So Why Eat in an Anti-inflammatory Diet?

Now that we’ve discussed what inflammation is and how to eat an anti-inflammatory diet what types of medical situations might it be helpful?

Since many types of medical problems are basically low grade inflammation that can develop into more serious issues eating in an anti-inflammatory way could decrease not only the severity of these issues but also the actual diagnosis.

For example, diabetes starts out as low grade inflammation or insulin resistance (see blog 11/15/09) in the body and progresses to the point where the blood sugars actually go up and diabetes is diagnosed.  A typical progression is to either start with lifestyle changes or have an individual start on medication to help lower their blood sugars.  What if it were possible to reverse the high blood sugars, avoid medication and actually manage the diet so the body does not even register that the person ever had diabetes?  Is that possible? Absolutely!

If someone with high blood sugars follows the anti-inflammatory eating diet along with eating adequate protein, healthy sources of fat and moderate amounts of carbohydrate, the blood sugars can be quite cooperative.  Of course exercise and adequate sleep are helpful as well (see blog 12/6/09).

Anti-inflammatory eating can assist those with high blood pressure, heart disease, cancer and auto-immune diagnoses such as MS and Lupus.  Remember it can be prevention, not prescription!