The most common complaint I’ve received from people since I started my website An Absolute Cure for RLS www.RLcure.com is that I have no right calling my remedy an “absolute” cure.
I’ve debated changing it, but I still believe with every fiber of my being that inflammation is the primary cause of RLS, and if you get rid of your inflammation, you’ll get rid of your RLS.
So, I’m keeping the word ABSOLUTE in the title because technically, it is an ABSOLUTE cure. This is based on the premise that if you change your diet and take the inflammation fighting minerals, herbs and supplements that I recommend (or any ones you choose to take on your own) you WILL eventually become free of your RLS.
The problem is that there is no set way to relieve the inflammation that is causing your discomfort. You can deal with the bulk of the inflammation by taking the recommended supplements and avoiding the obvious harmful foods. The difficulty is finding out which are the harmful foods that are unique to your system.
The plan that I’ve laid out should take care of 80% to 90% of your problem. After that it becomes a very personalized program, as each person has to find out how to deal with the remaining 10-20%.
For some people the remaining irritation may be caused by tomatoes, for others it may be bananas, for many, it may be the medication you’re on.
Finding out what is prolonging your RLS and induces an inflammatory reaction in your body is all part of the great experiment that you must be a part of.
I was tremendously grateful when I pulled out of my RLS horror. The hopelessness I suffered for so long was behind me. To escape the grip of RLS, I took my herbs, vitamins and supplements religiously every day. I was also forced to changed my diet in a huge way.
Still, even a couple years after starting my new regiment, sometimes my legs would flair up. I’d sneak in some chocolate cake and ice cream, or a big plate of pasta, or a bowl of chips and a few diet cokes, and that would often result in some twitching.
It was frustrating, and I would react, but when I settled myself down I realized that yes my legs were twitching, but realistically, my RLS was still 90% better than it was before. This more realistic outlook helped me to deal with these minor incidents.
Still, I couldn’t help wondering why these foods were still causing a bit of twitching? Shouldn’t all the inflammation be gone by now? After a couple years of carefully watching my diet, and continuing my daily intake of inflammation-fighting herbs, minerals and supplements, why were my legs still reacting?
Then one day, while visiting the Self Nutrition Data website, I decided to check out the inflammation rating for two of my breakfast staples, orange juice and peanut butter.
I was surprised to see that both were negatives. Orange Juice was a -25 and my natural peanut butter was -18. I LOVE peanut butter and orange juice. They were an integral part of my happy breakfast.
I did some more research and tried to find another type of juice that had a positive inflammation rating. The good news … and the bad news, is that the answer was carrot juice, with an incredible inflammation rating of +424 per cup!
Carrot juice? My whole life I would cringe whenever someone even mentioned carrot juice (usually it was someone that had just bought their first juicer and was trying to convert me). The idea of someone drinking carrot juice gave me the willies. It was a drink for old hippies and creepy health nuts. Keep away from me you freaks!
But +424. That’s absolutely amazing!! How can I not at least try it out.
So, I bought a bottle of pure carrot juice and when I got home I tried it out.
It wasn’t an exciting experience, but the main thing is, it wasn’t a repulsive experience. It tasted exactly like carrots, but just in a form that I’d never experienced before. Gulping down liquid carrots was a little weird at first, but I’m now used to it, and don’t mind carrot juice at all.
Every day I drink a few ounces at breakfast, lunch and supper. Since I started doing that, my legs and my sleeping have never been better.
At the same time I did the research into the carrot juice, I searched for a replacement for peanut butter. I checked out a lot of websites, and it was unanimous that almonds were the best anti-inflammatory nut.
I like almonds, but not nearly as much as I like peanuts or peanut butter. But for the sake of trying to rid myself of that last bit of inflammation, I was willing to make yet another painful dietary sacrifice, and replaced my morning dose of peanut butter with almond butter. I also include a handful of almonds with my breakfast and supper.
Since removing the negative effect that orange juice and peanut butter were having on my body, and replacing them with the positive effect of carrot juice and almond butter & almonds, I have never felt better, and my RLS is completely gone. Even when I stray from my diet and load up on pizza and diet coke, my legs remain fine.
The formula for success is simple.
Zero Inflammation = Zero RLS.
By following this formula, there is a unique, but absolute solution for every individual. It comes down to you asking yourself “what am I willing to consume to rid my body of inflammation … and what am I willing to give up?”
