Many of us have heard that eating an anti inflammatory diet is good for our health. But do you know why? And what is up with inflammation? Why does it happen to begin with?

Inflammation happens when something foreign enters the body like a virus or bacteria. Your body tries to isolate the foreign pathogen to keep it from spreading. It does this through an inflammatory process. Inflammation can also happen when your body responds to injury, as when you get a splinter or scrape your knee.

The main thing to note is that the above situations are considered acute inflammation and is your body’s attempts to limit injury to the local area involved and not let the damage spread.

Chronic inflammation is another story. The most common reasons for chronic inflammation are autoimmune disorders, exposure to toxins and chemicals, and, untreated acute inflammation, such as from an infection or injury. Other things that add to inflammation are stress and lack of adequate sleep,

Our diets can also be the cause of chronic inflammation. Some of the main foods that can cause this injury to the body are:

• Refined carbs like white bread and white rice, pastries.
• Fried foods like French fries, and others
• Sugar, sugary drinks
• Red meat and processed meats like sausage and hot dogs
• Margarine and shortening

Food allergies are also contributors to inflammation. So if you know or suspect you may have a food sensitivity try to avoid those foods. I will not go into that here as that is another big topic. Suffice it to say that some of the worst offenders in that area are wheat and dairy.

Because chronic inflammation is implicated in diseases like cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer’s and arthritis, it is something we should try to eliminate.

Eating anti-inflammatory foods is one of the best ways to avoid chronic inflammation. Regularly eating these foods can help prevent some serious health consequences and even help correct some common chronic inflammatory conditions like arthritis, allergies and others.

Some of the best anti inflammatory foods will include:

• Olive oil
• Leafy green vegetables like collards, kale, broccoli, spinach
• Fruits like blueberries, strawberries, apples, citrus like oranges and lemon, pineapple
• Nuts and seeds like walnuts, pecans, almonds, chia, flax
• Fatty fish like salmon, tuna, sardines
• Add spices like turmeric, cinnamon, black pepper and ginger to your cooking
• Garlic
• Green tea

Of course many and varied vegetables contributes to reducing inflammation also. Following a largely plant based diet like the Mediterranean diet can help reduce inflammation. Eat animal foods in limited quantities and drink plenty of good filtered water.

There are also herbal remedies that can help with chronic inflammation, depending on the cause, but starting with diet is essential to begin the process.

If you would like further help with reducing inflammation call for a consultation at: 310-367-1564.