Inflammation: What All Modern Diseases Have In Common

Depression, cancer, heart disease, obesity, diabetes, Alzheimer's, allergies, asthma, eczema, acne, chronic fatigue, autoimmune disease, and more are all inflammatory diseases.

That begs the question, what is causing all this rampant inflammation? It’s mostly our food—too many inflammatory foods and not enough anti-inflammatory foods. Our immune system attempts to keep a perfect balance, always on surveillance for danger. A little bit of immune activation is good; but a lot, not so much.

Obesity and chronic disease are inflammatory states, predominantly caused by our modern diet. While there are other causes of inflammation, such as toxins, infections, and stress, food plays the greatest role for most of us.

High levels of sugar and starch are the main drivers of inflammation. Sugar and starch spike blood sugar, which in turn spikes insulin. Insulin has an important role to direct glucose into cells to be used as fuel, but too much insulin can trigger a cascade of harm.

Insulin spikes drive excess sugar and starch to be stored in fat cells called adipocytes in your belly and around your organs. This is not just any fat; it is a super fat that causes metabolic and hormonal chaos. It also produces tons of inflammation, called adipocytokines.

As we ingest more and more sugar and starch (the main calories in our modern diet), we need more and more insulin to overcome the resistance to its effect, much like an alcoholic needs more and more alcohol to get drunk.

More insulin, more fat storage, more inflammation.

Certain fats may be another trigger of inflammation. The sheer volume of processed food has increased our intake of refined oils that contain massive amounts of omega 6 fats. As hunter-gathers, we consumed our omega 6 fats from nuts, seeds, and other plants, not from the gallons of industrially produced, solvent extracted, heat-treated oxidized oils (canola, vegetable, sunflower, peanut, and grapeseed). We have also eliminated most foods containing omega 3 fats (salmon, chia seeds, walnuts, oysters, and flaxseeds). Too many omega 6 fats can inhibit the anti-inflammatory effects of omega 3 fats, resulting in inflammation. The key is balance.

My recommendation is to get your omega 6 fats from whole foods such as nuts and seeds, limit processed food and refined vegetable oils, and make sure you get enough omega 3 fats from small, wild fish. Population studies show that people who get their omega 6 fats from whole foods do better overall.

In addition to too much starch, sugar, and refined oils, the other main drivers of inflammation in our diet are food sensitivities.

We live a gut-busting life, eat a gut-busting diet, and the result is a busted gut. When we subject our guts to enough "busting," in the form of too much processed food, sugar, starch, damaging foods, additives, unnatural chemicals, certain prescriptions, and others, the tight junctions in our gut can become leaky and allow things to cross into our bloodstream that would normally not. What happens when all those food proteins leak across the gut lining and encounter your immune system? Your body produces an immune response and attacks the proteins, which fuel low-grade, chronic inflammation.

The most common foods that create reactions are gluten, dairy, grains, soy, some nuts, and nightshades. Often healing the gut will reduce or eliminate reactions and quell inflammation. This is why an elimination diet (where you eliminate those most common reactors for 30 days and then add them back slowly) is such a powerful tool for anyone with any inflammatory condition.

Use the Power of Anti-inflammatory Foods

While there are many ways food can trigger inflammation, food is also the most powerful source of anti-inflammatory compounds.

Many of the 25,000+ phytochemicals found in plants are powerful anti-inflammatories. The polyphenols in plant foods are among nature's best inflammation-fighting compounds.

Where is the best place to find these compounds? At the end of the rainbow—a rainbow of bright pigments and colors found in plant foods: red, green, yellow, orange, purple, blue, and white. Extra virgin olive oil, for example, contains oleocanthal, which activates the same anti-inflammatory receptors as ibuprofen, without all the side effects.

Spices are another example of anti-inflammatory powerhouses, like turmeric, ginger, and rosemary.

Mushrooms including Shitake, Maitake, Reishi, Chaga, Turkey tail, and Cordyceps contain powerful immune regulating and anti-cancer compounds called polysaccharides.

Foods rich in vitamins and minerals boost immunity and reduce inflammation, especially vitamin C, zinc, selenium, and vitamin D. Vitamin D alone regulates hundreds of genes that affect inflammation and immunity.

So a meal of guavas and parsley (vitamin C), pumpkin seeds and oysters (zinc), Brazil nuts and sardines (selenium), and porcini mushrooms and herring (vitamin D) is an immune-boosting, anti-inflammatory super meal. Not sure what you could make with all those ingredients, but you get the idea!

The best thing you can do for your health is to cut down or cut out inflammatory foods and increase anti-inflammatory foods starting today.

Want to learn MORE about inflammation and how it is potentially affecting you?

Join me next Wednesday May31st at 7pm cst for Inflammation 101

Learn more about the signs and symptoms of inflammation, how chronic inflammation affects our brain, and what the term "inflammaging" means (and how to prevent it!)

Click the link below at the time stated above:

https://us04web.zoom.us/j/74264616588?pwd=U9nPB89wa66d9HTy9DuXRDyYebqWlE.1