Top 6 Foods That Cause Inflammation
WHY YOU SHOULD AVOID THEM AND WHAT TO EAT INSTEAD
What is Inflammation, anyway?
Let’s talk about inflammation. Not the kind when you twist your ankle after a few too many glasses of wine dancing wildly on the dance floor. I want to talk about the inflammation that lurks in your body after it has worn out its welcome. The kind that gets confused and starts to attack its own cells by mistake.
Not just injuries, but also infections and toxins, cause inflammation in the body. A typical course of acute inflammation usually lasts for a few hours or days. These are noticeable symptoms that are easily treated and we move on with our lives. This is the good kind of inflammation that fights off foreign invaders and heals injuries.
When your body is unable to rid itself of harmful triggers, it goes into what’s called “chronic inflammatory mode”. It perceives there is an internal threat and floods the body with white blood cells. When the white blood cells have nowhere to go, they attack healthy cells. These symptoms are much subtler and are often overlooked. These symptoms are sneaky and show up as bloating, fatigue, joint pain, skin issues and fever to name a few.
In more extreme cases, chronic inflammatory response can lead to DNA changes, tissue death and internal scarring. This will be addressed in a different blog post for sure. Experts believe that a range of factors can contribute to chronic inflammation, including smoking, drinking alcohol, chronic stress and carrying excess weight. But, for the purpose of this article, we will stick to foods that cause inflammation.
Aside from feeling better, having more energy and having clearer skin, you may (definitely) even shed those stubborn pounds by removing these foods from your diet.
Foods that Cause Inflammation
This is not a complete list of foods that cause inflammation, but these are the top culprits. I do understand that it’s not always realistic or enjoyable to completely eliminate all of these foods all of the time, but it’s important if you are trying to fight inflammation that you avoid them as much as possible. After all, Mama needs a treat every once in a while!
Sugar
Have you heard that sugar is the new smoking? Kind of makes sense, right? The peer pressure of taking just one bite of that chocolate cake, or rewarding yourself with the caramel latte because it’s Friday and you deserve it? Seriously though, sugar is a refined substance that has zero nutritional value. Why is it bad? Sugar suppresses the effectiveness of our white blood cells' germ-killing abilities (weakening the immune system). It causes spikes in our blood sugar followed by the inevitable crash and it’s pretty addictive.
A while back, I read this incredibly insightful book called Grain Brain that basically referred to sugar and grains as the Devil. The author, neurologist David Perlmutter, MD, blew my mind with a topic that is not always discussed in medical literature. He referred to excess consumption of sugars as Type 3 Diabetes, AKA Alzhimers disease. Wait, what? Yes, he stated that in our near future, we will be referring to Alzheimer's disease as being derived from Diabetes. It’s that closely related! Sugar has the power to literally destroy your brain, silently killing the cells through prolonged inflammation.
Be on the lookout for the hidden sugars that are called by their chemical names - glucose, dextrose, fructose, lactose, maltose and sucrose.
What to try instead
If you are having trouble cutting the cord with your sweet tooth, try getting your sugar naturally from sweeter fruits to make the transition easier. And if you’re a geek like me, read the book and it will help retrain your brain. Also try coconut palm sugar, maple syrup or raw honey as natural sweeteners.
2. Fried Foods
We know that fried foods are bad for our arteries, are linked to obesity and can contribute to high blood pressure. So, you guessed it, fried foods top the list because they cause inflammation in your body, too. Pretty much everything fried has a thick layer of fat, which of course is bad in itself, but it’s actually how the food is prepared that is worse. Fried foods are prepared at temperatures between 350-375 degrees Fahrenheit. At this high temp, the food forms AGEs (advanced glycation end-products) which is fancy smancy for harmful compounds. Good news is, your body knows how to get rid of them - but when you consume too many AGE’s, or fried foods, they accumulate in the body and cause inflammation.
