Ingredients

2 16 oz. cans of red beans

1/2 pound firm tofu

1 egg

1 1/2 cup breadcrumbs

1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese

1 onion

1/2 green pepper

Directions

Dice and lightly saute onion and green pepper, set aside.

Mash beans with fork in medium mixing bowl.

Mix tofu in with fork.

Mix in breadcrumbs, egg, and cheese.

Form patties with hands and fry in vegetable oil in

medium frying pan.

Serve plain or on buns with favorit condiments.

Serves 5.

Today was a perfect day to go out and get some air and some sunshine. Every morning I’m blessed to wake up to the rising sun and feel its grace and warmth and beauty as I begin my day. Although I spend most of my day working on the computer and the Internet I always make sure that I spend at least 10-15 minutes throughout the day cleansing my mind and filling my lungs with fresh air. However, that is becoming more and more difficult to do. This afternoon I stepped out into the luscious green back yard to enjoy the birds and warm sunshine and stretch my muscles a bit. After a few minutes of some deep breathing and stretching I had to go back inside the house after being assaulted by a horrible odor of coal tar pitch (roof tar). For all I know it was slurry, the stuff used in repairing streets. All I know is that it is a horrible smell, makes it very hard to breathe and prevents me from enjoying my favorite thing in the world - the great outdoors! I’m not alone in this dilemma. There are millions of people throughout the country and the world who suffer from what’s known as multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS) or environmental illness (EI). People may remember from my first article how I spoke of fragrances in beauty care and cosmetics, not-to-mention the ones found in cigarettes. Well, one of the biggest problems affecting and plaguing our world is that of industrial pollution and toxicity.

Recently, my husband and I watched two very important powerful videos. One was a movie, entitled ”Safe” about a woman living in an affluent area, who experiences a nosebleed in a beauty salon and begins to feel threatened by the very environment that surrounds her. After being referred by her doctor to a psychiatrist she learns about a group who suffers from the same problem and meets others who are also suffering. Julianne Moore plays the proverbial affluent San Fernando Valley housewife married to an ignorant fragrance-addicted husband who notices her sexy perm, but doesn’t even care that she doesn’t feel well. The other video we watched was a video entitled Silent Spring, Rachel Carson. This video demonstrated and focused on Rachel Carson’s fight to raise awareness on DDT and various other chemicals that were widely used in the 1950’s and are currently banned in the U.S. Rachel Carson was a very courageous woman who, despite her own suffering from cancer, used every ounce of her being and strength to raise awareness about the hazards of chemicals.

Unfortunately this world is not geared for people like this and prefers to ignore, mock, or hope that it will just “go away”. As a person who suffers from this illness I can tell you that it’s not going to just go away. We are the proverbial “canaries in the coal mine”. When an environmentally ill person suffers and dies that’s a warning that something needs to be done. In the meantime at the time of this writing several thousand more harsh industrial deadly chemicals have been created and released into the atmosphere. If I were to try to mention one the amount of letters would give you a headache! This is a very serious problem and it’s only going to get worse. Many experts and physicians in the field of environmental illness and medicine have said that the industrial world is creating more and more deadened polluted chemically addicted zombies by the minute. Between the coal tar pitch (roof tar) that’s used to fix leaky roofs and the horrible fumes that are belched out of commercial trucks the hope for this planet and its entire species, including humans, is dwindling. I feel that the reason more and more people aren’t suffering as much as people like me is that they are so accustomed to using chemically laden products in and on their bodies that they have become desensitized.

A common question comes to mind whenever this subject is brought to the table. What can I do? The solution is simple. It’s four simple words and can be readily and easily done by any walk of life - empower, education, financial clout. While these may seem like simple things that don’t seem very attainable many more people are making a difference by using them. Ed Begley, Jr. and Ted Danson are but two of many people who have the financial wherewithal to make a difference and are educating the public and their friends. Whenever Ed Begley is at an event kids always come up to him admiring his electric car. This gives him a golden opportunity to spread the word of environmental sanity and responsibility. There truly are many things you can do to do your part to respect the earth and its inhabitants. But when it comes to pollutants like coal tar pitch (roof tar) the answer to that is simple.

