Quote of the Month
Inflammation is a “hot topic” in medicine. It appears connected to almost every known chronic disease. ~Dr Mark Hyman
Happy Canada Day!
So what exactly is inflammation?
It’s how the body responds to outside threats. This may include things like stress, infection, injury or toxic chemicals.
Our body responds to injury by creating inflammation (as a protective mechanism). For example, if we hurt ourselves in some way it may be hot, swollen, red and we will have limited range of motion. The greek term for inflammation is ‘itis’. This is why we have illnesses labelled as arthritis, tendonitis, colitis, etc….
One thing we need to remember is that inflammation may also be silently present in our body. We may not even know it’s there. We need to learn to listen to our body because it will tell us whether we have inflammation.
Here are 10 signs and symptoms that indicate you have inflammation:
- Allergies…no surprise here!
- The classic “spare tire”
- Fatigue or brain fog
- Gas, bloating, diarrhea, constipation
- Bags under your eyes
- Edema
- Headaches, fever, chills, runny/stuffy nose – yes a cough/cold is a form of inflammation!
- Gum disease
- Joint or Muscle pain
- Skin issues – eczema or psoriasis, acne, red/blotchy skin
There are also foods that cause inflammation in the body. Many of you may already be familiar with these:
- Sugar
- Vegetable-Oils – too many omega-6’s => inflammation
- Fried Foods – they create trans fats
- Refined White Flour, including pasta
- Dairy
- Artificial Sweeteners, additives and preservatives
- Saturated Fats – mainly from factory farmed meat due to their diet and stress
Not to worry though…There are some foods and things you can do that actually fight inflammation. These include:
- eating more vegetables
- getting your omega 3s – wild fish, hemp, chia, flax
- fermented foods like saurkraut, kimchi, kombucha
- spices like garlic, ginger, curcumin, onions
- pineapple – they have some good enzymes
- throwing out the microwave
- supplementing with probiotics, Vitamin D, proteolytic enzymes
- drinking filtered, high pH water (8+)
NOTE: If you have a sensitivity to a food that you’re unaware of, instead of being ‘beneficial’ for you, it will create ‘stress’ and ‘inflammation’ instead!!
Also remember that all disease is due to inflammation AND ‘prolonged’ inflammation in your body leads to disease. Chronic inflammation has even been linked to cancer (Harvard 2014).