Inflammation

If there were one thing that every person could do to promote health and prevent all forms of disease it would be to “deflame”.  Nearly all experts agree that the common denominator of every disease is inflammation in the body.  Chronic inflammation will cause everything from pain and arthritis to cancer, diabetes and Alzheimer’s.  In the next few weeks, I will be discussing how to decrease inflammation in the body.

Most of the process of reducing and avoiding inflammation in the body will start with diet.  Stated simply, we need to increase the foods that decrease inflammation and decrease the foods that promote inflammation.  One food that promotes inflammation may surprise you is grains.  But whole grains are supposed to be good for us, right?  The nutrients and fiber in whole grains certainly are beneficial and whole grains are much better than white bread and products made from white flour.  However, all grains are inflammatory.

Most grains contain two ingredients that are the source of the problem.  You’ve likely heard of gluten.  This protein will often cause a type of allergic reaction in the body that begins in the bowel.  Grains also contain a substance called phytic acid that will reduce the absorption of calcium, magnesium and zinc.  Likewise, all grains will cause the pH of our body to become more acidic which is known to cause inflammation.

Limiting the intake of grains is a great solution for reducing inflammation.  In the next few weeks I’ll discuss other strategies.