The PAINLESS PLAN
How do I stay Painless?
Based on scientific evidence that we have gathered, we have developed a plan for you to help your diet assist in decreasing pain. Really? Nutrition can decrease pain? Yes. Scientific evidence shows that people with inflammatory conditions like rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, osteoarthritis, etc., may benefit from eating a diet based on our plan.
We are different than many of the other diets, because we give you a guide. Its not strict, and its not defined by calories. We guide you based on percentages. We base our ideas on the glycemic index and inflammatory proteins called AGEs (advanced glycation end products).
The diagram below shows how it works:
25-35% Greens and Vegetables:This means things like raw carrots, brocolli, kale, lettuce (preferrably not iceberg), etc...
15-25% Beans and Nuts:Nuts, Peanuts, Beans, Lentils can be added here. Any raw nuts, including butter of nuts can be used to contribute here. Be careful of "traditional" peanut butter, which has lots of sugar in it. Try to get Organic butters without sugar or modified ingredients (i.e. high fructose corn syrup).
10-15% Fruits:This is lower than the greens and vegetables due to the sugar content of fruits. The great part about fruit, is that they usually have lots of other important vitamins and minerals which are received in much higher amounts.
5-10% Whole Grains: This does not mean Whole Grain Wheat Bread. Wheat bread is actually terrible for you because the original whole wheat is broken down into into starches, so our body can easily consume it and digest it into sugar. I mean - whole grains. For example, non-refiend oats (like in oatmeal), Einkorn berries (which is a type of wheat), brown rice with the kernal are all types of whole grains. The type of whole grain that we are used to is refined and sugary with high glycemic indexes. For example: Steel Cut Oats have a glycemic index (GI) in the mid 50s. Whole Wheat bread has a significantly higher glycemic index in the 70s.
5-10% Fish, Vegetable or Nut Oils high in Monounsaturated fat:Although this is only 5-10%, it should replace any dairy, meat, cheese that one would normally eat.
5-10% Cooked Meat/Dairy/Cheese: What only 5%? Yes, only 5%. That means that only 100 calories (or 1 oz of cheese) should be coming from animal sources. I agree, we may need some protein, but in the olden days, when diseases of the new age were not in concern, people at much less meat (and the meat was much less processed than it is now). This meat, dairy and cheese converts into AGEs, which increases inflammation, just like sugar.
Up to 5 glasses of alcohol per week: I mean glasses (8 oz of wine, 12 oz of beer, 1 oz of distilled liquors, etc...), these should not be all taken at once, but should be drank throughout the week. Be careful of the sugar content when drinks are mixed, because these add to the sugar products below.
less than 5% sugar products. Pancakes, chocolate, muffins, etc. All these products with refined sugars convert into AGEs in the body.
No high fructose corn syrup
No genetically modified ingredients
Stay away from processed foods as much as possible. These usually are broken down into things that are much easier for our body to convert into sugar, and therefore AGEs.
If you prefer to be Vegan, then cut out the cooked meat/dairy/cheese and repace it with more nuts and beans