I’ve seen many houses that have a pointed slanted roof. When rain falls down it just slides right off and onto the ground. There’s also hard metal material that can be used to reinforce the shingles. Granted, I’m no roofing expert, but I’ve seen good roofs and I know that one does not have to call on their local roofing company to come to their rescue in order to fix their roof. While money is an issue, think about this. Do you have any idea how the tar is affecting the air, the wildlife and even your neighbors? Granted, most people are away when their roof is being fixed, but there are people who stay home during the day. I’m one of them. The idea here is environmental investing. Invest in your health and the health of the planet and future generations. While it may seem like a tremendous expense to put out and using that disgusting goop seems to save money, the end result will be far worth it. Believe it or not, that roofing goop doesn’t even last, it’s not permanent. My husband had to work with the goop for someone and weeks later he learned that he wasted his time. He had to make the repair again. It’s not just tar. It’s also commercial vehicles. The stuff that’s spewed out of these monsters can knock out wildlife.

If you are fortunate enough to live in a city or town that’s “green-minded” that’s wonderful! Make a difference! Take action today! Don’t wait! Environmental respect and awareness isn’t a catch phrase and it’s not a fad or passing phase. It’s a concept that must be understood and acknowledged if we want a planet for future generations! There are many simple things you can do to protect the health of yourself and your loved ones and that of the earth. It may take a little education and time and energy to understand but there are plenty of books and magazine articles available to help you along the path. It’s time to shift our attention from superficial temporary appearances and move it to making the air easier to breathe and the water easier to swallow!

Music is many-splendored: it is a form of expression, a form of communication, and a form of entertainment. As a form of expression, music is about the self, the artist. As a form of communication, music transacts between artist and listener. As a form of entertainment, music is avowedly for the listener. The history of entertainment does not interest me; but the history of music as a history of expression and communication does. What happens when music is viewed from this perspective?

Punk and Jamaican ska and reggae emerged within a few years of one another. Pockets of punk sprouted in England, the US, Australia, and elsewhere. Ska and reggae spread via Europe’s dance clubs and the occasional cover or remix. Both expressed political views at odds with the status quo, punk espousing an anti-establishment pose made politically explicit at times, and reggae promoting various forms of African independence and/or unity. In this light, punk and reggae are similar to the vein of folk music occupied with social and political commentary. Both enabled a politically and/or socially marginalized segment to reach a broad audience. Similarly, the Velvet Underground et al. gave a voice to an underground culture of sex and drugs. Much of the WaxTrax! roster, i.e. Ministry, KMFDM, Front 242, et al., would continue this theme, though in different musical forms. Though the theater is different, a marginalized segment achieves a mode of expression and communication.

With the contemporaneous emergence of rap or hip-hop and grunge at the end of the 80s, different socio-economic groups acquired louder voices: the black community and the overeducated youth of America, respectively. But these two examples differ from the preceding ones: rap and grunge sold millions of records. This, perhaps, marks an underlying change in the dynamics of music. The artist and the audience are here socio-economically distinct. NWA did not sell albums only to black teenagers in ghettos. Nirvana did not limit their albums only to white 18-30 year old males in the Pacific Northwest. Rather, a marginalized segment reached a broad audience, and pop culture absorbed the new music: grunge and rap got radio airplay, films, dedicated record labels, and the rapt attention of the media.

Trying to disentangle the 90s for signs of coherent themes in music is a rough business. I want to suggest a bifurcating movement going forward: lo-fi pop vs. next generation electronica. In a sense, this is a natural conclusion to the tension manifested in rap and grunge. The malaise exhausted itself and now two paths wander off. Lo-fi pop might be construed to be anti-excessive instrumentation or production; or it might mean subdued and streamlined musically. By next generation electronica, I mean the stuff begun by Massive Attack and continued by Pole, Autechre, Oval, and Tortoise. These bands are involved in complex fusion music, some of it clearly computer-conceived. It is expressive in non-verbal ways. It does not speak to a marginalized segment per se. The people making the music do not belong in any rigidly defined subculture. But the music tries avowedly not to sound programmed and stiff, eschewing the mechanized sound and feel of much of “electronica”. In this sense it looks backward, using modern technology and production techniques to get a less modern (i.e. clean and perfectly programmed) sound.

