Read up. Wellness, your way.

There are thousands of people living with chronic inflammation every day. Chronic inflammation can be a "hidden" risk factor and silent cause of premature health conditions that lead to disease. 

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Others live with chronic pain from inflammation in the body that many times comes with no diagnosis and simply frustration and poor quality of life with no easy answers.  Others live on anti-inflammatory medications to feel better each day.

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One of the key ways to fight chronic inflammation isn’t simply found waiting for a magic pill or medication...we can use food and lifestyle habits to decrease inflammation in our body starting day one by adding these powerful foods that have a medicine-like effect beyond a medication.

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Why should we focus on anti-inflammatory foods? Because research shows that inflammation is the root cause behind almost every chronic illness. 

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Let's take a dive into what causes inflammation and what foods have an anti-inflammatory effect to fight the battle for us!

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What Causes Inflammation in the Body?

Let’s start with the immune system. Your body’s immune system is activated when it recognizes anything foreign in it. This could be invading microbes, plant pollens, chemicals, or even an unhealthy leaky gut which is essential when large proteins leak into the blood and are recognized as a foreign substance. When your immune system recognizes these foreign invaders in your body, it triggers inflammation. 

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6 Foods That Create Inflammation in the Body:

1. Sugar-sweetened soda and drinks 
2. Processed meats including bacon, hotdogs, lunch meats, and cured meats
3. Red meats
4. Highly processed foods like high intakes of processed sugars, high fructose corn syrup, white all-purpose flour, and packaged foods like pop-tarts, sugary breakfast cereals, candies, and desserts (Can you read and recognize all the ingredients of the packaged foods you are eating?  If you answer no to this, consider this a highly processed food.)
5. Hydrogenated fats found in packaged foods and margarine
6. Fried foods such as french fries

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These foods are ultra-processed, meaning they have been manipulated and extracted and have added preservatives and oils to increase the shelf life or enhance flavors. 

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These foods cause the body to respond with inflammation  — and it’s these same foods that attack our body’s natural defenses. These foods damage our DNA, harm the healthy bacteria in the gut, and lower our immune system response.

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This is a big deal!

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Dr. Frank Hu, professor of nutrition and epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health says “Some of the foods associated with type 2 diabetes and heart disease are also associated with excess chronic inflammation.”    

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Inflammatory foods are also associated with stress, weight gain, and an unhealthy gut.

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Now, it's important to clarify that short-term inflammation actually protects your health.  Intermittent bouts of inflammation occur when you have a heightened immune response in order to protect your health.  For example, when you get hit by a cold or flu, you will be thankful for your immune system's ability to fight it off with good inflammation.  When you get a tiny cut on your finger, the cut swells up and gets red to tackle bacteria, triggering the immune system— your body’s natural defense. Then healing kicks in and the wound quickly heals; this is the good inflammation that protects us! 

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But, you don't want your body to stay in that state. What happens when the inflammation doesn’t come back down?

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What Are the Risks of Chronic Inflammation?    

The problem is when the inflammation persists, day in and day out when you’re not threatened by a true invader.  That’s when inflammation can become your enemy.   The major diseases that plague us including heart disease, cancer, diabetes, obesity, arthritis, depression, and Alzheimer’s disease — are all linked to chronic inflammation.  

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How to use food and lifestyle habits to reduce inflammation

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You can take anti-inflammatory medication every day — that is certainly an option.  Or, you could think of the food you eat and your lifestyle habits as a way to naturally lower inflammation in the body.   

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Let’s start with healthy habits. 

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The power of lifestyle habits to reduce chronic inflammation:

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Remember inflammation is the body’s natural defense against anything considered an attack on the body. The inflammation should return to normal after the body has healed.  When we find our body is staying chronically inflamed, we have discussed foods we can eat more of and foods we can limit to help boost our body’s natural defense. We can also look at our habits of living and focus on doing more of the habits that let our body rest and relax to naturally boost our body’s defense.

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Healthy habits to reduce inflammation:

1. Practice slow, deep breathing 
2. Stop smoking
3. Get a good night's rest with a regular bedtime
4. Practice a relaxing stress reduction activity every day
5. Find time every day for activities you enjoy
6. Take a walk outside in nature to relax and enjoy
7. Get more early morning sunshine 

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The heart behind this? Relax and slow down. Your body needs time to catch up and heal.  

