DO'S AND DONT'S FOR ARTHRITIS PATIENTS

WHY ONE MUST AVOID SOUR THINGS ?-- Apart from curd or yoghurt, several other sour (tart) food ingredients are eaten. these are in the form of pickles, tamarind, sour fruit juice & vinegar. Amongst sour things only gooseberry (amalaki or Emblica officianalis) & pomegranate may be taken. Other sour things promote the retention of metabolic waste products in the blood. Such retention causes or aggravates Arthritis.

DIGESTIVE STIMULANTS AND SPICES -- As has been mentioned before, Arthritis is basically caused by improper digestion & metabolism. It is, therefore, necessary to not only protect but to improve the power of digestion & metabolism of the patient suffering from Arthritis. Some people use very hot spices & chillies as part of their normal diet. These are, no doubt, harmful & should be avoided even by patients of Arthritis. But use of mild spices such as ginger, black pepper, cumin seeds, cloves & cinnamon are very useful. They not only promote the digestive & metabolic process, but also help in alleviation of 'vayu' & removal of metabolic waste products through various eliminative processes.

PULSES -- All pulses are aggravaters of 'vayu'. Among them, 'mudga' (Phaseolus radiatus) is least harmful. To supplement the protein content of the food this dal can be taken. But all the remaining pulses should be avoided. Grams, rajamas & masa (Phaseolus mungo) are very harmful for patients suffering from Arthritis.

WHY MUST ONE AVOID FRIED FOOD -- To make food palatable, often some of its preparations are deep fried in butter, ghee or vegetable oil. This butter, ghee & vegetable oil in themselves are not so very harmful. But when anything is fried or deep fried by adding various types of fat, it then becomes a little difficult to digest & this leads to indigestion & production of metabolic waste products. Therefore, Arthritis patients should strictly avoid fried food.

WHAT VEGETABLES MAY BE EATEN ? -- Vegetables like fruits which are sour (tart) should be strictly avoided. Similarly, vegetables containing a lot of starch re not useful. Vegetables with a slightly bitter taste & having a mild laxative effect such as gourd, bitter gourd, drumsticks, green papaya, plantain, brinjal (egg plant), spinach, capsicum, patola, kunduru, zucchini & broccoli are very useful for the patient. The patient should void lady's finger (okra), jackfruit, pumpkin & colocasia.

WHAT CEREALS MAY BE EATEN ? -- Rice as a staple food is not very good for Arthritis Patients. They should depend mostly upon wheat, maize, buckwheat & barley.

MEAT AND FISH -- As has been described before, the patient of Arthritis generally has low digestive power & he should void eating meat & fish as much as possible. He should particularly avoid eggs & sea-fish.

MOVEMENTS -- Arthritis is basically a disease of the joints which are responsible for all movements of the body. While it is not desirable that the patient should make the joint absolutely immobile by confining himself to bed, it is essential that he should not put more strain on the joints by walking, running, jumping or doing physical exercise much in excess of his strength. He should perform only such exercises that can be done without straining the joints.