Fighting Inflammation---A Problem We All Share

Fighting Inflammation---a problem we all share

Inflammation, I’ve found, is a big part of my problems related to autoimmune diseases.  But it just doesn’t end there.  According to an article in Nature Medicine, “Inflammation plays a key role in many diseases, some of which are becoming more common and severe. Chronic inflammatory diseases contribute to more than half of deaths worldwide.” (Furman D, Campisi J, Verdin E, Carrera-Bastos P, Targ S, Franceschi C, Ferrucci L, Gilroy DW, Fasano A, Miller GW, Miller AH, Mantovani A, Weyand CM, Barzilai N, Goronzy JJ, Rando TA, Effros RB, Lucia A, Kleinstreuer N, Slavich GM. Chronic inflammation in the etiology of disease across the life span. Nat Med. 2019 Dec;25(12):1822-1832. doi: 10.1038/s41591-019-0675-0. Epub 2019 Dec 5. PMID: 31806905; PMCID: PMC7147972.)

t has been linked to autoimmune disease, rheumatoid arthritis, heart disease, metabolic disorders like type-2 diabetes, high blood pressure, lung diseases like asthma, IBD and even depression!

So, it is becoming a big problem in everyone’s life.  Why are we all having these problems and why are inflammatory diseases becoming such a big problem?  Could it be our diets causing all the headache?  Many people believe so.  Our foods and food choices have become too processed.  “If it doesn’t look like it did originally, it’s probably inflammatory,” states Artemis Morris and Molly Rositer, authors of The Anti-Inflammation Diet for Dummies.

The book lists herbs and spices that are anti-inflammatory and should be added to your diet if you are seeking to calm down the inflammation.  They include the top five; Cayenne pepper (for cleaning the arteries), Cumin (to flush toxins), Garlic (high in sulfur content and containing anti-inflammatory properties), Ginger (helps ease inflammation of the joints) and the top-rated one…Turmeric (helps arthritis, tendonitis and some auto-immune disorders), and we have heard about this spice in the news quite a bit.  Other helpful herbs and spices include Black pepper, Cinnamon, Rosemary, Basil, Cardamom, Chives, Cilantro, Cloves and Parsley.  It’s recommended to add ½ to 1 teaspoon to your foods of the chosen spice dried per day, and two times that amount if using fresh ingredients.  This is to get therapeutic effects. 

What’s a good diet?  Fresh vegetables and salads, fish, seeds and nuts, coconut milk, organic eggs, organic meats sparingly, and dark chocolate occasionally.  For sweets, use only raw and natural in moderation and these include raw honey (which promotes digestion), real maple syrup, agave nectar and stevia.

There’s no doubt I need to clean up my diet.  It is hard, but something I want to try to see if it improves my health concerns.  And I want to investigate Turmeric.  Thursday I will post a bit more on that spice and see more of what it has to offer.