Did you know that chronic inflammation can lead to a wide variety of diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, stroke, autoimmune diseases, and even cancer? Inflammatory cells can age as well as wreak havoc on our body. This is why it’s so important to focus on our diet and lifestyle and to take the steps we need to reduce inflammation at its source.
Here are some lifestyle steps you can take to help reduce inflammation:
- Get more sleep
- Reduce stress
- Limit your environmental toxins
- Get tested for food sensitivities
With inflammation being at the root of nearly all disease it’s important for us to take our health into our own hands and reduce as much inflammation as possible. Here are some ways you can integrate some anti-inflammatory approaches to your life:
Tip #1: Cut Back or Eliminate Inflammatory Foods
Inflammatory foods include fried and processed foods, sugar, soda, processed carbs, and processed meats.
Tip #2: Enjoy Anti-inflammatory Foods
A large part of reducing inflammation involves looking at your diet. Include things like berries, dark leafy greens, fatty fish, nuts, seeds, and olive oil in your diet.
Tip #3: Try Yoga
Yoga is a gentle form of exercise that can be great for overall health and can help reduce stress which in turn can help reduce inflammation. Regular exercise is great, but some forms of intense exercise can cause further inflammation. Try incorporating a gentle yoga routine into your daily life.
For this week’s challenge, I challenge you to incorporate a few or all of the following foods into your diet. These foods are packed full of antioxidants and anti-inflammatory properties to help cool inflammation at its source:
- Berries
- Olive oil
- Dark leafy greens
- Beets
- Pineapple
- Salmon
- Walnuts
- Chia seeds
- Flaxseeds
- Turmeric
- Ginger