Plant Based Eating Reduces Effects of Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA)

I’ve recently been binge watching a series created and produced by Dolly Parton; Heartstrings. A feel-good series, Heartstrings always leaves me feeling warm and fuzzy.

One episode features Kathleen Turner playing Miss Mary Shaw, a woman living in the backwoods in an old cabin who can tell the future with the use of a small bag of bones.

“Bones” as she is affectionately called in the mini-movie, Kathleen Turner is almost unrecognizable from her appearance in movies like Body Heat. The reason? She is living with the effects of Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA), including severe pain.

When one lives with RA, something as simple as tying shoe laces can be challenging. Apparently during shooting, there were times Kathleen Turner would cry out due to the excruciating pain she experienced from RA.

Causes of RA

Curious as to the causes of RA, I headed over to the WebMD site. According to WebMd.com there are some specific causes and risk factors with RA.

Although doctors don’t know exactly what causes the disease, some of the risk factors are:

-Age. RA can affect you at any age, but it’s most common between 40 and 60. However, it is NOT a normal part of aging.
-Family history. If someone in your family has it, you may be more likely to get it.
-Environment. A toxic chemical or infection in your environment can up your odds.
-Gender. RA is more common in women than men.
-Obesity. Extra weight, especially if you’re under 55.
-Smoking. If your genes already make you more likely to get RA, lighting up can raise your odds even higher. And if you do get the disease, smoking can make it worse.

Full article: https://www.webmd.com/rheumatoid-arthritis/the-causes-of-rheumatoid-arth...

What One Eats Impacts RA

Digging deeper, I discovered that what one eats also contributes to the severity of the pain they might experience with RA.

Although you can’t do anything about age, family history, or gender, you can do something about your weight, smoking and what you eat.

More every day, indications are that a whole food, plant-based diet can minimize the effects of RA.

Not only will a plant-based diet reduce inflammation, a whole food diet void of all animal and dairy products can be very instrumental in weight loss.

According to sources, a healthy, plant–based diet will give you plenty of vegetables, fruits, and whole grains. Nutrients in these foods may help ease inflammation and fight RA pain. One small study found that 4 weeks on a low-fat vegan diet improved RA joint pain, stiffness, and swelling.

Other studies suggest that plant-based diets – specifically vegan diets (a diet void of all animal and dairy products), can help control RA symptoms. The basic theory is that when you go vegan, you stop eating animal products, and your RA symptoms get better.

https://www.webmd.com/rheumatoid-arthritis/ra-plant-diet#1

Awareness is Key

One is left wondering if someone like Kathleen Turner is aware of the potential life changing benefits of a plant-based diet.

With more information being released every day as to the life changing benefits of a WFPB diet, it seems this would be one of the first lines of defense to feeling better, living healthier and overall higher quality of life.

If you deal with inflammation and have not at least tried a 100% whole food, plant-based diet, why not give it a try for 30 days. In that time, you will either realize it doesn’t work or you will be convinced, beyond a shadow of a doubt, this way of eating is life changing.

Inflammation Was My Reason For Changing

When I first began my journey into plant-based eating, I did so due to inflammation. Experiencing pain in my hands, my research indicated that giving up animal and dairy products would likely give me relief. Digging deeper, I discovered plant-based eating would quickly reduce inflammation. Committing to a seven day “trial” I was amazed at how quickly I experienced relief.

Within two days, the pain was gone. After the seven-day trial period, not only was I pain free, I had more energy, dropped a few pounds and felt better than I had in some time.

Giving it another seven days, I experienced even more improvement in my overall well-being. That was in September 2018. Since that time, I’ve dug deeper into the environmental benefits of a plant-based diet as well this being very compassionate to animals.

If you’re sitting on the fence with trying a plant-based diet, why not try it for seven days. Give it 100% and you likely will never go back. After all, when you see how quickly the changes in how you feel can happen, why would you go back?