By Ecopunk
First, I am not a doctor, so for legal reasons I must urge my readers to follow the directions given by your doctor in regards to any conditions you may have. This blog is only my own views, and is in no way intended to take the place of professional medical advice. Please educate yourself before choosing how to manage your own condition!
That said, I'm not a real big fan of western medicine. I grew up in a household that believed in the power of eating right to avoid illness. As much as I resisted my mother's cooking at the time, I must admit that it works, even if her recipes could use some work (in my opinion).
My mother had arthritis in her thirties. It was pretty bad. Her hands were swollen and painful, and she lost a lot of mobility in her fingers. It was also affecting her spine and some other joints, making every day painful and unpractical. Since my mom is a bit of a health nut, she launched into a lifelong quest to heal herself through diet alone. Today she is over 70 years old, has no arthritis at all, no chronic pain, and I'm pretty sure she can still run faster than I can despite having 2 broken hips in the last 10 years. As they say, the proof is in the pudding, and I must (begrudgingly) admit that all those sprouted grain experimental meals appear to have worked.
I now have a very dear friend who is 19, and dealing with arthritis. So I am writing this and including some of the recipes that I thought were pretty good, as well as some of my mom's theories and techniques for 'curing' the symptoms arthritis. I hope it works for you, my dear, and allows you to move and wiggle like a kid again.
What is Arthritis, anyway?
Arthritis is a chronic irritation of tissues, usually around joints. If you let it get really bad, it will eventually deform your bones and cripple you forever. If you catch it early, you might be able to reverse the effects simply by eating different stuff.
"Arthritis is inflammation of one or more of your joints. The main symptoms of arthritis are joint pain and stiffness, which typically worsen with age. The most common types of arthritis are osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis.
Osteoarthritis causes cartilage — the hard, slippery tissue that covers the ends of bones where they form a joint — to break down. Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disorder that first targets the lining of joints (synovium).
Uric acid crystals, infections or underlying disease, such as psoriasis or lupus, can cause other types of arthritis.
Treatments vary depending on the type of arthritis. The main goals of arthritis treatments are to reduce symptoms and improve quality of life."
There are over 100 different types of arthritis identified to date ( per Wikipedia). The one thing they all have in common is that the pain is always due to inflammation of the joints, although different types of arthritis are characterized by inflammation in slightly different areas.
Pain is the body's natural way of telling the brain that something needs attention. When something hurts, the body responds by trying to support the area. Normally the first steps is to send in a lot of extra water to pad every individual cell (this is called interstitial fluid), which causes swelling, which is basically the body's way of padding and bracing an injury. If the pain lasts a long time, the body tries to build up whatever tissues are irritated, to make a sort of natural, internal cast. With arthritis, this could be adding bone tissue (trying to make the bone stronger), or adding to the tendons or other soft tissues in the area. In extreme cases, the body can even add new bits of bone within a tendon to brace the area, which are called Sesamoid bones. At some point the body has added so much extra tissue that it begins to cause a deformity, and that deformity causes more pain and irritation, so it becomes a vicious cycle that gets worse and worse. This is the very basic way in which arthritis works.
My mother's theory to stop her own arthritis went like this: Arthritis starts as some sort of irritation in the joint. Therefore, if you can stop the irritation, you can stop the pain cycle that makes arthritis get worse and worse. If the body is no longer freaking out about the irritation, it's natural tendency is to return to to the neutral state, which includes removing (most of) the extra tissues that it added to brace the area. If the extra tissue is gone, and the irritation is gone, and the pain is gone, then you have effectively removed the arthritis, regardless of what started it in the first place. Makes sense.
Stop the Irritation
Well, if you are looking to cure the irritation of a pesky sibling, I can't help you there. But in regards to calming irritation in the body, there are a lot of options.
