The psoriasis arthritis elimination diet, or in other words, a restricted diet protocol for psoriasis arthritis is certainly the most important aspect of holistic/ natural healing of psoriasis arthritis.
As we have already discussed numerous times in our blog, the holistic healing of psoriasis (and psoriasis arthritis) has 5 main pillars:
- Restricted, healthy diet– Avoiding processed, junk foods and eating more of whole foods, raw vegetables, fruits, green juices
- Positive lifestyle– Regular exercise, no smoking, less alcohol, regular meal timings, proper sleep
- Dietary supplements– Omega 3, vitamin D3, turmeric (curcumin), glutamine, probiotics
- Using natural/ herbal topical solutions– Shampoos, oils, creams and moisturizers
- Stress management– Yoga, meditation, counseling, tai chi, massage therapies, emotional freedom techniques
All the above measures work as a team to bring long term relief, but, diet is certainly the leader. Without incorporating diet changes, nothing would help in the long term.
Bill Moore, 49, a former medical equipment salesman from Mississippi, USA has similar views. According to Bill, healthy eating is a lifestyle practice which has helped him enormously to overcome psoriasis and psoriasis arthritis. Apart from diet, regular physical workout is also important.
In his two years dedicated holistic healing journey, he shed more than 100 pounds of body weight, transformed his fat body structure into a well toned muscular one and most importantly, improved psoriasis and psoriasis arthritis symptoms drastically.
A person with a sedentary lifestyle and bad eating habits in past- is now a fitness enthusiast and an adamant advocate of healthy eating. Now, he encourages other people dealing with similar health conditions to adopt healthy eating and regular exercise as a part of their lifestyle.
The Onset of Psoriasis Arthritis
Before 2004, he led a decent, healthy lifestyle and everything was going fine. The things changed drastically when he started a job as a medical equipment salesman. It involved frequent visits to different locations and he used to stay in hotels three to four nights a week. It is always challenging to maintain healthy eating habits when you are spending so much time away from home. He used to consume a lot of ready-to-eat processed foods for the sake of convenience. There is a saying- as you sow, so shall you reap. His poor eating habits and hectic lifestyle escalated his body weight from 240 pounds to about 300. At the same time, he was diagnosed with psoriasis. He developed some really big, bad patches on both of his arms.
I had psoriasis symptoms long before I was diagnosed. I was just ignoring the symptoms without anticipating the stubborn nature of this autoimmune disorder.
For a health ignorant guy like Bill, it was not a wake up call yet. He continued on his mission of gaining weight and eating poorly and eventually ended up developing psoriasis arthritis as well. Initially, his fingers used to get stubbornly stiff and they would make a popping sound upon opening. The symptoms worsened gradually- curling and locking up of fingers. Apart from fingers, psoriasis arthritis began to affect other body joints including knees, elbows, toes and neck.
My rheumatologist was surprised with the rapid spreading of psoriasis arthritis to various body joints. Several of my fingers and toes were deformed. Some days, the pain would be unbearable and the blood pressure level would shoot up to dangerously high level- 190/120. He told me that I would be wheelchair bound in 5 years if the condition didn’t improve.
The worsening of symptoms
Even after this ultimatum, Bill didn’t bother to change his lifestyle habits. Rather, he opted for the easy way- just gulping a bunch of anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressant pills every day to suppress the problem anyhow.
I had always been a healthy guy with rare health troubles. It was so difficult for me to accept these two lifelong chronic problems- psoriasis and psoriasis arthritis. I was particularly upset with psoriasis arthritis because it made it so difficult to do all those regular daily tasks. The “Why me” moments were so frequent in those days.
All these negative emotions made the things worse for Bill because stress is a proven culprit for bad eating habits. According to the American Psychological Association, stress causes people to overeat. Under stress, people would tend to eat a lot of unhealthy processed foods full of refined sugar, salt and saturated fats to shift their attention from their problems.
His body weight escalated so as his psoriasis arthritis. Now, he weighed almost 320 pounds and his condition deteriorated further to the extent that he was unable to do the smallest personal tasks like tying shoelaces, buttoning shirts, holding pen to write something or even switching off the gas cap on his vehicle.
The wake up call
One day, when his wife was away, he got a sudden arthritis attack. Walking on the legs was almost impossible, so, he literally crawled down on his hands and knees to get the bottle of aspirin (pain reliever) from the other part of his house.
It was a turning moment in his life!
Now, he decided to change his life for good because he didn’t want to spend the rest of his life in such a miserable condition.
