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Arthritis

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8 Tips for Arthritis

An Arthritis Drug Warning

Arthritis and Strong Bones

Arthritis And The Effects Of Resentment / Anger

Arthritis creams merely mask symptoms and offer no long-term relief, study shows

Arthritis... There is a Way to Stop It!

How to Beat Arthritis Without Resorting to Drugs or Surgery

Mono Diets and Arthritis

Relief For Arthritis Sufferers

8 Tips for Arthritis

Tip 1: Make Sure You Really Have Osteoarthritis

While to some of you, today's tip might be very basic. It is absolutely essential that you make sure your diagnosis is correct before you begin wasting money on treatments that are not designed to help your specific situation.

Tip 2: Searching For Just Arthritis Pain Relief? You Shouldn't!

Doctors are very quick to address your joint pain with what has become a "standard" response. Normally, they tell you to take NSAIDS like Aspirin, Advil, Motrin, Ibuprofen, and Acetaminophen, or prescribe COX-2 inhibitors such as Vioxx and Celebrex.

Tip 3: Keeping Your Weight in Balance is Key To Taking Control of Your Osteoarthritis!

If your osteoarthritis is affecting your load-bearing joints, keeping your weight within normal ranges is important. Load-bearing joints of course refers to any portion of your body that would be affected by excessive weight. Hips, knees, feet and spine are all load-bearing joints.

Tip 4: The Arthritis Fighting Diet

The most common foods to avoid are:

sugar
caffeine
citrus
salt
red meat
dairy products
additives
soft drinks
corn
flour

Tip 5: Fighting Arthritis Through Proper Exercise!

As best you can, try to keep painful joint areas in motion, even in a limited manner. Exercise is good for joints affected by osteoarthritis. Even if you don't think you can exercise, you can. Even the lightest exercise can go along way to maintaining joint mobility and health. A good exercise routine is key to beating arthritis.

Tip 6: The Treatments: NSAIDs, Cox-II Inhibitors, Surgery, & Glucosamine

The latest arthritis research has shown that there are some very effective alternatives that have no side effects, are completely safe, ease the pain and tend to the disease. This supplement is Glucosamine.

Recently, Glucosamine has been making a lot of headlines. Glucosamine is an over-the-counter dietary supplement that has been shown to be effective in the treatment of osteoarthritis and joint pain. Glucosamine stimulates the production of glycosaminoglycans (GAG's), the important proteins found in cartilage plus proteoglycans, the water holding molecules that make up the cartilage.

Tip 7: How to Evaluate a Glucosamine Product

Glucosamine compounds have opened up an entirely new avenue for all of you who suffer from osteoarthritis. There is nothing new about the use of Glucosamine as a way of easing an arthritic condition. For many years it has been used in Asia and Europe before the English speaking medical community caught on. However, you have to be very, very careful when selecting Glucosamine products.

Your selection should be based on four factors.

You must consider the quality of Glucosamine, method of delivery to body, additional ingredients in the product, and of course, price.

Simply put, the higher quality of Glucosamine you use, the greater your relief will be. Many companies use medium grade Glucosamine so you must be careful to look for the highest quality. You need to look for pharmaceutical quality Glucosamine if you want the fastest and fullest relief and healing.

Secondly, the method of delivery can make the difference between no pain relief and your personally desired pain relief. Most products produced after the breakthrough news of the 1999 Lancet medical journal Glucosamine study, were rushed to the market. In this haste, these companies did not take any time to do tests on their product. They simply assumed pill form would be the most effective. The latest research however, has shown that Glucosamine in liquid form is much more effective. In selecting a Glucosamine product, you should look for one that is liquid form.

Also, crucial to the effectiveness of the product, is the other ingredients that are included in the product. Glucosamine alone is not a cure all. There simply is no cure for arthritis. To receive true help in an arthritic state, you need to look for products that combine a number of arthritis fighting ingredients. You should look for a product that besides Glucosamine Sulfate and Glucosamine HCL, it also contains arthritis-fighting ingredients such as chondroitin, boswellin, bromelain, omega 3 & 6, yucca, manganese ascorbate, and vitamins A, C, and E.

When considering price, you must take care to determine exactly how much supply you are purchasing. Many companies engage in what can only be called a "deceptive" practice. They often will include 60 pills, or 32 oz. of the product, but they don't make it clear that you have to take 6 pills or 4 oz. a day. You think you have purchased a month supply when often you will run out in less than 2 weeks. A good price for a quality liquid Glucosamine product with many of the above ingredients synergistically combined is around $30.

Tip 8:. 12 Ingredients that Will Ease Your Arthritis Pain

In alleviating arthritis pain, there are twelve key compounds that you should be taking for maximum relief. These are Glucosamine, chondroitin, boswellin, bromelain, omega 3 & 6, yucca, manganese ascorbate, and vitamins A, C, and E.

An Arthritis Drug Warning

Margie Garrison

Before I overcame my arthritis naturally, without drugs, I spent 43 years dreading every day. Taking untold amounts of drugs and then fearing the dangerous side effects they would cause.

Please do your due diligence and research each and every drug you are taking or about to take.

The following is an ad, which I read in a health magazine for HUMIRA and I want to share it with you.

*************

Shows a beautiful young woman, smiling…

"You're doing all you can about your rheumatoid arthritis"

BUT IS YOUR TREATMENT?

Important safety information about HUMRA. It is approved for reducing the signs and symptoms, slowing the progression of joint damage, and improving physical function in adult patients with moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis who have not responded well to other RA medicines.

Called DMARDs (disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs) such as methotrexate, Humra can be used alone or with methotrexate or other DMARDs.

Do not start taking Humira if you have any type of infection.

An infection can be in one part of your body, such as an open sore, or it can be an illness such as the flu.

Tell your doctor if you've had any infection in the past that keeps coming back, or have any problems that increase the risk of infections. BEFORE YOU TAKE HUMIRA, your doctor should test you for tuberculosis (TB)

Tell your doctor if you've ever had TB or been near someone that TB. If signs of TB (a dry cough that does not go away, weight loss, fever, night sweats, or any other infections appear after taking Humira. Tell your doctor immediately.

Tell your doctor if you feel any numbness or tingling or if you have ever had a disease that affects your nervous system such as multiple sclerosis.

