Carnivore Diet For Rheumatoid Arthritis?

I know it sounds crazy. From all of the things I’ve learned and all the times I’ve read about fiber, nutrients, and gut health, the carnivore diet sounds crazy. Yet if you get into some corners of the internet you’ll see that some people are having great success with the carnivore diet for rheumatoid arthritis among other health conditions. Initially I tried it for 1 week and I felt amazing. Before my little carnivore experiment I couldn’t eat eggs without rheumatoid arthitis joint pain for nearly a year. After a week of carnivore I could suddenly eat them again without issue?… After that I immersed myself even further into the carnivore world and then decided to try it out for a month. My month-long carnivore experiment made me a bit vegetable phobic because I felt so amazing. I also uncovered new vegetable sensitivities like the cruciferous family. I can eat them but the bloating and digestive distress I get doesn’t make me eager to eat them. Countless people have found that the carnivore diet results in improved health. For those with arthritis, I believe carnivore does help arthritis because it removes so many plant compounds associated with joint pain. Is it the perfect rheumatoid arthritis diet? The jury is still out, but personal testimonials are stacking up.

The medical community and research teams are discovering new things about gut health and overall health regularly. Knowing that most autoimmune diseases are preceded by a leaky gut I can’t help but wonder if fiber and lectins are simply too much for some of us. Gluten is a lectin, all grains contain lectins, nuts & seeds contain lectins which is why vegetables with seeds contain lectins. What do lectins do in the body? They damage the cells that repair the lining of the small intestine. If you’re struggling with rheumatoid arthritis the carnivore diet definitely has the potential to help your arthritis. How long you’ll have to follow the carnivore diet to see results honestly depends on your current health.

Is It Rheumatoid?

This is a topic that I don’t regularly discuss on social media or very often on my blog. Why? Because I’ve never sought out an official diagnosis. In August of 2014, I did my first Whole 30. When I couldn’t add anything back I began to suspect that the joint pain in my hands wasn’t from practicing massage therapy for a decade, rather it was rheumatoid arthritis. As a medical massage therapist, we are not allowed to diagnose a person, but most people who check the box stating that they have arthritis don’t know what kind they have. Most people don’t know the difference between osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis. As a massage therapist, I approached the 2 types somewhat differently but first I had to figure out which type a person had. Then over the course of 7 years I taught for a massage therapy program where I not only taught anatomy and physiology but I taught future massage therapists signs and symptoms of a number of diseases. We have to know what we’re working on even if you don’t know what it’s called.

What I can assure you is that I can absolutely control my joint pain through diet and lifestyle. Removing plants I not only felt better overall, but I found that carnivore does help my arthritis symptoms.

Signs of Rheumatoid Arthritis:

• Family history
• Stiffer in the mornings
• Influenced by weather changes
• Pain primarily in the extremities
• Pain equal on both sides
• Stress affects level of pain
• Joint pain with or without activity

I have all of the above. I’ve also had days where my feet hurt so bad it was painful to walk; my elbow wouldn’t let me hold a pan to wash it in the sink; and joint pain in my hands that made wiping my bum painful. The one thing I don’t think I have is any deformed joints; they all function perfectly fine. I think I’m lucky in that I’ve been able to work out for myself some of these issues pretty early on. This is why I haven’t sought out an official diagnosis. If I don’t have any structural joint issues and if my lifestyle and the carnivore diet results in zero joint pain I’m assuming that a blood test or x-rays aren’t going to show very much. Besides I don’t want to pay someone to write me a prescription that I’m not going to take anyway.

Should you do what I’ve done? I’m definitely not saying that. I’m simply conveying my choices and I’m ok with it. I want to be honest about whether or not I have rheumatoid.

A Rheumatoid Arthritis Diet

January 2015 I adopted the autoimmune protocol. I stuck with it for a month even though my joint pain subsided in a few days. What I have since learned is that I can guarantee whether or not my joints hurt simply by what I eat.  On the mainstream health websites you likely won’t see any mention of food sensitivities being a trigger for rheumatoid symptoms. However, below I’ve attached 2 studies showing the correlation between dietary lectins and rheumatoid. As I listed below lectins are present in a lot of foods. Fruits and vegetables that are picked before they are ripe (most of our produce) can also contain a lot of lectins. I believe this is why many have found the carnivore diet is good for their arthritis.

Food is my number 1 predictor for joint pain. I’m a pretty active person. I go on 2-3 hour hikes with friends, I take taekwondo a few nights a week, and in the fall I’m a bowhunter. As long as my diet is dialed in I can do these things without joint pain issue. Everyone is a unique individual and the things that give me issues may or may not be an issue for you. Keeping a food journal and testing different foods for yourself several times is one of the best ways to sort out the puzzle.

Foods That Give Me Joint Pain

• Grains (all grains)
• White potatoes
• Peppers
• Chocolate
• Sugar

There are many other food groups that don’t work for me in terms of digestion, fatigue, and headaches but these are the big 4 when it comes to joint pain. When you’re working out the rheumatoid arthritis diet that is best for you a food and symptom diary can help you sort out food sensitivities. The reason the carnivore diet is good for arthritis is that it is a complete elimination diet. It’s like wiping the slate clean and allows you to start all over.

