Anti-inflammatory eating for weight loss

How do you know if you have chronic inflammation?

Everyone has some inflammation, it serves you well to prevent injury and illness. You see inflammation happening all the time - a cut on your hand heals up with a scab. A viral infection resolves itself after a few days of feeling cruddy. This is good inflammation that helps to keep you well.

Inflammation unfortunately, has gotten out of control and has become chronic for many people!

When it hangs around over time it can play a role in almost everything that you may suffer from - overweight, digestive upset and headaches in addition to diseases like Diabetes, Alzheimer's and heart disease.  

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Here are some questions to ask yourself?

1. Do you have arthritis or swollen and/or achy joints?

2. Have you been diagnosed with an autoimmune disease (lupus, Hashimoto’s, rheumatoid arthritis)?

3. Do you have irritable bowel syndrome, inflammatory bowel disease or colitis?

4. Are you more than 20 lbs. overweight?

5. Do you have a stressful life?

6. Do you get frequent colds, viruses and/or infections?

7. Do you get chronic skin infections, canker sores or cold sores?

8. Do you get chronic bronchitis or have asthma?

9. Do you have problems such as ADHD, autism, or mood or behavior problems?

10. Do you have high glucose, cholesterol, LDL, triglycerides?

11. Do you have heart disease or diabetes?

12. Do you drink more than 3 glasses of alcohol per week?

13. Do you exercise LESS THAN 30 minutes, 3 times per week?

14. Do you have diarrhea, constipation, acid reflux, gas and/or abdominal pain more than once a week?

15. Do you have trouble with memory or focus?

16. Do you suffer from seasonal or environmental allergies, asthma or eczema?

17. Do you suffer from food allergies or sensitivities or feel bloated or sluggish after eating?

If you answered YES to 5 or more questions you are probably dealing with at least a moderate level of inflammation. If you answered YES to 10 or more questions you may have a high level of inflammation.

Will putting out the fire of inflammation really help you lose weight? 

You can’t always control the impact your environment has on tour body. But you can make choices each and every day to reduce the inflammation that your body is experiencing. My 20+ years of experience helping my clients to lose weight, eliminate their digestive upset and gain energy has shown me over and over that inflammation is at the root of so much of what ails you.

3 choices to get results

Here are 3 choices you can make that will get you on the right track to reduced inflammation, weight loss, and improved overall health. 

1.     Avoid heavily processed foods. The Standard American Diet is not serving us well in the fight against inflammation. Food can be fuel providing important vitamins and minerals for the body to function at its best. But when food is heavily processed it may be depleted of many of those important nutrients. In addition, it may be rich in added sugars and types of fats that increase the inflammatory response in the body. 

Action step: Go through your pantry, fridge, and freezer; get rid of anything in a box that you can't read the ingredients, contains high fructose corn syrup or partially hydrogenated vegetable oil. 

2.     Determine which foods are bad for you. Have you ever thought a specific food wasn’t “agreeing” with you? I'm not talking about food allergies that may quickly lead to a rash, itchy skin, diarrhea or as severe as anyphylaxis. But symptoms that you may be getting day after day - joint or muscle pain, headaches, brain fog or diarrhea. These symptoms may be due to regular exposure to "reactive" foods - foods that your body personally is sensitive too.  

Action Step:  Eliminate a food from your diet that you think may be making you sick. After 2 weeks, reintroduce it one day and see if within 3 days you have any increased symptoms. If you felt better without it and you had a symptom when you ate it again, that food may not be nourishing your body well and it may be creating inflammation.

It can be challenging to determine specific foods that may be creating inflammation for you as each individual is different. Testing, such as the mediator release test (MRT) is available to help find out answers. 

3.     Choose foods that nourish. If you haven’t found any specific foods causing symptoms, you can continue to make choices that will provide highly nourishing foods that are naturally anti-inflammatory. Fruits and vegetables and nourishing fats are some of your best choices.

Action Step: Choose fruits and vegetables that are vibrant in color including blueberries, raspberries, broccoli, spinach and kale. Cruciferous vegetables are also a great choice: cauliflower, cabbage, Brussels sprouts. Include anti-inflammatory fats found in fatty fish including salmon, tuna, mackerel, herring and sardines. Choose virgin olive oil and nuts such as walnuts and almonds.

Reducing inflammation is a great step to help you to lose the weight you have been struggling with.  

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