The Power of Inflammation
People often think of inflammation in relation to an acute injury, like a sprained ankle, but injury only accounts for a small percentage of inflammation in the body. Toxins, microbes (bacteria, viruses, fungus, parasites), and free radicals (smoking, bad fats) are largely responsible for the majority of inflammation in the body. Initially, inflammation is good, helping the body repair and heal. If left unresolved, inflammation becomes chronic, leading to infections, decreased immunity, autoimmune diseases, leaky gut and depression.
Chronic Inflammation
Most effects of chronic inflammation go hand and hand. If immunity decreases, infections and autoimmune disorders are more likely to occur, leaky gut is more likely to develop, which can lead to depression. This happens because 70% of the immune system is in the gut. That’s right, 70%. If inflammation is going unchecked, your gut is going to become leaky and unhappy, sending a signal to your immune system to be afraid of everything, putting it into overdrive. Neurotransmitters such as dopamine, serotonin, GABA and norepinephrine are also made in the gut, which decrease with leaky gut, potentially causing depression. The overall message is, the gut is very important and chronic inflammation is very bad.
Symptoms
Chronic inflammation causes a lot of unwanted symptoms such as fatigue, brain fog, joint pain, poor sleep, digestive problems, weight gain, depression or anxiety & skin rashes. It becomes a vicious cycle of decreased activity, increasing fatigue and weight gain, leading to insulin resistance and risk for increased blood pressure and heart disease.
Prevention
How do we prevent this from happening? Functional medicine always starts with food. Our job is to protect the gut by eating a healthy diet. Food is medicine. Shopping at the store, should be like shopping at the pharmacy. Put food in your cart because of it’s benefits. Orange foods are anti-inflammatory and protect the heart and lungs. Red & green foods protect the brain, heart and blood vessels and may provide protection against certain types of Cancer. Green foods also help protect the bones and play a role in hormone regulation.
Choices
The better we eat, the more inflammation will decrease and the happier our gut will be. Eliminating gluten and dairy are also great way to help decrease inflammation, as they are two of the biggest triggers. It’s all about choices. What are you willing to give up? What are you willing to change? How good do you want to feel? Don’t stay stuck in bad patterns. Contact me, and together we will develop a plan that will hold you accountable and help you improve your quality of life.
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