How To Naturally Reduce Chronic Inflammation

The poor quality of food you eat on a daily basis can cause unnecessary inflammation in the body, which can become unhealthy. This then places your health at risk, accelerating potential illnesses such as: diabetes, arthritis, heart disease and stroke, dementia, and certain cancers.

The primary factor becomes the type of foods you select to consume every day, and those you choose to avoid, which contributes to this inflammation.

The key is to begin with a diet which contains anti-inflammatory properties.

Acute Or Chronic Inflammation

There are two different types of inflammation that occurs in the body, chronic and acute.

Chronic inflammation is the primary root of most diseases, while acute inflammation can be useful for the body to heal itself.

Once any part of the body becomes injured, it immediately begins to heal itself and inflammation in the area is the natural response.

Acute inflammation becomes necessary to heal a finger that’s bleeding for instance, or inflammation can occur when you bump your head.

This acute inflammation occurs because the white blood cells and their associated chemicals get activated, and do what they need to do to heal the wound.

But if the inflammation remains and becomes chronic, it can potentially lead towards health issues.

What this lingering chronic inflammation does is it will damage, rather than repair the tissues.

Once the inflammation becomes too intense or is prolonged, it’ll begin to promote disease rather than heal.

Chronic Inflammation And Your Lifestyle

If you lead a life based on poor eating habits, then you’re setting yourself up for chronic inflammation, which damages the cells in the body. What a bad diet does is it establishes unneeded irritants.

This will result in damaged arteries, which can lead to dementia, heart disease and tissue inflammation, which is the foundation for rheumatoid arthritis, and diabetes.

This is the reason why chronic inflammation is considered a silent disease.

What may be more alarming is most have traces of chronic inflammation in their body, but are unaware they do so. What needs to be established is how much inflammation you actually have.

Most likely, you won’t even feel its effects, so what you can do is check for certain signals. First find if there are any parts of your body that’s inflamed.

One indicator is the “C reactive protein,” or CRP, which will be high in your blood stream, so it’s recommended you get it checked by your doctor.

Foods Which Can Cause Chronic Inflammation

There are certain “danger” foods which can provoke this inflammation.

According to health experts, the following foods in your diet may be the triggers:

• Saturated fats which are found in fat based dairy products and meat
• Sweets, pastries, hidden and white sugar
• Trans fats which are found in processed and fast food
• Fried foods, refined grains, palm and coconut oils
• Processed meats such as deli meats and hot dogs

Bad Fats And Chronic Inflammation

Trans and saturated fats are constantly maligned as “bad” unhealthy fats, and this for good reason.

What these fats will do is immediately attack and damage the blood vessel walls, which triggers the immune response that’s associated with chronic inflammation.

The chain effect is it encourages blood fats such as cholesterol, to stick to the artery walls, leading to atherosclerosis, which can cause heart disease and stroke, and forms of dementia.

Other fats to avoid are corn and safflower oils, which are known as omega-6 fats, and are also known to promote inflammation.

There’s also a particular omega-6 fat known as arachidonic acid, which is primarily found in meats, that’s responsible for promoting inflammation.

Obesity can also increase the risk of chronic inflammation, because the additional body fat storage houses the unwanted arachidonic acid, which increases the body’s supply of this damaging chemical.

Guidelines For An Anti-Inflammatory Diet

The best methods of reducing chronic inflammation is by following these guidelines.

• Eat Colorful Fruits and Vegetables – It’s strongly recommended you begin consuming high antioxidant rich produce into your diet. Make sure you eat more veggies than fruit. The more phytochemical rich foods you eat, the more you boost the body’s defenses against disease.

• Consume Whole Grains – Certain whole grains are recommended, especially the chewy and non fluffy types, which includes whole grain breads, steel-cut oats, pasta cooked al dente, and brown rice.

• Anti-inflammatory Fats – Include foods rich in omega-3 fats into your daily diet, preferably fatty fish, or foods containing sustainable algae-based omega-3 (DHA), along with olive oil. The fats which are found in fish oil, flaxseed, and nuts are all able to inhibit inflammation. If you want to avoid fish from your diet, then consume foods which are algae-based, or take supplements which contain omega-3.

Adopt Antioxidants

Antioxidants are found to be the key, when it comes to disease prevention, while reducing chronic inflammation.

Extra-virgin olive oil, fruits and vegetables, seeds and nuts, wholesome grains, green tea, spices such as ginger and turmeric, all prevent tissue damage which triggers the inflammatory response.

Other sources of recommended antioxidants, include beta carotene, vitamin C, and hundreds of known phytonutrients, such as flavonoids.

What antioxidants will do is block highly reactive oxygen fragments, known as free radicals.

What free radicals will do is damage the genetic code, cell membranes and reduce protein, which leads to heart disease, dementia, and a lot more.

Adopt A Healthier Lifestyle

There’s no amount of dieting that can help, unless you also improve your lifestyle.

So to complete your newly adopted anti-inflammatory program, try reducing stress, exercise on a daily basis, and reduce toxin exposure such as cigarette smoke and smog.

What your body will then do is reward you back, by lowering your chronic inflammation levels.