I am on 4mg Pred, 30mg Amitriptyline and 600mg Gabapentin .. should my diet factor in more foods with low stress on the immune system ? TIA

[Capprice]

I am on 4mg Pred, 30mg Amitriptyline and 600mg Gabapentin .. should my diet factor in more foods with low stress on the immune system ? TIA 🤗

[PMRpro Ambassador]

A poor diet will stress your immune system - but beyond that, a lot of the claims are unproven. A widely based, balanced healthy diet with lots of fruit and veg is what you need to look for. There is a lot of gumpf about alkaline diets - the body has a lot of regions and they are at different levels of acidity or alkalinity to do their job properly. The body also maintains the pH of the blood in a narrow range - what you eat doesn't have that much effect and if it shifts too much either way due to illness you can become very ill.

webmd.com/diet/a-z/alkaline....

points out that the so-called alkaline diet requires removing processed foods, cutting down meat and so on, but most people eat too much meat - about 4oz is the recommended amount per day - most people pile meat on their plates, especially when eating out, When did you see someone eating a 4oz steak? Cutting processed foods cuts the salt content and a lot of junk - improving the overall quality.

This

my.clevelandclinic.org/podc...

is a very balanced article about supporting the immune system - but it is less about eat this, eat that and more don't eat this or that and do this or do that. Going for a walk is as good as eating some strange co-called superfood.

[123-go in reply to PMRpro]

Thank you. A very helpful article.

[Capprice in reply to PMRpro]

I have never been a junk food fan (which confused my boys as youngsters .. often questioning why Grandparents had such-and-such to offer while I didn't) 🤭 .. another thing I've lived by is 'waiting' (and listening?) for my body to let me know what it craves (me interpreting as what my body needs)

As we all like to interpret "stuff" to suit us, individually, I needed to pose the question. Really appreciate your advice re: what you eat doesn't have that much effect and if it shifts too much either way due to illness you can become very ill and take on board your encouragement to sustain a healthy relationship between "balanced nutrition, so-called superfoods, staying active" as opposed to following the latest extravagant or intensively publicised promotion. Thank you PMR-Pro

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Capprice]

Funny that - my MIL lived in a granny flat in our house and my daughters needed no pushing to visit her. Grandma had chocolate biscuits ...

[Capprice in reply to PMRpro]

😄