The cause of inflammation
Today and in the next Newsletter, we want to explore causes of inflammation, one of the major factors in any chronic or autoimmune disease, any allergy or food intolerance.
The immune system triggers inflammation in reaction to injury or infection. In this regard, it is a healthy part of natural recovery from an illness or injury. But signs of inflammation that do not go away, or develop without a legitimate trigger, signify that the immune system is not working properly. All diseases that we have are caused by inflammation in the body. The causes of chronic inflammation differ from person to person. But research shows that the environment we live in today and therefore the food we eat is a major driver of chronic inflammation. Because of that, we are seeing reactions to food like never before. Reactions to foods can happen for three primary reasons: allergy, intolerance or sensitivity. Allergies involve the immune system and have the most immediate effect. Food intolerances occur when your body is unable to digest or gets irritated by certain foods. Food sensitivities, as opposed to allergies, have a more delayed reaction and you could tolerate maybe small amounts.
So what to do with chronic inflammation?
77% of inflammatory reactions we can control; through changing our diet, our stress levels and our exposure to pollutants. When you cool inflammation it often allows your body to heal itself.
It is also very important to understand that there is always a time lag of months to years between the imbalance in our life and the occurrence of the symptoms: Here, when our body shows symptoms of inflammation.
In the next newsletter, we want to show where inflammation in your body can occur, what inflammatory foods to avoid and how to help your body in dealing with inflammation.
Understanding and then treating inflammation is one of the most important health steps we can undertake.
Anxiety, Depression, Fatigue, Digestive Problems, Arthritis, hormone issues, heart disease, autoimmune disorders, weight loss resistance…they are all caused by inflammation.
The bad news today is:
By the time a health problem is big enough to be diagnosed, inflammation has already caused significant damage. That means that usually from the starting point to the outbreak of a disease it takes about four to ten years.
Inflammation develops in six primary Systems:
Brain and nervous system( brain fog, anxiety, depression, poor memory)
Digestive System (Leaky gut, diarrhea, stomach pain, bloating, heartburn)
Liver, Kidney and Lymphatic System ( Swelling of arms, legs or belly)
Endocrine System (thinning hair, dry skin, anxiety or mood swings, low sex drive)
Musculoskeletal System ( Joint stiffness/pain, muscle pain, fibromyalgia)
Immunsystem (MS, Arthritis, Celiac disease, Hashimoto)
In which of these systems do you experience symptoms?
As we said in the Newsletter before, cooling inflammation is the main key for any disease. Besides stress, lack of exercise and exposure to environmental toxicity, food is the main factor we need to look at in dealing with inflammation.
Depending on the severity of the symptoms you need to avoid all food that can cause inflammation for at least a month and then slowly reintroduce those foods and see how they react in your system.
On the list of foods to avoid is:
All grains, dairy products, sweeteners, inflammatory oils (like corn, soybean, grapeseed, sunflower, vegetable), eggs, nightshade vegetables, and legumes.
That being said, not for every human being these foods cause inflammation, but one doesn’t know unless you left them out for a while and then slowly reintroduce them one by one.
If you want to read more about this topic I highly recommend to read the book: “The Inflammation Spectrum” by Dr. Will Cole.
