Have you ever sprained your ankle before? You probably never thought that a part of your human skeleton could grow into a huge red hot air balloon, huh? This is a great example of what inflammation does to your body. It’s like red hot flames, burning down your house, destructive embers flying around and catching other structures on fire.
Within those red hot embers are protective and mending mechanisms, which help your body in the short term. The average American walks around daily with chronic inflammation, which is caused by several different factors, the main cause being lifestyle choices. A sedentary lifestyle coupled with our Standard American Diet – aka SAD diet for short. These lifestyle decisions act like gasoline on whatever small kindling fire may be present in your body.
So what do you do when a fire ravages your home? You obviously have to put the fire out first before fixing the structure, correct? Some over the counter options available to us could be anti-inflammatories like Advil or Tylenol. However, long term use of these synthetic options can cause even more harm than good.
There are natural, safer, more longer lasting options available which include: proper diet, nutrition, supplementation, movement exercises, herbs and essential oils.
Here are my top seven strategies for calming the inflammatory fire within:
1. Adopt an Anti-inflammatory Diet: Hippocrates said it best: “Let thy food be thy medicine and thy medicine be thy food!” There are some great online resources for anti-inflammatory diets, you can check out www.DrHyman.com to start. To summarize, add the following amazing plant-based medicinal foods to your diet to help extinguish your inflammatory fire:
• cold water fish like salmon
• nuts and seeds like almonds and walnuts
• plant based fats like avocados and olives
• olive oil is a fantastic supercharged anti-inflammatory fire extinguisher!
• leafy greens such as spinach.
• yummy fruits like tart cherries
2. Avoid the following foods: These foods act like fuel to your inflammatory fire! Avoid these as much as possible:
• Sugar, artificial sweeteners
• cooking oils like corn oil or soybean oil
• trans fats
• animal and dairy products
• processed foods
• alcohol
3. Add some whole food supplementation to your day: The apple today is just not the same as the apple 100 years ago. There is something out there that is called food inflation. Even if we eat super duper healthy, we still may indeed be devoid of vital nutrients and minerals. That is why I recommend a whole food multivitamin and multi-mineral. Essential Fatty Acids taken from plant sources as well as marine sources are one of my favorite supplements when to add when my clients are suffering from inflammation. You can also consider taking extra Vitamin D as well as Vitamin C. Vitamin C especially will help your body rebuild after you put that darn fire out! Consider also supplementing with digestive enzymes and probiotics – a healthy gut will also help to improve your overall inflammatory levels for sure.
4. Spice up your life with some great herbs & essential oils: Adding the following herbs to your cooking will also aid in bringing down your inflammation and help you start to rebuild your beautiful body/home! Consider adding some turmeric, onion, ginger, and garlic to your cooking. It may add some deliciousness to your next lunch and your body and joints will be thanking you for it immensely! Turmeric, Frankincense, Lemongrass and Ginger Essential Oils can also aid in the healing capabilities of your body.
5. Movement: Making sure that you have a balance of rest and exercise in your daily life is key to optimizing circulation within your body. Once adopting an anti-inflammatory diet, taking supplements, herbs and essential oils, movement will actually help circulate these plant-based medicines throughout your body, allowing it to get to the areas where it is needed the most! Our healing properties are located within our blood. In Oriental Medicine we call this vital source Qi. If we can optimize the flow of this healing innate Qi, we can help you and your body to heal much faster! If you are in so much pain that you cannot move very well, consider starting movement with some deep breathing exercises. This on its own, can improve the circulation of your Qi and will help you feel better.
6. Yoga & Stretching: One of the best anti-inflammatory and anti-aging strategies you can adopt is stretching and/or doing yoga on a daily basis. It doesn’t have to be a full one hour class of poses, even ten minutes of daily practice in the morning and/or evening will help you to take a few moments where you can just focus on yourself and how your body feels. Checking in with yourself daily will also allow you to measure how you are feeling on your journey to healing.
7. Hydration: make sure you are getting enough high quality water throughout your day. Depending on your size, you may need 1-2 liters of water daily, and even more if you exercise. Dehydration will only halt your efforts in rebuilding after you quench that fire.
There is so much more I want to share with you, but this is an incredible start. Stay tuned for more recipes, tips and strategies on how to live a life free of pain and inflammation.