1) Western medicine can offer a range of pills to decrease inflammation, but they won't treat the underlying cause. Mostly, Western medicine pills turn off the signal at the brain level, so you just don't feel it. This helps somewhat, but does not stop the actual irritation at the site of the arthritis. It's a lot like turning off the fire alarm; just because you don't hear the alarm does not mean the fire is out. If you ignore the fire just because the alarm is off, it will only get worse. This is why Western doctors will often tell you that they can "manage the symptoms" instead of telling you they can cure the problem. Western medicine certainly has it's time and place, but they are much better at setting broken bones than curing disease at the root cause. When it comes to treating diseases, Western medicine tends to go with the option that makes them the most money in the long run, and will offer you a regimen of expensive pills and treatments ... Usually with little or no history of actually curing the problem. Don't believe me? Ask your doctor what they would advise you to take, and go read the side effects list. Then ask your doctor how long you have to take them for before you are officially cured for good. In most cases they will tell you that this is not curable, and you will have to take meds for the rest of your life. Now reconsider that list of horrid side effects, and ask them how long you can take those meds before you are expected to develop serious side effects. The attraction to Western medicines is that you take a pill, and a few minutes later you feel all better. Until it wears off, and then you usually feel even worse.
The two most common Western Medicine prescriptions for arthritis are:
Acetaminophen (also known as Paracetamol or APAP ): This stuff is relatively safe if you take the right dose, occasionally. If you take a little bit too much, or accidentally take a double dose, or take it for too long, side effects can include liver failure, make your stomach bleed, kidney failure, skin problems, and possibly give you asthma. Oh, and if you mix it with alcohol or other drugs, it can kill you by making your liver fail, which will take about 5 very painful days to die from. It is made out of two compounds that are both proven carcinogens; phenacetin and acetanilide. Click on those and read about them, it is an education.
Ibuprofen (also known as Advil, Motrin and Nurofen) This is an NSAID medication, which means it only has anti-inflammatory properties at higher dosages. High doses over prolonged periods of time can cause heart attacks, high blood pressure, photo sensitivity, skin lesions, and rarely Stevens-Johnson Syndrome, which makes your skin melt off before you die. Oh joy. If you accidentally overdose on this stuff, you can look forward to a lovely time including: abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, drowsiness, dizziness, headache, tinnitus, and nystagmus. Rarely, more severe symptoms, such as gastrointestinal bleeding, seizures, metabolicacidosis, hyperkalaemia, hypotension, bradycardia, tachycardia, atrial fibrillation, coma, hepatic dysfunction, acute renal failure, cyanosis, respiratory depression, and cardiac arrest . Woot.
There is more, but listing these 2 OVER THE COUNTER options has probably made my point.
2) Eastern medicine usually focuses more on fixing the root cause of a problem, because if you fix the actual problem, the symptoms will go away on their own. Forever. Some people don't like Eastern medicine because it does not always make you feel all better in a few minutes. It's not a pill that you take and then everything feels all better again. It's something that you do repeatedly, over time, and it helps your body heal the problem on it's own. There are many ways to trat a problem like this through Eastern medicine, too, including:
Acupuncture: These are super thin needles that are used to stimulate certain points on the body, and these points make the body react in certain ways to promote healing. The needles don't hurt if they are done correctly. They are a lit thinner than hypodermic needles, and they do not inject anything into you. The human body has about a billion points that correspond with other points in the body. There is a spot on your arm that can stop hiccups. One on your hand that can stop acid reflux. One near your knee that can give you an energy boost equal to 3 cups of coffee.
Also, if you hate needles, ask your acupuncturist if they have any alternatives, such as acupressure (no needles, no pain!), or Seed Beads. Acupuncturists have a doctorate degree, like a regular doctor. They have the same sorts of exams and certifications as a doctor, the same insurances, and they answer to medical boards too. A certified acupuncturist has spent at least 8 years learning their profession, not counting internships. Just like Western doctors.
Herbalism: Pretty much all medicine started as herbs, back in the day. The Chinese spent centuries studying and perfecting the art of natural medicines. Many of them are very effective, and even come in convenient little pills now. These are not pain killers, they are whole herbal combinations meant to fix problems at the root. Most of them have no side effects, and those that do are mild and not prone to messing up the rest of your life. I've never heard of one that can cause liver failure or melt your skin off. You might be wondering how much this stuff can help...Well, next time you have a skin rash, try soaking it in Chamomile tea. Next time you have an upset tummy, try mint tea. Next time you have sore muscles after a work-out, try homeopathic Arnica pills.
