What Inflammation Is and How You Know You Have It - And what healing foods can help reduce inflammation right away
So what is inflammation? Well, it's a reaction locally within your body - and adverse reaction that can manifest either in one place or several at the time time. Inflammation can occur due to injury, or an infection - and can even occur from an irritation such as (you may not want to hear this) too much sugar, processed food, coffee and some teas. It can, and does, occur when you're not feeding your body enough
healing foods. Often we think of inflammation in regards to what we can see with our eyes: a swollen ankle, red areas about the skin, and painful arthritis for example. Inflammation can, and will, often cause loss of mobility to the affected area. No fun. If you've experienced any of symptoms just mentioned then you've experienced inflammation.
But inflammation isn't always so obvious, or painful, and all too often we're not even aware of its presence until its too late. Inflammation inside the body can start off as a soft whisper - but by the time its run its course and done its damage by compromising your vital organs - inflammation sounds more like a roar than a whisper. We all need to be educated on inflammation so that we can reduce it as much as possible. Did you know that asthma, digestive disorders, hormone imbalance and cancer are linked to the whisper of inflammation? These common diseases, recent research is finding, are linked with, yes you guessed correctly: inflammation.
Those of you who have been around 40 years or so might remember going into your family doctor's office for a routine checkup and being asked to stick out your tongue. It was commonplace for a doctor to look at your tongue and ask "So what are you eating"? In my own experience with my HMO, I haven't even heard the question asked recently, let alone be asked to stick out my tongue. Why bother looking at a tongue? Because the condition of the tongue can give immediate clues into our body and what's really going on in there. The signs of inflammation and stress manifest there too.
Sadly, these days some HMOs, in particular, simply rely upon volume of patients while the 1 on 1 intimate relationship between doctor and patient takes a back seat.
Be your own advocate in the fight against inflammation - Modifying your diet may be your biggest weapon against disease
A few important questions you can ask yourself, when no one else will, are:
What Am I Eating? Am I eating too much junk, sugar, processed foods, sodas, or "health foods" packed with sugars and hidden ingredients? Am I eating healing foods? Am I drinking enough water? What kind of water am I drinking? Is it quality water? Is it alkaline ionized water?
How's My Stress Level? Is work stressed? Are my family obligations overwhelming me? Am I able, and educated, to effectively face the stresses I'm under?
Take a moment and take stock of your answers because they're begging you to be heard. You matter. Your health matters. Your diet - recent research has found, and finally medical experts are conceeding - is a key factor when addressing inflammation at any and every stage.
The Main Inflammation Causing culprits
In no particular order - really, they're all bad for you on a very basic level
Candies, Cookies, Cakes (The Three C's. Yummy, yes. Inflammation causing culprits? Yes again)
Soda - Even "healthy" sodas often contain too much sugar or, eek, aspartame!
Chips - Yes, even those "healthy" chips should be closely scrutinized for alarming sodium levels, and certain spices, which can give inflammation a leg up!
Do you love Salads? A big green salad chock full of life giving, anti-inflammation foods such as Cauliflower, Chopped Leaks, Olives, Garlic, and Spinach leaves can be injected with inflammation causing foods simply by drenching it with the wrong kind of -
Salad Dressing - check that label - does your salad dressing contain inflammation causing ingredients like sugar or refined or hydrogenated vegetable oil?
A delicious and surprisingly simple time saving alternative is chopped garlic added to some virgin olive oil with a slight dash of sea salt. Very tasty!
Other foods that can reduce inflammation are healing foods you probably already eat - but perhaps are unknowingly adding stuff to that doesn't belong, such as margarine (loaded with the wrong kind of oil!) or sauces that may also be loaded with the wrong oils or ingredients. Sauces - can we live without them? I think not! But we can start to pay attention to what's inside them. Modifying your diet may be your most powerful weapon against disease.
A big plate of lightly steamed green veggies like red bell peppers and broccoli can be appreciated with a drizzle of organice Garlic Gold olive oil and sea salt.
We'll be talking more about inflammation in our next post. I realize that this information can be overwhelming. When I started my quest to reduce the inflammation plaguing me like a stalker I was overwhelmed - with a Capital O. I slowly began to take notice of what's inside that food? Is it a healing food or an inflammation culprit? Is it going to alkalize my body or send it into an acidic state, perfect for...no I won't say the word; I think you get it. One of the easiest changes I made, and saw quick results from (a matter of weeks) was drinking alkaline ionized water. The taste is amazing so it just goes down so smoothly that I don't even think about it. For those of you who might be going "Water, no thanks! I don't like how it tastes" - well, you haven't tasted Our Water.
We invite you to come to our office and try our water. As always, the information we'll give you is free and we provide water classes to the surrounding community to educate on the benefits of healing foods and alkaline ionized water. Visit healingwatermachines.com for more information. If you're in the Southern California area feel free to drop by and pick up a few gallons of our alkaline ionized water.
