A healthy diet is very important for your health. Poor diet can bring disaster to your health. Today studies have been undergoing and has now confirm certain nutrients as well as dietary practices which is linked to most forms of arthritis especially Ankylosing Spondylitis. This condition is also common to countries like the USA, Australia, Canada or Europe where rich foods are commonly eaten but fortunately this condition is seldom found in other parts of the world like Africa and Asia. It is interesting to note that their diets mainly consist of vegetable, fruits and whole grains. They rarely eat dairy product and meat.
What is more interesting is when people from Asia emigrate in western countries and thus adopt their kind of diet, they too become prone to arthritis. The same happens when the elite in third world countries adopt the western style diet they too are affected with this disease (Ann Rheum Dis 1990). This has raised a lot of questions thus more and more research is now conducted regarding the different kinds of diet that works with ankylosing spondylitis. Check out below the ankylosing spondylitis diet.
Low or No Starch Diet
Numerous studies of ankylosing spondylitis diet have been conducted and it showed large number of cases of patients whose response to low or no starch diet is high and shows complete reduction of the disease. The foods that you should avoid if you have ankylosing spondylitis are rice, sweet potatoes and potatoes; corn and corn products; bagels, cake, pizza, tortilla, pastries, cookies, flours, pasta, bread and other foods less in starch. It is important that you know about the low starch approach diet if you are suffering from ankylosing spondylitis.
Diet that is Fat Free
Meat and Dairy products should also be excluded in the diet since this meat and dairy products contain arachidonic acid. It is a fatty acid that is mostly the culprit that brings inflammation and is the cause of arthritis and rheumatism. This fatty acid is transformed into an inflammatory leukotienes and prostaglandin. In studies conducted with arthritis patients, results show complete absence of symptoms after seven weeks of fat free diet. But the moment fats are introduced in their diet symptoms returned.
Vegan Diet
Vegan diet does not include meat and dairy food but include nuts, seeds, pulses, whole grains, vegetables and fresh fruits. Several studies supported that a vegan diet increases functional ability and less pain for arthritis sufferers (Br J Rheumatol 1994).
Gluten Free Diet
Arthritis patients usually have an enzyme deficiency in the small intestines which inhibits them from absorbing gluten. It is interesting to note that specific places where gluten cereals are often consumed or is part of their staple diet are also those places which has highest incidence of arthritis. If you care to observe too, countries whose staple food includes corn or rice which are low gluten food have much lower rate of rheumatic diseases.
Treatments for arthritis combined with a healthy diet really works. If you are just consistent and follow the right prescribed diet for you then you might be pain free in just a couple of months and you might be surprise when you do not even have to take any medication for pain anymore. So consult and discuss with your doctor now and you can start researching it yourself too and discover the right diet that can make you symptoms free from ankylosing spondylitis and other arthritic disease.