With the Bishop Auckland Food Festival coming up soon, spare a thought for those with food intolerances. This article by Richard Hartnell may contain nuts...
‘You are what you eat’, so the saying goes. That must make me slightly nutty…
Two years ago, I stumbled across a life changing discovery. Having been diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder including dairy allergy at a younger age, I knew only too well that there is a strong connection between food and health. For years though I accepted my worsening joint pains as an inherited legacy of arthritis that I’d simply have to put up with. My grandmother, after all, had been practically crippled with the disease.
Fast food
Having run a busy creative agency for most of my working life, my diet frequently revolved around grabbing fast food on the road – satiating my appetite with convenience foods such as crisps, pies, sausage rolls, sandwiches and pastries purchased from petrol stations on route to and from events.
Was it any wonder that in some distant future I’d succumb to being a victim of ultra processed food?
One day I woke up and found that I could barely get out of bed, I was bloated, my hands were swollen and I struggled to dress myself. This situation didn’t happen overnight, it was something that gradually crept up on me over the years, culminating in severe joint stiffness, nagging pain and constant unease during sleep. I managed to limp on for a while with the help of analgesic gels and pain killers but by the time my energy had reached an all-time low, I felt decrepit and borderline depressed. I needed to fight back!
Eat to Beat Arthritis
While turfing through some old boxes several years ago I unearthed Eat to Beat Arthritis, a past gift from a well-meaning friend. Written in 2001 by Marguerite Patten, a prominent food writer and television presenter, the book prescribed a diet involving offal and abstention from various grains, including bread. It knocked potatoes on the head, increasing fish, fruit, nuts, more nuts and vegetables instead. When I originally received the book, it came across as some kind of torture regime.
In 2024 desperate for a cure, I thought I’d revisit Eat to Beat Arthritis. It was to become my new mantra, I followed the prescribed diet precisely. Two weeks later I started to notice a difference and two years down the line I’m a practically a new (old) man.
I still have a few historical arthritis scars but just as Marguerite Patten had described, I experience vastly reduced joint pain, better sleep, freedom from painkillers and returned energy. This has been a revelation!
Concessions
However, I hasten to add, the odd concessions are still permitted. I stray from the path from time to time and sometimes pay the price, but if anything thing sticks it’s the following: avoid ultra processed food, high sugars and gluten – i.e. bread, jam, cakes and pastries, chemicals you don’t find in your kitchen and anything in the nightshade group, which sadly includes potatoes, tomatoes and aubergines.
It’s not easy but believe me it is worth the pain. It probably won’t work for everyone with arthritis but anyone who has it should consider diet as a contributing factor. Nightshades are a well-known culprit but gluten less so. Arthritis pain disrupts normal life and can make even the simplest tasks feel like hard work. I hope my story will help some people to live a more comfortable life.
Challenges
Having added gluten-free to my existing dairy-free diet, I find it more difficult to eat out these days. The gains, however, far outweigh the losses.
I work at the new Artists’ Hub at No.43 in Bishop Auckland Market Place and the other day I discovered Claire’s Gluten Free Bakery, at the top of nearby Fore Bondgate. Claire specialises in gluten free food and practically everything she serves is home baked. You don’t need to be gluten allergic, intolerant or celiac to appreciate her delicious food. I was pleasantly surprised to meet friendly knowledgeable staff with no need to ask whether they had anything gluten or dairy free on offer. The tomatoes, cheese and chips were a different story.
My restored energy levels have helped me to evangelise over the power of creativity (and diet) to enrich and change our lives for the better. At present my Hub colleagues and I are working on getting ready for the forthcoming Bishop Auckland Food Festival which runs this year on 18-19 April and we are encouraging local people and schools to get creative and make food related headwear.
Anyone of any age can enter and there’ll be some prizes for the best (non-shop-bought) silly hats. Anything goes and I’ll eat my hat if my Jammie Dodger headwear fails to impress! (Actually JD’s contain gluten so second thoughts on that one!)
Richard Hartnell is an Artist in Residence at the Artists’ Hub in Bishop Auckland Market Place. He ran a multi-award-winning international creative agency working at the intersection of technology and art, providing experiential communication strategy and campaigns for the third sector and commercial clients. Alongside his personal artistic practice he is Experiential Marketing Adviser to The Auckland Project.
Eat to Beat Arthritis was written by food writer and TV presenter, Marguerite Patten OBE with Biochemist and Nutritionist, Jeanette Ewin Ph.D.
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Richard Hartnell
South West Durham News covering news across County Durham.
