Healthy Living: Natural Foods That Fight Inflammation

The quality of our health is not keeping up with our extended lifespans, and that can lead to decades of disease, disability, and dependence. Fortunately, there are simple changes you can make today, no matter your age, to improve your health now and for years to come.

One of the most important of these changes involves addressing the root cause driving much of modern illness: chronic inflammation.

Chronic Inflammation: The Root Of All Illness

Many diseases that rob us of the health and quality of life we deserve — including type 2 diabetes, obesity, Alzheimer’s and dementia, cancer, and heart disease — have been linked to chronic inflammation.

Inflammation is your immune system’s way of protecting you against foreign invaders — including microbes, pollen, and environmental toxins.

Short-term (acute) inflammation that targets legitimate threats — an invading bacteria, for example — is our body’s first line of defense against sickness and disease. Without acute inflammation we’d die.

But when inflammation continues 24/7 — what we refer to as “chronic inflammation” — your health suffers. In addition to increasing your risk for a host of modern maladies, chronic inflammation can produce the following symptoms:

• Stiff, sore joints
• Low- to no-energy
• Brain fog or “senior moments”
• Rapid, uncontrollable weight gain

If any of those symptoms sound familiar, I have good news:

One of the most powerful ways to manage chronic inflammation can be found as close as your local grocery store.

Dr. Frank Hu, professor of nutrition and epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health says, Many experimental studies have shown that components of foods or beverages may have anti-inflammatory effects.”

Eat the right types of foods, and you may be able to reduce your risk of illness and regain control of your health. Feast on pro-inflammatory foods, however, and you’ll be stoking the fires of chronic inflammation.

Try to limit or eliminate these foods:

• Refined carbohydrates like white bread, chips, and pastries

• Fast food meals — if it’s served to you in a bag, don’t eat it

• Soda and other sugar-soaked drinks

• Processed meat like hot dogs and sausages

These unhealthy foods can contribute to chronic inflammation and drive weight gain, itself a risk factor for inflammation.
But just as there are foods that harm, so to are there foods that heal.

 Foods That Fight Inflammation

1. Vegetables

 

How much: You can — and should! — eat as many vegetables as possible; with 4 – 5 daily servings as a bare minimum (one serving amounts to 2 cups salad greens, or ½ cup veggies raw, cooked, or juiced).

Top Choices: Raw veggies like carrots, celery, radishes, and salad greens along with lightly cooked dark leafy greens (kale, spinach, Swiss chard, bok choy) and cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, and Brussels sprouts).

Why it helps: Fresh, organic vegetables are a wonderful source of flavonoids and carotenoids, nutrients with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. Eat as many raw veggies and you’d like (the more the better!) and eat organic whenever possible.

2. Fruits

 

How much: Aim for 2 — 3 servings per day (one serving amounts to 1 medium size piece of fruit, ½ cup chopped fruit, ¼ cup dried fruit).

Top Choices: Tropical fruit like pineapple or mango is fine for a treat, but their high sugar content needs to be considered (especially if you’re worried about your weight). Apples, cherries, peaches, pears, red grapes, pink grapefruits, oranges, nectarines, raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, and strawberries can be eaten daily.

Why it helps: Just like vegetables, fruits are loaded with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory flavonoids and carotenoids. Eat a wide range of colors and buy organic fruits whenever possible.

3. Beans & Legumes

 

How much: 1 – 2 servings per day (one serving amounts to ½ cup cooked beans or legumes).

Top Choices: Black, adzuki, and Anasazi beans, as well as chickpeas, black-eyed peas, and lentils. Eat them soaked and well-cooked or pureed into hummus or bean spreads.

Why it helps: Beans, beans, that wonderful fruit! Beans are a great source of magnesium, potassium, folic acid, and soluble fiber. They’re a low-glycemic-load food so they’ll fill you up without making you fat.

4. Pasta (al dente)

 

How much: 1 – 2 servings per week (one serving amounts to about ½ cup cooked pasta).

Top Choices: Organic pasta, rice noodles, part whole wheat and buckwheat noodles (like Japanese soba or udon), and bean thread noodles.

Why it helps: Pasta cooked al dente (where it’s slightly firm to the bite) has a lower-glycemic-load than fully cooked pasta. Lower-glycemic-load carbohydrates should make up the lion’s share of your carbohydrate intake to help minimize spikes in blood sugar levels.