Do you suffer from aches and pains? Are your joints puffy, bloated or swollen? Do you experience stiffness? If you have any of these symptoms, you could be at risk for chronic inflammation. The good news is, you don’t have to live with the pain. Learn a little about the good and bad sides of inflammation, as well as how to prevent and reduce it through simple nutrition and lifestyle changes.
About Inflammation
A high functioning immune system responds to harmful substances, irritants, infections and injury by becoming inflamed. Inflammation is actually a healthy and normal response that detoxifies and repairs the body. Redness, warmth, swelling, itching and pain are all symptoms that inflammation is doing it’s job by sending antibodies to heal the damaged area and protect the body from further irritation.
Problem
Problems occur when inflammation becomes chronic as a result of being untreated. Most people seek quick relief in pills like Advil, Tylenol or Ibuprofen that mask the pain and prevent healing by disabling the body’s ability to detoxify, repair and protect itself. With additional side effects, these drugs often do more harm than good.
Chronic inflammation not only affects your daily performance, but damages surrounding organs and tissues, contributing to degenerative diseases like arthritis, heart disease, stroke, obesity, cancer, and Alzheimer’s. Chronic inflammation can also result in an increase in LDL (bad) cholesterol. You may be surprised to find out that LDL cholesterol does not increase in response to the number of eggs you eat, but in correlation with the amount of inflammatory foods consumed. Experiment and see for yourself!
Solution
Start healing! Pain is felt for a reason. Don’t ignore it! Get rid of it for good! Get to the root of the problem by making simple nutrition and lifestyle changes! You’ll increase the nutrients in your diet, lower LDL (bad) cholesterol, strengthen immunity, prevent disease and even reduce body fat!
Nutrition
Avoid foods high in refined carbs, and excess omega-6 essential fatty acids, such as refined sugars, grains, grain-fed animal products, legumes, manmade fats, and most alcoholic beverages.
Anti-Inflammatory Foods Green leafy vegetables: kale, collards, spinach, mustard greens, etc. Omega-3 rich wild fish: salmon, mackerel, sardines, tuna, halibut, etc. Herbs and spices: garlic, ginger, curry, chili peppers, rosemary Stinkers: garlic, onions, scallions, leeks, chives, shallots Fermented foods: yogurt, kefir, sauerkraut, etc. Filtered water (helps detoxify the body)
Supplement Support Cod Liver Oil (essential fatty acids) Probiotics (gut health and immunity) Turmeric & Bromelain (joint support)LifestyleAvoid chronic cardio – take long easy walks instead Stress less – chronic stress results in chronic inflammation Sleep more – give your body time to rest, repair and heal itself Get tested – take a C-reactive protein (CRP) test (but don’t get tested if you’ve had a recent injury or illness as the CRP can linger from the acute inflammation)
By Cate Munroe
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