Food choices can fight or promote inflammation. And although reaching for a pill may help quell a headache or arthritic flare-up, they won’t do the job in preventing heart disease, type-2 diabetes, or future flare-ups.
To get those anti-inflammatory benefits, your best bet might be an anti-inflammatory diet.
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Chronic low-grade inflammation is associated with a host of chronic medical conditions including heart disease, type-2 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, and dementia. Plenty of research has shown diet contributes to these illnesses and food is a leading source of inflammation.
By now, you’re likely aware of the culprits: processed foods, refined grains, sugary beverages, trans-fat, processed meat, fast food, and certain cooking oils and margarine.
On the other hand, you probably know that minimally or unprocessed nutrients and antioxidant-rich foods can limit inflammation and reduce the risk of chronic illness.
But how do you translate that information into your life? By keeping these things in mind:
- Focus on building meals using fresh and simple ingredients.
- Make colorful fruits and vegetables prominent in meals and as snacks (leafy greens, tomato, berries, apples, etc.).
- Replace refined “snack foods” with nuts, fruits, seeds, and vegetables.
- Try including fatty fish like salmon or ahi tuna into your meal plan at least two nights per week.
- Select whole-grain versions of bread and pasta over refined “white” options.
- Avoid sugary beverages like soda, sweet tea, “specialty” coffee drinks, etc. Supplement them with sparkling water, carbonated water, unsweetened tea, and coffee.
- Find ways to supplement beans and legumes into meals, on occasion. Legumes like these can be used in burgers, chili, and more.
- Avoid cooking with butter, margarine, soybean, vegetables, or coconut oil. Instead, use olive oil. Using olive oil as salad dressing is also recommended.
- Try to eat as many colors of food (naturally) as possible. Berries, cherries, apples, broccoli, kale, oranges, etc.
- Read ingredient labels carefully and minimize the intake of food with long ingredient lists, and those featuring words like “high fructose corn syrup, sugar, hydrogenated, or any word ending in -ose”
Healthy fats, fruits and vegetables, nuts, seeds, legumes, whole grains, and unprocessed meat should be the centerpieces of the anti-inflammatory diet. These items can reduce inflammation and lower the risk of a host of common chronic illnesses.
This practical guide can help protect your health by silencing systemic inflammation.
Mohan Garikiparithi got his degree in medicine from Osmania University (University of Health Sciences). He practiced clinical medicine for over a decade before he shifted his focus to the field of health communications. During his active practice he served as the head of the Dept. of Microbiology in a diagnostic centre in India. On a three-year communications program in Germany, Mohan developed a keen interest in German Medicine (Homoeopathy), and other alternative systems of medicine. He now advocates treating different medical conditions without the use of traditional drugs. An ardent squash player, Mohan believes in the importance of fitness and wellness.
