You may be surprised to learn that inflammation has a role to play in cancer, heart disease, diabetes asthma, Alzheimer’s disease and many more conditions that we have become very familiar hearing about. This may be good or bad news depending on which side of the fence you are sitting on. If you are challenged with any particular condition, then it may be good news because there is something that you can do about it, however, when you see the list below, you may not feel so upbeat, particularly if you are eating a diet heavy in the foods that are understood to cause inflammation in the body.
So, how would you recognise inflammation in your body? Well, you may be familiar with the throbbing
feeling you get after a paper cut or when you’ve sprained a wrist or ankle.
What you are actually experiencing is your body’s immune response, sending the white
blood cells and other molecules, attacking and destroying the cells that are
causing the problem and then cleaning up the debris. This is a completely natural and normal response by your body but sometimes this process
goes a bit haywire.
For example this response can also
happen when you eat foods that cause the body to respond in the same way...As
if under attack by a foreign invader. These inflammatory cells may in
turn attack the healthy parts of your body.
According to Dr. Lilli B Link,www.llinkmd.com, the more time they spend
in circulation perhaps because you are eating to many inflammatory foods or living in a highly stressed state, the more opportunity
to damage your blood vessels and lead to a heart attack, or destroy cartilage
and cause rheumatoid arthritis, or alter DNA and change healthy cells into
cancerous cells.
Yikes!! I find this pretty scary to be honest
and as always, I like to offer people a really helpful solution to these
challenges particularly those faced by people still eating the standard western diet. It can be difficult for people to make too many changes at once, usually resulting in no lasting changes, as overwhelm sets in, so I thought it would be helpful for you to have some idea of foods that are particularly inflammatory to your body and then provide a list of those that have anti inflammatory effects, all ending with one of many smoothie recipes that I have found particularly helpful in reducing my own inflammation.
Foods that are known to cause inflammation in the body
The No 1 culprit is sugar. In 2004, a study that appeared in the journal
Metabolism, was of a group of patients with diabetes who were given a sugar drink and whose blood was tested for inflammation afterwards.
Within one hour of drinking the sugar drink, the level of inflammation rose within each person's body
and the effects lasted 3 hours. While this is only one study, there have been many others conducted since, and there have been similar findings. Now don't panic when I write this, but imagine if you are snacking on sweet foods
throughout the day and not stopping to have a decent meal a few times a day? It is over time that too much sugar and other inflammatory foods will do damage and why we are asked to reduce the amount of sugar we consume. So, the best advice here is to cut it way down and pay particular attention to those hidden sugars, such as the ones found in shop bought breakfast cereals and processed foods. If you're going to have sugar then at least have it in it's obvious form such as a bar of chocolate and not to often.
No 2 is refined grains. Once these
are digested, they are almost the same as the sugar in your body. So, ditch the white bread,
white rice and other foods that are highly refined and that convert to sugar very
quickly. Go for slow release such as wholegrain breads (not just the dyed white bread here) and brown rice, which although takes a lot longer to cook, will not spike your blood sugar levels in the same way and will provide a whole lot more nutrition for you and your family.
No 3 trans fats. I have written an
article on this blog called Fats, the Good, the Bad and the Ugly, but to explain simply,
these trans fats are fats that are created when vegetable oil has been partially
hydrogenated so that they are solid at room temperature. If you really want to keep a fridge full of healthy foods then, ditching the marg is
your best bet, and go for good old butter like granny used to use. You know the one that you can't spread from the fridge unless you take it out beforehand and leave it to thaw a little? This is an excellent change for you to make and one that all the family will thank you for.
No 4 heating foods are also inflammatory
to the body. So, if you can, prepare your food slower you will produce less of a response when ingested. Try not to grill, fry or
roast too often and chose the less inflammatory methods of simmer, steam, or
gently saute food over a medium to low heat. Coconut oil and Rapeseed Oil has a higher flash point so chose these great oils over your olive and sunflower oils. You will be getting the wonderful effects of monounsaturated fatty acids from olive oil by using it as a base for your salad dressings but please stop cooking with it. I am not a big fan of sunflower oil either, but go ahead and at least use it cold if you really want to keep it's nutritional profile in tact and don't use too much of it.
You will also help reduce inflammation in your body by reducing your stress levels. This can be achieved through meditation, yoga, a walk in the park or a taking your shoes off and going for a walk on the beach. I personally have been enjoying this later of late and also grabbing any opportunity to let my feet connect with the earth by walking barefoot at any opportunity I can get, allowing my skin come in contact with the earth. For some of us living in a colder climate, we definitely have less opportunity for this, however, the benefits are really huge. Reconnect with the earth and watch your heart rate lower and your breath steady. Bliss!
Foods that have an anti-inflammatory effect
No 1 here are veggies, veggies, veggies....preferably raw too! This is not about saying no to any animal products but if you really are looking to reduce the inflammation in your body, then up your veggie intake..This is another great reason why having your daily green smoothie is a brilliant idea! Veggie sprouts are excellent too. You can now buy ready made sprouts such as broccoli, alfalfa, radish, mung in a lot of supermarkets nowadays. These are such powerhouses of nutrition that you will definitely want to have them on your plate and in your lunch boxes.
No 2 are fruits. We all know about the benefits of eating fruit. There are only second on the list because there are some that are really sweet, such as dates, bananas, but mixed berries such as strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and apples are excellent. I just wanted to remind you to keep the fruit bowl full of goodies.
No 3 are the incredible anti inflammatory omega 3 fatty acids. I know fish is heavily promoted and it certainly does contain these fatty acids however, I would like to point out that there are a number of vegan options such as nuts, like walnuts and seeds like hemp, flax and chia that are also excellent alternatives. Don't forget those algae like marine phytoplankton either! You can find these in your local health food store and can all be added to your daily super food smoothie. Another delicious way to start you on your superfood journey.
No 4 are herbs and spices. In Ireland, we have a tendency to lean towards quite a plain diet and we don't really experiment with herbs and spices. However, we could learn a lot from the Middle Eastern and Indian diets here and look at their use herbs and spices in many different recipes. I have begun to add cinnamon to both my breakfast, if I am having a porridge morning, and to my cacao in the evening. It is not only good for your immune system, but also has many anti-oxidant properties. Or, why not try spices like turmeric, ginger and hot chilly peppers and cayenne. If you could begin to add these into your daily diet, then you will be exposing yourself to their incredible anti-inflammatory effects and you health can only benefit from their many different healing properties.
And now, for a small recipe that I play around with a lot. Personally, I do not make it very sweet, but if you like you can add some sweetener to it. I suggest some raw honey, agave, stevia, xylitol or other such.
1/2 cucumber
2/3 sticks of celery
Half head of romaine/cos lettuce
1 tsp cinnamon
A good chunk of ginger
1 - 2 cups water (or more if you prefer it more liquid)
Tablespoon of vegan protein powder
1 pear
1-2 cups of frozen mixed berries
1/4 avocado (adds a lot of creaminess)
Blend it all together in a blender and change the taste accordingly to suit your own taste buds.
There are lots of interesting ideas on the Internet about inflammation and foods that help reduce it in the body, but I make these green smoothies (that won't turn out green because of the berries) with ingredients that I have in my cupboard most of the time.
I hope you like it and find it helpful.
Best wishes,
Ruth.
No comments:
Post a Comment