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| Wednesday, January 27, 2010 |
| What is Inflammation? |
Inflammation is the big buzz word with doctors recently. It’s a very important word for you to start paying attention to because it can greatly affect your health. Like almost anything the media gets their hands on, there has been some confusion created about what inflammation is and why it is important.
Of course we all know what acute inflammation is. If you burn yourself on the stove, the area becomes inflamed. If you break your ankle, the area will become inflamed and swollen. This type of inflammation is important in healing. It is the body’s protective response. Acute inflammation is also useful when the body has a virus or bacterial infection. While acute inflammation is helpful, chronic inflammation can be harmful.
Chronic inflammation is when your body can not turn off the inflammatory response. Your body can go into a chronic state of inflammation which is NOT good for your health. Things such as environmental toxins and “junk” food have been connected to chronic inflammation. Chronic inflammation negatively affects your immune system. It can upset the balance of all of the systems in your body. Your endocrine system, nervous system, digestive system, etc. will be out of whack. This “upset” can ultimately cause health issues and disease. According to an article in Time Magazine, “Progressive doctors will now discuss inflammation as a root cause when you present with diseases like asthma, allergies, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), or rheumatoid arthritis. Heart disease is on the verge of joining this notorious group, but there are still some unanswered questions about the link to inflammation. Obesity and Alzheimer’s may soon follow.”
So what can cause chronic inflammation in your body? There are some things that are generally agreed upon that can cause unhealthy inflammation. They include: unhealthy diet, exercise, overweight/obesity and smoking. Most people know what a healthy diet includes however implementing it can be another story. Less fast food and more fresh food is a good rule to follow. Any cardiovascular exercise can be beneficial. If you exercise now, continue. If you don’t exercise now, start with an easy walking program or start riding a bike. Any exercise is better than none. If you are overweight or obese, get on a weight loss plan. Changing your diet and exercising are the two best things you can do. Smoking has been directly related to chronic inflammation. Find a way to stop smoking. Speak to your doctor to about options available to help you stop smoking. Environmental causes can also be to blame. Although there is not much you can do this minute about environmental issues such as pollution and emissions, you can get involved in the efforts to decrease environmental toxins in the future.
Stay tuned for my next blog. I will be talking about specific foods that can help decrease chronic inflammation in your body.
- Jennifer
Labels: Health, Inflammation, Jennifer
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posted by My Sensei @ Wednesday, January 27, 2010   |
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| 2 Comments: |
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Thanks Jennifer,
This is really well explained. I am hopeful that we can motivate more people to eat whole foods rather than processed food to reduce inflammation and consequently, improve overall health.
Josee
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This is terrific Jennifer and I have made an exerted effort to remove as many toxins from my environment as possible and to modify my diet to include fruits, vegetables, lean meats and as little processed food as possible. In addition, I have replaced all previous drinking water with healthy alkaline Kangen Water. At 57 I can honestly say that I'm feeling better now than I have in the past 20 years. Since drinking the Kangen water for the past 5 months I have eliminated the burning arthritis in my right hip, reduced the chronic ache in my lower back (degenerative disks), lost 8 lbs and increased my energy to rival the levels I had in my 20s and 30s.
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Thanks Jennifer,
This is really well explained. I am hopeful that we can motivate more people to eat whole foods rather than processed food to reduce inflammation and consequently, improve overall health.
Josee