Chronic Inflammation 101.
Chronic inflammation is at the root of an estimated 75-90% of all chronic disease.
One major reason for this is the centralization of an ultra processed food supply.
The habitual consumption of harmful foods with little to no actual nutritional value has set the stage for widespread chronic inflammation. (Amongst other issues)
That being said, the word tends to get thrown around recklessly in the Health community.
Using terms like “anti-inflammatory diet” implies that one can manage their inflammation levels by eating a particular set of foods.
This is objectively not true.
You see, a healthy body regulates its own inflammation levels.
When we are metabolically healthy, are ingesting all essential, nutrition, and living a conscious lifestyle, inflammation is not a concern.
For example, after the inflammatory process, a healthy body will use its own storage of anti inflammatory micro nutrients such as B vitamins, vitamin E, glutathione, etc…
That being said, the best “anti-inflammatory” diet is simply eating nutrient dense, real foods.
The specific foods, obviously, vary from person to person, because we all react to different foods differently. (as I said above, it’s safe to assume everybody will react poorly to ultra processed foods.)
so to summarize:
1. Inflammation CAN BE good.
2. Inflammation CAN BE bad.
as usual, blindly following advice from health gurus about inflammation is likely to get most of us nowhere.
Health isn’t about finding the “right” dogma/creed.
It’s about embracing the mystery of your body with the purpose of forming a conscious relationship with it.