"Anti-Inflammatory Diet for Lupus" These are the journals I try
to stay on top of every month, but now I have a new
one to add to the list. The International Journal of
Disease Reversal and Prevention, a new peer-reviewed medical journal
created to document the science of nutrition and lifestyle to prevent,
suspend, and reverse disease, with an editor-in-chief no less
prestigious than Dr. Kim Williams, chief of cardiology at Rush, and past president of the
American College of Cardiology. I was honored to join their editorial
advisory board, along with so many of my heroes.
And the best part is it's free! Go to IJDRP.org and put in
your email to subscribe for free and you'll be alerted
when new issues are out, which you can download
in full for free in PDF form.
Instead of preventing
chronic lifestyle diseases, we doctors just tend to manage them.
Instead of curing, we just mitigate. Why? Because of finance,
culture, habit, tradition. Many of us envision a world where
trillions of dollars are not wasted on unnecessary medical care.
For this reason comes the International Journal of
Disease Reversal and Prevention. After all, without data, you're just
another person with an opinion. Just to give you a taste, how about
pitting plants against one of the most inflammatory diseases out there—
lupus, an autoimmune disease in which your body can start
attacking your own DNA. Kidney inflammation is
a common consequence, and even with our armamentarium of
immunosuppressant drugs and steroids, lupus-induced kidney inflammation
can lead to end-stage renal disease, meaning dialysis, and death,
unless perhaps you pack your diet with some of the most
anti-inflammatory foods out there and your kidney function improves
so much you no longer need dialysis or a kidney transplant. And another similar case is also
presented with a resolution in symptoms and normal kidney function,
unless he deviated from the diet. Even just cutting out animal products,
randomizing people to cut out meat, eggs, and dairy without significantly
increasing fruit and vegetable intake can cut C-reactive protein
levels, a sensitive indicator of whole-body inflammation, by
nearly a third within eight weeks.
But with lupus they
weren't messing around. A pound of leafy greens and
cruciferous vegetables a day like kale, fruits like berries, and lots of chia
or flax, and a gallon of water a day. Basically, a green smoothie
diet to extinguish lupus flares. Note though, if your kidneys are already
compromised, this should be done under physician supervision so
they can monitor your electrolytes like potassium and make sure you
don't get overloaded with fluid. Bottom line, with such remarkable
improvements due to dietary changes alone, the hope is that
researchers will take up the mantle and formally put it to the test. Autoimmune inflammatory skin
disease reversals can be particularly striking visually. A woman with a 35-year history of
psoriasis, unsuccessfully managed for year after year with drugs, suffering from other autoimmune
conditions like Sjogren's as well. But put her on an extraordinarily
healthy diet packed with greens and other vegetables, fruits,
nuts, seeds, avocados, some whole grains and
boom, before and after. Within one year, she went from 40%
of her entire body surface area inflamed and affected,
down to 0%, completely clear. Oh, and her Sjogkren's symptoms
resolved as well as a bonus, while helping to normalize
her weight and cholesterol.
Speaking of autoimmune diseases,
what about the treatment of type 1 diabetes with plants? We'll find out next..