The other path, lo-fi pop, seems to me to be the present form of folk music. And it is not the politicized folk music we are historically used to. Contemporary lo-fi pop is moving toward the personal and the cultural. It is being recorded by the Scottish band Belle and Sebastian; by the Magnetic Fields and Stephin Merritt’s other projects; by the young men of Modest Mouse; by Silkworm, PJ Harvey, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Lloyd Cole and the Commotions, the White Stripes, and Tom Waits. These musicians extend the folk (or blues or jazz or cabaret) tradition by approaching new subject material with a wider range of musical tools at their disposal. Yet it is the intimacy of their recordings which makes them work. Maybe they continue in the tradition of Nick Drake’s atmospheric recordings.

The lo-fi pop to which I allude does not evince the snarling vigor of punk or rap. It is not overtly political or mean-spirited. But it is very different from contemporary singer-songwriter fare. The Magnetic Fields recent 3-cd recording 69 Love Songs reveals clean pop songs, theatrical cabaret numbers, several singers, and an array of (synthetic for the most part) instrumentation. Stephin Merritt takes elements of the past (cabaret and Phil Spector’s Wall of Sound sensibilities) and the future (a time when honest songs will be deemed infantile), creating a new aesthetic in pop. The White Stripes, using a drum and a guitar, fashion 2-3 minute songs delivered in a Zeppelinesque fury. Their material is the traditional blend of Son House and Dolly Parton. Belle and Sebastian’s stunning debut Tigersmilk established them as the darlings of indie pop. They sing smart songs with boy and girl vocals, as if VU decided to talk more about religion and childhood stories, and less about Venus, furs, or heroin. Looper, bassist Stuart David’s (of Belle and Sebastian) band, has extended this aesthetic to embrace samples, loops, and a (certain) playfulness.

On the one hand, progressive electronica is trying to roughen up technology and use computers to make fresh, organic music. It is forcing us to sit up and listen because we can’t easily figure out what is going on or how the tracks were made; the music is compelling. On the other hand, lo-fi pop is turning away from the tradition of political and social themes in music, fashioning songs of bleakness, charm, melodrama, and intelligence. What does this communicate? A primary role for music, giving voice to a marginalized segment of society, is no longer functioning in pop. It has been replaced by a desire to communicate private notions and fictions. Both progressive electronica and lo-fi pop seek to use technology in innovative ways, allowing artists to record simple songs that do not feature any real instrument, or complex songs eluding classification or obvious analysis. Neither wants to discuss politics, and neither can be identified with a certifiable subculture. It is the music of an apolitical, anonymous people. They are us.

Some think so. The obesity experts say that being 30 pounds overweight isn’t all that dangerous. If you’re less than 30 pounds overweight, you should really be worried if you have two or more risk factors such as heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and the “apple” body shape when fat is all gathered around your middle.

I’ve done some research and come up with quite opposite results though they concern professional Olympic level Sumo wrestlers - really BIG people. Sumo wrestlers health risks are not decreased due to their athleticism!

On the other hand, this is an extreme case and nobody argues about the harmful consequences of being that overweight. But there are also data on competitive swimmers versus runners, which fitness levels are quite similar but body fat percentages are different - so are their blood test profiles!

CNN published an article “On resolutions and motivation, and loving love handles,” by Carolyn O’Neil, CNN Registered Dietician.

I think that three very important new points have been made there:

1) A crack in the nation-wide thinness fixation seems to have appeared:

“…As the baby boomer generation moves toward age 50 and up, there’s more widespread acceptance of carrying a few more pounds. It seems that since the majority of their friends are ‘pleasingly plump,’ as it were, they start to think a little more weight actually looks OK. The
Nation’s body fat acceptance is changing.”

2) The trend was observed, of healthy eating versus dietary restrictions.

“… Diet concerns will include a healthy trend, more about adding good foods to the diet, rather than one of avoidance.”

3) Moderate but consistent increase in energy expenditure was recommended as a good alternative to vigorous exercises.

“… Taking the stairs instead of the elevator, parking your car farther away in the supermarket parking lot, and just getting out to walk for a half-hour three times a week can really make a difference.”

