I don't drink milk and I have heard about citrus causing joint pain. I know you have restricted your diet quite a bit...what are some of the things you do eat?

LOL Funny you should ask, Marilyn . . . I'm running out of foods!

I''m grateful that I love salads. I eat at least one every day, with a protein source like chicken, salmon, tuna, or tofu. I eat quite a bit of chicken, plus turkey, pork (less often) and beef (rarely). I love tofu, and I use soy milk in my tea and on cooked oat bran, which I eat every day.

I eat apples, grapes, prunes, raisins, and various fruits in season. I think I react to strawberries. I love blueberries, but recently read that they contain solanine, so I may have to drop them. I hope not. I eat walnuts and almonds every day.

I love Brussels sprouts, broccoli, cabbage, spinach, and carrots. I make a lot of vegetable soups. I eat collards occasionally, and asparagus whenever I can afford it. In summer I grow my own zucchini, crookneck squash, green beans, and Swiss chard. I'd like to get back to growing lettuces again (we grew some great ones!), but I could never attempt the huge garden we used to have.

I adore bread, but can't indulge myself very much with it. I don't keep bread in the house, but if I'm in a good restaurant and the bread is warm..........

Occasionally I eat pasta (usually Dreamfields, which is supposed to be low carb), but not as often as I'd like.

Oh, and I eat eggs. I don't care for the yolks as much as I used to, though, so the dogs usually get those.

My fridge is usually stuffed with fresh produce, plus some chicken, tofu, and soymilk.

I still enjoy eating. :-)

All of the foods you listed for your arthritis issues,I am allergic to.....*except* the soy--will not eat tofu

Oh,and I know salt,in any form made my MIL stiffen up terribly

Alisand,
Maybe instead of elliminating all those good foods, try adding one healthy thing.

We have all heard of the great bennefits of apple cider vinegar. One of the things it does for me is getting rid of joint pain.

I had rehumatic fever as a child and have had sharp joint pains ever since -- that is until I started taking ACV. I started taking it daily at least 8 years ago. It took a couple months before I realized I was having no more pain. It must have been gradual, but I "just didn't notice pain when it wasn't there."

After being pain free for a couple years, I decided to test it to see if it was actually the ACV that was helping. I quit taking it and in a few days the knee pains were back and then the hips. I found Apple Cider Vinegar capsules in the Health Food dept at the grocery store. I started them and in a week I was again pain free. A couple years later I needed to increase to 2 capsules daily, but This works for me.

You are tyring to cut out so many foods that are really healthy, maybe trying this will make life a bit easier.

I have a problem too, with joint pain. I have Polymyalgia as well.
I'm also on blood thinners and all the green vegetables and many fruits are out, as apparently they contain potassium that ruins the effect of the blood thinner.

What a problem. You can't win for losing.

ivamae

Ivamae, I don't envy you the Polymyalgia. I hope it stays under control (or goes away).

Hayjud, I don't know if ACV will eliminate food allergies, but I figure it can't hurt. So you take it in capsule form, two per day? What dosage? Thanks for the suggestion!

Ont_gal, have you tried tofu in different ways? You might like it buzzed in a blender with a little garlic and dried parsley. Makes a great subsitute for ricotta in Italian dishes.

When I first started on ACV, I used the actual liquid, organic apple cider vinegar, and took one Tbsp daily mixed into my morning grape juice. I started taking it in hopes of getting some help for losing weight. I don't think it helped the weight situation, unless it slowed down the gain!

I would recommend the capsules because that sour breakfast drink got to be hard to down.

Remember it takes a while for it to work throughout your system, so give it at least 2 months trial. I don't think it fights allergies, but you may find that you don't actually have a problem with all those other things.

I'd sugest that you start out with a lot to get it into your system. The bottle suggests 1 to 2 taken three times a day (for digestion and circulation.) That is up to 6 a day! I always try to get along with as little as possible. What I have been buying is 500mg capsules in a bottle of 180 capsules for around $13 (that's almost 3 months for me.) Your situation sounds more sievere than mine.

I think it is worth a try, and I hope it helps.

I read this thread earlier and was interested in the ACV, so I googled it. Found a lot of info.

According to what I read ACV is good for "what ails you." (Not a quote.)
Asthma, headaches, ear aches, kidney, bladder problems, wrinkles, hiccups, insomnia, etc. Arthritis was also mentioned.

I was being tempted to make a note to get some, but then I read that if you take ACV, you should restrict all refined sugar. That I would find hard to do. I do like my sweets.

So have you given up sweets?

I have never made any connection to food causing flares, but then I am not a big eater, so maybe quantity would do it.

We have had rain all day today and that is what causes "body all achin' and racked with pain." It has been one of the worst days I have had in a while.

So that is why I was interested in ACV. I've tried every NSAID that has been available; right now I'm taking Mobic, but it isn't really helping.

Sue

You might want to try some black cherry juice for those pains too. When we had our first cold spell in the fall I hurt all over. I happened to have some black cherry juice concentrate and decided to try it because I knew it was good for Arthritis and Gout. I don't have either but thought it was still worth a try. If I hadn't been drinking a couple of oz. everyday I would have hurt all winter. You can find a good concentrate at GNC or any good health food store.

Alisande-Thank you for bringing this back up.I read your OP and was going to go back and write down all the foods that you posted as having solanine and do some research and just never got around to it.It's interesting because DH and I both have joint pain and we eat a lot of the foods you mentioned.My joint pain has been worse the last couple of weeks but I attributed it to the weather.I am wondering now if it could be due to the case of oranges and grapefruit I bought from a peddler three weeks ago and have been eating at least 2 or 3 of each daily since! Ya think???LOL I'm going to eat the last grapefruit in a few minutes then that's it!
I am going to try the ACV capsules first and see what happens.Will buy them tomorrow.
Hayjud-I had rheumatic fever as a child also but never connected it with my joint pain now.Duuh!LOL
Sue-DH and I are diabetic.We control it with our diet.I use Splenda to sweeten anything that I use to sweeten with sugar.I know a lot of people say the taste is different,and it may be somewhat,but my family can't tell the difference.I have found that using a little less than you would of sugar is best.
NSAIDS scare me.LOL

Yes, Sue, I gave up sweets years ago -- 1995, to be exact. We had a thread here on carb addiction not too long ago. I was a major sugar addict. It took me quite a while to be able to say this, but I don't miss sweets anymore. I'm more tempted by bread. :-)

Bryansda, I tried black cherry juice after it was recommended by someone who had good results with it. It didn't do anything for me, though. For a while now I've been taking pomegranate concentrate. It hasn't helped my joint pain (or anything else that I've noticed), but like the cherry juice, it tastes good.

Sue,
I have not given up sweets. I eat a lot less sweets then I use to, but I still eat them.

Times of bed weather use to be when the joint pain set in for me. I can't tell the weather by my joints anymore!

I've never taken any of those "odd" things that are supposed to help arthritis, but I think I'll try the capsules. Sounds like it couldn't hurt.

I'm not diabetic, so sugar is not a problem for me. I just like sweet stuff. I could cut back though if ACV would help.

I had Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever when I was thirteen and I've always thought that was where my arthritis started. I've researched, but there is very little info out there on RMSF from way back. I have only found one site that lists arthritis as a complication. Now its easily taken care of, but not then.

Sue