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Research shows eating certain foods can improve rheumatoid arthritis symptoms for some, but don’t clear out your fridge just yet. In this column for HealthCentral, I share tips on how to change your diet with RA:

“I WAS 13 years old the first time a rheumatologist suggested I try adjusting my diet for my rheumatoid arthritis (RA). This was back in a time before there were treatments for autoimmune arthritis and my inflammation was raging out of control, making it difficult to walk, go to school, and… well, just be a kid. At a fall appointment, rain pelting against the window, my mother asked if there was anything at all that might help. The doctor turned in his chair to face me and said that becoming vegetarian might help my symptoms a little. I thought about it for a moment, then replied that I had already lost so much and didn’t want to lose steak, too. This memory is still vivid in my mind. How helpless we—my mother, myself, my doctor—all were in the face of my RA and the feeling of making a very grown-up choice about my diet amid constant loss and intense pain at a time when I should be out riding my bike with my friends. It was the first—and last time—that any doctor spoke to me about diet and its potential role in managing my RA.

All these years later, diet plays a very different role in treating RA. Increasingly, rheumatologists are recommending both medication and lifestyle changes, including diet. This is based on a growing body of research showing the positive effects different ways of eating can have on your RA symptoms. Among the top are the Mediterranean diet and going vegan or vegetarian. Turns out my 1970s rheumatologist was onto something. Changing how you eat can be an effective tool in controlling RA symptoms for some, although most of us also need to add medication for full control of inflammation. The potential for food to affect your RA varies from person in person and for me, it never has. But what you eat also supports your overall health and that’s very important when you have a chronic illness. The healthier you are, the better your body can help you to live a better life with RA. And this is where I found the motivation to change what I eat.

When I first started biologic medication, my body reacted by developing an almost aggressive quest for health. I had been very sick with a devastating RA flare for a year before I began taking this medication and as it started to work, my body needed to heal, build strength, and get well again. Eating sugary treats made make me feel sick and instead I had a constant craving for vegetables and animal-based protein. That was my meal plan for a couple of years and then, just as suddenly as it had arrived, I no longer craved all that protein. At the time, several of my friends had become vegetarian or vegan and when I saw the creative and delicious dishes they prepared, I discovered that eating in a different way was not about loss. Instead, it was about gaining new and interesting food options. Over the years, as I’ve explored different meals and diets in the search for delicious food, I’ve learned some important things about changing what you eat.”

Read my tips on changing your diet with RA on HealthCentral.