I know what you are thinking: "yeah, but arthritis is much worse than a headache or upset tummy"... Well, next time you are bleeding out from a gunshot wound, take your Yunnan Baiyao. Yes, this stuff is for real. I have 12 boxes of it in my own emergency kit.
Diet. Yeah, you heard me. I did not say which diet. There is no name for this diet. Actually, it's not really a diet, so much as changing the way you eat, and what you eat. Permanently. Your body relies on what you eat to get the nutrients, minerals, vitamins, fats, carbs, and other stuff that it needs to build all the hundreds of different types of tissues that you are made of. Bones. Nervous tissues. Muscles. Fat. Sinews. Cartilage. Organs. Etc. As you age, the body uses food differently, and sometimes, when you run low on the stuff it needs, you get the strangest reactions. Kind of like your body is betraying you.
It's fun to joke and say "You are what you eat"while popping Smarties in your face at the movies, but that saying is rooted in truth. What you put in your mouth becomes the building blocks that you are providing to your body to maintain itself and rebuild itself. If you don't give it the right combinations, the right building blocks, then you will only have sub-par building materials to build yourself. The body is surprisingly resilient, but eventually everything will catch up with you. It may take years or even decades before you start having those weird, unexplained aches and pains, or come down with some illness or disease. A few very lucky individuals with freakishly efficient bodies can last decades off of Twinkies and coffee, but most of us can't do that. For most of us, we develop a routine of 'usual foods', and eat it for years with no problems. Then one day, out of the blue, something stops working properly, and we are surprised, because we've been 'doing what we always do'. Well, that's how you find out that 'what you always do' may not have been what you needed to do. My mom figured this out after 30+ years of eating traditional French cuisine. As it turned out, that's not what her body needed to build healthy joints. Tah-Dah! Arthritis.
Fix Your PH Levels
Almost all disease in the body thrives in an acidic environment. If you lower your PH arthritis will decrease and eventually go away, in many cases. So will a lot of other diseases, like most cancers.
"pH (potential of hydrogen) is a measure of the acidity or alkalinity of a solution. It is measured on a scale of 0 to 14—the lower the pH the more acidic the solution, the higher the pH the more alkaline (or base) the solution. When a solution is neither acid nor alkaline it has a pH of 7 which is neutral.
Water is the most abundant compound in the human body, comprising 70% of the body. The body has an acid-alkaline (or acid-base) ratio called the pH which is a balance between positively charges ions (acid-forming) and negatively charged ions (alkaline-forming.) The body continually strives to balance pH. When this balance is compromised many problems can occur.
It is important to understand that we are not talking about stomach acid or the pH of the stomach. We are talking about the pH of the body's fluids and tissues which is an entirely different matter."
~Source: http://www.naturalhealthschool.com/acid-alkaline.html
In retrospect I can see why my mom's diet change worked. She lowered her acidity through diet, and the arthritis went away in just a few months. The doctors had told her that she would never get rid of it, and was doomed to a life of pain. This is because Western medicine tends to write off anything that they can't make money off of. It's not that they don't know that the PH of a body affects it, they just can't market it, and thus they can't find the funds to study it further.
Any good Eastern doctor will tell you to fix your PH levels first, when you tell them about most chronic conditions.
So here are some recipes based on my mom's cookbook, to help you lower your PH. You can start slow, just add a new recipe every week or so. If you start this way of eating without easing into it, you will probably make yourself sick by causing a rapid detox. It will feel like the flu and a hangover at the same time, and you will probably give up. But if you go slow, add a little at a time, take a way a little at a time, you will feel better and better, have more energy, and in time the arthritis will melt away. You will probably lose a few pounds too, your skin will be healthier, hair and nails stronger, and you will have better stamina.
The rules:
1) Drink 3 or more liters of filtered or purified water a day. Tap water does not count. Juice, tea, coffee, soda, milk, or any other type of liquid does not count either. Set some alarms on your phone to remind you to drink water every hour, just to get used to it. You need all the water to flush the acids out of your body at a cellular level.