Also tell your doctor if you have been treated for heart failure. Once you start taking Humira, tell your doctor right away or seek emergency care immediately if you have an allergic reaction (a bad rash, swollen face or trouble breathing).

Also tell your doctor right away if you have signs of a serious blood disorder (persistent fever, bruising, bleeding or paleness)

There have also been rare cases of serious and sometimes fatal infections. Lymphoma, rare cases of nervous system disorders and serious blood disorders have occurred in patients taking the TNF blockers, including HUMIRA.

There have also been rare cases of serious and sometimes fatal injections, Lymphoma, rare cases of nervous system disorders and serious blood disorders have occurred in patients taking TNF blockers, including HUMIRA.

Tell your doctor about all the medicines you are taking or considering.

The combination of HUMIRA and Kineret (anakinra) is not recommended.

Check with your doctor before you receive any vaccines. Tell your doctor if you are pregnant, or plan to be pregnant.

The most common side effects of HUMIRA are injection site reactions, upper respiratory and sinus infections, headaches, rash and injection site pain.

*************

ALL of the above warnings were in tiny letters on a purple background which was very difficult to read.

This is what they had at the top of the ad in black letters on white background.

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"Many treatments may help stop the pain of RA, but not slow the progressive joint damage it causes. That's why more and more hematologists are prescribing HUMIRA It's strong enough to slow the progression of moderate to sever RA and can be injected at home, usually every other week.

See if your treatment is doing enough. Request your free Personal RA Profile

Your profile will show you the severity of your condition, and its impact on your life, compared to other RA patients. You will also receive information on current treatment options and tips on talking with your doctor.

Call 1-800-351-8709 or go to www.HUMIRA.com

*************

My Personal comment:

Do you seriously think you should ever try a drug like this?

Please do your due diligence and research each and every drug you are taking or about to take.

Ask yourself… Is this for me? Would I be better off to make my immune system stronger or should I take all the chances spelled out above.

It is your body and you are the one who will benefit or pay the price of having other health issues when using drugs.

Doctors tell us to keep doing your exercises, continue dieting to keep our weight down and take our medications.

What else is a doctor going to say? The pressure to use more and more drugs is overwhelming. It is not their fault! It is ours!!

We go to them for a magic bullet and expect them to heal us... Is this fair to the doctors? Of course not!

There are alternative methods to treat arthritis without the use of drugs and the dangerous side effects.

Arthritis and Strong Bones

By Margie Garrison

Do your have arthritis? Or think you might?

Over 90 MILLION people in the United States have arthritis. That is one person in 3 people are suffering every day, 24 hours a day. As I was for 43 years. It has now been 27 years of being without arthritis.

The reason for this is that your cells are crying for vitamins and minerals.

As Linus Pauling, 2 time winner of the Nobel Peace Prize said... "Every ailment, every systems and every disease can be traced to vitamin and mineral deficiency."

Practically everyone knows how important calcium is to bone health, but there's another mineral that is equally critical, albeit in lesser amounts -- potassium. In fact, I've heard about a number of research studies recently focused on the connection between potassium and bone health, so word is getting out. The most recent study, from the University of Basel, Switzerland, showed that a group of postmenopausal women with low bone density had, on average, a 1% increase in density after a year of taking a particular potassium supplement.

BALANCING THE EQUATION

Susan E. Brown, PhD, director of the Osteoporosis Education Project in Syracuse, New York said that "without question potassium is one of the most important bone nutrients." Exactly how potassium relates to bone health turned out to be fairly complicated.

You must also have the proper calcium at the same time in order for them to work in your body.

Potassium is important in helping the body achieve a proper pH balance. In fact, when out of balance, you can die -- really fast -- so our bodies make this process a high priority. How does it work? As part of its normal metabolic processing, the body creates acids, which exit our systems via the lungs and kidneys.

To buffer the harshness of these acids and protect delicate kidney tissue, the body neutralizes them with diet-derived alkali (base) compounds derived from fruits and vegetables. These are stored in our blood, other fluids, in muscle tissue and above all in bones. Our skeleton, in fact, is our largest storehouse of alkali mineral reserves. Just in case we run short, we keep extra alkali stores in our bones.

The severe lack of fruits and vegetables in the modern American diet creates an acidic environment in many. To neutralize excess acid, we need alkali compounds, which the body obtains first from easily available blood reserves, then from muscles, leading to muscle loss, and then by reaching into the bones. When and if that happens, we're left with bone breakdown and mineral loss -- in other words, weakened bones.

NATURAL POTASSIUM CITRATE SOURCES

Now, back to potassium. The particular form of potassium that serves to buffer the acids is potassium citrate, generally found in fruits, vegetables and legumes. People who regularly consume enough potassium citrate through a diet rich in those foods assure their body sufficient alkaline compounds to avoid any need to call on emergency supplies for homeostasis.

As Dr. Brown notes, "If you eat enough potassium-containing foods, which should not be a problem, you have the proper pH balance." However, people today load their diet with meat, poultry, dairy and grains, which are metabolized as acids, creating a greater need for offsetting alkalids. If the body can't find these in foods, it turns to body tissue, including bones.

Though the US "Adequate Intake" (AI) potassium recommendation for adults is 4,700 mg per day, average consumption by adults in this country is around 2,200 mg for women and 3,200 mg for men.

Our lack of dietary potassium consumption looks to be a health crisis in the making, putting our bodies at risk for "consuming themselves," says Dr. Brown. In addition, potassium serves many other essential functions in the body. It contributes to nerve impulse transmission, muscle contraction and heart function, and also helps protect against stroke, kidney stones and high blood pressure.

GETTING IT RIGHT

Getting the right amount is trickier, however, than just swallowing a potassium citrate supplement each day.

Though we know too little potassium is a problem, too much can also be an issue. For example, a heart problem can arise if the kidney is weak and the potassium load is too great for the weakened kidneys to eliminate excesses. In fact, by law potassium supplements do not exceed 99 mg units to discourage people from taking too much. Because excess potassium can accumulate in the blood in the face of kidney weakness, potassium supplements should only be taken with care under proper supervision.

That is why you want your supplements to have the proper balance of potassium and calcium in liquid form.

