29 Dec Is inflammation making you fat?
Inflammation is one of the leading risk factors for disease, and general pain. It is driven by many factors, several being dietary related and controllable. Inflammation can show up as joint pain, umbilical fat, internally in the blood and can lead to heart issues among many other problems.
So how can we combat this killer? By reducing inflammation and one of the best ways is, you guessed it, a paleo plan. And in this case we don’t usually modify paleo but stick to more of the strict, traditional paleo plan. For a recap a modified plan we allow use of sweet potato, brown rice and quinoa but given inflammation and insulin resistance go hand in hand, we will pull starches at least initially.
So some key ways to lower inflammation include:
– No dairy, soy, gluten, or grains.
– Keep protein to organic, grass fed, pastured meats and most people will need both HCL and protease to help with digestion of meats at least for the first 3 to 6 months. In some cases if you are really inflamed you may need to limit or omit protein for a short period of time (a week or so) this allows reduce inflammation dramatically. A blood test including live analysis of the cell is a great way to determine where your current blood levels of protein are and if you need to dial your consumption back a bit.
– Fruits to two servings or less a day with berries, apples and pears being the main sources and we like them at breakfast and lunch or post exercise.
– Alcohol is kept to wine and no more than 2 glasses a night, but honestly in most people this should be limited to 1 glass per week, totally depends on the individual.
– Increase omega 3 fatty acids with an average dosing between 3 to 6 grams a day, will again depend on individual. Really fish oil dosing is bodyfat dependent the higher the bodyfat the higher the dose PROVIDED you are not a heart patient on blood thinners, your fish oil dose would be much lower since it is a blood thinner as well. You want a very high quality, molecularly distilled brand this one works nicely.
– Monitor your fat sources, monounsaturated can be very anti-inflammatory as well so I actually like a breakdown of 50/40/10 (mono, sat, and poly) saturated fat although not the enemy once thought can cause problems at the cellular level with the phospholipid bilayer so we ease up a bit. Good sources of mono can be olive oil, avocado and macadamia nuts.
– Keep out night shades and see how you feel (tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, and egg plant to name a few.) Night shades can cause some serious gastric problems in certain individuals and increase inflammation.
– Focus on sleeping! The more sleep you get the lower inflammation can go.
– Take probiotics! And not a little, in some cases we are talking a trillion a day for 7 to 10 days, then back down to 15 to 30 billion a day. For this we like custom probiotics 11 strain powder you can find here.
– Obviously hydration is key, shoot for AT LEAST .5 onces of water per lb. And do not forget electrolytes, we typically add pink salt to our water throughout the day when I am getting my liquids in.
– And most importantly VEGGIES!! The greener the better but all colors are welcomed. We like to see at least 2 cups of veggies each meal. If you are really inflamed you can also add green smoothies (either via a juicer or vitamix) daily to regiment. We like to take one a day consisting of 1 lb frozen broccoli, 4 cups spinach, and 1 cup blueberries to kill the taste via my vitamix. Sip on that throughout the day and it will go along way, promise!
Important point: some people think well if I an inflamed and have pain why not just take an NSAID (anti-inflammtory drug) to help? Well a) it can destroy your stomach and liver over time, and b) it doesnt actually help heal it just helps quiet the pain. You are much better off making these dietary changes. You will feel better inside and out, look better and probably drop weight and bodyfat in the process. In some cases inflammation can we what is keeping someone from seeing progress who is eating healthy and exercising already.
Now there are far more supplements, recommendations and dietary tweaks you can make but this is a great starting point. Inflammation is a very big deal and every person suffers with from time to time.
Go through the list, make some changes and see how you feel!
References:
1. http://www.schwarzbeinprinciple.com/pgs/newsletters/SP_Newsletter_InfDig_Part1.pdf
2. http://www.medicinenet.com/cox-2_inhibitors/article.htm
3. Kensei Komatsu, Ji-Yun Lee, Masanori Miyata, Jae Hyang Lim, Hirofumi Jono, Tomoaki Koga, Haidong Xu, Chen Yan, Hirofumi Kai, Jian-Dong Li. Inhibition of PDE4B suppresses inflammation by increasing expression of the deubiquitinase CYLD. Nature Communications, 2013; 4: 1684 DOI: 10.1038/ncomms2674
4. http://www.lef.org/protocols/health_concerns/chronic_inflammation_01.htm