Even more radical news followed: For some, overweight is OK. Unsuccessful dieters focus more on happiness, by Food and
Health Correspondent Linda Ciampa: “There are indications that a growing number of overweight people are giving up on diets and accepting their size. For some, being overweight is not necessarily bad.”

No doubts, good health habits do good for everybody, no matter what size is: “We can yo-yo diet, which has been documented as unhealthy, or we can try to be as healthy as we can, regardless of our weight.”

Oxygen may be hazardous to your health. We can’t live without oxygen, of course. But just as exposure to oxygen causes iron to rust and butter to go rancid, it can wreak it’s own havoc in the body.

Free radicals are the culprits. They are created every minute in our bodies. To provide energy, the body’s cells use oxygen to burn fuels and in the process, some oxygen molecules may lose an electron, thus creating a free radical. There’s no problem when these free radicals are captured and inactivated by the body’s own army of antioxidants.

Trouble arises, however, when free radicals outnumber antioxidants. This can happen with environmental factors, like cigarette smoke, pollution, excessive sunlight, pesticides, alcohol, stress and even exercise.

Unchecked, free radicals roam and attack the healthy cells of the body causing them to lose structure and function. Over time, consequences include atherosclerosis, cancer, arthritis and inflammatory diseases, diabetes, kidney disease, inflammatory bowel and colitis.

You can fight back! Antioxidants neutralize free radicals and prevent damage to the body’s cells. Your best defense begins with a well-balanced diet rich in dark green leafy vegetables, orange and yellow vegetables and fruit. Darker green and more vibrant colors equate to higher antioxidant content. At least 5 servings a day will give you the upper hand.

Vitamin C, vitamin E and beta carotene are among the most widely studied dietary antioxidants. Acting as an antioxidant, vitamin C protects LDL cholesterol from oxidative damage. Recommended dosages vary but suggest a minimum of 120-200 mg/day.

Vitamin E is a powerful anti-oxidant protecting cell membranes and other fat soluble parts of the body from free radical damage. The most commonly recommended amounts are 400-800 IU/day. The d-alpha tocopherol (natural form) is preferred over the dl-alpha tocopherol (synthetic form).

Beta carotene and other carotenoids provide antioxidant protection to lipid rich tissues. It may work synergistically with vitamin E. The most common supplement intake is approximately 25,000 IU per day. The jury is still out on whether the synthetic or natural form is preferred. The natural form can be identified when it lists the source as D. salina, algal source, palm source or as “natural beta carotene”. The synthetic form can be identified as “beta carotene”.

Antioxidants are our first line of defense against free radical damage and are critical to optimum health and well-being. The best way to defend the body against free radical attack is through a varied and balanced diet, rich in fruits and vegetables and by insuring extra protection from anti-oxidant supplementation.

3-4 Portobello mushroom caps

1 bottle Shitake and garlic salad dressing

Wash mushroom caps, and place in medium to large bowl. Pour the entire bottle of dressing over the mushrooms, making sure the entire mushrooms are covered. Cover and refrigerate overnight, making sure that the entire mushroom gets the dressing.

The next day, spoon dressing over the parts that didn’t get covered and refrigerate another hour. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Spray cookie sheet and place mushrooms topside up on the pan. (Save leftover dressing for other recipes.) Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until most of the mushroom juice is out. Serve as a sandwich or with mashed potatoes and gravy, and a vegetable. You can experiment with other types of marinades and spices. The possibilities are really endless! You can also grill them like you would meat on a grill, for a picnic, etc.

So we asked ourselves whether we could come up with satisfying, nutritious and speedy recipes in 30 minutes or less that don’t require a chef’s culinary army and use foods available in the grocery store. Our test kitchen came up with some sensational sandwiches just for the veteran couch potato. But don’t squirm away at the word “sandwiches”-these aren’t your regular bag lunch-processed meat varieties!