The 1% increase in bone density achieved by the women in the Swiss study is considered significant, especially because it affected the hips and spine -- two areas especially vulnerable to fracture. Though the study used potassium citrate supplements, it is possible, as Dr. Brown points out, to get what you need from dietary sources.

You can achieve the AI of 4,700 mg per day by including 13 one-half cup servings of fruits, vegetables and legumes in your daily food intake.

Admittedly, 13 sounds like a lot, but a large salad, for example, is four to six servings, a large apple is two. Those, plus a banana (440 mg, about one-and-a-half fruit servings) for an afternoon snack, and a baked potato at dinner along with a green vegetable and other vegetables, bring you easily to the goal of 4,700 mg.

Once again, I want to emphasize that if you decide to take potassium citrate supplements anyway, it is important to do so under the direction of a health-care professional who is well-versed in potassium needs and balance, such as a naturopathic physician or nutritionist. Potassium levels can be monitored by a simple blood test to be sure that you are getting neither too little, nor too much.

Arthritis And The Effects Of Resentment / Anger

Resentments and anger can be one cause of arthritis. Combine resentments and anger with the accumulation of inorganic calcium deposits in the cartilage of the joints, and you hurt.

As the afflicted cartilage has a magnetic attraction for inorganic calcium atoms, the blood deposits them there instead of in some other part of the anatomy, such as in this case of hemorrhoids.

In arthritis they solidity the cartilage and ligaments, while in hemorrhoids they form a coagulated blood fibrin. In either case, the eating of foods containing these inorganic calcium atoms does not create even the slightest suspicion of what eventually may take place.

Once an arthritic deposit has taken root, however, it becomes progressively menacing until actual bone distortion may take place. The enlargement of the joints is usually the first sign after the occasional short of sharp pain at shorter or longer intervals make themselves felt. Once this process starts it becomes a matter of routine and this deposit becomes cumulative.

On of the most effective elements with which to help dissolve this inorganic, incrustated calcium has been found in grapefruit, in its organic salicylic acid content. One or more pints of fresh grapefruit juice daily helps to dissolve this accumulation of foreign matter. Canned juice is useless for this purpose.

Dissolving the inorganic calcium however, is only the first step in the course of this regeneration. It is so hard to acknowledge RESENTMENTS and anger then to banish them but, this is the first step necessary to help you get over arthritis.

The calcium must be removed from the body, so you add celery juice which helps keep the calcium from forming. You must also nourish the nerves and muscles of the large and small intestines.

This process can be painful at times, sometimes more than others, but I have seen sufferers go through it and become more active than ever before. It requires will power and the cooperation of everyone interested in the victim's welfare, but the results have proved to be worth it.

Vaccines, drugs, heat, electricity, and a variety of orthodox nostrums have proved valueless as remedies. The elimination of pain does not cure the cause. It masks it and then later you pay the consequences of the drugs.

If the human body is suffering as a result of the transgression of the fundamental laws governing its nutrition, then cleansing the debris and waste from the system and nourishing it with the vital organic atoms of fresh raw vegetables and fruits, cannot help but restore the ebbing energy and vitality...

When such nourishment has been taken in the form of fresh raw juices properly extracted, the results have been speedier and more pronounced, once RESENTMENTS and anger are removed from the consciousness.

Do this, print on a 3 x 5 card and memorize it and say it over and over until it becomes second nature to you…

"I am not responsible for what others do or day. I am only responsible for how I react to what others do or say."

Since learning these words in 1974 I have not lost my temper once. I have been angry at times, but controlled anger, which is quickly gone. I have been upset but that is quickly gone.

It takes practice. I just wish I had known this phrase while raising 4 children. It would have made their lives happier and mine more peaceful.

Best of Health,

Margie Garrison

I Cured My Arthritis You Can Too

Arthritis creams merely mask symptoms and offer no long-term relief, study shows

by Mike Adams

New research published in the British Medical Journal is showing that arthritis creams used topically offer only temporary relief that fades within 2 weeks. This is the conclusion from a trial involving nearly 2000 patients, and it indicates that arthritis creams are basically useless. All they do is mask symptoms.

This finding shouldn't be surprising. Much of what goes on in modern medicine involves the masking of symptoms. Even when it comes to statin drugs and lowering cholesterol, the drugs are merely masking the symptom of a measurable high-cholesterol number without actually enhancing the core cardiovascular health and level of fitness of the patient.

It turns out these arthritis creams operate in much the same way. They simply make a patient's pain go away for one to two weeks, and then the effect wears off and the patient is right back where they started. This is also similar to the way over-the-counter painkillers operate. These are painkillers such as Tylenol or ibuprofen, and other NSAIDs.

In my opinion, any time patients are encouraged to consume painkillers or apply topical creams that mask symptoms of pain, they are doing themselves more harm than good. They're merely masking an important signal that is broadcasting an important message. Arthritis is yet another disease that is simply caused by lifestyle choices. Arthritis can be almost completely prevented, and even reversed, by altering dietary practices, engaging in regular physical exercise, and pursuing a regimen of nutritional supplementation that includes superfoods like chlorella, spirulina, broccoli sprouts, and healthy oils. But when pain symptoms are masked by creams, patients have little incentive to correct the core, underlying lifestyle choices that caused the arthritis in the first place.

The problem here is that when arthritis patients visit their doctors and describe their pain, many doctors simply prescribe these topical arthritis creams that do nothing other than mask the symptoms. And as a result, these patients feel as if they need to make no lifestyle changes whatsoever. So they use these topical creams as a crutch to help them get by from one day to the next. This is a downward spiral of health, and in the end, the patient will be far worse off than if they had listened to their pain and made the necessary lifestyle changes in the first place.

If your body hurts, your body is talking to you. It's an important message. Pain should be a motivator to make changes in your life, not a motivator to run out and buy the latest topical cream or prescription drug in order to mask the pain. Yet that's where so many consumers are, and they're actually encouraged to do this by far too many physicians and practitioners of western medicine.

Much of western medicine is really nothing more than symptom management. In fact, there is not a single prescription drug today that actually addresses the root cause of chronic disease. Every single disease drug out there works by attempting to mask symptoms or override the natural chemistry of the human body in order to achieve a measurable result.

