Food Inflammation is Slowly Killing You
Do you even know what it is, where it came from, or what it's doing?
Inflammation has got a reputation, and not a good one. Us humans use inflammation to heal (woo!) but not all inflammation is the same. Stick with me here…
Imagine you bumped your knee on the chair (no more texting and walking for you) and your knee swells a little bit. The body is sending inflammation to the knee to help protect it and promote healing. That, my friends, is good inflammation. The human body’s immune system creates this response and, without it, us mere mortals wouldn’t be able to fight infections, repair damaged tissues, or regrow arms (wait, disregard last one.. that’s starfish.)
Now imagine you just finished off 3 plates of food at your local fast food joint **not recommended** and you feel like a slug with bubble-guts. That is the body having an inflammatory response to the food it was just given. This kind of inflammation we want to avoid like the bubonic plague. Seriously. Inflammation from poor-quality foods shares common symptoms with the plague such as abdominal pain, chest pain, fatigue, and fever.
Anti-inflammatory diets (aka: eating real, nutrient-dense foods) is the solution to the problem you may not have even know you had. That’s right — not everyone experiences massive symptoms from having inflammation in their system. Sometimes symptoms may seem so mild we think of them as something else altogether.
“My head is killing me! Must be too much coffee.”
“My stomach feels weird. Maybe I’m starting my period soon.”
“My skin is breaking out again. I have got to try a new birth-control.”
What if some of our common everyday health hiccups (figurative hiccups) could disappear simply by putting different foods in our mouth. We already know chronic inflammation can lead to cancer, disease, and rheumatoid arthritis. What if you don’t have any sickness per say, but you know you could be healthier? This works for you too. Inflammation occurs at varying degrees in the human body, typically by the choices we make. Therefore, results may vary on what your levels of inflammation may look like (now AND/or 10+ years from now), but you don’t have to die off just yet.
The goal of an anti-inflammatory diet is to reduce inflammation. WHAT. More crazy news — it works. People who reduce consumption of inflammatory-causing foods and replace those foods with a variety of nutrient-dense plants continue to thrive. More plants in the diet means more antioxidants. Free radicals are molecules that can damage cells, often leading to various diseases. By incorporating more antioxidants into the diet, more free radicals are reduced. Think of antioxidants as little health warriors who are always on your side.
The simple breakdown is this: AVOID refined foods, sugar, processed oils, chemicals, and preservatives. FILL THE VOID with a variety of whole, nutrient-rich foods. ___________________________________________________________________
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