The Anti-Inflammatory Diet
Inflammation is at the root of nearly all modern diseases, including diabetes, obesity, Alzheimer’s disease, autoimmune disease, allergies, depression and accelerated aging.
The key to good lasting health is preventing inflammation.
What is inflammation?
Inflammation is a natural process that helps your body defend itself from harm and then heal and repair itself. For example, when we get stung by a bee, the swelling and pain is the result of blood rushing to the site of the wound with immune fighting cells to protect us from further damage and to heal the sore spot. This is called acute inflammation. The response is supposed to be short and targeted because during the process of defending, some further damage is done to the body before it starts the repair process.
Sometimes however inflammation can become chronic. This is a scary form of inflammation because it's often silent and occurs inside the body without any noticeable symptoms. As a result, it's easily left unchecked causing ongoing damage to the cells.
Certain lifestyle factors can promote inflammation, especially when they occur on a regular basis like a poor diet high in processed foods, sugar and industrial seed oils, high stress, lack of sleep, food intolerances and environmental toxins such as pesticides.
What we choose to eat can either drive this inflammatory process or offset it. Consuming an anti-inflammatory diet not only helps protect against certain diseases, but it also slows the aging process and reduces weight gain by stabilising blood sugar levels and increasing your metabolism.
Top 10 Anti-Inflammatory Foods To Include
- Wild Salmon
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- Cruciferous Veggies (broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower)
- Organic small wild blueberries
- Turmeric
- Ginger
- Garlic
- Green Tea
- Raw cacao
- Grass fed beef
Top 10 Inflammatory Foods To Avoid
- Sugar
- Trans fats
- Refined grains (white flour)
- Omega-6 industrial seed/vegetable oils (corn, cottonseed, safflower, soybean, etc.
- Fried / charred foods
- Processed Meats (salami, hot dogs)
- Artificial sweeteners
- Gluten (If intolerant or sensitive)
- Alcohol
- Soft drinks