Havarti-mustard sandwiches

Handful nuts of your choice
Quarter cup Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons marmalade OR
1 tablespoon frozen orange concentrate
4 slices dark pumpernickel rye bread
6 slices smoked ham
4 thin slices Havarti cheese

Stir nuts together with mustard and marmalade. Spread each bread slice with some orange pecan mustard. Add ham and cheese and pack up for lunch! (makes 2 sandwiches)

Mushroom-cabbage sandwiches

Green or red cabbage, thinly sliced/shredded, enough to fit onto bread slices
Handful of watercress, rinsed and dried (optional)
half tablespoon plain yogurt and olive oil each
5 canned white mushrooms, dried and sliced
two thick slices whole wheat bread
cayenne pepper or chili flakes to taste

In a bowl whisk yogurt into olive oil while bread toasts in oven at 400F or in toaster. Spread each toast with yogurt mix. Sprinkle liberally with chili or cayenne and add mushroom slices, watercress and cabbage before closing sandwich. (makes one sandwich)

Seafood sandwiches

3 plum tomatoes
half teaspoon salt
half teaspoon chopped garlic
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 slices thin bacon, ham or luncheon meat
3 tablespoons canned crabmeat, rinsed and left to drip dry
quarter cup plain yogurt
a pinch of cayenne
two inch-thick slices focaccia or whole wheat bread
quarter cup packed watercress, arugula, or beet leaves

Preheat oven to 450F. Halve tomatoes lengthwise and in a bowl toss with salt, garlic and 1 tablespoon oil. In a shallow baking pan, arrange tomatoes, cut sides up, and roast about 15 minutes until golden and bubbling. (Or, place in microwave on High for 4 minutes or until golden and bubbling.) In a bowl, stir together crab, yogurt, lemon juice, cayenne and olive oil, with salt and pepper to taste. Spread mixture on both slices of bread, layer with tomatoes, bacon and watercress, then close sandwich.

Cobb sandwiches
(Chicken, avocado and cheese sandwiches)

6 bacon slices
leftover chicken OR skinless, boneless chicken breast
4 slices firm sandwich bread, preferably whole grain
quarter cup blue cheese, softened
2 tablespoons plain yogurt
1 firm-ripe Haas avocado
4 small crisp lettuce leaves like Romaine

For 15 minutes at 400F in the oven, cook bacon until crisp. Transfer to paper towels to drain. If using uncooked chicken, pat chicken dry and season with salt and pepper. Roast in oven for 15 minutes, at the same time as bacon. Meanwhile, pit and peel avocado and thinly slice. Transfer chicken to cutting board and let stand 5 minutes before cutting into chunky slices.

Toast bread in the cooling oven and spread 2 slices with blue cheese, the remaining two with plain yogurt. Divide chicken, bacon, avocado and lettuce between blue-cheese bread slices and top with remaining two slices. (Makes 2 sandwiches)

Leftover quesadillas

Leftover beef, chicken, turkey or other meat-like dish, including tofu curry or thick, non-watery stew
1 chipotle chili
grated Parmesan, Monterey Jack or white Cheddar cheese
two 6- to 8-inch flour tortillas
1 tablespoon olive oil

Finely chop chili and toss well with cheese. Put one tortilla in a hot skillet with the olive oil and sprinkle evenly half of the cheese. Cook until cheese just begins to melt. Arrange meat or meat substitute evenly over cheese mixture and use a spatula to fold tortilla into half. Cook tortilla until golden brown on both sides, about 2 minutes. Make another quesadilla in the same manner. Makes 2 quesadillas.

Young lads around the world have made a concerted decision that braving the path of sweat and pain is far better than drinking competitions. Chilies are the inevitable and perfect substitute for the manly competition of seeing who can hold down the most liquor before passing out. Not only is the act of eating chilies more civilized, there are far more numerous situations where chilies are an appropriate source of testosterone measurement.

In Laos, bird’s eye chilies or chili padi are so small they rarely grow past your first knuckle. But young Laotian monks have weekly competitions with these fiery chopped peppers in soy sauce or fish sauce. These salty condiments together with chilies serve to whet the appetite for their otherwise bland and restrictive vegan diets. The difficulty in predicting the hotness of chilies from their appearance adds much surprise to daily meals. Shouts ring out in the courtyard as they dash for water, one by one. The goal is to eat the greatest number of chilies without water in one meal; the record is 72. Painful tongues, swollen lips and fiery stomachs make it difficult to sit and meditate, and causing such painful trouble for each other is an endless source of amusement.

Water is rarely a big help to get rid of burning tongues and watering eyes, as party goers in Manchester, England are finding out. The heat comes from capsaicin, stored in the form of volatile oils, especially in chili seeds. When chewed, or touched, these oils are released and they get stuck on the tongue.

