Inflammation & Nutrition

Before we can even define what an inflammatory food source is, let’s briefly discuss what inflammation itself is. We hear a lot about inflammation being linked to disease and ill health so what is it all about? First of all, inflammation or indeed our body’s inflammatory response is a natural response to injury and illness. It’s a long-evolved mechanism and, in the right time and place, can keep us alive. This is where you experience sensations like heat, pain, swelling, redness etc. These responses are acute and are perfectly normal and healthy in response to a direct blow or burn etc. 

However, chronic and sustained levels of inflammation are linked to increasing your chances of developing (or exacerbating) a number of the most prevalent diseases in our society. These diseases include: 

• Diabetes
• Inflammatory bowel disease
• Heart disease
• Rheumatoid arthritis
• Certain types of cancer
• Auto-immune diseases 
• Allergies
• Asthma

Other stressors can lead to inflammation in the body, these include psychological stress, environmental pollutants (chemicals, mould, pollution) and lack of sleep. Due to the multitude of causes and consequences, I recommend that you establish what you might consider an ‘inflammation consciousness’ as an auxiliary constant alongside your health and fitness goals. In this, I mean thinking about and taking steps to manage factors in your life that may lead to inflammation if unaddressed. 

Common inflammatory foods

With regards to food, there are a variety of ‘common offenders’ that may not be inherently inflammatory and would be best avoided or limited as much as feasible.

These foods include: 

1. Refined sugar (+ high fructose corn syrup more prevalent in the Americas): Refined sugar is, in my estimation, the single biggest threat to health from a dietary perspective. In excess, not only is it a risk to health but the body's blood sugar response, it is also going to make you far more likely to accumulate body fat. Foods that contain refined sugar include (but are not limited to): candy, chocolate, soft drinks, cakes, cookies, doughnuts, sweet pastries, and certain cereals.
2. Fructose (the sugar found in fruits): This can also be harmful in excessive doses. In fact, studies have linked fructose to insulin resistance, diabetes, fatty liver disease, cancer, and chronic kidney disease. Pardon the pun for a moment but when it comes to fruit in your diet you’ll want to make sure the juice is worth the squeeze. Many fruits have excellent health properties and have their place in a balanced diet, Moderation is key, one quick tip is to resolve never to drink fruit juice, always eat whole fruits, because the fibre in the fruit will flatten the glycemic response (the rate at which glucose enters the bloodstream). Without this fibre, you will be introducing a lot of fructose into your body rather quickly. 
3. Gluten & Dairy: By default, the first 30 days of your meal plan is going to be both gluten and dairy-free. This is because I’ve observed that, even in the absence of a confirmed intolerance or allergy, many people observe noticeable health benefits from removing these foods from their diet. These benefits have included

• Better digestion
• Clearer thinking
• Clearer skin
• More energy
• Reduction in bloating 
• A loss of water retention
• A reduction in joint pain

It is important to consider that sometimes in life we have had minor underlying symptoms or discomforts for such a long period that they actually become normalised. It’s for this reason that even if you aren’t celiac or lactose intolerant, this ‘30 day free’ period is still a very worthwhile experiment to run.

Artificial Trans Fats 

Artificial trans fats are likely the unhealthiest fats you can eat. A trans fat gets its name because it is formed when hydrogen is added to a liquid fat, making it a solid. Adding the hydrogen will reduce the number of unsaturated fatty acids and increase the number of saturated fatty acids in the oil making the ratios very unhealthy for human consumption. 

Because of this process, trans fats may be mentioned on ingredient labels as partially hydrogenated oils. Some foods that commonly include trans fats amongst their ingredients include margarine, microwave popcorn, ready pizzas, cookies, cakes and other baked goods. 

Processed Meats

Processed meats such as bacon, ham and smoked meats are cooked at very high temperatures, which leads to more advanced glycation end products (AGEs) than most other meats. These AGEs are known to cause inflammation and have been linked to heart disease, diabetes, stomach and colon cancer. The biggest risk factor from this type of meat appears to be colon cancer, as cells within the colon appear to have a direct inflammatory response to the AGEs. 

A final word on inflammation:

The above information does not mean that you can never have any of the above ever again. Like with all risks in life, it’s just better to know the risk factors going in and make your own decisions. The way I look at it, the environment we live in, and indeed life itself is going to throw stressors that lead to inflammation at us throughout our lives anyway, so why compound that on a regular basis by eating poor quality food? Again. It’s all about personal choice and moderation.