What is inflammation?
Have you ever bumped your head, felt pain and saw any redness or swelling? That’s inflammation. It shows that your immune system is reporting for duty and doing its job.
Normal inflammation comes and goes, when necessary, and is a sign of a well-balanced immune system. But when symptoms of inflammation don’t recede and your body is continually in “high alert” mode, this is called chronic inflammation.
As seen by the increasing rates of allergies, obesity, IBS, chronic pain and other inflammation-induced diseases, many people are becoming vulnerable to chronic inflammation.
What causes inflammation?
Chronic inflammation may be caused by poor dietary habits, lack of exercise, high stress and the many environmental toxins of today’s world.
Refined sugar, coffee, tobacco, alcohol, wheat and low-quality dairy are some of the most prominent inflammatory foods. Large amounts of processed junk foods, like chips, greasy French Fries and soda, also contribute to inflammation.
Polyunsaturated vegetable oils like safflower, sunflower, corn, peanut and soy also have a pro-inflammatory influence in your body.
Do you know that chronic stress can also do your body harm? Dealing with continual stress takes a toll on your immune system, nervous system and adrenals. Stress, painful emotions and internalizing thoughts can manifest physically with symptoms of inflammation. Have you noticed when you’re under stress your skin breaks out or your digestive system becomes imbalanced?
We are also exposed to an array of toxic chemicals every day; whether we are walking around a city, cleaning our home or drinking unfiltered water. This barrage of pollutants in our environment stresses our immune system and contributes to inflammation in our body.
How do you treat inflammation?
There are simple changes you can make to your diet and daily lifestyle that will have a significant impact on reducing inflammation in your body.
- Eat a well-balanced diet of whole, fresh organic foods. Make sure you are receiving an adequate amount of vegetables, high-quality protein and dairy, fruit, whole grains and healthy fats and oils. Real food is very alkalizing to your body, which may help reduce inflammation.
- Skip the processed foods. Processed and refined sugar, junk food and pre-packaged meals have ingredients, chemicals and toxins that create an inflammatory response in your body. Many of these processed foods are nutrient deficient and disrupt your digestive system as well.
- Reduce your intake of alcohol, coffee and caffeine (and completely eliminate soda!) These common beverages are highly acidic and contribute to inflammation in your body.
- Avoid environmental toxins (cigarette smoke, pesticides, conventional cleaning products) The best way to minimize this toxic exposure is to buy eco-friendly and natural products. You can check the toxicity rankings of cosmetics and cleaning products at ewg.org.
- Drink filtered water. We talked all about filtered water in our last blog. Keeping your body hydrated and avoiding common toxins found in our water system will help reduce the amount of inflammation in your body.
- Fermented Cod Liver Oil. FCLO supports our body’s natural inflammatory response function and a healthy immune system. Increasing Omega-3 fatty acids may reduce inflammatory pathways in your body.