ITIS diet as an adjunct
I’m going to start on the ITIS diet, or at least attempt to as much as possible, soon. Last year for unrelated (or maybe related? IBS) reasons I did low Fodmap and learning triggers really helped me. Have read the recent studies on all the different diets and the ITIS diet seems relatively easy to incorporate into what I am already doing. Note this is NOT meant as a substitute for meds, but as an adjunct. Wondering if anyone else has tried this and their success. I’m already gluten, dairy and 99.5% sugar free. TIA
Hi,
, thanks for starting this forum discussion! While I don't have person experience with the ITIS diet (and I had to google it because I was unfamiliar with it), I do know that a lot of our community members use diet to help manage symptoms and get relief. Hopefully any of them with personal experience can chime in here and let you know. I haven't seen mention of the ITIS diet, but I know we have some members here who've tried (or are doing) the Mediterranean Diet so I thought you might be interested in reading their articles, if you haven't already seen them.
Our advocate, Wren, wrote about her experience with an appointment with the doctor that lead her to trying the Mediterranean Diet in this article, https://rheumatoidarthritis.net/living/walking-to-wellness. And Kelly, writes about diet (in general) and RA in this article, https://rheumatoidarthritis.net/living/diet-holistic-approach.
Hopefully these articles can be insightful while you wait for other community members to chime in. Also, how have you found being gluten, dairy, and (mostly) sugar free? Are you noticing some relief or change in your symptoms?
If you're comfortable, please also keep us posted with how you find the ITIS diet to be. I'm curious to hear more about the diet and your experience.
Wishing you a gentle evening. -- Warmly, Christine (Team Member)
Hi
. I don't know if you have seen this page from the Arthritis Foundation which discusses the ITIS diet for RA, including some research: https://www.arthritis.org/health-wellness/healthy-living/nutrition/anti-inflammatory/itis-a-supercharged-mediterranean-diet-for-ra. Also, this paper describes a study on the ITIS diet among RA patients and showed pretty positive results: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9269999/. Hope this information is helpful. Best, Richard (RheumatoidArthritis.net Team) Thanks,
! And I saw the links that Richard shared below, so I'll be sure to check them out. I'm glad to hear that you've found your dietary changes helpful, and hopefully as you move toward the ITIS diet you'll notice even more improvement. I'm crossing my fingers for you! -- Warmly, Christine (Team Member)
ANYTHING that helps is worth trying! Yes those are the key links, thanks for posting. The good news is they are continuing the research and the doctors in charge have also reiterated this is to be an adjunct to medicines.
Hi
. Agreed. I'm tagging our patient leader because I know that he is someone who never really thought diet made much difference for him, but is also someone who, after a lifetime with juvenile RA, never closes the door on anything that might help - then bam! He found a diet that helped. Heck, trying a diet is one of those low-risk options. Wishing you the best with it. Richard (RheumatoidArthritis.net Team) 
Richard is right - I always poo-pood diets and then, of course, as life does, ironically as I was trying one to prove it didn't work, well, it worked. I do no sugar, low carbs, and mainly protein and low fat and it seems to be helping to control my RA. When I eat sugar, most of all, I can tell within hours that my RA does not like it. Will it work for others? No one can say, RA is such an individual disease, but it maybe worth trial and error as long as you keep your physician in the loop. Keep on keepin' on, DPM
