Ok, this is very similar, but I didn't want to hijack Vegankat's thread. But I am curious about other people's experience living with arthritis and being Vegan. I'm almost there with the Vegan bit (got it covered at home and at work, just need work on going out now). And although I'm only 30, I got a new hip about a year and a half ago. So this is what I worry about: new flair ups of arthritis and the longevity of the titanium hip i've got now. I did read some things on arthrosis web sites about connections between certain animal proteins and inflammation and something called "nightshade" plants - although I'm not sure what that means exactly and I'm not keen on limiting my diet by cutting out certain veggies. (I enjoy eating and I enjoy cooking. It's turned into a major hobby, maybe because it's totally guilt free now? :up: ) So I guess I've just got a skeleton that's a bit more intensive on the upkeep and I need some advice in that area.
Thanks,
Elis
PS PLEASE don't go and suggest wonderful vitamins or other stuff that you get by mailorder. I live in Austria and none of those US companies deliever here except with exhorbitant postal fees.

for more information on 'nightshades' look up macrobiotic diets.

also consider taking yoga classes--particularly iyengar, anusara, or kripalu method.

Zoebird, thanks for the tip on macrobiotics. But as to the yoga, I generally think it's great for people but anybody with a fake hip has to really watch wear and tear on it - especially rotating it on the axis. In other words, I'm not allowed to sit cross legged. I shouldn't even be crossing my legs. And all the yoga I've ever seen involved stuff that looked like contortions which are great for everybody except people in my situation. Are the methods you mentioned different?

Nightshades are vegetables in the same family as the well-known poison. The most common ones are peppers, tomatoes, and eggplant. I think maybe potatoes, too. As you can see, that's a lot to cut out of an already vegan diet. Eggplant I could definitely live without, but I don't know what I'd do without the other three! The good news is, the sources I have read seem to indicate that only some people are sensitive to them. Even if you were to test them and find they make your arthritis worse, you don't necessarily have to cut them completely out... just take it into account in your meal planning.