Diet and lifestyle changes can help prevent chronic inflammation
Inflammation is part of the body’s natural healing system that helps fight injury and infection; however, it is not only in response to injury and illness in the body. When you don’t eat healthy food, don’t have enough physical activity, or have too much stress, your body responds by triggering inflammation.
Chronic inflammation can have damaging consequences on your body over the long term. When we talk about inflammation, it doesn’t mean that there is an injury in the body or infection, yet you feel sick, or something is not right in your body, such as gaining weight, fatigue, joint pain, or digestion problems. However, you cannot see the inflammation; it exists and aims to gradually damage your body. Your blood test result comes regular Thus, the quality of food, the quality of sleep, and the level of your physical activeness is all matter in reducing inflammation.
When our immune system is triggered in the absence of injury or infection, it begins to destroy healthy organs, joints, or arteries.
How does chronic inflammation damage our body?
Early signs of inflammations are typically subtle to be detected.
Symptoms include fatigue, foggy mind, body pain, gastrointestinal
complications, and weight gain or loss. If inflammation is left untreated, it will eventually lead to chronic diseases, such as diabetes, heart disease, blood vessel disease, obesity, cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, and other health conditions.
How can we prevent the risk of chronic inflammation?
We can reverse or control the inflammation by following an anti-inflammatory diet and changing or modifying the lifestyle factors contributing to inflammation in the body.
Here are some tips to help reduce inflammation in the body.
1- Avoid foods that promote inflammation in your body, such as refined carbohydrates, such as white bread and pastries, trans fat or deep-fried foods such as French fries, margarine, corn oil and lard, soda, sweeteners, preservatives and additives, red meat (burgers, steaks) and processed meat (hot dogs, sausage).
If you’re looking for a healthy Anti-inflammatory eating plan that closely follows the tenets of anti-inflammatory eating, consider the Mediterranean diet is high in omega three foods, vegetables, fruits, nuts, and whole grains. Include vegetables and fruits that are high in natural antioxidants.
and polyphenols such as blueberries, apples, and leafy greens. Dark leafy greens vegetables such as spinach, Kale, Swiss chard, and collard greens, contain powerful antioxidants, carotenoids, flavonoids, and vitamin C that all help protects against cellular damage.
Blueberries are good source of antioxidants compared to other fruits. Matcha tea is one of the most nutrient-rich green tea that has 17 times more antioxidants than wild blueberries, and seven times more antioxidant than dark chocolate.
Tulsi tea is also another tea loaded with anti-inflammatory
antioxidants and other micronutrients that support heart health and immune function.
Studies have shown nuts reduce inflammation markers and lower
the risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes.
Animal-based omega-3 fat such as fish like wild Alaskan salmon, Tuna and krill oil is an excellent source of protein and healthy fat that help to reduce the inflammation in the body.
Fermented vegetables or traditionally cultured foods such as kefir, natto, kimchee, miso, tempeh, pickles, sauerkraut, olives, and other fermented vegetables optimize your gut flora and affect the functioning of the immune system. They help reseed the beneficial bacteria of your gut and help with inflammation.
Shiitake mushrooms and garlic have anti-inflammatory properties that inhibit inflammation and oxidative stress.
2- Add up anti-inflammatory foods to your diet.
Food is one of the risk factors for chronic conditions; however, at the same time, it is the best health enhancer when you know how to plan your diet.
Shop smarter, eat better food, drink enough water daily, and make the best choice in your diets, such as fresh vegetables and fruits, omega-3 rich food such as salmon, Tuna, walnuts, flax seeds, chia seeds, and olive oil.
Fruit high in antioxidants such as berries, grapes, celery, asparagus, onion, garlic, olive oil, tea, and spices like turmeric, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, rosemary, oregano, and basil.
3- Control your blood sugar
Cut down fast food, limit simple carbohydrates such as white sugar, white, four, rice and high fructose foods such as pasta and corn syrup. Instead, build your meal plan based on grass-fed lean protein, high fiber whole food, and whole grains such as whole wheat bread and brown rice.
4- keep a healthy weight
People with extra weights are more vulnerable to inflammation. Losing weight can help reduce inflammation.
5- Exercise regularly
Combination of aerobic and weight or resistance training for 20
minutes four to five times per week. Recently, researchers have found one session of moderate exercise can act as an anti-inflammatory. The studies have suggested effectiveness of regular exercise in managing or suppressing the autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, fibromyalgia, and for more pervasive
conditions, such as obesity.
6- Manage stress
Chronic stress overtime results in failure of homeostasis and leads to various diseases such as atherosclerosis, depression, and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). When you’re stressed out, the cortisol level in the blood spikes. The body goes into the fight-or-flight mode, and the stress hormone cortisol works to suppress nonessential-in-an-emergency functions, like your immune response and digestion.
Your body applies energy and resources to running away, not digesting the last thing you ate, or sending immune-fighting cells to kill a cold virus. The inflammatory response is set up when you’re in that state chronically. Pro-inflammatory cytokines get up-regulated in your system, leading to the stress and inflammatory response cycle adapted in the body.
That means your normal immune function is temporarily shut down.
How can we improve the situation?
We may not be able to change all stressful situations that we
encounter in our daily life, but we can learn to how to manage them using meditation, yoga, guided imagery, or some other method. Other stress
relief techniques include journaling, talking with a friend, walking in the park or forest.
How do we treat chronic inflammation?
We treat the inflammation by addressing the underlying root cause, whether that be autoimmune triggers, stress, food sensitivities, etc., through different functional medicine options such as diet plans, natural supplements, Chinese herbal medicines, and Acupuncture treatment.
