I've read several of the books on inflammation diets, and there are a number of variables that go into how inflammatory foods can be, and there's also some significant disagreement on which of those factors is more important - and as a result which foods are inflammatory and to what degree (and which foods are so nutritious that they shouldn't be avoided even though they may contribute to inflammation).
The important thing to remember though is that it's not possible or desireable to avoid all foods that can contribute to inflammation. The overall level of inflammatory foods is more important than the inflammatory properties of any one food.
You can't (and wouldn't want to) pick only noninflammatory foods - rather you want to eat more non-inflammatory foods than flammatory ones.
As I understand it, there are two main contributors to the inflammatory nature of red meats (yes chicken is less inflammatory, and fish even more so) and that is fat content (leaner cuts are less inflammatory) and Omega 3 levels (grass-fed beef is less inflammatory than grain-fed beef. Or you can shift the balance by taking an Omega 3 supplement (such as fish oil or flaxseed).
Grains are also inflammatory (especially gluten grains).
Obviously avoiding meat and grains would leave you very little to eat.
I have found that for me, a low-grain diet and a fish-oil supplement (3000 mg daily in three 1000mg doses) provides more dramatic relief of my fibromyalgia and arthritis (osteoarthritis and possibly rheumatoic), and autoimmune syptoms than any other diet I've tried (even vegetarian - though I've never tried vegan).
I usually can't afford grass-fed beef, so I take a rather high dose of Omega 3 (One prevailing theory is that it's not the amount of other types of fatty acids, it's the proportion that matters. So if you can boost your Omega 3 intake, you can change the balance to a more healthy one.
It may be more important to add anti-inflammatory foods than to entirely avoid inflammatory ones. Most vegetables and many fruits (sugar is inflammatory) are anti-inflammatory so the more veggies you eat, the
better.
Back to sugar - one of the inflammatory factors is glycemic index/load. So in general, the lower the GI/GL the less inflammatory a food. This is one of the reasons that even when eating a lot of meat, low-carb dieters often find relief in the symptoms their inflammatory conditions (like arthritis and other autoimmune issues). Feeling less pain is a significant indictation that you've probably reduced the level of inflammation.
Sodium intake and water-retention also can be related to inflammation.
Reading the inflammation research and diet books can at first be more confusing than helpful. I think because, at least in my case, I was expecting a list of foods to avoid - and it doesn't really work well like that (because it seems the list of what you can eat is shorter than the list of what you can). What turned the tide for me was a book (and I can't even remember which one) that stated outright that avoiding all inflammatory foods is impossible and not beneficial at all, because it results in a very unbalanced diet. You have to strive for an overall level of more anti-inflammatory than not.
An analogy is money budgeting. To save money, you could say "I will never buy anything - I will never use or take anything that isn't free."
Could work, but it really limits your options.
You could say "I will never buy anything that costs more than ___ (be that blank is $10 or $500".
But a better strategy is to say "I will endeavor to choose the best value - spending as little as I can to receive the value I want."
You don't have to become vegetarian (in fact, it might not help if you're eating vegetarian, but inflammatory foods), but you do have to pick foods with the most bang for the buck (or maybe a better way to think of it in inflammation - the least bang for the buck).
For example, in a stir fry - a small amount of meat, and a large quantitiy of vegetables, with some of the anti-inflammatory spices, stir-fried in a healthy anti-inflammatory oil.
I know it sounds complicated, but if you check out a few of the inflammation diet books from the library I think you'll get a sense for anti-inflammatory ways to eat (especially if you look at the recipes, and try not to get too bogged down by how each book asks you to "calculate" the degree to which foods are inflammatory (some are rather complicated, unnecessarily complicated in my opinion).
I think quantifying the inflammatory properties of indiviual foods is less important than understanding general guidelines. "Eat more of this, and less of that."
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I'm just frustrated. Maybe she will tell me chicken is ok at least. I know beef can cause inflammation...darn it...I love my hamburger patties LOL! Sometimes you just feel like you cant win for losing....
I plan to ask this new doc about MSM as I have been hearing lots of good stuff about it ...even for RA. Thanks....will keep you posted 