All of this doesn't mean that painkillers don't have their proper place. If a person is suffering from an acute injury, such as a work accident, and automobile accident, or some other trauma, then obviously painkillers have their proper place. But once that person has healed, painkillers should not continue to be used. Certainly, painkillers should not be something that people come to depend on for day-to-day living. Doing so creates an unhealthy relationship between the pharmaceuticals and the patient that ends up only harming the patient's health in the long run.

So, what should you do about this if you have arthritis? Stop depending on topical painkillers to ease your arthritis pain, and instead, look to where you can enhance your lifestyle in order to alleviate arthritis for the long term. To do so, you must engage in regular physical exercise that moves your body's joints. Tai Chi is probably one of the best forms of exercise for this, and yoga and pilates are also outstanding. It's important to move the joints where you actually have arthritis. But simply moving those joints isn't enough -- you also need to avoid the foods that promote arthritis while supplementing your diet with nutritional supplements that can help your body alleviate arthritis.

And don't believe the medical myth that your joints and cartilage just "wear out" like the parts of an automobile. This is a widespread myth that simply has no basis in scientific fact. The human body has the ability to maintain, repair and even rebuild most of its tissues if given the proper nutrition and environment. In fact, the human body gets healthier with use, whereas an automobile begins to degrade the more you use it. Sitting on your couch and doing nothing is probably the worst thing you can do for arthritis.

Arthritis... There is a Way to Stop It!

"Instead of eating as much as possible, eat as little as possible." 18th Century - Lueges Carviri

Your desire to stay well must be continuous. You need to remind yourself, every time you plan to eat or do grocery shopping, about the reason why certain foods are not good for you.

Foods labeled "enriched" means they are first denatured, then partially restored. That attractive color in food is to make us eat it, but it and words like "quick and easy," "smooth," are really warnings to us that we should not eat it. I believe that people are changing and going back to basic foods. Natural foods are making sense to those who study and learn.

Read labels: If they have chemicals added, do not buy them.

Watch out for fatigue.

It is always present when we have arthritis. It is one of the earliest symptoms. There are two other signs that are fairly constant. A check should be made to see if you are in this condition. If so...why? Contact the best doctor for arthritis in your area and be sure and inform him that you have become knowledgeable in this field and that you will take an active part in your treatment. It is not fair to expect a doctor to heal you. He can guide you, but the journey is taken by you... not him.

One sign mentioned above is the lowering of the amount of hemoglobin or oxygen- carrying power of the blood... usually to around 70% when 100% is normal. The other sign is high blood sedimentation rate. These are signs only a doctor can check.

What is Arthritis?

The word arthritis comes from the Greek words "Arthron" and "It is," which literally means joint inflammatory disease. However, it is not only joints but connective tissue throughout the body. Also, muscles and soft tissue of several organs can be involved in the inflammatory process. Close to one hundred different conditions are classified under arthritis. All have common symptoms of aches and pains in the joints and connective tissue throughout the body.

Rheumatism is a word that is interchangeable with the word arthritis and is mostly used in European countries and by old school doctors. How arthritis inflammation starts is not well understood. Several causes have been ascribed, such as injury, infection, auto-immune diseases (body producing antibodies against itself), calcium and vitamin D deficiency.

Inflammation itself causes further damage in the joints and tissues, making them stiff and making normal movement difficult. The symptoms and some of the signs of arthritis can be classified under one of the five most common kinds. The most common form is called degenerative or Osteo-arthritis. The cause of the disease is associated with malabsorbtion of calcium and vitamin D.

Although it is more common in the elderly, young people are not immune to it and, most recently, statistics indicate that it is showing up even in babies of three and four months old. In its severest form, pain might cause disability, even committing the arthritic to a wheelchair. This form of arthritis, while labeled incurable by the conventional doctors, in reality, responds excellently to nutrition therapy. The erosion of the joint bones can be stopped or retarded by correcting calcium, manganese, vitamin D, metabolism of the body.

The most serious forms of arthritis are Rheumatoid arthritis and a disease closely related to Rheumatoid arthritis, but affecting the organs, is Systemic Lupus Erythe-matosus.

Gout, which is referred to in literature and books written hundreds of years ago as "The King's Disease" is purely a nutritional disease. Genetically predisposed individuals produce too much uric acid. Crystals of the sodium salt of this uric acid deposit themselves in the joints and the kidney tissue.

The inflammatory process can cause permanent damage. The simplest way to prevent gouty attacks is to limit eating food that contains purine, such as sardines, bouillon, meat extracts, organ meats, anchovies, mushrooms, asparagus, spinach, artichokes, peas and beans.

The Merck Manual says drugs are so effective in lowering the serum rate content rate that restriction of the purine content of the diet is unnecessary. Really!!! Do we want to continue eating bad foods and then take drugs and pay the price in money and misery or do we want to eat the right foods and not take drugs? Doctors lean towards drugs. I believe in proper foods and no drugs. What do you believe?

Mark Bricklin tells about using cherries to do the trick. Ludwig W. BIau, Ph.D., says he had so much torment in his big toe he was confined to a wheelchair. One day, by accident, he ate a whole bowl of cherries and the next morning the pain in his foot was almost gone. He continued to eat six cherries every day and was soon out of the wheelchair.

If he forgot to take the cherries, it only took a few days for the stabbing pain to return. After writing this up in the medical journal, he revealed that at least twelve others had had the same results. Twenty years later, he continues to eat his cherries or drink cherry juice and he remains in good health.

Ankylosing spondylitis. A rarer kind of arthritis, Ankylosing spondylitis affects men more than women. Muscle stiffness can occur, but when all the joints of the spine are involved, a humpback might result. Conventional treatment is only symptomatic, which means aspirin or cortisone is given to the patient to relieve pain.

At the University of California at Berkeley, Dr. Francis Pottinger fed one group of cats cooked meat and cooked milk. The cats developed arthritis on this diet and died of it. The more the meat and the milk was cooked, the quicker they developed arthritis. Another controlled group of cats was fed raw food and never developed arthritis. Then, when this controlled group was eventually fed the cooked meat and cooked milk, they, too, developed arthritis. When the heat, pain and swelling disappears within a few days after eating uncooked and unprocessed foods, you will not care why it happened; you will just be thankful that they disappeared.

