Best Diet for Those Affected With Lupus

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If you or someone you know has been diagnosed with lupus, you are already well aware of the baffling symptoms and the pain most people go through with this terrible auto-immune disease. Although the symptoms vary widely from person to person and can range from mild to life-threatening, one thing most people would agree on is that a person’s diet can really affect the symptoms and flare-ups.

Although the exact reasons as to why some things people consume tend to make their symptoms worse is not fully understood, but the fact remains that eating or not eating certain type’s foods, and even some supplements, can make lupus symptoms worse or better.

Check out our list of foods that you should cut out of your diet or start including in your diet if you suffer from lupus and see if these simple changes can give you the relief you are looking for.

The Lupus Diet – Foods That Need to Go

1. Red Meat

This is perhaps the biggest no-no on the lupus diet. Red meat causes inflammation in the body, something you, as a lupus sufferer, already have too much of. Many patients with lupus find that simply removing red meat from their diet gives them much needed relief from symptoms such as joint pain within a matter of days.

2. Artificial Sweeteners

All types of artificial sweeteners are made up of a variety of chemicals. Even persons who don’t have lupus have health problems or negative reactions to these chemicals, so imagine what they are doing to you! In fact, several research studies show that there is a link between artificial sweeteners and the development of lupus and that these completely unnatural sweeteners only make the symptoms of lupus worse. Avoid these like the plague.

3. Fast Foods and Junk Foods

These foods contain everything you want to avoid to begin with; excessive salt, sugar, and trans-fats. If you really must hit up the drive through, order a salad with a vinegar and oil-based dressing on the side.

4. Soda/Sugar

You already read that diet sodas are a big no-no, well, regular sodas are as well. In fact, sugar in general is something you need to avoid as much as you possibly can. Sugar hides in many innocent looking foods such as ketchup, barbeque sauce, even canned vegetables, so read labels carefully. Unfortunately this means you will also need to cut out goodies such as cakes, cookies, candy, and pie, but try not to see this as a punishment, but rather that you are rewarding yourself with a healthy diet and a healthy life.

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