The Surprising Thing That’s Actually Making You Sick, Fat & Tired.
Our crazy lifestyle of high stress, Netflix binges, hours on our devices and crappy food has caused an epidemic of inflammatory diseases.
Chronic inflammation triggers your body's inflammatory response, eventually damaging healthy cells, tissues, and organs and leading to autoimmune diseases, chronic fatigue, heart disease, cancer, obesity, type 2 diabetes, and dementia.
So what is inflammation, and why you need to care about it?
Swollen aching joints, body pain, fatigue, insomnia, depression, constipation, diarrhea, acid reflux, and weight changes are not normal signs of aging. They are all signs of inflammation, and just like a car's check engine light. It's telling you, STOP! Something is wrong and needs your attention.
f your car's check engine came on, would you ignore it and hope it goes away? Pull the fuse and turning off the warning light, just like coffee or pain killers temporarily hide your symptoms?
Ignoring the problem is only going to make it worse. Instead, find out why it's on in the first place.
ACUTE VS CHRONIC INFLAMMATION
Inflammation is actually a critical part of the healing process.
Acute inflammation is the redness, burning, swelling, and pain you feel when you have a sliver, cut or injury. Your immune system is responding by releasing white blood cells to surround and protect the area.
Acute inflammation is what your body uses to fight infections or viruses, like a cold or the flu, as well as speeding up the healing process.
Inflammation becomes chronic when it's turned up too high, for too long, and the immune system keeps pumping out white blood cells and chemical messengers. The body thinks it's under constant attack, and the immune system is in an endless battle.
Chronic inflammation can cause white blood cells to attack nearby healthy tissues and organs, creating disease.
SIGNS OF CHRONIC INFLAMMATION
Chronic inflammation isn't always apparent because you can't see what's going on inside your body. Symptoms like excess abdominal weight, fatigue, mouth sores, skin issues, brain fog, and joint pain may be a sign of deep-seated inflammation.
1. Body pain, aching muscles and joints are commonly caused by systemic inflammation. When the immune system is chronically triggered, it can start to attack tissue and joints, leading to redness, swelling, and pain.
2. Skin rashes, like eczema or psoriasis, are inflammatory skin conditions caused by hypersensitivity of the immune system.
3. Lots of mucus. When inflamed, mucous membranes produce thick phlegm in an attempt to protect your cells. The excess phlegm causes you to need to clear your throat, blow your nose or show up as itchy ears.
4. Low energy, feeling exhausted despite getting a lot of sleep? When you're chronically inflamed, your immune system is always on and ends up having to work overtime. Requiring more cellular energy, leaving you feeling like you are running on empty.
5. Poor digestion like bloating, abdominal pain, constipation, and loose stool are signs of an issue with inflammation in the gut. This is commonly caused by food particles, bacteria and toxins that can "leak" through the intestinal wall into the rest of the body and trigger an immune response.
6. Depression, Anxiety and Memory Problems. Inflammation affects hormones and neurotransmitters in your brain. It drives down the level of serotonin, which can lead to depression or anxiety, and problems with memory.
Inflammation also prevents melatonin from being produced and causes dopamine levels to rise, which contributes to insomnia, anxiety and feeling agitated.
Chronic inflammation increases your risk of serious diseases like cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, autoimmune disease and dementia.
HAD A BLOOD TEST RECENTLY? YOU CAN CHECK FOR THESE MARKERS:
White blood cell (WBC) count: A high white blood cell count shows the immune system is actively fighting off an infection or injury. Multiple high white blood cell counts mean the immune system is in overdrive. Typical Lab result between 4-10 is considered normal, where 5.0-8 would be ideal. (Parsley Health)
High sensitivity c-reactive protein (hs-CRP): a substance produced by the liver in response to inflammation rise when a specific injury or infection occurs. People with elevated hs-CRP levels not only are inflamed but also have the highest risk of cardiovascular disease. A typical lab range for hs-CRP is between 0 and 3.0 mg/L. CRP levels between 1 and 3 mg/l are often signalling a low, yet chronic, level of inflammation. (Research from Harvard)
During a big flare, my CRP was 39, so don't panic. Your doctor will contact you if they are worried about your labs.
Homocysteine is an inflammatory protein that increases with insulin resistance and is a risk factor for heart disease, osteoporosis, Alzheimer's disease and stroke. An optimal value is less than 6.3. (more info)
When your body is stuck in overdrive by chronic inflammation, even ordinarily mild stressors like viral infections, emotional stress or household chemicals can cause the immune system to overreact wildly triggering autoimmune disease and chronic illness.
SO WHAT CAUSES INFLAMMATION?
Anything that causes cellular damage or malfunction can trigger an inflammatory response.
Injury, chronic stress, exposure to toxins, poor nutrition, sugar, hidden food allergens, lack of exercise, smoking, hidden infections, and bacterial imbalances in the gut all can cause cellular damage.
Chronic emotional stress leads to elevated levels of cortisol and increased abdominal fat.
Physical stress can trigger inflammation, like excessive exercise or going without sleep.
Post-viral illnesses are triggered by a reaction to a virus which does not resolve in the normal way but continues in the form of sustained inflammation.
Hormone imbalance such as estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone can alter the level of cortisol and increase inflammation.
Exposure to chemicals, including food additives, pesticides, and environmental pollution, all cause inflammation.
Smoking
Nutritional deficiencies like low levels of vitamin D, vitamin B6, and vitamin B12 lead to cellular damage, either directly or indirectly, and cause inflammation.
Eating inflammatory food like vegetable oils, fried foods, refined carbohydrates, artificial sweeteners, and other artificial food additives.
Sugar drives inflammation—just one sugar-sweetened beverage per day increases in c-reactive protein, insulin resistance, and LDL cholesterol.
Foods that personally trigger a delayed allergy or IgG delayed hypersensitivity reaction.
When Inflammation Becomes Chronic, It's Essential To Get It Under Control To Reduce Your Risk Of Long-Term Damage.
THE GOOD NEWS!
It is possible to get dramatic relief from your symptoms. You have control of tons of diet and lifestyle factors that cause inflammation.
You can reduce inflammation in the body and lower your risk of disease and chronic illness symptoms by making critical changes in these areas.
Eat a variety of anti-inflammatory food high in antioxidants and polyphenols, like olive oil, leafy greens, fatty fish, mushrooms, avocados, berries, turmeric, dark chocolate, and green tea.
Avoid foods that increase inflammation: refined carbohydrates, such as white bread and pastries, fried foods, processed meats, sugar, artificial sweeteners, and other artificial food additives.
Try an elimination diet to discover your hidden food allergies that are adding to inflammation.
Reduce your exposure to chemicals. Choose BPA free food containers and water bottles and use phthalate free skincare products and cosmetics.
Don't smoke, and limit your exposure to second-hand smoke.
Exercising regularly and get plenty of sleep are also essential components of limiting inflammation.
Finally, adopt proper stress management techniques.
