• Put aside time for yourself on a daily basis, Seek out situations which engender feelings of pleasure. Laughter, joy and positive thoughts are important, so make a Point of actually counting your blessings, reading amusing books and enjoying social occasions. Examine past and present stresses and decide how to deal with them, so that the body will no longer be harmed each time. It is equally important to guard against self-pity, fear or a ‘helpless victim’ attitude, as these sentiments will damage your joints. Harmful emotions lead to a release of inflammatory chemicals in the joints.

• Stress can cause unimaginable havoc in the human body. The acid-alkali imbalance and the deposition of waste in joints may well be rooted in stress. Many arthritics suffer from suppressed resentments or anxiety, and are easily upset by situations not conforming to their own mode of behavior. Perhaps these people have had more to be angry about than the average person, or perhaps they are over sensitive. Often they are overly-giving types who always take care of others before themselves. This is a major stress on the body in the long-term, and has to be balanced with time for nurturing self on a daily basis. If you recognize any of this, then your arthritis will not disappear until you get to grips with healing your emotions. Every event which your mind perceives as a stress causes a release of inflammatory chemicals in the joints. It is very important to release harmful emotions and not bottle them up inside.

Fruit and vegetables should be fresh, raw and unprocessed. If you are unaccustomed to eating raw fruit and vegetables, the volume should be increased gradually, and skins removed initially. Use more in juice form and less as whole produce. You should try to find a source of organically-grown food, and do not use commercially-made fruit or vegetable juices – only home-made ones using a juicing machine.

• Day 1: water only, 6-8 glasses minimum.

• Days 2-3: fresh raw diluted fruit juice, but do not use citrus fruits. A glass every two hours with water in between.

• Day 4-5: add raw vegetable juices to the regime but don’t combine them with fruit.

• Days 6-7: whole fruit and vegetables may be added, raw or steamed.

Once the pain has subsided, other foods are re-introduced, one per day, until a balanced diet is being eaten, but one which is mainly alkaline-forming. Foods must be fresh, whole and largely raw – lots of fruit, vegetables and salads, with small amounts of cheese, eggs, nuts, seeds, and sprouts, whole-grains (especially millet, buckwheat and corn), pulses, herbal teas, oily fish and organically produced meat, if desired.

• Curcumin extract – 400mg three times daily. This is a turmeric extract, and is as powerfully anti-inflammatory as any drugs, and without side- effects.

• Chinese Skullcap (scutellaria) – 2-4g three times daily. This is a potent anti-oxidant and its anti-inflammatory effect is similar to some cortisone drugs.

• Chinese thoroughwax (bupleuri fa1catum) – 2-4g, three times daily. This is a steroid’ type anti- inflammatory herb which also protects the adrenal glands and liver (in contrast to the drug forms of steroids).

• Ginger – 1-2g, three times daily, of powdered root, or make a tea from the fresh root, or cook with loz daily.

• Devil’s claw – l-2g of powder three times daily, or this can be bought as tablets. The herb also stimulates the lymphatic system.

• New Zealand green-lipped mussel 350mg three times daily. This is very effective, but sometimes six weeks go by before the initial effect is felt. Hospital trials have indicated 70% improvement in rheumatoid arthritis and 40% in osteo-arthritis with this mussel extract. It is anti-inflammatory and contains mucopolysaccharides, which repair the Gllagen part of cartilage.

• Guaiacum, celery seed, bogbean, wild yam, black cohosh, white poplar, prickly ash bark, willow bark, cramp bark and licorice. These can be bought in various combinations in tablet form.

Licorice is also known to enhance the effect of Chinese thorough wax and prevent the breakdown of adrenal hormones.

• Yucca - 2g, or golden seal – 19, three times daily, are potent against proteus etc.

• Flavonoid herbs, which repair the cartilage destroyed by arthritis are: blueberry – 4g powdered berries twice daily; hawthorn berries – 19 powdered berries, three times daily.

A poultice for swollen painful joints: mix two tablespoons mullein + two tablespoons slippery elm + one teaspoon cayenne + one teaspoon lobelia.

• All wheat flour, and everything made from it – bread, pasta, cereal and cakes.

• All frozen and processed foods – cakes, crumpets, cereals, jams, sausages, bacon etc . .Sugar and artificial sweeteners, and everything made from them.

• Coffee, tea, cocoa, alcohol and soft drinks . Added salt and hot spices.

Many arthritics have an inadequate mechanism for metabolising gluten carbohydrates and feel a clogged-up sensation with increased joint-pain. The gluten grains are wheat, oats, barley and rye. Dried peas and beans may have the same effect on some. For people in this category, a simple diet of fish and cottage cheese with small amounts of nuts, seeds, rice, millet and com dishes, along with an abundance of fruit and vegetables is more satisfactory. It is important to listen to your body and eat foods which suit it.