The Secret Cure For Lupus.....Supposedly....

I recently have become fed up with a particular topic surrounding Lupus.  At this point, it seems to take over message boards, social media groups, and support groups. It didn’t always seem to be this bad. There was a time that people would talk about their lupus symptoms and more than half of the responses DIDN’T involve this topic. I’m not kidding. And it went from a gentle suggestion to almost an absolute shall. Sometimes, it just gets my back up.

So what is it, you ask? What could possibly be so prevalent and so generic that it could “apply” to every symptom, every question, every concern? Diet. Fucking FOOD. So there will be a ranting….

For every post discussing someone's symptoms or concerns, there's someone that is going to post a comment telling that concerned person that a plant based only diet or a keto diet or a no carb diet or a freaking dandelion diet will "cure" lupus. Rarely does the commentor say "I have found that _____ has helped me with ____." Far too often, one is told, "You have to switch to an ______-. It's the CURE for Lupus." It makes me want to scream. And lately, it seems as though these commenters are preying on the newly diagnosed and absolutely terrified.

There is no diet that will ever “cure” Systemic Lupus Erythematosis. This is a body-wide problem (“Systemic”) with the immune system. This is not a little case of constipation. This is not something that can be “cured” by salad or fish or kale. Let’s be quite clear about something: THERE IS CURRENTLY NOT A CURE FOR LUPUS. There. I said it. I wish it weren’t true, but it’s a fact we all have to face. Now we can move on to the issue at hand.

I am not at all saying that diet can’t make a considerable impact in a warrior’s health, happiness, and symptom management. It very much can. But that’s it.  And not every person responds to the same dietary changes in the same way. But there are some pretty common things to take as general advice. Again, A-D-V-I-C-E.

Last little bits before we actually get into what may or may not be helpful. Everybody and every body is different, so please please do your research. Talk to your doctors. Research your medications. Certainly read more than just this post. :) There is so very much involved with Lupus that it’s highly unlikely to find a diet that will work perfectly for even half of us Lupies.

So, here’s the deal: Most of the reliable sources I could find have agreed on some pretty clear distinctions that are good starting points. As a bonus, they seem to agree about things from both the “good” column and the “bad” column. There are a few that are unsurprising, a few that I was surprised by, and a couple of hot topics that I’ll try to cover somewhat objectively in a minute. 😊

The “Bad”- 👎

Nobody should be surprised that saturated fats are a health issue. That pretty much counts out most of what I was raised on here in Midwestern America. Fried foods, commercial baked goods, red meat, animal fat, processed meat products, high-fat dairy like cheeses and ice cream…. All contribute to possibly negative health effects when eaten too much. I was really surprised to learn that ALL of the sources i could find after 2015 included a specific paragraph for alfalfa. It is the only thing that I have seen clearly and definitively declared as a no-go for Lupies. I don’t eat them, never have, so it isn’t something I would have noticed when I got diagnosed 4 years ago.

The “Good”- 👍

There’s really two categories that seemed to stand out as far as “good” foods go. First, anti-inflammatory foods. Anti-inflammatory foods are pretty much all of the things we’ve heard doctors talk about for decades but few of us listened to for a long time.

And then there’s foods with calcium and vitamin D for bone health. Lupus patients are at an increased risk of osteoporosis and broken bones. Part of this may be due to lowered Vitamin D levels caused by photosensitivity. Our body produces vitamin d in response to exposure to the sun. Since such a high percentage of us react so negatively to sunlight, we aren’t producing enough vitamin d to maintain bone health. So for those of us with photosensitivity, we have to walk a fine line with vitamin d and calcium.   

So we did “The Bad” and “The Good” so let’s do “The Most Important.”

THE MOST IMPORTANT: 💪

Everywhere I looked, from the Mayo Clinic to John Hopkins Lupus Center to the LFA (Lupus Foundation of America. This will be a common abbreviation for me. lol) all stressed the importance of a balanced diet. More than any type of diet I could find or any variety of “Don’t eat this” or “Don’t eat that”, moderation seemed to be the name of the game. BALANCE is the key. It’s not that we can’t eat a piece of cheesecake, we just shouldn’t eat the WHOLE cheesecake. Lots of fruits and veggies, lower fat dairy products, and fish are things I’m going to try to incorporate into my diet.

SOMETHING TO TRY 🤞

I don’t eat a whole bunch of the things I’m supposed to eat, especially if they’re green. Like kale. I just don’t like kale. So I’ve found a cheat. A lot of the juices I have found that are packed with greenery also contain alfalfa. And as we’ve learned in the “BAD” category, alfalfa is the ONLY thing that is agreed to be bad for us. And then I found one that’s delicious and doesn’t contain alfalfa. The apples, pineapple, mangoes, bananas and kiwi all converge to form a crisp, clean, fruity taste that secretly fill you with spirulina, wheatgrass, barley grass, spinach, broccoli, and green tea. It’s called “Green Goodness” from Bolthouse Farms and I buy it at my local Kroger grocery store for about $5 for 32 oz. If you don’t have a local Kroger, don’t fret. It’s a pretty gigantic company here in the US and it has many names under its family of stores such as Kessel, Fred Meyer, Dillons, Owen’s, and King Soopers. Bolthouse also has a bunch of other flavors to try and I really like most of them, but the Green Goodness is the one that gives me the food I should have but can’t stand to eat. :)

A friend of mine told me yesterday that she and her husband LOVE to make smoothies and they almost always put a little avocado into them. The avocado is supposed to give them a creamy texture and absorbs a lot of the flavors of the smoothie. Avocado is one of those foods that’s really hard for me to eat because I don’t like the texture, but this smoothie trick is one I am going to have to try!

So on that note, I hope this has given you a little information or something to think about. I know I learned a lot in researching it and it’s already started to affect my dietary choices. Please remeber to consult your doctors and always consider that not everyone will find your choices right for them. Suggestions and trying to be helpful are great things, but telling someone what to do is rarely seen as a suggestion or “being helpful.”