Reduce Inflammation with the Paleo Diet
Reduce Inflammation with the Paleo Diet
Most of us know that inflammation is bad, but few actually realize what inflammation is. Simply, inflammation is the breakdown of the cellular structures in the body. It is the damaging and dying off of our bodily tissues. If this sounds meaningful, it is. While not all inflammation is bad due to its need in normal function of the immune system, prolonged and overbearing amounts of inflammation are problematic.
The Consequences of Inflammation
The consequences of inflammation can be numerous. The most generic way to think about inflammation is that it is aging at a faster pace. I don’t know anyone that wants to age faster than they already do, but that is exactly what happens when you are inflamed. Inflammation promotes damage to the telomeres, the tips of our genetic structures known as chromosomes, that influence our biological versus chronological age. The more inflamed one is, the weaker the stimulus for healing. Aging, and health as a whole, is about building your bodily structures up, repairing and replacing them faster than they are being broken down. Yet, when inflammation is present, cellular structures become inefficient and healing is impaired. If this continues for a prolonged period of time, degeneration becomes pronounced and chronic diseases manifest. Therefore, it is important to keep inflammation to a minimum so that healing can occur and aging progresses slowly.
Standard American Diet Contributes to Inflammation
If you are not familiar with the acronym SAD, it stands for the Standard American Diet. To say that the foods that most people eat is SAD, is an understatement. Food is life. It gives our body most of the things that it needs to function properly. Standard American Diet food in many instances can hardly be called food. Rather, it is a refined amalgamation of food constituents and chemical ingredients. Couple this with an abundance of grains and dairy and you have the perfect mix for an inflammatory storm to occur in the body. Foods that are not as they are found in nature create distress in the body. They are difficult to metabolize and as a result they increase inflammation and promote such problems as abnormal glucose management. In short, if you are eating the Standard American Diet, you are expediting the development of chronic disease by increasing your overall level of inflammation.
Inflammation is Present, Where Do You Start?
So now that you realize you have created an inflammatory environment for yourself, you need a place to start to turn things around. If your lifestyle, particularly your diet, created inflammation, then it can also reduce your inflammation if you make the right selections. Making the right selection to reduce inflammation begins with the Paleo Diet. As previously noted, foods that are refined and denatured contribute to inflammation. In contrast, the Paleo Diet, a diet of real, unrefined, unadulterated foods as would be found in nature and not tampered with by modern man, offer a much different effect on the body. Foods of the Paleo Diet provide key ingredients such as anti-inflammatory fats and antioxidants that limit inflammation at its core. Given the vital nature of food and the necessity to consume it routinely, eating a Paleo Diet is the only real place to start when it comes to controlling inflammation.
Paleo Diet Helps Heal the Damage Associated with Inflammation
The Paleo Diet is one of the best ways to reduce and control inflammation. Yet, what if your inflammation has been present for a long period of time and you have begun to suffer damage associated with this inflammation. This varies from person to person. It may be joint aches and pains, or it may be the onset of chronic disease, for example diabetes. Food is an amazing substance, and due to the inherent healing qualities that food found on the Paleo Diet possesses, it has the ability to not just shut down the inflammatory process, but to also aids in healing some of the damage that might have developed. Based on the observation in my clinic, I would even go as far as to suggest that some chronic conditions can be completely turned around with a lifestyle overhaul centered on modifying dietary habits to match those of the Paleo Diet.
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