There is no longer any excuse for this painful arthritis condition to exist. It can only be done by you and you alone. But you will have to study and learn. Your public library is filled with good books on the subject of nutrition therapy and arthritis.

I decided I would be devoted to the study and cure of my arthritis . I was completely exhausted from the pain and from the mental anguish that it caused. I felt there must be a way to stop it... There is... "I Cured My Arthritis You Can Too".

Right now, visualize yourself within two weeks bending, and stretching, and not hurting, and throwing away all those drugs. In some cases, it will take longer, but every day there will be improvement, and you will never be as bad off as when you started, unless you back slide. You will be able to take a trip on just the money you save from drugs alone. Isn't that a great picture?

Take Mrs. A. C., who, at 51, had severe arthritis in the left hip. She needed crutches to walk, but liked her sweets and coffee breaks. She hated salads, never ate raw fruit, just sweets. Her diet was cooked foods and canned fruits and plenty of donuts, coffee and sweets. She felt she could not break the habit, but the pain finally got too bad. After a few days trying the more healthy way of eating she began to feel much better. She is now healthy and pain-free.

Why Wasn't Diet Pushed Before? Where Was The Publicity?

It was published, but it did not get the publicity it should have gotten. I am dedicated to seeing this changed.

Dr. DeForest Jarvis pointed his finger at wheat foods, white flour, white sugar, pasteurized milk, muscle meats and citrus fruits as being the factors for some people in causing body deterioration.

How to Beat Arthritis Without Resorting to Drugs or Surgery

Margie Garrison

If you suffer from arthritis, you undoubtedly have been to a doctor who has prescribed any number of medications, and/or have taken over-the-counter anti-inflammatories (like Aleve) to get rid of your pain.

You also most likely have experienced limited relief as a result of these medications.

You're also probably concerned about the possible side effects of arthritis drugs, both prescription and over-the-counter (such side effects include cardiovascular problems, gastrointestinal distress and ulcers).

But that's the least of your problems if your arthritis is severe. In this case, your doctor may have suggested surgery. Perhaps a joint replacement, hip replacement, or knee surgery.

Ouch!

Obviously, you would prefer to avoid such drastic measures - otherwise you wouldn't be searching for alternatives to surgery and drugs you are taking to alleviate the misery of arthritis pain.

The Symptoms of Arthritis

Besides the obvious warning signs of arthritis - including stiff, hard-to-move joints - there are several others you must know about.

They include:

Chronic Fatigue - you always feel tired regardless of how much sleep you get
Your hands and feet are always cold due to poor circulation
You have Low levels of hemoglobin (the oxygen-carrying power of the blood)
You have high blood sedimentation rate (sedimentation rate is a common blood test that is used to detect and monitor inflammation in the body)

The latter two symptoms can only be verified by your doctor, so if your achy joints are accompanied by chronic fatigue, that's a warning signal for you to get an official diagnosis (if you haven't already done so).

When you see your doctor, make sure you tell him or her that you're knowledgeable about arthritis and you're willing to take an active roll in your treatment. This is because you want your doctor to know, you know that just taking drugs isn't going to get to the root of your arthritis.

Actually, there is no one thing you can do to get rid of arthritis. But there are several holistic strategies, when applied synergistically that do wonders for eliminating arthritis from your life.

Essentially, there are five things you need to address in order to get permanent relief from arthritis.

They are:

Detoxification
A Proper Diet
Exercise
Relaxation
Vitamin/ Mineral Supplementation

What is Arthritis?

The word arthritis comes from the Greek word "arthron," which means joint inflammatory disease. However, it is not only joints that are affected, but connective tissue throughout your body.

In some cases, muscles and the soft tissues of certain organs can also be stricken.

Like many diseases, arthritis is a catchall name that is given to a host of other ailments. All have common symptoms of aches and pains in the joints and connective tissue throughout the body.

While how arthritis inflammation starts is poorly understood, there are several causes that are generally accepted.

They include:

Injury
Infection
Autoimmune diseases (the body produces antibodies against itself)
Calcium deficiency
Vitamin D deficiency

Inflammation itself causes further joint and tissue damage, making normal movement difficult. The symptoms and some of the signs of arthritis can be classified under one of the most five common kinds.

The most common form is called degenerative, or osteoarthritis. The cause of the disease is associated with malabsorbtion of calcium and vitamin D.

Although it is more common in older people, young people - even children -are not immune to it.

The most serious forms of arthritis are rheumatoid arthritis and a disease closely related to rheumatoid arthritis, but affecting the organs, systemic lupus erythematosus.

These two forms of arthritis can be debilitating. Conventional treatments consist of damaging drugs like cortisone and others that put you in risk of serious side effect.

Another form of arthritis is gout, which is a purely nutritional disease. It affects genetically predisposed individuals who produce excessive amounts of uric acid. Crystals of the sodium salt of this uric acid deposit themselves in the joints and tissue in the kidneys.

The simplest way to prevent gout attacks is to limit foods that contain purine, such as:

Sardines
Bouillon
Meat extracts
Organ meats
Anchovies
Asparagus
Spinach
Artichokes
Peas
Beans
Alcohol

Another type of arthritis is ankylosing spondylitis. While rare, it affects men more than women. Symptoms not only include muscle stiffness, but joints of the spine.

When all of the joints of the spine are affected, a humpback might result. Typical treatments include aspirin and cortisone.

According to John R.J. Sorneson, in "The Journal of International Academy of Metabology, Volume 1, No. 2, page 7, (published in 1978), ankylosing spondylitis and other arthritis diseases have been cured by a special chelate copper preparation.

This and other forms of arthritis also respond quite well to nutritional therapy. But before you change your diet, you should clean out your system.

To Beat Arthritis, Start by Detoxifying Your Body

There are a few simple lifestyle changes you can make that will help you get over arthritis without resorting to drugs or surgery.

Perhaps the most important is diet.

But before you change your diet, you should rid your body of accumulated toxins. The best way to do this is a complete fast under medical supervision. This fast can last up to 10 days.

If you're unable to undertake a complete fast, you don't have the time or money to do so under medical supervision, you can do a modified version of a fast for 5 to 10 days. Do NOT ATTEMPT A COMPLETE FAST ON YOU OWN!

There are many versions of this detoxification strategy. Basically, they involve taking a mixture of pure spring water, lemon juice and honey or maple syrup.

