Anti-Inflammation

Inflammation. It is caused by our immune system attacking anything that it recognizes as foreign. Sometimes our bodies go into overdrive and mistakenly start attacking themselves, something we refer to as auto-immune disease. Reasons for changing our diets to one that includes more anti-inflammatory foods might be more imminently noticeable for people who suffer from auto-immune disease, but the truth is that it would be good for everyone. Did you know that by reducing inflammation in our bodies, we significantly decrease our chances not just for one particular disease, but disease in general!?

To add anti-inflammatory foods is great, and something that would also be great would be to reduce inflammatory foods. Some of the most inflammatory foods are:

Sugar (including carbohydrates)
Dairy
Wheat/grains
Legumes
Commercially-raised meats
Canola and other highly-processed seed oils

On a side note, guess what the paleo diet eliminates? Bingo!

My beautiful sister, J, has been such an inspiration to me, not only in the way she has handled certain health challenges (she was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at age 4), but how she has actively started caring for her body and her health by starting to eat healthier, and has been able to wean herself off of all of her medication except for her insulin. As is the case with many auto-immune diseases like diabetes, one can easily follow the other, and this has been the case with J. She has to deal with something called Sjogren's, which affects the mucous membranes of the body, and most recently has had some concern raised by her doctor about her liver.

J and I both believe in the body's innate ability to heal itself if given the proper support (she has already been able to start taking less insulin since she started eating better), so we decided to see what effects implementing a diet that decreases inflammation in the body will have. Arthritis, lupus, fibromyalgia, asthma, and celiac are all auto-immune diseases that are caused by inflammation, and addressing that root cause can significantly reduce symptoms and pain caused by these disorders. Anti-inflammatory foods can regulate the immune system and impact the way inflammation affects our bodies and our lives.

So here's a list of some anti-inflammatory foods. I always say "I'm not a scientist" and it's true, and it's also true that adding these foods into your diet couldn't hurt (unless you have an allergy). So why not?

Anti-Inflammatory Foods

Avocados
Blueberries and blackberries
Grass-fed/grass-finished beef
Carrots
Kale
Olive oil (please do not cook with it, it breaks down and becomes rancid at high temperatures)
Salmon
Spinach
Turmeric
Ginger
Tomatoes
Nuts
Garlic
Beets (oo especially fermented ones)
Sweet potatoes
Fermented vegetables

This list is by no means exhaustive. For more ideas, take a look at this beautiful and adorable list from thepaleomom.com (who has a fantastic blog about the Auto-Immune Protocol that I highly recommend):

Anyone have good experiences with eliminating inflammatory foods and adding some anti-inflammatory ones? What are some of the changes you noticed? I'd love to hear your stories!