This book isdedicated to my aunt Maria who battles with inflammation every day.
Chapter 1- What Is the Anti-Inflammatory Diet and What Damage Does It Cause?
Inflammationis what happens when the body responds to injury, but sometimes person gets atype of inflammation in the body that causes various illnesses like cancer,heart problems or diabetes. But some people believe inflammation can becountered through an anti-inflammatory diet, which is similar to aMediterranean diet and eating style.
WhatMakes Someone Get Chronic Inflammation in the Body?
Beingoverweight can contribute to there being too much inflammation in the body. Itcauses infection and disease that then causes problems with sugar regulationand so the person gains weight. Then, the body continues on into a pattern thatis hard to stop and even more inflammation occurs. Foods eaten today by manypeople dont help, as a diet of processed food, saturated fat products, friedfoods, refined sugars and trans fats makes even more inflammation to occur inthe body.
Ifyou want to avoid contributing to the process, you have to get rid of thesefoods in your diet. That means you cant eat things like white bread orcrackers, potato chips, fast foods, processed luncheon meats, margarine, highfructose corn syrup, high fat cheese, sugar, and vegetable shortening products.
So,What Can You Eat?
Ifyou want to take on an anti-inflammatory diet to help get rid of this cycle ofinflammation in the body, you have to start eating certain kinds of foods andintroducing certain lifestyle changes. Foods such as omega-3 fatty acids (i.e.fish, walnuts, and flaxseed, etcup) help, along with lean meat, soybeans, tofu,nuts, whole grains, fresh fruits, veggies, legumes, beans, and certain kinds ofherbs or spices like garlic, chili pepper, turmeric, basil, ginger, red pepper,cinnamon, cayenne, oregano, and paprika to help give your foods some flavor.You should also drink green, oolong or white tea and red wine is also ok todrink.
Tofollow the Anti-Inflammatory Diet you need to eat nine servings a day of fruitand veggies, especially those with vitamin A, C, E and beta carotene. Plus oilslike olive and canola are good. Lean meats can include poultry, and certainkinds of seafood like cold water fish like sardines and salmon. Eggs with addedomega 3s are ok, as well as seeds, and avocados. You can also eat darkchocolate for a treat.
Culturesthat are known to eat like this have been studied to show they have lessdisease and inflammation in their bodies. However, some of these diseases arealso due to aging and can bring pain and suffering to people as they get older.Plus, other factors like smoking, drinking excessive alcohol, auto immuneissues or genetics can also play a factor in causing bodily problems likeinflammation.
Benefitsof the Anti-Inflammatory Diet
TheAnti-Inflammatory diet is touted to some degree by the American HeartAssociation since they say you should have a diet rich in these types of foodsto prevent heart disease. It may also help to prevent problems like Alzheimersand cancers. It may also help with lowering bad LDL cholesterol in the body. Inthis diet people should eat half their calories from carbohydrates, about 30percent of their foods should be fats, and about 30 percent of the foods shouldbe proteins. The diet also provides a goodly amount of fiber, with at least 23grams a day in a sample menu, whereas the government guidelines say we shouldget 22 to 34 grams a day.
Thediet also has the advantage of making people not feeling hungry and gives ahigh feeling of being full and satisfied, possibly due to the high amounts offiber.
Thingsto consume to best follow the anti-inflammatory diet
Omega-3fatty acids Comes from things like fish oil, flaxseed powder, raw nuts, andcertain oils like sesame or canola.
Quercetin This ingredient is present in foods like grapes, onion, garlic, apples, andbroccoli.
Resveratrol- This ingredient is present in red wine, which is promoted as drinking a glassor two a day on the anti-inflammatory diet.
Polyphenols This ingredient is found in things like blueberries or blackberries, as wellas cranberries.
Antioxidants This ingredient is found in things like green or red peppers, tomatoes, darkleafy veggies, etcup
Oleicacid This ingredient is what has omega 9 fatty acids. You can find it invirgin olive oil.
Curcumin This is very powerful and is found in turmeric powder, which is a spice.
Alpha-lipoicacid - This is an antioxidant and comes in many kinds of products like meatsand veggies, but you can also take it as a supplement.
SomePossible Challenges That Can Occur with the Anti-Inflammatory Diet
Onething about the Anti-Inflammatory Diet is that it may promote too much salt inthe diet as a sample menu showed an average of more than 3,300 mg of salt,while normal dietary guidelines say we should not have more than about halfthat much every day. Plus, dietary guidelines say we should get more than 4,000mg of potassium a day and a typical daily menu from the anti-inflammatory dietshowed around 1,500 mg a day. However, it is very hard to get enough potassiumin a normal diet, as not many foods provide a lot of it.
Itis someone lacking in calcium as well, with an average daily amount of around800mg, whereas the government guidelines say we should get around 1,300 day,depending on the person, as some women should have even more calcium if she ispregnant or nursing.
VitaminD is also lacking in the anti-inflammatory diet and the daily average menushowed no vitamin D. This is bad as we should be getting around 15 micrograms aday, especially if you live in an area that doesnt get much sunlight.
Allin all, if you want to get rid of inflammation in the body, following this dietcan help you to do that and possibly help you to fight off obesity and certainkinds of illnesses.
Chapter 2- What Are the Symptomsof Food Allergies and the Anti-Inflammation Disease?
Foodallergy is an extremely common problem that affects almost all people at onepoint or the other. Similar sentiments can be said about the common problem offood intolerance. Despite the predominant cases of allergic reaction to foodand food intolerance, research studies have indicated that only about 6 to 8%of children and 3% of adults have medically proven true food allergy andreaction. Indeed in the United States up to 15 million individuals are affectedby the problem of food allergy, this includes 1 in 3 children.