Starchy foods, such as bread, noodles or pretzels are far better for removing these oils than water, beer or juice. If water is all that is available, hot water is more painful to drink, but it works better than cold liquids.

England is a country filled with curry lovers, but the trend towards eating whole chili peppers among young men is an amusing new party game. This is the land where Scotch bonnet peppers are used in lamb curries and chicken stews to turn Indian food into impossibly hot dishes to please the British palate.

For young guys gathering at a friend’s house for a game of billiards or catching up on the latest action films released on DVD, miniature chocolate bars and other candy are added with whole chilies to the gorp bowl. Then the party planners wait for the guys to explode straight out of their seats after eating a ’spiked’ handful! Generally, the rules are as follows.

They can take the challenge to eat another without anything to soothe the pain, they can eat more candy as a delay tactic or they can choose to be a LOSER and not be daring enough to try another handful. The guy who can take the most pain is, of course, the man of the night.

In Texas, USA, there are also one-on-one challenges, sort of like arm wrestling for the mouth. Here lies ground zero for chili variety; ranging from grilled poblanos and serranos, to pickled bird’s eye and jalapenos. Guys at BBQ stands inhale a few pounds of chops, bacon, trifle and sausages before they remember to breathe…if only so that they can yell in pain. The pain doesn’t last long because the other spices and smoky flavor of Texan BBQ neutralizes much of the heat. Then the guys go back to inhaling meat products, challenging each other to eat more of the hot links until one of the two guys can’t take it any longer.

It’s the return of the victory for the guy who breaks the least sweat. Except nowadays the victories aren’t determined by guns or beers, but by the masochistic food lover’s ability to tolerate the pain of hot chilies.

Here’s our example recipe for the heat lover in you:
Curry of Manly Challenge

2 cups dried chickpeas or 1 can, drained
1/2 teaspoon cumin powder
1/2 teaspoon coriander powder
1 large onion, diced
1 large carrot, diced
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 hot green chilies, finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
2.5cm piece root ginger, peeled and grated
1 handful ground almonds or almond slivers
1 bunch fresh spinach, rinsed
1/2 cup shelled peas
salt
1 lime
1 can coconut milk, shaken
parsley or coriander leaves to garnish

Soak the chickpeas overnight. Rinse and cover by 2 inches of water, place in microwave on High (100 percent power) for 20 minutes, pausing to stir once. Let sit for 30 minutes in hot water.
In a skillet over moderately high heat, cook onion and carrot in the vegetable oil for 5-7 minutes. Add chili, garlic, spices, chickpeas, and ginger. Fry everything together, using a little more oil only if necessary.

Add almonds, stir, then add water to barely cover. Bring to a simmer then keep on a very low heat for about 15 minutes for slivers, or until the ground almonds have thickened the curry, about 25 minutes. Add the spinach and peas (if using). Season with salt and lime juice, add the coconut milk, simmering for 3 minutes. Sprinkle the remaining coriander on top and serve with rice and bottled mango chutney.

Vitamin supplements are also often recommended to especially include Vitamin D (400-600 IU/daily). Avoidance or limitation of certain foods such as those high in sodium which is contained in a variety of food products such as canned soups, bacon, sausage, ham, pickles, sauerkraut and even dehydrated soups is highly recommended for the arthritis patient on steroid therapy.

Most arthritis patients are treated with anti-inflammatory medicines other than steroids. The non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) including among others, ibuprofen, naproxen and aspirin are useful for reducing pain, but there is no scientific evidence that they alter the course of arthritis or reverse or repair the erosions of cartilage and bone which are hallmarks of arthritis pathology. Patients whose joint swelling and pain cannot be controlled by NSAIDs are often treated with other remittive therapies, which often include methotrexate, hydroxychloroquine and more recently, drugs which neutralize the inflammatory provoking action of soluble mediators of inflammation such as tumor necrosis factor-alpha.

While NSAIDs generally control pain, diets supplemented with omega-3 fatty acids at high doses may actually result in the production of prostaglandins, which are less inflammatory. Thus, decreasing saturated fat (such as found in meat and dairy products) while increasing omega-3 or fish oil products may reduce the level of inflammation. While certain forms of oil such as canola oil and soy oil contain omega-3, the amounts are small compared to the omega-3 content of fish or fish oils. Employing omega-3 as a dietary supplement does not result in an “instant fix.”