Efforts for a better life
Bill designed a strategy to eat better, lose some weight and include a daily workout routine to relieve the psoriasis arthritis symptoms.
- Healthy eating
He took the resolution of cutting down on junk foods and replacing them with healthier alternatives to lose 5 to 10 pounds every month. Losing some body weight every month was giving him some relief, but, it was not enough. It required some overwhelming changes in his overall lifestyle to reverse the health troubles.
Read more: Pagano diet for Natural healing of Psoriasis
Bill did some research and decided to eliminate gluten, dairy and added sugar from his daily diet in a systematic manner. He started with gluten first. After two weeks, he cut down on dairy and after another two weeks, he reduced his sugar intake by almost 90 percent.
Dramatic reduction in artificial refined sugar intake can only be possible by slashing the consumption of processed, packaged foods. According to a report published in the Forbes magazine, around 90% of added refined sugar in the USA diet comes from processed, packaged foods.
He stopped eating “empty calorie” foods and rather replaced them with whole foods, raw vegetables, fruits, green juices, smoothies and more meat.
- Regular physical workout
Along with diet modification, he focused on physical workout to accelerate the healing effect. Started with walking and then introduced jogging and other cardio activities. After getting some improvement in joints mobility, he started strength training (weight lifting) as well.
During the initial days of weight lifting, I used wrist straps because my fingers were too stiff to grip the weight lifting bar. Now, I don’t need those wrist straps anymore.
- Consuming dietary supplements
He began consuming dietary supplements- fish oil (omega 3) and herbal anti-inflammatory supplements like turmeric, ginger and horse chestnut.
Getting the good results
Gradually, the situation started to improve. Body weight decreased to 250 pounds and his joints were doing a lot better. Now, he no longer needed assistance to get up from a seated position. These encouraging results motivated him to work with even more enthusiasm and energy.
The present day situation
Now, he weighs around 200 pounds and owns a well trimmed, muscular body and most importantly, his psoriasis and psoriasis arthritis, both are well in control.
The psoriasis arthritis has permanently deformed some of my body joints. But, none of my affected body joints have pain, swelling or redness anymore. My psoriasis has cleared as well. Now, I have just two little patches on the elbow. Additionally, my blood pressure and blood glucose level is normal as well.
What about relapses
Everyone has relapses- as it happened with Bill. There were moments when he experienced diet relapses and his psoriasis arthritis reacted to them. His body joints began to trouble him again. Then he realized that this diet protocol is for life. But, he didn’t lose heart and gradually, the frequency of diet relapses decreased and now, he has far more control over his eating habits.
The diet relapse is more of a mind game. We have to understand that eating healthy foods is not a torture. It is actually an investment for a healthy body and mind in the long run. And, it is a complete misconception that healthy food recipes can’t be tasty. We just need to explore various resources. The Internet is filled with tons of tasty recipes with healthier food ingredients.
Bill’s message to people dealing with psoriasis arthritis
You are what you eat. For me, the battle of psoriasis arthritis is truly won in the kitchen. Healthy eating is the main thing. Physical workout and dietary supplements are just like the helping hands.
What we have learnt
We, the people dealing with psoriasis (and psoriasis arthritis) owe a big thanks to Bill to share his healing story with all of us. You know, it needs a lot of courage and self acceptance to share your struggle and hardships with others. It shows that he has deep compassion to help others. Thank you Bill! You are an inspiration to all of us.
Let us quickly revise the takeaways from this real life healing story:
- Don’t compromise on your health while building your career.
- Early diagnosis is the key.
- Psoriasis (and psoriasis arthritis) is an internal body metabolism related disorder. Just addressing the external symptoms is not enough. Opt for a comprehensive inside-out approach by making radical changes in your diet and lifestyle. Dietary supplements do help a lot as well.
- The psoriasis arthritis elimination diet needs a lot of discipline, commitment and patience. But, it is worth all the efforts because it offers safe, economical and long term healing.
- Finally, it is not recommended to discontinue your existing treatment abruptly. The whole purpose of sharing Bill’s story is to highlight the importance of diet and lifestyle changes in managing your psoriasis arthritis.
If you need more insight about Bill Moore’s diet and workout routine, please reach him at sweetestvictoryfitness@gmail.com.
References
http://www.semissourian.com/story/1988016.html
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4214609/
http://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/stress/2013/eating.aspx
http://www.forbes.com/sites/nancyhuehnergarth/2016/03/14/study-finds-nearly-60-of-calories-in-the-american-diet-are-from-ultra-processed-foods/#778c1eb84b11
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6091217