Experts have learned that certain lifestyle choices, like what we eat and how much we move, can contribute to chronic inflammation.
If you’ve ever had a sore throat, a cut on your finger or a bruise on your shin, you have experienced inflammation. It’s your body’s way of protecting itself, a natural response to illness, injury or infection that usually resolves on its own. But when inflammation levels are too high or go on for too long, it can lead to chronic inflammation and disease.
Learn more about chronic inflammation and what you can do through diet and lifestyle changes to reduce it.
What Is Inflammation?
Inflammation is one of the body’s ways of protecting itself. It is a normal and vital response activated by infections, injuries, toxins and allergic reactions. When it’s regulated properly, acute inflammation eradicates the invader, increases blood flow to places where healing is needed and repairs the tissue. It begins within minutes to hours and can last for hours to days.
However, if inflammation starts when there is no injury or if it does not end when it should, chronic inflammation can ensue. Chronic inflammation can stimulate the development of health conditions such as heart disease, certain types of cancer, autoimmune disease and neurological issues.
What Causes Inflammation?
It’s not easy to pinpoint the exact cause of chronic inflammation. Sometimes, it’s caused by bacteria, viruses, toxins, infections, and a Western diet. Inflammation seems to increase with aging, sleep problems and high levels of chronic stress as well.
But experts have also learned that certain lifestyle choices, like what we eat and how much we move, can contribute too.
How Does Inflammation Impact Your Health?
When chronic inflammation occurs, it often progresses silently. If you have symptoms, they may include:
- Persistent fatigue
- Trouble sleeping
- Joint or muscle pain
- Mental health conditions such as depression or anxiety
- Digestive issues, such as constipation, diarrhea or acid reflux
- Weight loss or weight gain
- Repeated infections
If your health care provider thinks that specific types of inflammation are causing your symptoms, your provider may order a blood test to identify inflammation in the body.
With or without symptoms, chronic inflammation can begin to damage your body’s tissues and affect just about every part of your body. In addition, it’s linked to many chronic diseases, such as:
- Asthma
- Alzheimer’s disease
- Autoimmune diseases like lupus and rheumatoid arthritis
- Cancer
- Chronic obstructive lung disease
- Chronic pain
- Depression
- Heart disease
- Inflammatory bowel disease
- Diabetes
- Obesity
- Metabolic syndrome
How Can I Reduce or Prevent Inflammation?
What you eat can reduce or increase the amount of inflammation in your body. Making small changes to your diet – adding certain foods and reducing others – can be a great way to get started. Here are some tips from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and Johns Hopkins Medicine to get started:
- Eat a wide variety of protein sources. Red meat should not be your only source of protein. Choose additional protein sources like beans, lentils, nuts and oats to lower your inflammation levels. For more ideas, check out Give Your Body the Protein It Needs.
- Eat more fiber. Fiber helps to regulate blood sugar and cholesterol levels, as well as reduce inflammation. Good sources include whole grains, oatmeal, berries and brown rice. For more ideas, check out Are You Getting Enough of the Right Nutrients?
- Eat more fruits and vegetables. Fruits and vegetables help to reduce inflammation. Add berries and cherries to smoothies, eat dark-colored produce with dinner and aim for five servings a day.
- Add spices. Several spices are considered anti-inflammatory, including ginger, turmeric, cumin, sage, rosemary and cinnamon.
- Eat omega-3 fatty acids. Fatty fish like salmon, tuna and mackerel are great sources. You can also try a fish oil supplement or eat nuts, seeds and leafy green vegetables to get more.
- Avoid too much red meat and processed meat. If you enjoy red meat, aim to eat it once every 1-2 weeks and try to avoid processed meats like sausage and lunch meat to lower your inflammation levels.
- Avoid processed foods. Processed foods, like snack cakes, pies, and brownies, as well as pre-prepared meals like frozen pizza and nuggets, are high in fat, sugar and sodium and can add to your body’s inflammation.
- Limit fried foods. Foods like French fries, donuts or fried chicken can raise your inflammation levels. Try a different cooking method, like stir-frying chicken or baking sweet potato fries.
- Limit saturated fats. Saturated fat can be found in fatty cuts of meat and high-fat dairy products. Aim for lean meats like chicken or turkey, fish, olive oil and low-fat dairy products.
- Watch your drinks. Sweetened drinks, like soda, energy drinks, certain coffee drinks and some fruit juices can increase inflammation levels. Try infused drinks or flavored water as an alternative.
Adopting these guidelines can lower inflammation levels and reduce your risk for certain chronic conditions, but when you’re on a tight budget, it may feel like it’s too expensive to eat healthy foods like fruits, vegetables and fish. Eating Healthy for Less outlines ways that you can stick to your budget and still eat healthy foods. If you’re really busy and find pre-prepared meals easier, check out tips in Meal Prepping and Planning for a Healthier You.
In addition to diet changes, there are other lifestyle changes we can make to reduce inflammation, including:
- Get moving. A consistent exercise routine can help reduce chronic inflammation. Aim to meet these exercise guidelines each week.
- Reduce stress. Chronic stress raises inflammation, so it’s important to find ways to manage it. While we can’t get rid of stress, we can use healthy techniques like deep breathing, meditation and mindfulness, and exercise to limit its impact on our health.
- Get enough sleep. Good, restful sleep provides many health benefits, including helping to keep inflammation under control.
- Quit smoking. Nicotine and cigarettes can trigger inflammation and suppress anti-inflammatory processes in your body.
Adopting some or all of these tips can lower your inflammation levels and reduce your risk for disease. Let’s get started today!