Are Plants Our Friends?

Below Dr. Georgia Ede discusses the research around plants and the human diet. When you weigh everything we’ve been told about eating vegetables initially it may feel impossible that anyone has good carnivore diet results. As you’ll see below, there is an extreme case where the carnivore diet helps arthritis.

Mikhaila has one of the most severe cases of rheumatoid arthritis. She was diagnosed with rheumatoid at the age of seven and she’s had multiple joint replacements. Mikhaila has some amazing carnivore diet results. It’s definitely been the rheumatoid arthritis diet for her. She’s a bit of a poster child showing the carnivore diet is good for rheumatoid arthritis. Listen to her story below:

One of the doctors who is kind of leading the charge for this way of eating is Dr. Shawn Baker. If you follow him on Instagram he regularly shares science about the carnivore diet, along with carnivore diet results. Fair warning though, he does get into it with the vegans on occasion. On the blog meatheals.com you can read testimonials about the carnivore diet on a number of health conditions. I’ve read his book The Carnivore Diet and it’s excellent. You don’t have to be a physician to understand it, it’s written for the average person to understand.

The Connection Between Lectins & Rheumatoid

“Plant-derived dietary lectins have been reported to be involved in the pathogenesis of several inflammatory diseases, including inflammatory bowel disease, diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, and celiac disease, but little is known about the molecular mechanisms underlying lectin-induced inflammation.” [1]

“Despite the almost universal clinical observation that inflammation of the gut is frequently associated with inflammation of the joints and vice versa, the nature of this relationship remains elusive. In the present review, we provide evidence for how the interaction of dietary lectins with enterocytes and lymphocytes may facilitate the translocation of both dietary and gut-derived pathogenic antigens to peripheral tissues, which in turn causes persistent peripheral antigenic stimulation. In genetically susceptible individuals, this antigenic stimulation may ultimately result in the expression of overt rheumatoid arthritis (RA) via molecular mimicry, a process whereby foreign peptides, similar in structure to endogenous peptides, may cause antibodies or T-lymphocytes to cross-react with both foreign and endogenous peptides and thereby break immunological tolerance. By eliminating dietary elements, particularly lectins, which adversely influence both enterocyte and lymphocyte structure and function, it is proposed that the peripheral antigenic stimulus (both pathogenic and dietary) will be reduced and thereby result in a diminution of disease symptoms in certain patients with RA.” [2]

Does carnivore help arthritis? As you can see there is a strong correlation with lectins, leaky gut, and rheumatoid arthritis. The good news is that if you’re suffering with rheumatoid there may finally a way to reduce and/or eliminate your symptoms through a rheumatoid arthritis diet and lifestyle. For decades we’ve been limited to pain management and/or biologic medicines. Knowing that you have more control than you once thought is very empowering?

Do You Have To Go Carnivore?

From all of the online groups, books I’ve read, and people I’ve spoken with each of us is an individual and should be treated like such. There may or may not be a magic bullet that works for everyone. The carnivore diet is relatively new to the modern world. However, for modern-day hunter-gatherers, and in the paleolithic era, a meat-based diet isn’t that unusual. What about you? Some people feel better with paleo, others require autoimmune paleo, some get by on keto and others do their best on carnivore.

Would I ever tell someone to jump straight into carnivore from eating a traditional American diet? No. You’d essentially be giving your body different fuel sources and you’re looking at a pretty significant carb flu. Even people who switch from conventional eating to paleo have a carb flu. Why make yourself more miserable than you need to? It takes about 3 weeks to become fat adapted (where your body remembers how to store body fat for fuel) which is what you’d need for a carnivore diet. If you’re taking any medications you’re going to want to work closely with a doctor that supports your decisions, especially if you’re taking medications affected by blood sugar.

I began paleo in 2014, autoimmune paleo in 2015, and since then I’ve gradually lowered my carbs because I genuinely feel better eating low carb. For that reason my transition to carnivore experiments was pretty simple. Today I’d say that I’m about 90% carnivore. I have days where I only eat animal products (meat & eggs). Other days I’ll have salads, root vegetables, occasional fruit, and other things that don’t seem to affect me. Honestly, the more meat I eat the better I feel. When I ask the question does carnivore help arthritis? That has certainly been true for me.

It takes time to figure out your food sensitivities but it is possible. Figuring out your food triggers can gives you an ability to take control of your symptoms which is very empowering.

If you need help on this journey I offer DIY courses, courses with 1 on 1 coaching, and personal coaching.

[1] Gong T¹, Wang X¹, Yang Y¹, Yan Y¹, Yu C², Zhou R^1,3,4,5, Jiang W^6,4., Plant Lectins Activate the NLRP3 Inflammasome To Promote Inflammatory Disorders. J Immunol. 2017 Mar 1;198(5):2082-2092. doi: 10.4049/jimmunol.1600145. Epub 2017 Jan 13. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28087670

[2]  Cordain L¹, Toohey L, Smith MJ, Hickey MS., Modulation of immune function by dietary lectins in rheumatoid arthritis. Br J Nutr. 2000 Mar;83(3):207-17. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10884708

Originally posted on July 10, 2019 @ 10:21

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