About three years ago, I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. By changing my diet, I was able to reverse that diagnosis and am now pain free. Although a single person is not much of a “sample size”, I would like to share with you what I did and why I think it worked.
Being diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis
A few years ago, the joints in my toes and fingers started to hurt. At first, it wasn’t so bad but at a certain point I was not able to walk for more than a mile without being in severe pain. My finger joints were also hurting and I wasn’t able to make a fist – or play the violin (but maybe I shouldn’t blame that on my joints 😊). A blood test showed that my inflammation markers were high and I was diagnosed with having rheumatoid arthritis – although it was still at a very early stage.
The theory of healing arthritis
For a long time, I have been an avid reader of books on health and nutrition. So, once I knew what caused my pain, I hit the books and the internet to see what I could do to reverse my condition. Although more sound scientific research is needed, the consensus in the books and articles I read was as follows:
Autoimmune disease may be caused by leaky gut
Most autoimmune diseases may be caused by a leaky gut (or ‘intestinal permeability’ if you want to sound more formal). ‘Leaky gut’ happens when tight junction proteins that are meant to keep cells connected to one another end up being broken, thereby creating gaps between the cells of your gut lining. The holes allow bacteria, antigens, and toxic substances to get past the intestinal wall and into your blood stream, activating the immune system.
Leaky gut may be caused by gluten
Leaky gut can have a number of causes but suspect number one is gluten. Gluten is a protein found in some grains including wheat, barley, and rye. Most people do not have a problem with gluten but some of us are gluten-intolerant or even suffer from celiac disease. For those people, gluten may have a detrimental impact on their gut health and gut lining.
Rheumatoid arthritis may be exacerbated by lectins
Once your gut is leaky and you have developed an autoimmune condition, certain foods can cause flair-ups. For rheumatoid arthritis, lectins are believed to cause the inflammatory response. Lectins are naturally occurring proteins that are found in most plants which serve a protective function for plants as they grow. They are often viewed as ‘anti-nutrients’. Some foods that contain higher amounts of lectins include beans, peanuts, lentils, tomatoes, potatoes, eggplant, fruits, and wheat and other grains.
My experience in reversing my arthritis
Not being a fan of pain, I embraced this information and cut all gluten from my diet. My personal theory is that my arthritis became really bad during the COVID lock-down when I was eating lots of bread and pasta (since these foods required less trips to the grocery). I believe not eating gluten was the key to healing my arthritis but it took almost a year before I was totally pain free.
During that year I also reduced the lectins in my food. There may not be any rigorous scientific evidence but my personal experience was that especially nightshade vegetables (e.g. bell pepper, tomatoes, potatoes, eggplant) caused significant flair-ups. I was able to keep the pain to a manageable level by adopting a low lectin diet.
After a year of following a gluten-free and low-lectin diet, I suddenly realised that the pain was gone. Joy! Since then, I have reintroduced all the lectin-containing foods in my diet and they are no longer giving me any trouble. To be on the safe side, I am continuing to eat gluten free.
Two books that were really helpful to me were:
Healing Arthritis, Your 3 Step Guide to Conquering Arthritis Naturally by Susan Blum MD, MPH (2017)
The Wahls Protocol, A radical new way to treat all chronic autoimmune conditions using paleo principles by Terry Wahls MD (2017)
Thanks for including the books you found useful