To learn more, do a search on "honey lemon water detoxification," or (much better) get Margie Garrison's groundbreaking book on getting rid of arthritis naturally, entitled "I Cured My Arthritis You Can Too."

It's important to note that you'll most likely have intermittent periods of feeling great that are followed by intermittent periods of feeling lousy when you go through a detoxification program.

Keep in mind that this is part of the detoxification process and is quite normal.

The Following Week After the Fast, or Juice Fast

The week following the fast or juice fast, eat only fresh fruits and vegetables. Most of this should be raw, but lightly steamed vegetables are okay (try to eat 3/4 of your fruits and vegetables raw). You should also add some vitamins (more on that shortly).

The following week, add small amounts of lean protein, like fish, poultry, eggs, and nuts.

Stay away from beef until you have a chance to see whether beef brings back an onset of your arthritis. For many people, beef causes arthritis.

Other proteins can also cause arthritis. For example, pasteurized dairy products are often responsible.

What you have to do is test different proteins to see. Keep a food diary and record how you feel after a meal. Pay close attention and notice any adverse symptoms.

Another common food to beware of is flour. This means many types of bread will be off limits. Again, you'll have to play detective to find out.

In short, you want to subsist on a diet of fresh fruits and vegetables and eat these raw or steamed (raw is best). You'll also want complement this diet with clean protein sources that won't cause your arthritis to flare up.

For more information about diet, refer to the book, I Cured My Arthritis You Can Too.

To illustrate the power a proper diet plays in getting rid of arthritis, consider this experiment done at the University of California at Berkeley, conducted by Dr. Francis Pottinger.

Dr. Pottinger fed one group of cats cooked meat and cooked milk. The result? The cats developed arthritis and died. The more the meat and milk were cooked, the quicker they developed arthritis.

Another control group of cats was fed raw food only. The result? None of them developed arthritis.

Then this group was fed cooked meat and milk. The result - they developed arthritis.

What to Do if You Cheat on Your Diet and Cause a Flare-up of Arthritis

If you're like most people, you'll catch yourself cheating from time to time and suffer for it. Or, you may suffer some aches and pains even though you follow your diet and take your supplements.

If this happens, don't despair. In the latter case, most likely you're still detoxifying and the pains you feel are part of the cleansing process.

In the former case, all you have to do is return to your proper diet and your symptoms will subside relatively quickly.

Also - especially if you're a social person - you will find little support for your diet amongst your friends. You can expect them to chide you and try to convince you to eat something you shouldn't, especially at first. If you give in, you will suffer pain.

Remember, it will be your pain, not theirs. Also be mindful that it's your body, not theirs. You're responsible for your health and the way you feel, not them.

Besides, if they're true friends, they'll stay true friends regardless of what you eat.

The Kinds of Foods to Avoid

So, just what is it that you shouldn't eat? Essentially, anything that contains sugar, or can easily be converted to sugar, should be avoided. This includes candy, cake, pastries and anything with white flour.

Generally, it will be best to avoid processed food. Make everything from scratch, as you'll get a lot more vitamins and minerals this way.

However, if you do eat processed food, make sure it doesn't contain corn syrup, fructose and other sugars that will sabotage your health - and quite likely cause a flare-up of arthritis symptoms.

For example, have you ever looked at the ingredients of a typical bar of chocolate? Here's a partial list of one brand (which shall remain nameless) that's commonly available at supermarkets:

Chocolate
White Sugar
Corn Syrup
Milk Powder
Condensed Milk
Cream Powder
Invert Sugar
Pectin
Cocoa Butter
Dextrose
Cocoa
Corn Starch
Dried Egg Whites
Salt
Benzoate of Soda
Lecithin
Citric Acid
Sodium Citrate
Invertase
Convetit
Bicarbonate of Soda
Vanilla
Gelatin
Emulsified Hydrogenated Shortening
Frozen Egg Whites
Commercial Imitation Vanilla Extract

This commercial imitation vanilla extract was created out of the following ingredients:

Vanilla Coumarine
Glycerin
White Sugar Alcohol
Water
Carmel to Color

Sounds tasty, huh?

If you start looking at cans of prepared food, you'll discover that the list of ingredients is so long they can barely be listed on the can (that's why the print is so tiny). You'll also notice that the fonts are practically microscopic and often printed in a color that is very hard to read (it's hard to believe that this isn't done on purpose so you don't bother reading through it).

Many of these weird ingredients are designed to increase the shelf life of the product. While they may make the food last longer and cost less than fresh food, these preservatives have an adverse effect on your health that is cumulative.

The bottom line to consider: If the food you buy is perishable (fresh) and has a short shelf life, eating it will help you live longer and be healthier.

If, on the other hand, the food has long shelf life due to additives and preservatives, it will cause you to have a shorter, less healthy - and often disease-ridden - life.

In other words, if it can spoil, eat it. If it can't spoil, don't eat it.

Exercise to Keep Arthritis Away

While diet and vitamin supplementation are important to curing yourself of arthritis, they alone will not do the job. You need to move around on a regular basis.

If you're like most Americans, you probably don't get enough exercise. Chances are you're overweight as well. I guarantee that if you eat a sensible diet and exercise, you'll not only be well on your way to getting your arthritis under control, you'll also lose weight, plus you'll look and feel better.

Exercise works by increasing the amount of oxygen circulating throughout your body. It does this by increasing circulation.

There are lots of ways to get exercise without joining an expensive health club or gym.

You can:

Jog
Jump on a Trampoline
Ride a Bike
Go Hiking
Lift Weights
Swimming
Walking

This is obviously only a partial list. Its potential length is only limited by your imagination.

Bottom line: It is critical that you start a regular exercise program if you're to get permanent relief from arthritis.

And now, another word of warning:

Just as a good diet alone will not get rid of your arthritis, neither will exercise alone. Your diet must be primarily comprised of fresh fruits and vegetables and lean meats.

You must avoid fast and processed foods at all costs. You must also avoid toxic substances.

These include:

Coffee
Tea
Sweets
Soda

To Get Rid of Arthritis, You Must Reprogram Your Inner Self and Learn to Relax

It's important to pay attention how you react to things.

