Managing Inflammation
Inflammation has a bad reputation but it is a vital part of your body’s healing process.
Inflammation can be your friend - it is how your immune system responds to an injury to your body, like a sprained ankle, an infection from a cut, or triggered as an immune system defence when something foreign enters your body such as plant pollen, a microbe or toxin including pollution and smoke.
The immune system floods the afflicted area with white blood cells to protect the area, which you see and feel in the redness, swelling, heat and pain that occurs. Generally, this process of inflammation is meant to protect your health and is an important part of your healing procedure.
However, sometimes inflammation can be our enemy as the body defends itself with no foreign threat present and inflammation persists and can become chronic, often presenting in irritation, pain and damage to a specific area such as joints, arteries or the gut.
This chronic inflammation affects your daily activities, your health and your quality of life.
Research has shown that many major diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, some cancers, even depression and Alzheimer's, and of course one of the most common inflammations, arthritis, have links to chronic inflammation.
While there are many pharmaceuticals available to reduce the symptoms and ease the discomfort of inflammation, if you wish to explore a more natural way to heal, here are a few non-medicinal suggestions that may also help.
While I don’t have all the answers as to how to heal inflammation naturally, a good place to start is with taking lifestyle-enhancing measures to reduce stress, getting enough quality sleep and including exercise in your day to get your body moving and to maintain a healthy weight.
Add to this an understanding that a powerful way to heal your body is with the food you consume and this opens many new possibilities for increased quality of life.
There are foods that can hurt, and many that can help to fight inflammation in our bodies.
Making the right choices for the most beneficial anti-inflammatory foods can help build and maintain optimal health and reduce your risk of illness. On the flip side, eating foods that aggravate your system will prolong and even accelerate the inflammatory disease process.
The main foods to avoid that can aggravate inflammation are:
Deep-fried foods – such as French fries, chips, potato sticks, foods fried in a batter, donuts, fritters
Refined carbohydrates – baked goods made with bleached white flour, such as breads, rolls and pastries
Refined sugars – sugar-sweetened beverages such as pop, sweetened juices, even some commercial kombuchas have a good amount of added sugar, sugar-laden sweets, candies, commercial baked goods
Artificial trans fats and hydrogenated fats – margarine, shortening, lard
Certain oils – soybean, corn oil
Processed meats – cold cuts, hot dogs, commercial beef burgers
Alcohol in excess
The foods on this list shouldn’t come as a surprise. These are the same food groups that many articles advise to avoid for a myriad of other ailments and diseases. The problem is that many of these foods are included and used extensively in processed packaged foods, so it’s important to read labels!
Foods that help fight inflammation are:
Natural, unprocessed sources of fats – olive oil, coconut oil, flax oil, avocado oil, ghee
Tomatoes
Eggs
Fatty fish – salmon, tuna, sardines
Nuts – walnuts, almonds
Berries – all kinds – strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, blackberries
Fruits – cherries, oranges, apples
Leafy greens – spinach, kale, Swiss chard
Cruciferous veggies - broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, Brussel sprouts
Peppers: colourful bell peppers, chili peppers
Mushrooms
Beans – chickpeas, kidney beans, black beans
Whole grains – quinoa, oatmeal, brown rice
Spices – turmeric, cinnamon, chili powder
Tea – green tea, ginger tea
Chocolate - YES chocolate, as long as it is dark chocolate (70-85%)
Red wine – YES red wine, in moderation - 5 ounces (149 ml)/day
Fruits and veggies, organic and local where possible, are high in natural antioxidants and polyphenols which are bioavailable (easily absorbed by your body), are nutrient-rich, beneficial and have protective components that are found in many plants. The healthy fats and nutrients in nuts make for a quick and inflammatory friendly snack.
As you can see, there are more good foods to eat than the ones to avoid!
That said, each body is unique, so, if any of the recommended foods on this list do not agree with you (sensitivities, allergy, intolerance or you simply dislike the taste or texture), then please find other substitutions or connect directly with me to book a support session.
Ideally, each meal you have should contain a healthy balance of protein, carbs and fat. Studies have shown that following a Mediterranean diet is beneficial to help reduce inflammation for many people. Other studies advise that following a more plant-based diet can have significant benefits to reduce the symptoms and damage of inflammation.
An anti-inflammatory diet should have a meal plan that includes foods with beneficial effects at each meal. There is a sample meal plan here, that was created for a client where inflammation plays a big part in their condition, and is a perfect example of how delicious whole food meals for anti-inflammation can be.
For personal guidance or to create your very own meal plan, please get in touch.
To your good health,
Renata