Anti-Inflamatory Foods - Part 1
What is inflammation?
Inflammation’s aim is to defend the body against
bacteria, viruses, and other foreign invaders, to
remove debris, and to help repair damaged tissue.
Inside arteries, inflammation helps kick off
atherosclerosis and keeps the process smoldering. It
even influences the formation of artery-blocking
clots, the ultimate cause of heart attacks and many
strokes.
Simple changes
What you eat may fan the fires of inflammation. Here
are some suggestions:
Get an oil change. Swap saturated and trans fats for
olive oil, which has potent anti-inflammatory
properties, or polyunsaturated fats, especially
omega-3 fats from fish.
Don't be so refined. The bolus of blood sugar that
accompanies a meal or snack of highly refined
carbohydrates (white bread, white rice, French fries,
sugar-laden soda, etc.) increases levels of
inflammatory messengers called cytokines. Eating
whole-grain bread, brown rice, and other whole grains
smooths out the after-meal rise in blood sugar and
insulin, and dampens cytokine production.
Promote produce. The more fruits and vegetables you
eat, the lower the burden of inflammation. Why? They
contain hundreds, perhaps thousands, of substances
that squelch inflammation-rousing free radicals; some
act as direct anti-inflammatory agents.
Go nuts. Adding walnuts, peanuts, almonds, and other
nuts and seeds to your snacks and meals is another
tasty way to ease inflammation.
Cocoa lovers rejoice? In laboratory studies, cocoa
and dark chocolate slow the production of signaling
molecules involved in inflammation. The trick is to
get them without too much sugar and fat.
Alcohol in moderation. A drink a day seems to lower
levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), a powerful signal
of inflammation. Too much alcohol has the opposite
effect on CRP.
Spice it up. Herbs and spices such as turmeric,
ginger, garlic, basil, pepper, and many others have
anti-inflammatory properties.
Putting it all together
If you are a do-it-yourselfer, pick and choose foods
that ease inflammation and eat them instead of those
that promote it. If you'd rather follow a plan, the
so-called Mediterranean diet encompasses many
inflammation-fighting foods. So does the Healthy
Eating Pyramid, developed by Dr. Walter Willett and
his colleagues at the Harvard School of Public
Health.
If you adopt an anti-inflammatory diet, you probably
won't see or feel any different. Angina won't
suddenly disappear or heart failure reverse itself.
But you will be doing your heart, arteries, and the
rest of you a huge favor that will pay off in many
ways.
Choose Fats Wisely
Replace trans fats with those high in omega-3s. Good
fats include fatty fish, extra-virgin olive oil,
canola oil (expeller-pressed), walnuts and their oil,
hemp oil, and flaxseed or flaxseed oil.
Trans fats are the worst offenders because they're
high in omega-6s, fatty acids that gum up the body's
ability to regulate inflammation. "If your diet is
rich in trans fats, you're going to drive your body
to make more inflammatory chemicals," says LaValle.
The worst culprits are vegetable shortenings and hard
margarines, but most processed foods house a trans
fatty acid or two, usually in the form of partially
hydrogenated oil. (Soon, trans fats will be easier to
spot thanks to new legislation requiring food makers
to list them on ingredient labels by 2006.) Other
fats to avoid (also because of their omega-6s)
include safflower oil, sunflower oil, and corn oil.
Inflammation’s aim is to defend the body against
bacteria, viruses, and other foreign invaders, to
remove debris, and to help repair damaged tissue.
Inside arteries, inflammation helps kick off
atherosclerosis and keeps the process smoldering. It
even influences the formation of artery-blocking
clots, the ultimate cause of heart attacks and many
strokes.
Simple changes
What you eat may fan the fires of inflammation. Here
are some suggestions:
Get an oil change. Swap saturated and trans fats for
olive oil, which has potent anti-inflammatory
properties, or polyunsaturated fats, especially
omega-3 fats from fish.
Don't be so refined. The bolus of blood sugar that
accompanies a meal or snack of highly refined
carbohydrates (white bread, white rice, French fries,
sugar-laden soda, etc.) increases levels of
inflammatory messengers called cytokines. Eating
whole-grain bread, brown rice, and other whole grains
smooths out the after-meal rise in blood sugar and
insulin, and dampens cytokine production.
Promote produce. The more fruits and vegetables you
eat, the lower the burden of inflammation. Why? They
contain hundreds, perhaps thousands, of substances
that squelch inflammation-rousing free radicals; some
act as direct anti-inflammatory agents.
Go nuts. Adding walnuts, peanuts, almonds, and other
nuts and seeds to your snacks and meals is another
tasty way to ease inflammation.
Cocoa lovers rejoice? In laboratory studies, cocoa
and dark chocolate slow the production of signaling
molecules involved in inflammation. The trick is to
get them without too much sugar and fat.
Alcohol in moderation. A drink a day seems to lower
levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), a powerful signal
of inflammation. Too much alcohol has the opposite
effect on CRP.
Spice it up. Herbs and spices such as turmeric,
ginger, garlic, basil, pepper, and many others have
anti-inflammatory properties.
Putting it all together
If you are a do-it-yourselfer, pick and choose foods
that ease inflammation and eat them instead of those
that promote it. If you'd rather follow a plan, the
so-called Mediterranean diet encompasses many
inflammation-fighting foods. So does the Healthy
Eating Pyramid, developed by Dr. Walter Willett and
his colleagues at the Harvard School of Public
Health.
If you adopt an anti-inflammatory diet, you probably
won't see or feel any different. Angina won't
suddenly disappear or heart failure reverse itself.
But you will be doing your heart, arteries, and the
rest of you a huge favor that will pay off in many
ways.
Choose Fats Wisely
Replace trans fats with those high in omega-3s. Good
fats include fatty fish, extra-virgin olive oil,
canola oil (expeller-pressed), walnuts and their oil,
hemp oil, and flaxseed or flaxseed oil.
Trans fats are the worst offenders because they're
high in omega-6s, fatty acids that gum up the body's
ability to regulate inflammation. "If your diet is
rich in trans fats, you're going to drive your body
to make more inflammatory chemicals," says LaValle.
The worst culprits are vegetable shortenings and hard
margarines, but most processed foods house a trans
fatty acid or two, usually in the form of partially
hydrogenated oil. (Soon, trans fats will be easier to
spot thanks to new legislation requiring food makers
to list them on ingredient labels by 2006.) Other
fats to avoid (also because of their omega-6s)
include safflower oil, sunflower oil, and corn oil.
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