Vegetarian Diet
My Rheumatologist put me on a vegetarian diet. She said new research showed it significantly reduced pain. I have been on it for about a month. I want to know if anyone else experienced significant reduction in pain. Some recipes from a very good vegan cookbook I ordered have so many steps that it takes me two hours to make them. By the time it is ready to eat I am in so much pain I don't want to eat. I use a bar stool to chop and stir fry but I still have to lean forward which wrecks my back. I found a plant base magazine with simpler recipes to make. Yeah I am also diabetic so all the pasta, beans and starch squash I have to eat in small portions. I find that the recipes are just variations of the same ingredients. As well as containing ingredient I can even find at Sprouts or whole foods. I am not a supervisor cook and this is a challenge for me.
Hi
,
How are you finding things with the vegetarian diet, has there been any improvements despite all of the challenges?
I have always been vegetarian since before my diagnosis, but I did notice some massive improvements to my pain and inflammation levels when I went vegan. I wrote an article about it for our sister site and here is a link to it just in case it is of any help to you!
https://ankylosingspondylitis.net/living/diet-changes-help
Where abouts are you based? Because over here in the UK there are actually a number of companies that you can order healthy vegetarian ready meals or all of the food prep for with simple instructions that might make things a little easier for you. If you are from here too I could recommend a couple or see if there are any similar organisations where you are!
Wishing you well,
James (Community Member)
there’s a lot of research around Eating anti inflammatory and plant based for sure for arthritis. I find that eating clean, making sure to limit grains and cheese and stuff, really helps. Intermittent fasting has been really helpful for me. 
This is so interesting! I had no idea about this. I was vegetarian before being diagnosed but really struggled to cope so I started eating meat again shortly after. Thinking back now, it is around that time that my disease began progressing faster. I'd never considered this and think it might have played a bigger role than I realized. Although, I can't say for certain.
I use Daily Harvest. It is a vegan meal delivery service that is healthy organic anti inflammatory and frozen to supplement my meals. It’s very helpful when not feeling up to cooking. Also like that it’s pre-portioned and eliminates a lot of food waste.