The Restless Legs Blog (or how I tried to convince Big Pharma that my legs are better) 
james carouba said
Its funny to hear you talking of dreary foods that you unhappily eat for the sake of your health. maybe I’ve been living in California for too long but I love almond butter and carrot juice.
I recently gave up coffee and all sugar (one month ago) and it has helped my RLS a lot. I have reduced my Levodopa by 50%. One week ago I started having serious green juices twice a day (8 ounces of spinach, carrot, ginger, celery, dandelion greens, etc) and I think that is helping also.
I am enjoying your website and blog a lot! Thank you.
Jim
PS my blog talks about the farm that my wife and I bought in Costa Rica 3 years ago. We have coffee, sugar and cacao on the farm and used to consume them all happily. Not any longer!
Sid D Grubbs said
I have been on a CPAP machine for little over 3 yrs,,the last two years I wasn’t sleeping but 5-6 hrs a night. I went to a different sleep lab and learned I have RLS.,I’m right in the middle of trying to find out why I have RLS,,,.25mg of Requp was OK but did nothing,,Last night my doctor doubled it to .50mg,,,I had a terrible night,,,I bought a bottle of carrot juice yesterday,,,it’s rather expensive 8oz $4.00+tax. The Doc says it’s a nerves problem,,but your info inpressed me because my ankles are inflammed,,,I have the kind of RLS that keeps my mind slightly awake,,not enough for me to notice any jerking,,,He says it keeps me from resting fully. My email address is themojoman@yahoo.com Thanks Sid Grubbs
Oaktree said
A lot of nights, I have the same kind of restless legs as Sid D. Grubbs, where I don’t really have the overt creepy-crawly feeling. I just feel like my leg muscles are slightly more tense than than normal. Except at bedtime, when I want to go to sleep, I wouldn’t even notice it, but the level of muscle tension is definitely enough to keep me from relaxing in bed. Even that low a level of symptoms can keep me awake for hours. I’ve never seen or heard anyone else talk about this before Sid’s post, so thanks, Sid. On other nights, I have the classic RLS, with the compulsion to move and the whole bag of symptoms. Not pain, though, or muscle cramps, thank God. Just a really creepy feeling, like I have bugs crawling under my skin. I have PLMS, too, and I have fully awakened myself with rapid leg-kicking movements. What Dave is saying about inflammation as a cause of RLS makes a lot of sense, so I am trying his method, at least as much as I can. I have a heart condition and am on coumadin, so I have to be careful about drug interactions. I think this program is mostly going to be based on food for me, rather than supplements, for that reason. (I hate to disagree with Dave, but some of the supplements do have side effects — sorry to say it!) The inflammation-diet hypothesis explains why some nights are better for me than others, and some nights are worse than others. The level of symptoms could depend on what I ate that day or what I ate for the previous few days. It may take longer to get relief by using almost exclusively diet rather than diet plus a lot of supplements, but that’s okay. I’m just happy to have hope. Even if it takes me a year to do with diet what someone else does in a month with diet plus supplements, any improvement in the forseeable future will be great. I’ve had restless legs for decades, so it’s okay if it takes a few weeks, a few months, or a few years to make a dent in the symptoms. I have faith, because this whole concept makes so much sense, and there is actual evidence for it. Thanks, Dave.
Anne said
Hi All, I find for me caffeine is the worst offender. I drink tea not coffee. And I had noticed a few years back that if I drank too much caffeine during the day I would wake up at night. So I had reduced my caffeine consumption and kept it all before 12pm. I was down to about 3-4 cups of tea a day. But now am finding that I can’t have more than 1 cup of tea no matter how early in the day or it will set off the restless legs at night. I’ve been drinking green smoothies with carrot juice in them and that is helping. I’m off to get the recommended herbs to try it out. Thanks for all this information Dave I really appreciate it.
Dave Hayter said
So if inflammation is the Absolute cure, why is it when my recent blood test revealed a CRP(a marker for inflammation) reading of 0.4, I still get RLS pretty bad?! Love to hear your thoughts on this. Many thanks, great site.
rlsottawa said
Hi Dave Current technologies to determine the degree of inflammation we carry is limited. So, at this point, you’ll have to take my word for it.
There are other tests to determine the levels of inflammation within one’s body, but again, it’s primitive science.
At this point “logic” is the best biomarker. If you eat inflammatory foods (ie: ice cream, potato chips) and your RLS flares up, there’s a reason why.
Hope this helps!