Anti-Inflammation Diet

Scientists and doctors now believe that inflammation is the culprit to many illnesses including cancer, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease, heart disease and many auto-immune diseases. Over time, chronic inflammation causes damage to healthy tissue. When the immune system is in constant activation to fight pathogen and and repair damaged tissue, the immune system gets out of balance and mistakenly attacks normal tissue as in autoimmune disease such as type 1 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis and lupus.

So what causes chronic inflammation? Genetic predisposition may be a culprit - but weather that gene gets turned on depends on the individual lifestyle. Chronic stress and lack of exercise (there's no way around it folks, you gotta exercise) can cause inflammation. But what you eat on a daily basis is probably the main contributor to inflammation.

What can you do about it? You can reduce inflammation by avoiding fried, broiled and grilled foods. These cooking methods can overload the body's natural capacity to remove AGEs - a class of toxins you absorb while eating foods prepared like these. These cooking methods have not only been linked to inflammation, but also directly to insulin resistance, diabetes, vascular and kidney disease and Alzheimer's disease. So, cook food in a way that does not form these toxins. Low heat and simmering are better methods for cooking. On a side note, studies have shown that cutting AGEs in the diet of laboratory animals by half has expanded their lifespan.

Let's talk about the actual food you should be eating to reduce inflammation. Here are some tips:

- Get more healthy Omega-3 fats into your daily routine - extra virgin olive oil, salmon, black cod, grounded flax seeds (can sprinkle on cereal, oatmeal, or stir into a rice milk, almond milk etc.), walnuts - Google "food sources of omega-3"

- Avoid regular safflower, sunflower, corn, cottonseed, and vegetable oils. These are high in omega-6 fatty acids which synthesizes hormones that promote inflammation. These oils are in almost all snacks and in fast foods.

- Reduce intake of saturated fat - eat less butter, cream, cheese and other full-fat diary products.

- Avoid margarine, shortening, partially hydrogenated oils (in almost every processed food, crackers, cakes, cookies etc)

- Include avocados and a variety of nuts - walnuts, almonds, pecans, cashews.

- Avoid white refined foods

- Avoid highly processed foods

- Eat more protein from vegetables - beans, legumes, lentils, peas etc. - eat less animal based protein including dairy - especially if it's not fat free.

- Eat at least 40 grams of fiber per day. Eat more fruit - especially berries, and vegetables - especially beans.

- Read labels - buy packaged foods with at least 4 grams of fiber per serving

- Choose organic whenever possible

- Eat various colors of fruits and vegetables

- Eat crusiferous vegetables often (broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage)

- Drink white or green tea regularly

- Supplement your diet with a high potency, high quality vitamin. Sorry, Centrum doesn't quite qualify.

- Anti-inflammatory supplements include: turmeric, ginger, CoQ10, alpha-lipoic acid

- Drink 6-8 glasses of pure, clean water a day.

- Stay away from soft drinks of any kind