2) Start cutting processed food out of your diet. processed foods will raise your PH into the acid levels faster than anything else. A short list of the worst culprits:
Sugar
Bleached flour (white bread, cake, tortillas, pancakes, etc)
Caffeine (sorry, there's no help for it! If you get caffeine headaches when you try to quit, try stepping down to decaf, then black tea, then green tea, then herbal tea)
Food Coloring
Artificial flavors
3) Start adding more stuff that makes your body alkaline. Not all of it is easy to understand, for example citrus fruits actually lower your PH, even though the fruit is acidic. It has to do with the way your body digests it. Go figure. When in doubt, know that almost all raw foods are antioxidant and will lower your acid levels.
Here is a quick cheat-sheet, you may print it and put it in your kitchen for a quick reference if you want (just ignore the fact that tap water is listed, try to avoid it if you can):
Source: http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-6243/How-to-Balance-Your-pH-to-Heal-Your-Body.html
4) Load up on digestive enzymes and re-balance your digestive tract. I always used to hate it when my mom would preach this to me, usually in graphic terms, in front of my friends. There's nothing quite as embarrassing in the whole world. The 'Birds & Bees' talk was nothing compared to the 'State Of Your Lower Intestines Talk'! So I will let you learn most of the particulars on your own. Suffice to say, this part is super important. If you want your body to be able to absorb all the good stuff you are giving it, first you need to clean out the pipes, then you need to restock your system with the proper intestinal flora. A healthy adult-sized human needs several pounds of 'Friendly Bacteria' in their gut to process food properly. My mom took daily supplements of:
Bifidobacterium Bifidus
Bifidobacterium longum subsp. infantis
Lactobacillus acidophilus
Lactobacillus paracasei
Lactobacillus johnsonii
Lactobacillus plantarum
Lactobacillus reuteri
Lactobacillus reuteri Protectis
Saccharomyces boulardii.
...And you can get most of this from a good Spectrabiotic supplement, or by eating certain fermented foods including:
Yogurt
Kefir
Aged cheeses
Kimchi
Sauerkraut
Miso
Tempeh
Some soy beverages.
This is not a sales blog, but if you were wondering where my mom got hers, here is the site. She took their Enzymes, Spectrobiotics, Acidophilus and Bifidus every day, and still does. They are somewhat expensive, but you get what you pay for, and these guys make a really good product: http://www.newearth.com/
5) Learn to sprout stuff. Seriously. Almost any sort of beans, grains and seeds will contribute towards acid levels unless you sprout them a little bit first.
With beans and nuts, you only need to sprout them for 2 or 3 days, until they just start to germinate and 'come alive'. With most seeds you want to sprout them until they grow shoots and become little plants. Here is a quick cheat sheet for sprouting stuff, you can find tons more online:
Equipment you will want, to follow this diet change suggestion:
A good hand-held blender, something like this (it doubles as a food processor):
A good juicer (my favorite so far is the Jack Lalanne juicer)
An electric food dehydrator (mine is a Nesco, like the picture)(or solar, but it will take longer to learn to use it!)
Various sizes of Mason jars with sprouting lids
Bifidobacterium animalis subscp. lactis
There is no need to deny yourself the treats!
A short lesson in anatomy, and how the body works:
How can you decrease irritation?
The Bottom Line
How can you decrease irritation?
The Bottom Line
There is no need to deny yourself the treats!
This method is not a diet that you do for a while and then go back to your normal eating program. These are permanent changes in diet, which allows your body to get what it needs to keep the arthritis at bay. As such, it is not reasonable to think that anyone would ever do this if they had to give up the finer points of food life. You don't need to give up the stuff you love, but you may need to make a few concessions, and maybe replace a few items with something else. You can cheat as much as you want. When the pain comes back, gets worse, or you feel like crap, that is your incentive to steer yourself back on track. Pain, after all, is the body's way of telling you something is wrong. If you don't take care of it, you will hurt. That's all.
