It is important to reduce inflammation in the body. This chronic overreaction can be at the heart of many serious illnesses. I have some handy tips and habits to get you started on a healthier pathway.
What is Inflammation?
Inflammation in the body gets a bad rap. But it’s a natural bodily process that helps us fight off injuries and infections. Short-term inflammation is necessary to keep us healthy and is a good thing!
But long-term inflammation is another story. When an inflammatory response is triggered in the body with no infection or injury present, the response is damaging to cells, this, in turn, creates more inflammation and the cycle of chronic inflammation can begin.
The Dangers of Inflammation
When inflammation becomes chronic, signs and symptoms can start to develop.
Chronic inflammation plays an important role in the development of many diseases. Although there may never be such a single path, mounting evidence suggests a common underlying cause of major degenerative diseases.
Harvard Medical
Chronic inflammation increases the risk of chronic illnesses, including heart disease, cancer, diabetes, obesity, Alzheimer’s, and depression.
With such serious repercussions, it stands to reason we should be trying to reduce inflammation as much as possible. So how do you know if you have inflammation that is quietly smoldering away causing unspoken, unknown damage?
Signs you may have Inflammation
Acute Inflammation from a cut or scratch on the hand is easy to see. It will be red and inflamed, possibly hot and tender to the touch. Internal long-term chronic inflammation can go unnoticed until there are some consequences of the condition.
Symptoms
- Body pain
- Fatigue
- Trouble sleeping
- Depression
- Anxiety
- Digestive problems (diarrhea, constipation, acid reflux)
- Frequent infections (temperatures)
- Weight gain /weight loss
- Joint pain
- Skin disorders/rashes
It’s important to get a diagnosis so the source of the inflammation can be determined and eliminated allowing the body to return to its usual balance.
What Causes Inflammation?
There are many things that can stir up inflammation, including:
- Poor diet
- Stress
- Infections
- Autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis or lupus
- Chronic illness
- Toxin exposure
- Lack of sleep
- Hormone imbalance
- Sedentary lifestyle/OR Over-exercising
- Infection of a foreign mass in the body
- Obesity
- Alcohol
- Smoking
3 Ways To reduce Inflammation
Luckily, there’s A LOT you can do to lower inflammation. And all it takes are some simple tweaks to your diet and lifestyle. So read on to learn the three areas you can work on to help tame inflammation and bring you back to your best health.
Diet
Choose to eat an anti-inflammatory diet. A meal plan can be designed for you by booking in with our Nutritionist if you would like assistance. To get you started take a look at this table which outlines the foods to avoid and some food items to increase.
Lifestyle
Lifestyle includes a large group of factors, some are within our control, like the ones shown below. There are some others that are not as well known, as easily identified, or as easy to remove from our environment.
These include;
- pollution in the air
- chemicals in cleaning products
- chemicals in beauty products such as acrylic nails, hair dyes, and make-up.
- micro-plastics in our environment and food chain
- hormones, pesticides, and herbicide residue in our food sources
Given there are so many external environmental lifestyle factors that we can’t control, it makes sense to try and live an anti-inflammatory lifestyle where we can.
Supplements
With so many factors out of our control, there can be a good argument for supplementation. There are four fabulous nutrients for reducing inflammation listed below.
When choosing supplements it’s important to select a reputable company that uses the most bioavailable form of the ingredient.
I strongly recommend Vitables as this is an Australian company. Being manufactured and packed in Australia means they comply with the Therapuatic Goods Administration and GMP standards for maximum safety.
