.
I continued like this for around four months (I had never had a period of health even remotely close to this in over twenty five years) until eventually, finally, I developed my first symptom; a ‘twinge’ in my left knee and it also became a little warm. At last, I thought, I can begin my experiment…
Alas no, not yet, it took me a further two months to develop a set of symptoms which resembled my previous condition, prior to my original diet period. I couldn’t believe it, why had it taken so long to trigger my rheumatoid arthritis?
Having developed a full set of symptoms, I waited until the inflammation in my left knee had reached the point where I would normally begin considering direct treatment (with a corticosteroid injection), then I restarted my diet-cure. At this point I began to lose my confidence again, I became afraid that things would just get worse and my diet wouldn’t work a second time, or maybe I wouldn’t be able to stick to it this time having enjoyed a normal diet for so long.
Three months later, I was well again! (n.b. I also neglected my blog over that period and didn’t begin to post again until fairly recently.)
First of all the temperature in my left knee began to decrease, slowly. Then the pain in my wrists and fingers decreased. Then my neck became free from the burning, pressure-like pain. Getting out of bed became a little easier each day. My shoulders and even my jaw, froze for a few days (good grief it hurt!) then released themselves with a wonderful sensation of relief… Finally, the inflammation in my left knee began to reduce and it began to straighten until it became almost normal again.
I was fairly shaken by this whole process, not nice, I would rather have gone to the dentist every day for a month to have fillings, I think ;-) However, my experiment was successful and it gave me more confidence in my diet-cure.
Conclusions from My RA experiment
1) It appears that having been on my diet-cure for so long (about eighteen months), I had either developed some immunity to the effects of the foods which previously triggered my rheumatoid arthritis, or some repair/healing process had taken place which made those foods less able to affect me.
Either way, the good news is that my diet had additional benefits beyond removing all the symptoms of RA, benefits which may eventually allow me to enjoy normal foods again, permanently. For example, I have already confirmed that I can eat whatever I wish for one day out of a week, without triggering any RA symptoms, as long as I remain on my diet for the other six days.
2) My RA diet-cure really does work, having confirmed it twice I am now confident that my diet removes the causes of rheumatoid arthritis in my own case. I am now trying to extend the range of items in my diet, and eventually I hope to identify the actual causative item or items. I will of course continue to post my results here.
“Surprise!” photo (modified with my caption) taken by Mary is licensed under 
CC BY 2.0
Brian, I meant my “uric acid”
Hi Patricia, I understood :-) XX
Brian,
and everyone thank you for sharing the information. I have not been diagnosed yet but one of my big toes was swollen and painful and I went to see the doctor. My blood work was fine, my Utica acid was low actually, X-rays showed some arthritis according to the doctor. I am a bit scared of what this could be, now I have pain in my thumbs, neck and one knee, my joints make a snap sound.
I have to take care of my daughter (she has a disability) and I cannot imagine doing this the way I’m feeling.
I am very conscious about food… I try to eat healthy but this past year I have been out track. Reading all your posts give me hope.
I just started eliminating gluten and corn a week ago…and eating lots of vegetables and salmon. What do you think of chicken broth? I read is beneficial for joints.
Do you think arthritis is connected with some sort of kidney malfunction?
I read about the cold sores, I just got over of one that lasted for almost 3 weeks…
I feel that I have too much information but I don’t know where to start… a friend of mine had gout and did the watermelon juice for a month twice a day (with a vegetarian diet) and she feels much better.
Thanks everyone for any advise, greatly appreciated!
(I apologize for gramma/ writing English is my second language)
Hi Patricia, thanks very much for your comment.
I’m sorry for my late reply, I understand your situation very well and your concern. It sounds like you’re in the very early stages of showing signs of inflammation (not necessarily rheumatoid arthritis) and as such there is a very good chance that you can reverse it but it requires some study and research and quite a lot of effort. If you read some of my more recent posts you will find some useful suggestions and information regarding the best diet and lifestyle for reducing and removing inflammation and pain. In the past I’ve used fish and olive oil which worked at the time but I’ve since learned of a much better way forward without using animal products or refined oils.
The best thing I can suggest is to read about the whole food plant-based diet, it’s more of a lifestyle actually and it offers the best hope for reversing all chronic diseases including rheumatoid arthritis or other forms of inflammatory diseases. Please watch the video in my post here: Rheumatoid Arthritis – Prioritise Diet and Lifestyle Changes
Regarding cold sores, I found that eating a diet higher in lysine helps a great deal and since I’ve been following a whole food plant-based lifestyle I haven’t had any cold sores.
I understand, you are exactly right, there’s so much information and most of it is inaccurate or even dangerous. I’ve studied nutrition and health for over forty years and I’m convinced that a whole food plant-based lifestyle with sufficient sleep, sunshine, fresh air, cardiovascular exercise and clean water is the most effective way to halt and potentially reverse most chronic diseases. Eating the wrong foods is definitely the cause of many chronic diseases. Yes, a vegetarian diet is a step in the right direction but it may not be enough for many people to heal from a chronic disease such as RA. Watermelon is an excellent food :-)
Your English is excellent, I wouldn’t have known it was your second language. Patricia, read about the whole food plant-based diet and try to move in that direction and I’m sure your pain and inflammation will reduce and eventually disappear :-) you will find lots of links to videos and other information in my more recent posts here: Arthritis Cure
Reading this gave me hope. Been suffering for 10 years. Now am having a frozen right arm. My eyes is showing sensivity to light now (photophobia). I weaned off Celebrex too. And cow’s milk. Got myself a box of goat’s milk powder. Will try it and hope for the best.
Dear Debbie, thanks for your kind comment.
I’m really sorry that you suffered for so long, and have so many problems. Moving away from cow’s milk is an excellent step towards recovery, cows milk is one of the most detrimental foods to health in general and in particular to inflammatory conditions and joint problems. Since developing my original diet many years ago which helped me a great deal at the time, I have continued to learn and research and experiment and have discovered more effective lifestyle and diet changes which can be made. I will be updating my original diet soon to reflect this, but in the meantime please take a look at this more recent article which provides more effective lifestyle guidelines to help with rheumatoid arthritis: How to Avoid Rheumatoid Arthritis and Many Other Chronic Diseases Stay hopeful, keep learning and I’m sure you will recover from your illness.
So enlightening but now 2017 have you anything more to add I am desperate to try and get rid of this horrible disease without keep taking the toxic drugs. Thanks k you so much.
Hi Jackie, thanks for your kind comment, sorry for my late reply (due to illness).
Yes, a lot more, I can give you a summary of things that you could research and try as follows.
Try to get your teeth/gums checked for hidden infections, these can be a cause or co-cause of inflammation and rheumatoid arthritis, there’s new evidence emerging all the time.
Get an intestinal permeability (leaky gut) test done by your GP or go to a Naturopathic Doctor. Leaky gut can lead to molecular mimicry which can cause rheumatoid arthritis.
Do a Google search for Minocin and The Antibiotic Protocol for Rheumatoid Arthritis. It’s proven very effective for a lot RA sufferers.
Diet and lifestyle have a huge impact on RA as you know, so keep striving to improve these. Have a read of my post on this here How to Avoid Rheumatoid Arthritis and Many Other Chronic Diseases.
If you would like more information on any of the above, just let me know.