One more tip: You are probably sweating bullets right now, wondering how you will afford all this healthy stuff I keep talking about. Here is my favorite solution: Buy in bulk. Invest a few hundred dollars buying bulk organic supplies, which will last you for years to come. It costs more to start, but after the first year it's actually a lot cheaper. $50 for five gallons of beans sounds outrageous, but it will last you 2 years if you eat beans for one meal every week. That's $25 per year to cover at least one meal a week. If you ate one thing off the dollar menu each week, it would still cost you $52 a year, which is more expensive, and a lot less healthy. Here is where I get my bulk stuff: /http://www.shoporganic.com/
Mom's Fantastic Antioxidant Chocolate Truffles:
I'll start with my personal favorite recipe. You've probably heard a lot of arguments on whether chocolate is actually good for you. Here is the truth, simplified. Raw, organic cacao is good for you, and high in antioxidants. It's also a superfood, providing energy and other great stuff for you. The butters, sugars, preservatives, and cooking that happens to to chocolate to turn it into a chocolate bar is really bad. But you can make your own decadent chocolate treats, they are surprisingly easy!
Start with about a cup of raw, organic cacao powder.
Add a heaping spoonful or raw, organic coconut oil (looks like Crisco, smells like sunscreen, tastes like heaven!)
Add as much agave, honey, or other raw, organic sweetener that you like.
Mix well. Add more of whatever you feel is needed, until you have a paste that feels about like play-dough.
Refrigerate a few minutes, until it becomes pretty stiff.
With your hands, form into truffle-sized balls.
Roll them in coconut shreds if you want, or nuts.
Stack them in a tupperware container, using wax paper between layers.
Store in refrigerator.
Savor in the morning for a quick energy fix.
Savor at lunch for another quick energy fix.
Savor at night if you need to be sharp for a project, but not if you are headed to bed!
Raw Chocolate Pudding:
One ripe avocado.
A heaping spoonful of raw organic cacao powder.
Organic sweetener to taste.
Blend with a hand blender until smooth.
Savor promptly, because the avocado won't keep very long!
Raw Nut Baklava-ish Cake
Get whatever type of raw nuts that you like. Get enough to make a couple cups after you blend/crush them. Avoid peanuts, which are not really nuts, and are honestly not that great for you anyway.
Run your nuts through the blender a few at a time. You want them to become a sort of chunky flour. If you blend them too long it will release the oils and you will get nut butter instead of flour, so pay attention.
Place your nut flour in a bowl, add honey, just enough to make it all stick together.
You could also add some raw coconut flour if you like.
Press everything into a pie tin that was previously greased with coconut oil.
Refrigerate.
Cut into small squares & serve cold.
Sprouted Grain Zesty Crackers
Sprout some brown or green lentils, sunflower seeds, almonds and mung beans, just until they begin to grow or germinate.
Stick them all in the blender.
Add a clove or two of raw garlic, and whatever fresh herbs you like. I like basil, thyme, and a little dash of cayenne pepper.
Add a pinch of sea salt.
Blend it into a smooth paste. Add a spoonful of water at a time if it is too thick.
Spoon the paste onto your food dehydrator. leaving enough room for it to spread out into little crackers. Dry it until they are crispy.
Store in a glass jar with some silicone dehydration packs to keep them fresh.
Eat plain, or with fresh salsa or whatever dip you enjoy!
Savory Raw Soup for Winter Evenings
Grab a couple handfuls of peeled sprouted almonds (to make it really creamy!)
Peel and cube some butternut squash.
Cube a tomato or two.
Cube half a white or yellow onion.
Stick all that in the blender and blend it until it is perfectly creamy. Add a clove of garlic if you like.
Add a dash or two of sea salt.
Add some Turmeric, a dash of Cinnamon, A chunk of raw fresh Ginger, about a quarter cup of raw olive oil, and blend the heck out of it again. Add more herbs until it tastes good to you. If you have a good blender, it will heat up just from the friction of the blending, otherwise you can heat it up on the stove, but don't boil it, and only heat it as little as possible to make it hot enough to enjoy. Serve with Sprouted Grain Zesty Crackers!
My mom also invented the Not Tuna Salad, featuring mung beans, but that one was horrible and I will spare you the details! =P
****
Well, friends, I've been typing for 6 hours straight now. I'm tired. I want to leave you with a few links to Raw Food Recipes, I urge you to check them out! Wait until you see some of these pictures, they are totally amazing and appetizing...And now I'm hungry too!
Please leave me some feedback, tell me what you think or how I could make this article better.
Trolls will be mercilessly banned and their rude comments will be deleted.
Happy eating!
EcoPunk
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