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Inflammation can be the first marker our body is needing healing and to prevent future chronic diseases, needing to make lifestyle and food changes that can decrease inflammation.    

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How Can Food Fight Inflammation?

The best way to combat inflammation is not in the medicine cabinet, but in foods you can find in your refrigerator and pantry.   Eating the right foods every day can fight off chronic inflammation for good.  

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Now I’m sure you want to know what foods and beverages reduce inflammation and therefore reduce your risk for chronic disease like heart disease and type 2 diabetes.  

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Top Foods to Reduce Inflammation: 

• Fruits like blueberries, cranberries, strawberries, berries, cherries, oranges, apples, and pomegranates
• Vegetables like cruciferous vegetables including kale, arugula, and broccoli, green leafy vegetables like spinach and collard greens, red bell peppers, tomatoes
• Nuts like walnuts and almonds
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Flaxseed, which has a host of other benefits including being a cancer fighter and a great source of soluble fiber that heals the gut and lowers cholesterol
• Omega-3 fats found in whole plant foods like flaxseed, chia seeds, walnuts, and soybeans or fatty fish like salmon and sardines

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One of my favorite ways to decrease inflammation is by eating ground golden flax seeds every day.  It has a HOST of other benefits including being a cancer fighter and a great source of soluble fiber — healing the gut and lowering cholesterol. It’s also so easy to add to a smoothie, oatmeal, or nourishing bowl! 

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The Science Behind Inflammation-lowering Food

The foods that lower chronic inflammation in the body are mostly unprocessed whole plant foods and should be eaten daily.  The Score includes all of these healing anti-inflammatory foods so if you want a perfect 20 on The Score, you’ll be eating all these things and getting all the anti-inflammatory benefits we’re talking about.

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Reducing inflammation in the body doesn’t just reduce your risk for chronic diseases, but it also improves mood, mental clarity, arthritis, and overall health.   

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Research has concluded that the most powerful tools to fight inflammation are not found at the pharmacy — but are in the grocery store. Choose anti-inflammatory foods and you may be able to reduce your risk of illness.   

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Because when we eat three meals a day that boost our body's natural defenses, we can:

• Heal our damaged DNA 
• Regenerate cancer cells
• Restore the blood vessels 
• Rebuild healthy gut bacteria 
• Improve our metabolism and our immune system 

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Here’s an encouraging fact: We should be able to tackle about two-thirds of all diseases and one-third of all cancers just by eating the right foods three meals a day and practicing healthy habits like not smoking.  

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That’s why I created The Score!

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 The 20-point Score is made up of the 10 foods and 10 lifestyle habits to do more of every day to boost your body's natural defenses to heal the body.  

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When you take The Daily Wellness Score, you naturally reduce inflammation, fight disease, and add healthy years to your life. Take Your Score today. 

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The Power of Omega-3 Fats

Harvard researchers found that adding omega-3 fat sources or supplementation at least twice a week slashes the risk of dying from heart disease by more than a third.  

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Many researchers have concluded that these health benefits are based on omega-3 fats lowering inflammation, which protects against arthritis, dementia, and menopause symptoms. Yes, even menopause symptoms! 

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Research suggests that omega-3 fats may stop night sweats and protect against depression and mood swings brought on by hormone fluctuations.   

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Not a fan of fish? That’s ok! 

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You can get the recommended 1.1 grams of omega-3s daily from soybeans, walnuts, chia seeds, and flax seed. If you do like fish, choose a fatty fish like salmon or sardines or you can take an omega-3 fatty acid supplement.  

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Want to Reduce Inflammation and Improve Your Health Today and Years From Now?

When you get your Daily Dose of essential omega-3s fats, you get one point on The Daily Wellness Score, my research-based 20-point nutrition and lifestyle prescription proven to add 10 healthy years to your life by combining 10 foods and 10 health habits that all fight inflammation.   Fighting inflammation and boosting the body’s natural defense is so crucial that all 20 points of The Score were created to combat it!

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Get Your Daily Wellness Score or join our monthly membership to learn more about how you can reduce inflammation and improve your health with food and lifestyle.