Linda Lazarides' diet for inflamed joints and arthritis

PHASE I: (weeks 1-4) Diagnostic diet, intestinal flushing and anti-microbial treatment to reduce toxins formed in the gut
Foods to eat	Foods to avoid	Therapeutic items*	Supplements (daily dose)*
Eat liberally (why?): Fresh vegetables, especially dark green leafy or purple/red varieties; Fresh salad vegetables, especially beets (beetroot) raw radishes, raw red onions, chives; Fresh fruit, especially blue, purple and dark red berries; Olive oil; Legumes (pulses) especially if sprouted; Tofu; Fish and seafood, especially the so-called "oily" fish: herrings, mackerel, salmon, sardines, pilchards; Organic white meat; Nuts; Sunflower & sesame seeds. Gelatine and soup made from boiled chicken carcasses also contain beneficial nutrients. Eat a wide variety of all these anti-inflammatory foods. If you are underweight, add more olive oil to make up for reducing carbohydrates. Try to drink several of the following anti-inflammatory juices every day: celery, leafy greens, carrot, broccoli, radish, cucumber, beet(root). These are best made at home with a juice extractor. Do not add salt. Also drink at least two litres (three pints) of plain water a day. Consume sparingly: (why?) Honey; Rice and rice flour; Oats, millet, buckwheat and their flours; Potatoes; Japanese foods: miso and tamari sauce to flavour food.	Any foods which you already know worsen your arthritis. For some people these may be acidic foods and citrus fruit. For others they may be potatoes, peppers and aubergines (eggplant) which belong to the deadly nightshade family. Also avoid artificial food additives: colourings, flavourings, preservatives, sweeteners; Avoid convenience foods in general as these often have hidden ingredients; Avoid red meat (why?); Avoid sugar, foods and drinks with added sugar (why?); Avoid salt as it raises histamine, but you can use a little sea salt very sparingly; Avoid tea, coffee, alcohol (why?); Alcohol is particularly likely to encourage arthritis. During Phase I you must also avoid any foods containing wheat, milk or milk protein (casein), egg or yeast, including bread, yoghurt, ice cream, butter, stock cubes. Avoid even trace amounts of these items (why?). In Phase II you will test these foods to see if they aggravate your joint problems. Become an avid reader of labels on all food packets, including natural foods like dried fruit.	Psyllium husks (preferably whole, not powdered) 1 tbsp mixed in 400 ml/¾ pint water twice daily. Castor oil (why?) 1 tbsp at bed-time (not near mealtimes or if you have diarrhoea). Add any of the following anti-microbial spices to the psyllium husks and also use them in cookery: ginger, cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, cayenne, asafetida (ferula). Drink nettle tea and ginger tea as these have mild anti-inflammatory properties. Drink peppermint tea and dandelion coffee to aid bile flow (why?). If you are constipated, take enough Epsom salts every day to produce loose bowel motions. Strong chamomile tea helps you relax and is a good sleep aid. Some arthritis sufferers are helped by taking 2 teaspoons of organic cider vinegar in a little water 15 minutes before each meal. The most powerful anti-arthritis food is the yellow Indian spice turmeric. The minimum helpful dose is 2-3 rounded teaspoons a day mixed with soya yoghurt. The best anti-dysbiosis food is raw garlic cut into small cubes, 1 teaspoonful at bed-time swallowed with water. Raw garlic will not cause odour if you do not chew or crush it.	Basic multinutrient formula; Citrus seed extract (anti-microbial) and Oregano oil (anti-fungal): doses as per label. Anti-inflammatory supplements: Glucosamine sulphate: 1,500 mg. (The active ingredient in chondroitin, cartilage supplements and green-lipped mussel is glucosamine, so you do not need to take these too). Purified cod liver oil or pharmaceutical-grade fish oil: doses as per label. Bromelain as per label. Pycnogenol or bilberry extract as per label. Twice a day take Vitamin C 1,000 mg plus methionine 500 mg. (Magnesium ascorbate is the best form of vitamin C.) Some cases of arthritis respond very well to celery seed extract which helps to reduce fluid retention. If drinking alcohol noticeably aggravates your arthritis, you have an extra-high need for a fatty acid known as GLA. To supplement it, take evening primrose oil 1,000 mg per day. Natural alternatives to painkillers include the herb Devil's Claw and the amino acid supplement dl-phenylalanine (DLPA). Observe the cautions on product labels.
Get over 100 delicious recipes for this diet		Treat Yourself With Nutritional Therapy Has More information on superfoods

