Fashionable or Not – A Visual Guide to Inflammation
Jeffrey likes to call it the LA Uniform, a sea of puffy coats everywhere you look. It seems now a days everyone is on board with this fashion trend. Although “the puffy” is fashionable on the outside, it can actually be a health hazard on the inside.
Another way of looking at it – we know what a sprained ankle looks like or inflammation on the outside of the body but what does inflammation look like on the inside?
Internal inflammation can be silent but deadly. It can develop over many years causing anything from high blood pressure, to atherosclerosis, diabetes, cancer and even Alzheimer’s disease. Many things cause inflammation but one of the primary culprits is high insulin levels stemming from high glucose. Unfortunately blood glucose can be higher than the body optimally likes which can lay dormant for years till it presents itself.
So how do you control internal inflammation? It’s impossible to control all things related to inflammation but here’s 3 ways to start:
- Consider intermittent fasting. No, you don’t need to starve yourself but consider eating within a 12 hour timeframe most days of the week. Additionally, eating just 2 meals a day 1-2 days a week can help your organs rest which can lower all forms of inflammation.
- Decrease snacking. You may have heard “eat 6 small meals a day” but unfortunately that piece of advice has not panned out for helping inflammation or metabolism. When you eat too frequently you stimulate your pancreas to release insulin to digest your food. It can take 3-5 hours for digestion to complete and your body to reset for the next meal. If you “graze” through the day your insulin and glucose never calm down which keeps insulin and thus inflammation elevated.
- Lower carbs and sugars. Significant amounts of research does indicate sugar is the root of all evil – like shards of glass scraping your arteries. We take in far more sugars and carbs than our bodies can handle – from all sources. And since we are much less active than previous generations we are not utilizing extra dietary glucose we take in, resulting in inflammation, and weight gain, besides a host of medical issues.
Increasing intake of omega 3’s (fish oil, flax seed) can be a welcome addition to any anti-inflammatory plan but if your diet is high in sugar it’s like trying to put a small band-aid on a gaping wound. If you want to avoid your insides looking like a terrible ankle sprain consider which of the changes make the most sense to you and your schedule.
The smart fashion is keeping your puffy coat on the outside and minimizing the puff on the side.
