Food and inflammation
Inflammatory response
Inflammation is more than something that happens to your toe when you stub it.
Inflammation does not mean something negative, in fact it is normal and it’s positive because it means you immune system fights an infection or repairs damage. In other words, it switches on when is needed and off when is done. However, inflammation has another side, one that scientist refers to as chronic inflammation, and it is when inflammation does not witch off.
Having chronic inflammation could mean you have an increase inflammatory marker connected to certain cancers, heart, lung, skin, or joint diseases and mental health problems.
Inflammation is a process your body creates. For example, fat cells excrete inflammatory substances, so this means that the more excess weight you have, the more inflamed you are likely to be. Excessive stress and a lack of sleep can cause inflammation too. It is also triggered by other external conditions like pollution and food. Luckily food is also shaping up to be one of the major ways to fight inflammation.
What can we do about it?
Before you go grande on a turmeric latte in Starbucks, it is important to highlight that nutrition science is complicated. This means that simply adding one type food to your diet is not enough. Fighting inflammation is a holistic process, your entire diet and lifestyle play a role in it. This means many things: your drinking habits, exercise levels, your time spent outdoors, your daily stress levels or even where you live matters, as the pollution levels of where you live play a role in inflammation.
In regard to food consumption, adding anti-inflammatory foods to your diet will contribute to reduce inflammation. This means, adding foods that are colourful, aromatic, nutrient dense and calorie-sparse. For instance, fruits and vegetables, whole grains, oily fish and spices like turmeric and ginger.
Additionally, fermented foods can also play a role in fighting inflammation via gut bacteria. Fermented foods are things like sauerkraut, kimchi and kefir.
As mentioned earlier, sleep and stress may also play a significant role in reducing inflammations.
Stress and anxiety may be relieved by doing any kind of aerobic exercise, as doing exercise releases chemicals called endorphins. These endorphins interact with the receptors in your brain that reduce your perception of pain and inflammation. In addition, endorphins also trigger a positive feeling in the body.
