Anti-Inflammatory Food Basics

A key part of an anti-inflammatory diet involves excluding refined vegetable oils, as they are clearly one of the most pernicious and pervasive poisons in the food supply. Simply avoiding all processed foods.

One of the simplest yet perhaps most impactful dietary changes you can make is to eliminate seed oils from your diet.

Omega-6 linoleic acid (LA) is, I believe, a primary contributor to nearly all chronic diseases, because when consumed in excessive amounts, LA acts as a metabolic poison that radically limits mitochondrial function and your ability to produce cellular energy.

Industrial seed oils or vegetable oils are a primary source of LA, but even food sources hailed for their health benefits contain it, such as olive oil and conventionally raised chicken and pork, both of which are fed LA-rich grains.

As for anti-inflammatory foods to eat more of, vegetables are a key staple. Dark leafy greens such as kale, collard greens and Swiss chard contain powerful antioxidants, flavonoids, carotenoids and vitamin C that can help protect against cellular damage.

Ideally, opt for organic locally grown veggies that are in season, and consider eating a fair amount of them raw.

Juicing is an excellent way to get more greens into your diet. There's a caveat, though. If you struggle with autoimmune disease or have significant inflammation in your body, consider limiting vegetables with high lectin content, as the lectins may pose a problem.

One of those nutrients is copper, which is one of the few metallic elements accompanied by amino and fatty acids that are essential to human health. Since your body can't synthesize copper, your diet must supply it regularly.

Copper deficiency can be a factor in the development of coronary heart disease.

Another excellent anti-inflammatory mushroom is the Reishi, which contains ganoderic acid, a terpene that induces apoptosis (programmed cell death of damaged cells) and enhances the immune system.

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Thank you?…Marine-based omega-3 fats found in fatty cold-water fish that are low in environmental toxins — such as wild Alaskan salmon, sardines and anchovies — are also important anti-inflammatories2 and are particularly important for brain and heart health. In fact, your omega-3 level is a powerful predictor of mortality.

If you don't enjoy these types of fish, you could consider using krill oil instead.

As with vitamin D, it's advisable to check your omega-3 index on a regular basis to ensure optimization. Ideally, you'll want to maintain an omega-3 index of 8%.

Many teas also offer anti-inflammatory benefits that can be enjoyed by most. Matcha tea is the most nutrient-rich green tea and comes in the form of a stone-ground unfermented powder. The best Matcha comes from Japan.

It's an excellent source of antioxidants, especially epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), a catechin with anti-inflammatory activity. Tulsi is another tea loaded with anti-inflammatory antioxidants and other micronutrients that help protect against damage caused by chemical pollutants, heavy metals and physical stress.8

Anti-Inflammatory Herbs and Spices

Ounce for ounce, herbs and spices are among the most potent anti-inflammatory ingredients available and making sure you're eating a wide variety of them on a regular basis can go a long way toward preventing chronic illness.

According to a study9 "cloves, ginger, rosemary and turmeric were able to significantly reduce oxidized LDL-induced expression of TNF-α" or tumor necrosis factor, a cytokine involved in systemic inflammation.

Ginger lowered three different inflammatory biomarkers, suggesting its superior anti-inflammatory action, but rosemary and turmeric also showed protective capacity by both oxidative protection and inflammation measures.

The interesting thing about this study is that they used "real world" dosages, meaning amounts you would normally use in your daily cooking, not mega doses you might find in a concentrated supplement. For example, those in the oregano group ate just half a teaspoon of oregano daily for seven days.

Garlic is another kitchen staple that has been treasured for its medicinal properties for centuries. Garlic exerts its benefits on multiple levels, offering antibacterial, antiviral, antifungal and antioxidant properties. Most recently, concluded garlic effectively lowered several inflammatory biomarkers, including C-reactive protein, TNF-α and interleukin-6.

It's thought that much of garlic's therapeutic effect comes from its sulfur-containing compounds, such as allicin. Research has revealed that as allicin digests in your body it produces sulfenic acid, a compound that reacts faster with dangerous free radicals than any other known compound.

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An earlier study published in the Journal of Medicinal Foods found a direct correlation between the antioxidant phenol content of spice and herb extracts and their ability to inhibit glycation and block the formation of AGE compounds (advanced glycation end products), making them potent preventers of heart disease and premature aging.

Here, cloves were ranked as the most potent of 24 common herbs and spices found in your spice rack.

Inflammatory Foods to Avoid

Last but not least, it's important to realize that dietary components can either trigger or prevent inflammation from taking root in your body, so avoiding inflammatory foods is just as important, if not more so, as eating anti-inflammatory ones.

As a group, processed foods of all kinds tend to be pro-inflammatory, thanks to ingredients like high fructose corn syrup, soy, processed vegetable oils (trans fats) and chemical additives.

So, in addition to adding anti-inflammatory foods, herbs, spices and supplements (if needed) to your diet, you'll also want to avoid the following as much as possible:

Refined sugar, processed fructose and grains — if your fasting insulin level is 3 or above, consider dramatically reducing or eliminating grains and sugars until you optimize your insulin level, as insulin resistance is a primary driver of chronic inflammation.

As a general guideline, I recommend restricting your total fructose intake to 25 grams per day. If you're insulin or leptin resistant (have high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart disease or are overweight), consider cutting that down to 15 grams per day until your insulin/leptin resistance has normalized

Oxidized cholesterol — Cholesterol that has gone rancid, such as that from overcooked, scrambled eggs.

Processed meats

Industrial vegetable and seed oils (a source of oxidized omega-6 fats) such as peanut, corn and soy oil

Foods cooked at high temperatures, especially if cooked with vegetable oil

Replacing processed foods with whole, ideally organic foods will automatically address most of these factors, especially if you eat a large portion of your food raw.

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Curcumin — A Powerful Anti-Inflammatory with Poor Absorption

Curcumin, the active ingredient in turmeric.

Curcumin aids in the management of oxidative and inflammatory conditions, metabolic syndrome, arthritis, anxiety, and hyperlipidemia.

It may also help in the management of exercise-induced inflammation and muscle soreness, thus enhancing recovery and performance in active people.

In addition, a relatively low dose of the complex can provide health benefits for people that do not have diagnosed health conditions. Most of these benefits can be attributed to its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects.

A drawback of turmeric is its poor absorbability and rapid elimination. Taken by itself turmeric typically does not impart the health benefits with which this spice is associated.

Certain components or additives can significantly boost its bioavailability though. One is piperine , the active ingredient in black pepper, which has been shown to increase the bioavailability of curcumin by 2,000%.

This is why you'll typically find piperine as an ingredient in most curcumin supplements. A typical dosage of a standardized curcumin supplement is 400 to 600 milligrams three times a day.

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