What is an anti-inflammatory diet – and is it for me?

With the holidays right around the corner and the temptation to over-indulge, you can prepare yourself for fighting stress and inflammation with an anti-inflammatory diet. The anti-inflammatory diet does not include a meal plan, counting calories or measuring your food. It does, however, encourage you to put the right foods in your body to ward off disease and be your healthiest self. Eating anti-inflammatory foods has been proven to help athletes recover, boost gut health, cure acne, reduce pain associated with aging and even protect heart health.

What is inflammation?

Cut your finger and it might be a little swollen for a day or so. Get a cold and you’re coughing up mucus for a bit. These reactions are called acute inflammation, and it’s usually a good thing as it’s your immune cells rallying to fight off bacteria that could harm the affected site. However, while acute inflammation is short-lived, chronic inflammation hangs around for months, years or even a lifetime. Instead of fending off bad guys like bacteria or viruses, your immune system spins out of whack, damaging arteries and organs. If left
unchecked, chronic inflammation silently damages the body and can lead to heart disease, dementia, cancer, osteoporosis and depression.

So how can you eat to reduce inflammation?

While it sounds a bit overwhelming, we really do have the power to control and limit inflammation through the foods that we eat. Many studies have shown that certain foods have anti-inflammatory effects and can reduce the risk of illnesses, diseases and other
chronic inflammation symptoms. For example, fresh produce that is high in antioxidants and vitamins have been shown to reduce inflammation, as well as healthy fats like nuts, avocado and olive oil. On the other hand, there are foods that do cause significant inflammation. The body does not know how to digest highly processed foods, pesticides, refined carbs or artificial sweeteners, so it treats these ingredients that are commonly found in the foods we eat as invaders, causing inflammation to rise. The American way of eating is a recipe for chronic inflammation and our bodies are constantly under attack mode because of the “nutrition,” or lack thereof, that we’re giving them.

While it’s technically called a “diet,” this way of life is as simple as eating clean, unprocessed and whole foods, while limiting everything with added sugar or too much processing. Whether your food comes from an animal or the earth — the more natural, the better. The bottom line is that the anti-inflammatory diet is not a “diet” at all, but rather a lifestyle, focusing on simply nourishing your body in the best way possible so it can do its job of keeping you healthy.

Foods to Eat

• Vegetables: Broccoli, kale, brussels sprouts, peppers and mushrooms
• Fruit: Especially deeply colored berries and red
  grapes
• Olive oil, avocados, salmon, mackerel, tuna and nuts
• Spices like turmeric, cinnamon, ginger and garlic
• Green tea and dark chocolate

Foods to Avoid

• Foods and beverages high in sugar and artificial sweeteners (like soda)
• Red or processed meat (like lunch meats)
• Processed white pasta/bread, pastries, etc.
• Milk and dairy products
• Fried foods
• Excessive alcohol