When things go wrong, how do you react? Do you get mad and swear, or seethe under your breath? Or do you roll with the event with a sense of calm?

Whenever you react negatively to an event, you reinforce the idea that things should be different than they actually are. This sets up a pattern of expectancy, which is based on preconceived notions that may not be in line with reality.

Worse, it wears you out physiologically and physiologically. It drains you energy and weakens your immune system. This in turn makes you susceptible to a variety of health problems, including arthritis.

So, if you're honest with yourself and realize you have not been taking events realistically, you'll be aware of the need to do so.

Fortunately, there are some very simple (but not necessarily easy) things you can do to reprogram your inner self.

They include:

Learning how to relax your body
Finding quiet time daily, with no interruptions and do not let stressful thoughts interfere
Taking short vacations, drives in the country, etc.
Talking to people who will listen (to let off steam - this has been shown to reduce health problems and lower blood pressure)
Getting involved in a hobby or sport to release stress
Stretching often
Taking hot baths
Not letting minor irritations bother you

Vitamins

To achieve the most from your daily vitamin supplement, it needs to be a balance of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants.

I prefer a liquid supplement because of the fact that classically designed tablets and pills, are poorly absorbed and poorly used by the body due to their formulation design.

Many of these tablets are not effectively used by the body - containing raw material components that are poor in quality, non-usable fillers, "binders" that inhibit nutrient absorption and the common use of outer waxy coatings that inhibit digestion.

Beware of the liquid supplement also. Most liquid supplements contain artificial ingredients and harsh preservatives that diminish their effectiveness. And, many liquid products are also pasteurized or irradiated to prevent bacterial growth. Those processes actually negatively impact the potency and benefits of the product.

The liquid supplement I use and recommend is delivered to you exactly the way nature intended... fresh with natural ingredients, with no processes that diminish the benefits and potency of nutrients.

Plus:

Pharmaceutical and food grade ingredients
Certified ORAC® rated anti-oxidant capacity
USP purification standards
Natural fruit & vegetable phytonutrients, including EGCG from Green Tea
Trade protected mineral/nutrient ionization & bioactivation
Human Matrix™ nutrient ratios that replicate natural ratios found within the human body
Blending techniques to safeguard molecular structures
Safety & efficacy trials; ongoing Clinical Evaluations
No irradiation, pasteurization, MSG, parabens, or artificial dyes, sweeteners or flavors
Vegetarian friendly

For complete information about this liquid supplement:

In the United States - Click Here

In Puerto Rico, Mexico, Canada and the United Kingdom - Click Here

You may want to consider meeting with and Orthomolecular doctor to help you tailor a vitamin regimen based on your unique physiological needs. You can find one by looking up "Orthomolecular doctors" in the phone book or on the Internet.

Orthomolecular is a term that comes from ortho, which is Greek for "correct" or "right," and "molecule," which is the simplest structure that displays the characteristics of a compound. So it literally means the "right molecule."

Two-time Nobel Prize winner, and molecular biologist, Linus Pauling, Ph.D., coined the term "Orthomolecular" in his 1968 article "Orthomolecular Psychiatry" in the journal "Science."

Orthomolecular medicine describes the practice of preventing and treating disease by providing the body with optimal amounts of substances which are natural to the body.

Mono Diets and Arthritis

By, Margie Garrison

What is a Mono-diet? It is the First-and Most Powerful-Principle of Care.

Periodic Mono-dieting is in my opinion the first step to recapture your health and lesson your pain. It is what started me to get absolute relief after suffering 43 years with arthritis. Use it in the right way and maintain the level of health you desire.

The greatest benefit is it is simple and easy to do. Anyone who desires to make a life style change can use this method. It is key to preventing ill health while nurturing vibrant health.

How do you start? First by understanding that you will not be hungry, you will be satisfied, and it will work if you work it.

There are 3 different ways to do this.

Drinking only fresh fruit and vegetable juice for 1 to 3 days to a week.
Drinking only vegetable juices and fresh fruit juices and eating whole fruits and vegetables for 3 days to a week.
Drinking only fresh fruit and vegetable juices and eating only fresh fruit and vegetables and salads for 1 to 10 days.

Why?

First: This type of eating allows the body to use the least amount of energy in digesting your food. This leaves the rest of the body’s energy to cleansing, detoxifying and rejuvenation of the lymph system.

Second: Because the purpose of this type of eating is to obtain the maximum amount of fuel and nutrients and enzymes from the food you do eat.

Eating raw fruits takes less energy to digest that eating cooked foods. We are the only species that eats cooked foods and we are the species that lead in degenerative diseases. And arthritis is one of the main degenerative diseases. Over 90 Million people in the United States have arthritis.

In 1979 when I went for 43 years of agony to complete relief in less than 3 months 1 in 20 people had arthritis. Now it is one in three and fast becoming 1 in every two people. This can be stopped.

To gain the greatest benefit from Mono-dieting, make it part of your routine. Start with any of the above changes. Make the 3rd one for you to do once in the spring and again in the fall and again in the winter. In between do it one day a week.

This way of cleansing your body gives your immune system a chance to revitalize its activities.

Mark your calendar. Mark it “My special time!" because you are doing this for YOU. If you wake up some day and feel like having just fruit or vegetables raw, then just do it.

You will feel liberated. The other benefits are you will be helping your body to prevent disease and getting this fantastic surge of energy and well-being as a result.

Take charge of your life. Who puts the food and drink into your mouth? It is not some genie or friend or ad. It is YOU!!!

You will now be taking charge of getting rid of your body wastes and toxins. These toxins area saved in your body and clumped together. If you feel these little lumps all over you now know what that is, is JUNK. This junk is ruining your health and keeping you from living to your fullest.

And guess what? You get to control this. IF IT IS TO BE, IT IS UP TO ME.

Go from being a slave to food to being a master of food and you will your body will benefit. You will look younger, feel younger, have more energy and let’s face it. ENERGY is everything.

Digestion uses a great deal of energy. This way your body uses less energy to digest the food you eat and more to rebuild your body.

Proteins and starches are very concentrated foods requiring a huge amount of energy output for digestion. Fruits and vegetables are not concentrated and so require less energy to digest.

