Inflammation is More than a Buzzword
Inflammation? Like when I have a sore throat? Like if I fall down and break my arm? Inflammation is bruises and breaks, sickness and scrapes, right? Yes, but there’s more. What we’re talking about is systemic inflammation. As in, inflammation in the entire system of the body!
My Anti-Inflammatory Journey
About a year and a half ago I became obsessed with the knowledge that the human body is this incredibly complex, inter-connected system. And, I started to experience first-hand how the food on my fork was affecting everything from my skin to digestive distress to muscle aches and pains. After about 90 days of eliminating all potential problem-foods, I started playing with adding some back in. That’s when these symptoms, that I had experienced all along became even more obvious…like I was suddenly Superman and could actually detect my kryptonite. It had been a problem all the time, but with so much inflammation going on it was hard to pinpoint what the culprit really was.
The Good, The Bad and the Ugly: Grains, Fruits and Veggies…and oils…and spices
Here’s the part that’s can be hard to swallow (hee, hee) when it comes to anti-inflammatory foods. They’re not just the Twinkies, MceDee’s and processed junk we all KNOW we shouldn’t be eating. Although, yeah, those most certainly are big ol’ bombs of inflammation just waiting to ‘splode.
This is the tricky part. Many foods that have high nutrients (like awesome vitamins and minerals) can also do harm to your body. And, maybe one type doesn’t particularly harm yours but they might harm mine. It can be an individual reaction.
Here are two main categories of Inflammatory Foods:
- Foods that can damage the gut (grains, nightshades, nuts, seeds, dairy, chocolate, coffee)
- Foods that signal inflammation (vegetable oils, processed foods, grains, legumes, sugar, alcohol)
We’ll dive a bit deeper into this in another post. For now, suffice it to say, that determining what’s “good” and “bad” in the food world is much more complicated than placing it on the Willy Wonka Eggdicator.
Want a downloadable list of inflammatory foods? Head over to the Free Resource Library, join the Flourishing-by-Nourishing community subscription list and get lots of lists, quick-start guides and more!
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