Research has shown that while fish oil diet supplementation results in less painful joints and reduced stiffness of joints upon wakening from sleep, it often takes up to three to four months of continuous daily consumption for any benefit to become apparent. Mackerel, salmon, sardines and trout are particularly rich in fish oils. Foods rich in omega-6 fat have also been suggested to have similar anti-inflammatory properties similar to fish oil.

Changes in diet to include fish oils should always be discussed with a physician, as there are potential adverse side-effects, which include increased bleeding time. Arthritis patients with co-morbid conditions such as diabetes should be particularly wary of fish oil diet supplementation as fish oils potentially raise blood sugar levels and increase wound healing time.

Nutritional supplements, which have received considerable recent attention in the popular press, include glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate. Both substances are natural substances, and as such are classified as dietary supplements and not drugs which means that there is no regulation by the FDA to control strength and purity of product. Because glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate are produced in the body as building blocks for the formation of cartilage matrix they are essential for the maintenance of the health of that and other tissues. Thus, it is likely that dietary supplementation with glucosamine and/or chondroitin sulfate may promote the biosynthesis of cartilage matrix in healthy individuals.

Whether or not these dietary supplements influence cartilage matrix formation in the patient with arthritis has not been examined in large trials with acceptable scientific methodology. The National Institutes of Health supported a three-year clinical trial on this matter, which began in 1999. Other nutritional supplements, including copper, zinc, and Vitamin B have been claimed to help arthritis patients. If there is any scientific evidence to support their efficacy in treating arthritis, there have also been reported adverse side-effects, which limit their effectiveness.

The choice of eliminating certain foods from the diet of arthritis patients may result when arthritis patients keep a diary of which foods exacerbate or reduce arthritis symptoms. A careful record maintained over a period of time is recommended. A time period of up to six months may be required to reduce the potential that an arthritis flare is merely coincidental with the consumption or elimination of a particular food product. As always, care must be taken not to eliminate so many foods that a balanced, nutritious diet is compromised.

What if any evidence exists to suggest that foods alter the course of arthritis? The Primer on Rheumatic Diseases published by The Arthritis Foundation discusses, “foods, diet and nutritional supplements” in the chapter, entitled, “Questionable Remedies.”

This chapter, authored by the rheumatologist, Dr. Richard Panush, presents the status of “diet and arthritis” in a balanced fashion, because first and foremost, the available scientific data indicates that “recent, careful, placebo-controlled double-blind studies confirmed that, for selective patients, inflammatory arthritis may be associated with foods.”

Thus, it is quite possible that some patients develop arthritis in response to foods which contain proteins which when acting as antigens stimulate the bodies immune system resulting in the onset of inflammatory arthritis. However, it is also stated that, “there is virtually no evidence to suggest that anything other than a balanced diet supports the person with arthritis.”

Previous studies by Dr. Panush in 2001 revealed that diets purporting to show that “eliminating red meat, additives or preservatives, fruit, dairy products, herbs, spices and alcohol” alter arthritis symptoms receive no scientific support. However, since nutritional status is known to affect the quality of the immune response and components of inflammation pathways (especially those pathways involving eicosanoids, such as prostaglandins and leukotrienes, which alter immune reactivity), it follows that foods containing certain oils that might alter the synthesis of these mediators of inflammation might improve the symptoms of arthritis patients.

It must also be stated that arthritis patients receiving steroid therapy to control their inflammation must be particularly cognizant of diet since steroids have strong “anti-nutritional” effects, which must be compensated for by maintaining a healthy diet. Thus, steroids, which reduce inflammation, also reduce protein synthesis. Steroids also make it difficult for the body to absorb calcium and to metabolize Vitamin D. Calcium and Vitamin D are critical in the maintenance of normal bone metabolism. Arthritis patients receiving steroids are often advised to increase their intake of proteins such as contained in legumes, tofu, lean meat, poultry and fish; to increase their calcium intake to 1,000 mg daily (especially if their diet includes dairy products) or to as much as 2,000 mg daily, if dairy is omitted.

to be continued…