Diet Basics

Foods fall in to 4 categories – Foods to AVOID, Foods to LIMIT, Foods to ENJOY and Foods that are ESSENTIAL for the diet.  

AVOID:

-          Whole regular battery eggs (if a recipe uses eggs and you will be consuming only part of one egg then this is fine) - please see 'limit' list

-          Red meat and pork - beef, lamb, venison

-          Offal  - liver, kidney etc

-          Full-fat dairy products  - cheese, butter, cream, whole milk)

-          White complex carbohydrates - white bread, pasta, wheat flour
-          Refined and processed foods
-          Refined vegetable oils
           

LIMIT to as little as you can manage:

-         White rice (as this is not as wholesome as brown, a mix of half and half is better if you can’t do all brown)

-         Goats cheese and milk (some lactose intolerant’s can have goats cheese in small quantities – we found the same is true for this diet)

-         Night shade plants - peppers, chilli, white potatoes, tomatoes, aubergines (there is some conflicting ideas about these, some say they are good and others bad so we decided it was best to limit them until there is more evidence either way)

-         Egg white and Omega-3 enriched eggs

-         Game poultry - duck, pheasant, partridge, pigeon, goose
-         Shellfish
-         Coconut milk, flesh and oil (yet another controversial ingredient!)
-         Citrus fruits

This may seem very restrictive but now have a look at the long list of foods that you can ENJOY:

-          All types of fish, but especially oily fish - salmon, mackerel, anchovies, tuna, trout, pilchards, sardines, squid and octopus

-          Chicken

-          Turkey

-          Ostrich

-          Tofu and soy products (please note: there are links to soy and inflammation, but these are due to personal allergies)

-          Quorn products

-          All vegetables including sweet potatoes and yams (apart from the night shades mentioned above)

-          All fruit - including dried fruit

-          All herbs and spices

-          Cereals  (especially brown/wholemeal)  – porridge oats, barley

-          Wholemeal bread and pasta (but try not to use this as your main fibre source, have vegetables and fruit instead. If you are going to use flour in cooking, I would suggest you use one that is low-gluten such as potato, rice or tapioca flour as there have recently been many correlations made between arthritis and celiac disease)

-          Milk and dairy alternatives (coconut, almond rice)

And the ESSENTIAL beneficial, anti-inflammatory foods that should be eaten as often as possible:

-   

-          Flax seeds and oil (great level of Omega-3 oils , even better than olive oil)

-          Avocado

-          Nuts and seeds

-          Green leafy vegetables

-          Any high Omega-3 products (inc fish oils)

-          Sprouts (bean and alfalfa)

-          Beans, lentils and pulses

-          Cherries

-          Ginger

-          Turmeric

-          Oily fish, mentioned above

-          Fruit and vegetable juices (especially freshly squeezed)

-          Apple Cider vinegar 

-          Seaweed