Ankylosing Spondylitis!?

[richedie]

Good day!

I am not completely new to vegetarianism. I have been a partial vegetarian for years, having whole grains, veggies, legumes, nuts, seeds and fruit be my main source of nutrition. I would occassionally eat chicken, eggs, milk and cheese - preferrably organic. However, with getting older and the fear of arthritis (I am active and want to remain that way!) and the fact that I may have Ankylosing Spondylitis(although mild), animal issues, environmental issues, has prompted me to get hardcore about vegetarianism.

The biggest issue recently was the probability of having Ankylosing Spondylitis, a form of arthritis or autoimmune disease. Some diets for this suggest avoiding all starches such as oats, wheat, etc. On this diet you can still eat meat and other animal products. Then I cam across a lot more research as to a vegetarian diet and a vegan diet having huge benefits for AS. I also have read countless books in the past on arthritis and other diseases pointing to vegetarianism as providing much improvement. I also have mountains of books and articles on the human body, digestion, nutrition, etc.....all pointing to the benefits of vegetarianism.

Thoughts? Anyone else have AS?

Rich

[hoodedclawjen]

from someone with very limited knowledge about anything medical/dietary:

have you read anythig by/heard of Dr McDougall? He's a pretty well respected doctor who advocates a vegan diet, and who has some stuff on his site about arthritis and diet, here (i think the best bit is maybe one section up from the bottom of the page, but its all worth a read): http://www.drmcdougall.com/res_arthritis.html

i can see why you'd perhaps be concerned about restricting your diet, and by maybe restricting the wrong stuff (eg: starches when it should be meat, or vice versa). have you considered doing an ellimination diet- in my mind, the easiest way to see if something is affecting you negatively, is to stop eating it, and see if you feel better without it! i don't have arthritis (i have environmental allergies) but through ellimination, i discovered that dairy is absolutely awful for me, and not eating it makes a huge difference to my day to day wellbeing in many ways.

if you found that you did need to be on a low starch diet, or to remove specific high allergenic starches like wheat and corn, and that meat, eggs, and dairy also caused you trouble, you might well still be able to swing it while eating vegan, or as close to it as you feel comfortable- especially with the help of a good dietition or nutritionist. i manage to do vegan with no wheat, gluten, yeast, mushrooms, and a few other things that seem to be in everything on the shelf in the grocery store- it just takes a little ingenuity and planning!

i think you should give it a try- even just cutting out dairy might yeild dramatic reuslts- and you'll never know if you don't give it a shot!

[richedie]

Thanks! I am starting by cutting out all animal products and see where that takes me after about a month.

[hoodedclawjen]

good luck!