A little over a month ago, I told you about some pretty serious finger pain I was experiencing. If you missed that post, you can find it here. While I don’t have a formal diagnosis, all signs point toward arthritis. My right ring finger was very stiff and sore in the mornings, for a prolonged period, and I experienced pain throughout the day that was limiting my everyday activities. Anything that required a grip was hard for me to accomplish.
I decided before seeking professional help from a doctor, I wanted to reduce inflammation in my body and see if that helped ease the pain. Chronic inflammation has been linked to many diseases, and I knew I wanted to try a natural, dietary approach to fight what may be causing my finger pain.
The first two weeks on the anti-inflammation diet, I was very strict, and the results were amazing. After just one week I felt an incredible difference. The stiffness and pain I was feeling in the morning only lasted a minute or two and the pain during the day was greatly reduced. By the end of the second week, I could barely feel any pain during the day. My range of motion was back 100%. Before I started the diet, I couldn’t bend my finger to the palm of my hand, and that movement came back totally, and without pain.
The next two weeks I wasn’t quite as strict with the diet. A combination of social events, a hectic schedule, and the diminished pain all contributed to this. It’s hard to be as motivated when you aren’t in as much pain. I think this is why I didn’t see much improvement the second two weeks. The finger is still good, but not 100% better yet. Even though it’s only for a minute or two, it’s still stiff and painful in the morning and I’d like to see that go away completely. And although I don’t feel actual pain during the day, I can tell which finger it is. There’s a slight stiffness and swelling that is still there. I think if I stay the course and not have so many lax days, I will see more improvement.
My plan is to continue my original 8 week commitment and if the finger isn’t 100% better, I’ll see a doctor. If it is 100% better, I’ll slowly start adding some foods back in to see how my body handles them and which might be causing the most inflammation for me. I need to find out if certain foods (like wheat or sugar) can be eaten in moderation without the pain coming back.
Now, let’s take a look at a weekly meal plan to get an idea of what I’ve been eating.
As you can see, the meal plan incorporates a lot of vegetables, fruits, and whole grains, with more fish than I’d normally eat. I’ve also cut back on dairy and meat and cut out wheat and sugar. I will give you another update at the end of the 8 weeks–I’m hoping at that point I’ll be able to say my finger is totally healed.
Hi
I love how you’ve simplified this but where are the recipe? A search on your site shows a few but not all. Some are fairly simple and one can easily throw the ingredients together based on taste and preference. But others, such as sweet potato pancakes are more complex and really require recipes for a potentially successful result.
Hi Tazmin,
Every recipe post has a recipe included within the post.
Thanks,
Maryea
There are lots of non vegan foods on that plan. Not good for us vegans… salmon cakes? eggs? I was expecting a VEGAN diet plan
Sorry it wasn’t what you expected. It’s an anti-inflammatory plan, not a vegan plan. Some non-vegan foods are good for fighting inflammation.
Is organic brown rice ok to eat?
Yes!
Is there a specific list of foods you work from? I feel like there are so many versions of anti-inflammatory diets and I’m helping my husband try a very simple version (one he can even do when he has to find something out to eat while working). I’m happy you had such quick results!
Hi Mareya! I have followed your blog for a while- I stumbled across it when I was eliminating foods from my diet while nursing my now almost 3 year-old, who had food intolerances. I remembered reading about your anti-inflammatory diet a while back, but came back to look at it more closely today. I have Meniere’s disease, and after a decade of very minimal problems, I am having lots of problems with vertigo. My neuro-otologist is great and has answered lots of questions and tried lots of medications for me, but the vertigo has not resolved, and in fact, has worsened to the point where I am considering a major ear surgery. I just started the anti-inflammatory diet today, and was thrilled to find a sample meal plan on your blog. I am hopeful that the diet will help my symptoms- living with daily vertigo is nearly impossible with 3 kids under 6, and the surgery only has about a 75% success rate, plus trying to recover from a surgery with 3 little kids sounds tough. Sounds like you started to see results in about a week, so I will keep my fingers crossed that I might see results soon too. Thanks for the information.
Please keep me updated on your results! I am currently researching more into the anti-inflammation diet for my mom who has serious health issues that can’t be diagnosed or treated by any of the many doctors she’s seen in the last 5 years. I’d love to hear a success story!
I would love to incorporate more salads and greens into our diet. Do you eat a lot of salads? Have any recipes for great healthy dressings? What about tips to make salad prep easier? I feel like dinner time is so rushed and frantic as it is that the last thing I want to do is wash, dry, and cut up a bunch of lettuce and salad toppings and then make a homemade dressing. Way too much work!
I do eat a lot of salads. I eat large salads for lunch often (probably 5 days a week in the spring and summer–less in the winter) Dinner often includes a smaller salad. One thing I do is wash and cut my lettuce right away when I get it. I store it in large mason jars in the fridge so that part is done when I need it. Sometimes I cut up the vegetables toppings ahead of time, but not always. It helps when I do! When I’m really in a rush, I just use a bit of olive oil, vinegar, and a little lemon and salt and pepper right on top of my salad instead of a real dressing. Otherwise I make enough of a dressing to last a few days. Here’s the page with my salad recipes, many of which include my favorite dressings:
https://happyhealthymama.com/saladrecipes
My favorite dressing right now is this avocado one: https://happyhealthymama.com/2014/04/mexican-chopped-salad-with-spicy-avocado-dressing.html
Hope this helps! 🙂
I like this diet meal plan. Thanks for sharing!
Your meals all sound so amazing and healthy! I love all the smoothies sprinkled in there. It’s so awesome how you’re handling this with diet before seeing a doctor and seeing such amazing results. Food is medicine!
Not everyone is so easily convinced, but I love the support from my like-minded friends. Thanks, Alexis. 🙂
Here’s hoping you find relief! It’s truly amazing how our diet affects every aspect of things. I have no doubt the anti-inflammation diet will work. Sounds very close to the plan I’m on right now. Good luck, let me know if you need any ideas. I’ve been doing it on and off for about 6 months, mostly on 🙂
Thanks, Stacy!
Thank you so much for including a meal plan. Both my mom and my sister in law have auto immune disorders and I have really been wanting them to try this diet. They both feel like it will be too much work to figure out what to eat. I will print this out to give them an idea!
I hope you can encourage them to give it a try!
Hi, do you give private consultancy as well? We want to discuss about diet plan.
Do you have a cook book?