PHASE II: (weeks 5-8) Food intolerance testing and bacterial repopulation
Foods to eat		Therapeutic items*	Supplements (daily dose)*
Week 5: In addition to the Diagnostic Diet (above), also consume egg-free wheat pasta, wheat flour or plain wheat crackers every day for 5 days, then stop. If you get any unpleasant reactions, such as aggravated joint tenderness, sinus congestion, headache or drowsiness, or if your weight quickly rises, make a note of them and stop eating the wheat. It is very likely that you have a wheat intolerance. Whether or not you experience a reaction, stop the wheat after 5 days, and follow the Diagnostic Diet alone for the next two days. Week 6: Repeat what you did in Week 5, consuming cow's milk products daily instead of wheat, particularly fresh milk, cheese and yoghurt. The procedure is exactly the same as for Week 5. Week 7: Repeat what you did in Week 5, consuming eggs daily instead of wheat. If you do not want to eat a whole egg every day, make a 2-egg omelette with plain egg and water, cook it very thinly, and eat a small strip each day for the test period. Week 8: Repeat what you did in Week 5, consuming yeast daily instead of wheat. Buy a small jar of low-sodium yeast extract from a health food shop, and make it into a hot drink with boiling water. Drink this each day for the test period.		Continue twice daily psyllium husks: 1 tablespoon mixed in 400 ml/¾ pint of water or luke-warm herbal tea. Use chamomile, peppermint, nettle and ginger teas and dandelion coffee. Consume ginger frequently in cooking. Ginger helps to stimulate the digestion and has anti-inflammatory properties. Continue the turmeric. Continue the cider vinegar if you found it helpful.	To repopulate good bacteria, take Acidophilus/bifidus as per product label. Use a brand guaranteed to survive digestion. (Yoghurt cannot be relied on for this.) Continue with basic multinutrient formula. Stop the anti-microbial and anti-fungal supplements. Continue with the anti-inflammatory supplements.

PHASE III: (week 9 onwards) Maintenance regime
Foods to eat	Foods to avoid		Therapeutic items & supplements*
If you have followed the program faithfully you should be noticing an improvement. This improvement will be most marked if you have been wrongly diagnosed and do not in fact have an arthritic disease but simply a system overloaded with wastes and toxins. You may resume eating any foods which tested negative in Phase II, but try not to eat them more than once a day since these four foods do seem to turn into problem foods very easily. Try to make your routine diet 90 per cent fresh natural foods: fresh fruit and vegetables, white meat, fish, legumes (pulses), olive oil, whole-grains, rice and potatoes - all organic whenever possible. Continue drinking at least two litres/three pints of water a day. Also try to keep up the recommended juices. Make soup regularly from boiled chicken carcasses.	Avoid the foods which tested positive. Nothing else is a complete no-no as long as your joints continue to improve. Be extremely frugal with sugary, starchy foods and drinks. Toxin-producing bacteria can never be completely eradicated from your intestines - only controlled by depriving them of undigested starch and sugar. Avoid artificial additives - joints can be sensitive to them. Alcohol damages your intestinal lining and is turned into toxic acetaldehyde by bacteria in your intestines. Ordinary tea and coffee stress your adrenal glands.		Continue with the multinutrient formula and the anti-inflammatory supplements for a further 4 months, then experiment with reducing the supplements one at a time. If your joint tenderness begins to worsen after a few weeks, resume taking the product which you discontinued.
*All doses are for adults. Children's doses are in proportion to their body weight. So a child who is half the weight of a small adult should be given half the adult dose, and so on.
Common mistakes: Underestimating the power of all these therapeutic measures used together. The better you follow this program, the greater your chances of stopping or reversing the disease process. If you get to Phase III then find you have a relapse, start again with Phase I and try to work out what caused the relapse. This program is a big step away from normal Western dietary habits, so you will probably dislike some of the foods or therapeutic items. So what? Eat them anyway without complaining. They are worth it! Additional advice: Do not rush into this program. Wait until you are properly organized. Try out some of the advice before you begin the program. Make a note of the foods that you miss the most and mentally prepare yourself for doing without them for two months. You will then be more likely to cope with this program and see its benefits. When eating, do not overload your stomach; this puts a strain on your digestion. Food which you have not completely digested ends up feeding toxin-producing bacteria in your intestines. Don't dilute your digestive juices: drink liquids before meals, not during or soon after. Gentle exercise, massage and manipulation are beneficial as they help your lymphatic system to reduce fluid retention around the joint.
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