Eating for Itis

I'd like to talk to you about all the “itis life” that gives people so much pain and discomfort and when I say the “itis” I’m talking about inflammatory conditions so you can think of bursitis, tendinitis and arthritis. “Itis” means inflammation and inflammation is at the root of practically all health conditions that we deal with. But what kind of anti-inflammatories do we recommend and what is the safest and best method or approach for you to address that? One of the concepts that we want to talk about would be from mechanical means. It could be from alignment or overuse or structural issues. What I want to focus on today is more of a systemic issue that can happen that creates inflammation and I don't think that we necessarily realize to a large degree that the foods that we consume every day are either creating inflammation or reducing inflammation. So when I say anti-inflammatories most people think of a medication but the reality is that there's anti-inflammatories that we can eat every day in our diet and there's also things that are pro-inflammatory meaning they create inflammation. So what would those things be? Well they're probably the things that you would guess they would be but you don't want to necessarily think about it so we're talking about the sodas, the sugars, vegetable oils and when I say vegetable oil what I mean is your sunflower oils or corn oils or the things that we typically consume. Then there are your fried foods, your hydrogenated oils, your trans fats and then the one that can be maybe the hardest for us to wrap our mind around sometimes are grains. Grains are inflammatory to your body and there's a lot of reasons for that but we're not going to get into the details of that right now. So what I'm saying is if you're eating the standard American diet full of sugar, high fructose corn syrup, vegetable oils and grains you're essentially eating a diet that is creating inflammation in your body. If you're struggling with tendinitis, bursitis and arthritis and you're looking for things to do to help yourself other than just continually take more anti-inflammatory drugs then changing your diet is a great approach. So what would be anti-inflammatory foods? All fruits and vegetables are anti-inflammatory so the more fruits and vegetables you consume the more you're going to reduce inflammation in your body then healthy fats. We’re talking about raw nuts not nuts roasted in vegetable oils; so raw nuts, healthy fats from coconut oils, olive oils, avocado oils and then healthy meats. So, wild-game, grass-fed beef, free-range chickens; all those things are anti-inflammatory to your body. There’s even supplements that you could take that would reduce inflammation in your body. So, fish oil and vitamin D. Turmeric- those types of spices and ginger so there's lots of things that we can direct you toward but we have handouts on an anti-inflammatory diet next time you're in the office, you can stop in and pick them up or email us and we'll send them to you. If you're struggling with pain, discomfort, headaches, arthritis or any of the “itis’” and you're looking for a safe natural approach then changing your diet is a great way to address that. Have a great day!