Inflammation can very common in people, as people age, some people can experience some form of inflammation. It is an uncomfortable experience and can hinder your daily activities.
Inflammation can be brought on by various things, from the foods we eat, the straining of our muscles, and it can also develop overtime with age.
There are various areas of inflammation that affect the body and below I will discuss how to reduce inflammation in the body with some quick tips. But first, let’s explore what inflammation is and the types.
What is Inflammation?
Inflammation is described by “a process by which the body’s white blood cells and substances they produce protect us from infection with foreign organisms, such as bacteria and viruses”. (webmd) However, when there is no virus or infection present this may trigger an ‘inflammatory response’ causing the body to attack itself and this is how autoimmune diseases begin to happen.
Symptoms of Inflammation
The most common symptoms of inflammation are:
- Redness in localized areas
- Swollen joints
- the stiffness of joints
- loss of muscle function, can’t move the affected area
- Can feel hot in a localized area
Types of Inflammation
According to Wikipedia, there are two types of inflammation:
Acute Inflammation
Is a short-term process, usually appears within a few minutes or hours due to a bacterial pathogen or injured tissue. Acute inflammation may be regarded as the first line of defense against injury.
Once the pathogens are cleared then the inflammation will begin to diminish.
Chronic Inflammation
This inflammation is persistent, due to the fact of not being able to clear the pathogens, a viral infection, or an autoimmune disease. This type of inflammation can result into Arthritis, which is the ‘inflammation of joints’. The inflammation can last for months to years and degrade tissues over time.
Conditions Associated with Inflammation
There are many conditions that can be a direct result from inflammation, here are a few:
- Asthma
Inflammation of the air passages that results in narrowing the valves this restricts the airflow temporarily causing someone to wheeze and cough. - Arthritis
There are various types of Arthritis, one, in particular, is Rheumatoid Arthritis, this is an autoimmune disease that causes painful swelling of the joints. - Celiac disease & Colitis
This is when people are sensitive to gluten such as wheat when they eat gluten it is hard for them to digest and thus causing inflammation of the bowels and large intestine.
Types of Food to Avoid
It is known that certain foods can agitate your body and cause it to become inflamed. For me it is wheat, and because I had a neck injury from a car accident previously, the inflammation gravitated there. Here are some foods to avoid:
- Dairy
- Sugar
- Gluten
- Greasy Food
- Grains
- Artifical Sweetener
By any rate, most of these foods aren’t considered good for you despite what we’ve been taught in school. Of course, the best rule of thumb is to use within moderation.
Quick Tips to Soothe Inflammation
It depends on where the inflammation is present on the body but here are some quick tips you can do to help reduce inflammation in your body.
Excercise
There are various exercises you can do to help with the stiffness of the joints and the swelling.
Low-intensity exercises work best, since overdoing it can actually cause inflammation. So doing yoga, stretching, and meditation would be a great way to reduce stress and soothe the muscles.
Improve your diet
Make sure you avoid the certain foods that cause inflammation and eat ones that reduce inflammation. These foods are:
- Dark leafy greens that are alkalizing for your body such as spinach, kale, and chard
- Get a good amount of Omega 3, such as eggs, salmon, tuna
- Nuts such as almonds, walnuts, cashews are a great source of fat and protein
- Fruit that are high in antioxidants such as strawberries, blueberries, and cherries.
Purchase high-quality supplements
A nutritional deficiency can be a big factor in why you are experiencing inflammation. Sometimes diet and exercise are just not enough so you need something that is more potent and targets those areas to bring relief and repair the tissue. Since 70% of our trace minerals are lost in our food because of the way it is processed nowadays you need a good grade quality supplement to heal inflammation.
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I hope this helped give you some ideas on the ways you can reduce your inflammation. If you have or had inflammation have you tried any of the tips above here? Please share your comments below!
It’s incredible how much our lifestyle impacts our health. I feel like you hit the nail on the head by focusing on improving your diet as well as exercising to help with decreasing inflammation. From personal experience, completely removing dairy from my diet as well as limiting sugar consumption has done wonders for my skin, my energy and my digestion.
I think this is great advice for people of all ages. Simple steps to living pain and inflammation free is easy!
Thanks Melissa for the comment, yes definetly, simple changes to your diet can really help improve the quality of your life. Sugar is acidic as well as dairy is, so it is best to reduce the amount we consume. It’s great you are already doing that! Cheers.
Hey Dawna,
I really like your write up on how to get rid of inflammation. My husband has started to feel some pain through his joints and noticed some swelling. The doctors of course just want to prescribe drugs which I don’t think are always the best/first answer. I’ll definitely check out the supplements you suggest. With the nutrition side of things you mentioned some changes. Is there a certain type of eating plan or resource that you could recommend we look into?
Cheers – Amanda
Thanks Amanda for the comment! I would receomend making sure your husband reduces his dairy, sugar intake as well as carbs, just make small changes, nothing drastic it is best to slowly reduce it rather than cold turkey. Make sure to have some form of dark leafy greens in his meals, a salad at supper, a smoothie in the morning will really help. The best one is kale, if you put kale in a smoothie mixed with avacado, almond milk, some berries (high in antioxidants) it will taste amazing and help his inflammation. Good luck!