What is Inflammation and What Can You Do About It?

Inflammation is a process in the body that can be both acute or chronic. The body has a natural healing system that involves white blood cells which fight off injury and infection. This is an acute inflammatory response, another type of inflammation can become chronic when the immune system goes into action without an injury. Chronic inflammation has more slow damaging effects which cause conditions like arthritis, coronary artery disease, and diabetes. Autoimmune diseases are also a process of inflammation when the immune system acts as if regular or normal tissues are infected and then cause damage. Rheumatoid arthritis, Lupus, and Hashimotos Thyroiditis are all autoimmune inflammatory conditions.

Signs of chronic inflammation may be vague or subtle. It might start as feeling tired or fatigued but then as inflammation progresses, it begins to affect arteries, organs, and joints. Sometimes inflammation can build up fatty deposits in the arteries. These eventually cause blockage and potentially a heart attack or stroke. There are blood markers for inflammation you can test for like C-reactive protein (CRP) and Homocysteine.

Did you know you can control and even reverse inflammation?

Here are some tips to help:

1. Consume anti-inflammatory foods like fruits, vegetables, and foods that contain omega-3 fatty acids. These include nuts, seeds, salmon, and tuna. Some herbs and spices like like turmeric and garlic also have anti-inflammatory properties. Olive oil and green tea are anti-inflammatory as well.

2. Reduce your intake of inflammatory foods like trans fats, fried foods, processed foods, and high-fat red meat.

3. Limit simple sugars to control blood glucose. White flour, refined sugar, and high fructose corn syrup should all be limited in the diet to reduce inflammation.

4. Participate in regular exercise — both aerobic and resistance.

5. Control your weight. Losing weight helps reduce inflammation.

6. Reduce and manage stress. Chronic stress contributes to inflammation while exercise, yoga, meditation, and adequate sleep help reduce stress levels.

If you feel you may have signs of inflammation, contact FitLife to evaluate blood markers and start a personalized anti-inflammatory plan today!

Diet and Nutrients , Diet and Disease, Blog