Exactly How The Keto Diet Lowers Inflammation
by Dr. Will Cole
What happens when the whole world changes but our DNA doesn’t? That is exactly the situation we find ourselves in today. Our world has undergone rapid change over a relatively short period of time – our food supply, water supply, the soil we farm on, and the air we breathe are drastically different than they were just 100 years ago, and not in a good way. Human bodies designed for a cleaner, simpler, purer world can only react in one way when faced with the toxic onslaughts of modern life: With self-protection. That protection often comes in the form of chronic, systemic inflammation.
Inflammation is not inherently harmful. It exists for a reason. It’s an essential part of healthy immune function, kicking in to fight infection and to facilitate healing. Without the ability to generate an appropriate inflammatory response, we would die. The problem is when inflammation runs wild, as if trying to protect us from everything all the time. This is an understandable response considering our changing environment, but it is also an overreaction that can damage your health when inflammation gets turned on but doesn’t get turned off. In fact, knowing this, it might not surprise you to learn that chronic, systemic inflammation is the root cause of almost all modern chronic health problems. When you dive deeply into the etiology of various illnesses—like anxiety, depression, fatigue, heart disease, and especially autoimmune conditions—the roads all lead back to inflammation. As with everything in the body, a healthy inflammatory response is all about balance.