Anti-inflammatory Foods: Meaning and Benefits
People often only associate a “diet” with trying to lose weight. While certain types of diets will help with losing body fat, some dietary changes are necessary to help combat other issues people face. Inflammation when you get injured is actually good for us. When you get injured the area will swell and turn red while white blood cells help heal your injury. Inflammation when you aren’t injured can cause a variety of health problems such as heart disease, arthritis, depression, as well as others. Choosing the right foods can help combat chronic inflammation and greatly improve your health long term.
What does an anti-inflammatory diet include?
It is important to know what foods to consume, but also to know what foods to avoid. Avoiding foods such as refined carbohydrates such as white bread, fried foods, and sugary beverages are a great place to start. These are all easily accessible and very normalized in today’s society. While we encourage people to avoid these foods, everything is okay in moderation. Mindfulness is important when selecting foods to structure your meals around. While 1 roll at dinner this week isn’t going to ruin your progress, it is important to not make this a regular occurrence and to try form these positive dietary habits.
Some food you should try to look for are fatty fish, nuts, olive oil, and as always your fruits and veggies. For example, if a normal dinner for you is pasta with some bread and cheese, this could be causing loads of inflammation despite how delicious it is! Maybe try focusing your meals around a fatty fish such as salmon with some vegetables that you enjoy tossed with some olive oil. Fruits can be a great way to satisfy your sweets cravings as well as keeping you hydrated throughout the day. For a dessert, you could use something like a natural peanut butter and some apple slices.
Focusing on diet is a huge aid in fighting inflammation but there are some often overlooked aspects of our lives that are also important. Sleep is hugely important in our recovery as well as combatting inflammation. Keeping stress to a minimum is also beneficial in keeping inflammation down. Exercising regularly is a great way to help manage stress and improve quality of sleep. Exercise has been shown to decrease stress and promotes a more regular sleep schedule.
If you regularly experience symptoms of inflammation such as depression, arthritis, or brain fog, try to implement some of these strategies into your daily life and see what changes you experience. A reduction in inflammation can completely change the way you feel everyday and greatly improve your quality of life.