What to try instead
Sadly, even having food on the grill can form AGE’s due to the high temperature. Try to steer clear of fried foods and trans fats when possible. Try cooking in an Instapot or using the oven instead. Steaming and boiling are the safest cooking options because they are done at lower temperatures and since you are not using butter or oil with these methods, it’s cutting down on calories, too.
3. Dairy
Dairy includes everything made from a cow and is a very common allergen so it’s not entirely surprising that it produces excess mucus in our bodies (it’s a foreign invader so the immune system reacts). I’m not a total hater on dairy because I know it contains important nutrients like protein, calcium, vitamin D and probiotics, but full fat milk and dairy products are rich in saturated fats which is why they are thought to cause inflammation.
What to try instead
Instead of milk, try plant based dairy alternatives like almond or coconut milk and/or rice milk. Great substitutes for butter include coconut oil, olive oil, avocados and ghee.
4. Vegetable and Seed Oil
Vegetable oil = Bad. Included in the also bad list is: corn oil, sunflower oil, canola oil, peanut oil and soybean oils. These are industrial (manmade) oils and are extracted from the seeds of plants (no healthy fats are in corn to begin with). To make the oil concentrated and usable, it is exposed to high heat, bleached and then the oil is extracted by harsh chemicals (that takes out the nutrients in the first place). We are left with processed oil with a really high trans fat and Omega 6 fatty acid content. Trans fat = bad.
What to try instead
Cold-pressed coconut oil, extra-virgin olive oil, avocados, macadamia nut oil
5. Gluten and Refined Grains
Oh, the war on gluten! It’s more than just a fad, it’s actually true whether you have Celiac disease or not - gluten is just not good for you. Foods like white bread, crackers, cereals, pizza and pasta are bad news for your body and cause inflammation. These foods are quickly broken down into sugars and are absorbed by your body.
Back in the day (like our ancestors' day) we consumed high fiber, unprocessed carbohydrates like grasses, roots, fruits and whole grains. In the last few generations, something has changed. The way we grow, process and eat grains is dramatically different. To simplify, since the industrial era, we have mutant seeds that are grown in synthetic soil that is smothered with chemicals. They are then bleached and chemically treated … BLEACHED AND CHEMICALLY TREATED (louder for the kids in the back). No wonder they make us sick.
What to try instead: Whole grains, buckwheat, millet, barley, spelt, quinoa, brown rice. Avoid anything that says bleached or refined.
6. Processed Meats
I won’t take the argument here if meat in general is good or bad, but processed meats ARE bad. Processed meats like sausage, ham, bacon, smoked meat, and some lunch meats are pumped with antibiotics and hormones and fed a low quality grain diet.
A few other reasons for saying no to processed meats are 1) they are full of artery clogging saturated fat, 2) the antibiotics given to the animals can cause antibiotic resistance in people, and 3) they way the animals are kept (watch documentaries like What the Health, Forks Over Knives or The Game Changers) are unsanitary and a breeding ground for diseases.
What to try instead
If you are not willing to give up meat, look for grass fed, free range, antibiotic free meat options. If you are ready to kick red meat for good, try eating more fish or poultry.
Great meat alternatives are: tofu, beans and legumes, tempeh, and meaty mushrooms
Conclusion: Eating nutritious can feel so confusing, especially since marketing companies are genius and can convince us that we are eating ‘healthy’. Looking through a TIME magazine from 1969, it was even stated that sugar was good for you!
I grew up in the 80’s without super health conscious parents. I’m pretty sure my diet consisted of sugary cereal for breakfast everyday and canned Spaghettios for lunch. Somehow, this was acceptable and I survived. But, we’ve come a long way since then and it seems like the more we learn about nutrition, the more it seems we should eat like people did a hundred years ago.
Sticking with clean, whole foods that are close to their natural state will ensure that you get the vitamins and minerals that you need while keeping inflammation in your body down.
Stay well, friends!
