You may have heard the term “chronic inflammation before. It’s making headlines these days. We’re finding that chronic inflammation can wreak havoc on our health. One way to crisis-proof or reset your health is to incorporate an anti-inflammatory diet.
You’ll hear my bossy voice (just this once) inside this space because I care about you and want to see your health restored.
Eating—is something you do multiple times throughout the day, so make the most of what you put on your plate count, especially if you are sick.
If you’re like most people, after receiving a diagnosis (Lyme, Hashimotos, diabetes), you probably had a Charlie and the Chocolate Factory moment. But, honestly, you probably wanted to find the “golden ticket” back to health compressed in a pill form.
Maybe you were like the impatient Veruca Salt of Charlie’s gang, and you bought bottle after bottle of supplements because you wanted your health back NOW! (minus the Veruca-like foot-stomping and yelling).
And deep down, every time you swallowed those supplements the size of Gobstoppers, you hoped that you found the magic healing protocol.
The silent monster behind chronic diseases and conditions is inflammation. It’s the demon that hinders your healing.
Eventually, you realized that healing your body from chronic inflammation requires a strategic protocol that includes an anti-inflammatory eating plan.
What is Anti-inflammatory Eating?
As a health-wellness coach and Lyme warrior, I get asked this question a lot. An anti-inflammatory eating plan repairs your body from chronic systemic inflammation caused by:
- chronic stress
- poor food choices (refined sugar, high-fructose corn syrup, corn/soy oil)
- illness
- infectious agents
- body care products
- toxic chemicals
- food additives (emulsifiers)
- inadequate sleep
Typically, inflammation is a normal part of your body’s protective response to an invader or injury. Also, inflammation propels your body in recovery mode.
Certain factors like stress, poor food choices, illness, infectious agents, body care products, and chemicals overload your immune system, so the inflammatory response remains on overdrive.
An overworked immune system tends to rebel. As we know, that rebellion manifests itself in chronic inflammation that affects various body systems.
To fortify your immune system, consume nutrient-dense foods, primarily plants fight inflammation. In addition, removing processed foods, sugar, refined grain, and dairy can dramatically improve your health.
Conditions Caused by Chronic Inflammation
Here is a BRIEF list of conditions instigated or evoked by chronic inflammation:
- acne
- allergies
- Arthritis
- Chrohn’s disease
- chronic bursitis
- chronic pain
- diabetes
- diverticulitis
- eczema
- fibromyalgia
- Hashimotos
- Irritable Bowel Syndrome
- high blood pressure
- high cholesterol
- Lyme disease
- migraines
- obesity
- PCOS
Here’s how anti-inflammatory eating lets you put up a good fight for your health.
Discover magazine recently claimed that “there’s strong evidence that diet, in a general sense, can have major effects on got microbes, and therefore, health.”
Food is one of the most potent lifestyle factors that combat inflammation.
Heals Your Gut
Maintaining an anti-inflammatory eating plan profoundly impacts your gut health.
Often an illness, stress, or poor diet “can lead to an increase in the permeability of a person’s intestines, which we call leaky gut.” Your intestine no longer properly absorbs nutrients. As a result, foods, bacteria, toxins leak into your bloodstream—and that’s not where they should be.
When your body isn’t functioning correctly because of Lyme disease or another chronic disease, it can place your immune response on hyper overdrive.
Maintaining gut health keeps inflammation in check.
Boosts Your Immune System
How you fill your plate has a direct effect on your overall health. Change the food on your plate and watch your health and quality of life significantly improve. By making lifestyle and food changes, you can reverse chronic inflammation and boost your immune system.
During these tenuous times, you want to focus on crisis-proofing and boosting your health. One way to do that, you can incorporate an anti-inflammatory meal plan into your eating life.
Immune-strengthening Foods
Anti-inflammatory foods (plant-based), whole grains, and grass-fed meat contain healing properties like antioxidants and phytochemicals.
You’ve heard the saying, “eat the rainbow”? Phytochemicals provide the color palate for plant-based foods.
As you meal plan, think about covering half of your plate with colorful veggies. Then fill the other half with grass-fed animal-based protein or plant-based protein sources.
Several herbs and spices offer anti-inflammatory properties (cilantro, parsley, paprika, turmeric, curcumin, cinnamon, and cumin).
How Long Should You Maintain an Anti-inflammatory
Maintain your eating protocol for as long as it takes to restore your health. Can you have cheat days or binge weekends during your eating protocol? The answer is “a big fat Triple-Scoop Nopecone.” Regaining your health calls for an all-out war on the disease. And food serves as a powerful weapon in your arsenal.
Even though soldiers and doctors take breaks from active duty, they are always ready for battle. So let’s make your body always needs to be battle-ready. This means there’s no time to recover from binges and cheat days.
Get Started With Anti-inflammatory Eating
Your next step is to purge your frig and pantry of processed foods and foods that contain refined sugar. Then can download my Lyme Disease Meal Plan, which is an anti-inflammatory. Of course, that should get you started on the road to immune system recovery.
References
¹https://eds.p.ebscohost.com/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=6&sid=0191a437-142d-4d0c-b171-7643eea0ea94%40sessionmgr102
Note: Other references are hyperlinked.
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