Ever have a stomachache? Or acid reflux? Or acid indigestion? Or heartburn or gas pains? Or that heavy, bloated feeling after eating? You are headed toward many bad diseases if you do. It is the start of ulcers and colitis which leads to cancer.

Do you want that? YOU have the power to stop that. The two biggest selling prescription drugs are Tagamet and Zantac. Both are for stomach disorders. This is what gave my husband Warren cancer and ended his life at 72. He had been taking both for 40 or more years. His oncologist said these two drugs actually caused his cancer.

Dr. Walford is a medical doctor and did experiments on mice. A mouse has a life span of about 2 years. He fed one group whatever mice eat and the control group he fasted them 2 days a week. What happened? The control group lived 4 years.

That is the only change he made in their diets.

There is only one rule in this change in your life. NOTHING COOKED.

That includes all processed foods. You eat only raw foods. That is IT.

The average person eats over 50 pounds of sugar yearly. It is in such great amounts of food it is mind-boggling. It is in ketchup. Check the labels. If any of these are on it don’t eat it.

In fact write this out and place on your refrigerator.

“If it has a label, do not eat it. That is the first thing I was taught when I started my journey to freedom from arthritis.

You can add raw nuts but only 10 or 12 nuts a day is enough.

Eat one large salad a day. Use a salad dressing of olive oil and lemon juice and your favorite herbs and spices. You can have other types but make sure they have no chemical additives.

Of course, continue with your 20 minutes exercising 3 times a week. Anything that is enjoyable, preferably outside.

We now know that those who spend that time outside in the yard or the woods or meadows are healthier than those who do their walking or swimming indoors. This is due to the “green" theory.

There is something about the oxygen when you are around green things that are healthier. So take that bike ride in the park, or that walk. Or even the beach is okay. We need fresh air and sunshine.

You have heard about the tiredness you get from long flights? It is due to many things but mainly that you are breathing the same air over and over in the plane.

Swimming in an indoor pool is not as healthy as in an outdoor pool. Walking in the mall is less healthy that walking in the park or where there is grass and trees. It is why farmers and gardeners are usually healthier than inside workers.

Think about this. We are not talking about expensive things to do. Just do simple and easy things outside in the fresh air and sunshine.

You body will thank you, your family will thank you and you will live longer.

I personally do not care how old I am when I die. I just do not want to wake up each morning feeling tired, sluggish and unhealthy. I want to feel energetic and alive. So far at 82, I can and am doing just that.

You can too.

Relief For Arthritis Sufferers

Three things you can do that will help relieve your arthritis.

Mental attitude, diet and physical activity, separate or combined, have a effect on your body.

These three aspects of your life work together and will either continue to make you sick or will help you to become and stay well. This is particularly true for people that suffer from arthritis.

Mental Attitude

Take a look at your mental attitude.... What has positive and negative affects on your attitude? You will make a great difference in the way you feel mentally and physically by enhancing the positive and removing the negative influences in your life.

Every thought you have your body will react to that thought.

Positive thoughts and feelings will create positive results, while negative thoughts and feeling will create negative results.

So if you are a calm and positive person your health will be better than a person who is anxious and negative.

To make yourself more serene, stand tall, throw your shoulders back, lift up your head and smile. Try it. Don't you feel better?

Now stand up and look down, slump your shoulders and frown. Now how do you feel? Did you feel the difference?

Here is an example of what I am talking about.

When I was 16 my bedroom was on the third floor on a semi-busy street. One afternoon my girl friend and I were leaning out the window watching people as they walked by.

Down the street came a man in his 20's, who we thought looked older… Dragging himself along. His shoulders drooped. He shuffled his feet and his clothes just hung on him.

We both gave a "wolf whistle" and the man looked all around not knowing where the whistle came from. He then straightened up, put his shoulders back, and strutted down the street whistling.

It made a lasting impression on me because he felt a positive feeling which caused a positive effect.

Just think back to your childhood. When you were praised how did you look and feel? When you were scolded how did you look and feel?

When your body is tense, you feel unhappy or have negative thoughts your body will react and your arthritis will hurt more than when you are calm, happy and have positive thoughts.

Be aware of your mental attitude and note how different situations have an effect your arthritis. Then you can take charge and change the affects they have on your arthritis. Out with the Bad and in with the Good!!!

You are not responsible for what others do or say, you are only responsible for how you react to what others do or say.

Diet

When you have arthritis it is more important that your diet is made up of 75% raw and 25% cooked foods.

Eating raw fruits takes less energy to digest than eating cooked foods therefore taking less energy to clean out the toxic waste in your body. The less toxic waste you have in your body the less your arthritis will hurt.

We are the only species that eats cooked foods and we are the only species that suffer with so many degenerative diseases.

Arthritis is one of the main degenerative diseases. Over 90 Million people in the United States have arthritis.

Physical Activity - relieves the pain of arthritis

If you have arthritis you know how hard it is to get up after sitting for any period of time. You're so toxic and tense that you hurt to move.

Try some simple exercises in your chair.

1. Swing your arms around in circles.

2. Lift up one leg at a time.

3. Turn your body as far to the right as you can and then to the left.

4. While sitting tighten your buttocks and lift your body up from the chair. You won't lift it far if at all but you will feel the body lift.

Start with just doing these simple exercises three or four times each for a few minutes and working yourself up to 10 times three or four times a day. If you like to walk start slow. If it is only 10 feet, walk 10 feet. Everyday increase it another 5 feet.

You will be amazed how better you will feel.

Swimming or exercising in water is marvelous. In the water your body is weightless. You do not have to swim you can just walk back and forth or do the above exercises. Try doing this at least 20 minutes three times a week.

The trick to exercising and staying with it is to do something you enjoy and with a friend or a group when possible.

My daughter Susan and I meet at the pool where I live 3 times a week for 20 minutes to half hour. It is fun, we get to chat and we do our exercises. It is better than meeting in a restaurant and sitting and eating bad foods.

Always ask your doctor before starting an exercise program of any kind.

You are the only one that can change your life. Do you want to shuffle along or do you want to strut along whistling? The choice is yours.

Remind yourself daily... If It Is To Be, It Is Up To Me!

Best of Health,

Margie Garrison - The Arthritis Lady

I Cured My Arthritis You Can Too

Natural Health Remedies

For Your Body and Mind

Margie Garrison

"The Arthritis Lady"