Foods that cause vs fight inflammation
Are you suffering from back pain, joint pain or any other inflammation in your body? Do you know that your diet is crucial in any healing process? Avoiding certain foods and taking the right supplements is essential to the healing process.
Our clients visit us for a variety of reasons. We’ve noticed back pain is one of the common complaints. While there are a multitude of therapies available to treat back pain, have you considered that your diet may be slowing you down from healing?
To speed up the healing process, we encourage the following:
- Get moving, follow the proper exercises and treatment that work for you
- Drink plenty of water
- Avoid foods that cause inflammation
- Add foods and supplements to your diet that fight inflammation
- Cleanse regularly; when your body is free of toxins, it’s easier to fight inflammation and heal
Foods that cause inflammation
Try to avoid or limit these foods as much as possible:
- Refined carbohydrates, such as white bread and pastries
- Sugar. Sugar goes by many names so look out for any word ending in “ose,” e.g. fructose or sucrose on ingredient labels.
- Saturated fats. Several studies have shown that saturated fats trigger adipose (fat tissue) inflammation, which is not only an indicator for heart disease but it also worsens arthritis inflammation. Pizza and cheese are the biggest sources of saturated fats in the average American diet, according to the National Cancer Institute
- Trans Fats. Known to trigger systemic inflammation, trans fat can be found in fast foods and other fried products, processed snack foods, frozen breakfast products, cookies, donuts, crackers and most stick margarines. Avoid foods with partially hydrogenated oils in the ingredient labels.
- Gluten. Common allergens like gluten and casein (proteins found in dairy and wheat) may also promote inflammation. For individuals living with arthritis who also have celiac disease (gluten allergy) and dairy intolerance, the inflammatory effect can be even worse.
- Soda and other sugar-sweetened beverages
Foods that fight Inflammation
- Green Leafy Vegetables. Fruits and vegetables are rich in antioxidants that restore cellular health, as well as anti-inflammatory flavonoids.
- Bone Broth. Bone broth contains minerals in forms that your body can easily absorb, and they contain chondroitin sulphates and glucosamine, compounds that reduce inflammation and joint pain.
- Pineapple. Usually, when it’s packaged in supplement form, quercetin is often paired with bromelain, a digestive enzyme that’s one of the benefits of pineapple. After being used for years as part of an anti-inflammatory foods protocol, bromelain is observed to have immune-modulating abilities — that is, it helps regulate the immune response that so often creates unwanted and unnecessary inflammation.
- Beets. Beets have been shown to reduce inflammation, as well as protect against cancer and heart disease, thanks to their hearty helping of fiber, vitamin C and plant pigments called betalains.
- Nuts. Particularly almonds, which are rich in fiber, calcium, and vitamin E, and walnuts, which have high amounts of alpha-linolenic acid, a type of omega-3 fat. All nuts, though, are packed with antioxidants, which can help your body fight off and repair the damage caused by inflammation.
- Olive Oil. 2010 Spanish study found that the Mediterranean diet’s myriad health benefits may be largely due to its liberal use of olive oil, especially the extra-virgin kind. The compound oleocanthal, which gives olive oil its taste, has been shown to have a similar effect as NSAID painkillers in the body.
- Turmeric & Ginger. Turmeric, the ingredient that gives curry its yellow color, works in the body by helping to turn off a NF-kappa B, a protein that regulates the immune system and triggers the process of inflammation, researchers say. Its relative ginger, meanwhile, has been shown to reduce inflammation in the intestines when taken in supplement form.
- Fatty fish like like salmon, mackerel, tuna and sardines, are high in omega-3 fatty acids, which have been shown to help reduce inflammation.
- Fruits such as strawberries, blueberries, cherries, and oranges
References: www.draxe.com