Inflammation: A Natural Treatment - Don't Cause It.

Inflammation is a huge issue. On one hand we need it acutely as without it, we won't heal nor will we be able to fight off illnesses.

Chronic inflammation on the other side is not good. When I say chronic inflammation - that means long time in an inflammed state - like a few weeks. In pathology, chronic usually means anything longer than 3 days but in some instances - like chronic bronchitis - it is chronic only after 3 months.

Three months of inflammation is not healthy for the most part. Inflammation is causing cell membranes to bust open and leak out histamine causing further inflammation. Cell membranes get damaged and cannot heal well. Immunity gets hyperactive and begins to react to things it should not react to - ie. autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis. What about asthma? Major inflammatory condition with a major link to inflammatory foods, poor air quality and intolerant foods.

So how does one attempt to limit inflammation? What are natural treatments for inflammation? That is a super long list - Ill try to keep it short.

Limit the intake of inflammatory foods. Huge. Why take ibuprofen or white willow bark if you just keep eating inflammatory causing foods? That makes sense right?

Inflammatory foods are those which have arachidonic acid in them - or omega 6 fatty acids. Those foods are red meats typically as those animals are fed with grains. If you can find grass fed beef or chickens fed with seeds and grass, then the arachidonic acid is much less.

Foods that are by nature - inflammatory:

• red meat
• peanuts
• butter
• corn or canola oil
• safflower oil
• trans fats
• deep fried foods
• farmed fish! big time bad news
• margarine

Instead eat anti-inflammatory foods which actually help stabilize and build healthy cell membranes. These anti-inflammatory foods are high in omega 3 fatty acids and contain no trans fats. What you eat is what makes your cell membranes. If you eat reactive omega 6 acids, then your cell membranes will be reactive. If you eat stable omega 3 acids, then your cell membranes will be stable therefore not leaking out histamine at the drop of a hat.

Food that are by nature - anti-inflammatory:

• olive oil
• ocean fish - wild only!!
  
• cooked onions in olive oil (contain quercetin)
• garlic
• tumeric
• rosemary
• vegetables
• non-citrus fruits
• almonds
• brazil nuts

Other things which are inflammatory:

• stressssss
• little sleep (uh oh...that's me)
  
• poor water intake
• exposure to pesticides, herbicides, heavy metals
• no exericse
• shallow breathing
• too much adipose (high estrogen which is inflammatory)
  
• high sugar diets - (insulin is inflammatory).
• high protein diets (high metabolic demand leaving urea and ammonia)
  

Lifestyle changes to decrease inflammation naturally:

• sleep 8 hours a night
• exercise
• proper weight
  
• deep breathing exercises
• realizing your breathing patterns - breathe!
• relax...try not to react with yelling, hitting, cussing swear words
• eating anti-inflammatory foods like wild fish, vegetables, whole grain brown rice, olive oils
• no fried foods
• limit processed crap foods
• maintain proper hydration with pure filtered water
• eat balanced meals with complex carbs and protein
• perhaps supplement with quality cod liver oil, flax seed oil, quercetin, probiotics, tumeric, cinnamon
  

Don't believe me? How about some research:
"Resolution of acute lung inflammation and injury is an active process, not merely the absence of pro-inflammatory signals. Restoration of homeostasis is coordinated by specific mediators and cellular events. In response to injury and inflammatory stimuli, infiltrating leukocytes and tissue-resident cells interact to generate lipoxins (LXs), bioactive eicosanoids derived from arachidonic acid." PubMed Citation: 16990613

"An hypothesis is presented which argues that repeated acute or chronic psychologically stressful states may cause this inflammatory process...The linkage of inflammation to fat metabolism is apparent since weight loss diminishes the concentration of inflammatory mediators. The linkage of stress to inflammation is all the more apparent since the efferent pathways from the brain in response to fat signals, which results in inflammation to decrease and limit fat cell mass, is the same as the response to psychologic stress, which strengthens the hypothesis presented herein." PubMed: 16781084

"It now appears that, in most obese patients, obesity is associated with a low-grade inflammation of white adipose tissue (WAT) resulting from chronic activation of the innate immune system and which can subsequently lead to insulin resistance, impaired glucose tolerance and even diabetes....In humans, it has been suggested that the improved glucose tolerance observed in the presence of thiazolidinediones or statins is likely related to their anti-inflammatory properties. Thus, it can be considered that obesity corresponds to a sub-clinical inflammatory condition that promotes the production of pro-inflammatory factors involved in the pathogenesis of insulin resistance." PMID: 16613757

"The n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) are found in high proportions in oily fish and fish oils. The n-3 PUFA are structurally and functionally distinct from the n-6 PUFA. Typically, human inflammatory cells contain high proportions of the n-6 PUFA arachidonic acid and low proportions of n-3 PUFA. The significance of this difference is that arachidonic acid is the precursor of 2-series prostaglandins and 4-series leukotrienes, which are highly-active mediators of inflammation. Feeding fish oil results in partial replacement of arachidonic acid in inflammatory cell membranes by EPA. This change leads to decreased production of arachidonic acid-derived mediators. This response alone is a potentially beneficial anti-inflammatory effect of n-3 PUFA."

"Inflammation is part of the normal host response to infection and injury. However, excessive or inappropriate inflammation contributes to a range of acute and chronic human diseases and is characterized by the production of inflammatory cytokines, arachidonic acid-derived eicosanoids (prostaglandins, thromboxanes, leukotrienes, and other oxidized derivatives), other inflammatory agents (e.g., reactive oxygen species), and adhesion molecules. At sufficiently high intakes, long-chain n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), as found in oily fish and fish oils, decrease the production of inflammatory eicosanoids, cytokines, and reactive oxygen species and the expression of adhesion molecules." PubMed Citation: