Inflammation in general terms is part of the complex biological response of vascular tissues to harmful stimuli, such as pathogens, damaged cells, or irritants. When the irritant is YOU then it becomes a problem. Many conditions and diseases are a direct result of inflammation in various cells in your body. Whereas acute inflammation is caused by things like infection or injury or an allergic reaction, chronic inflammation is often caused by what we put INTO our bodies, purposefully, like FOOD.
When we ingest certain foods, they react to cells in our body in different ways. There are inflammatory foods and anti-inflammatory foods. Grains, legumes, dairy, foods in the nightshade group and even some nuts & seeds are inflammatory. I'm not a scientist, nor will I try to re-iterate what others have already said so much better than I. I will point you in some good direction to read more about the inflammatory process of these foods if you want the real "why's" behind it. Below is a chart that briefly explains chronic inflammation, the cells it effects, and the outcomes.
Chronic Inflammation:
- Causative agent: Persistent acute inflammation due to non-degradable pathogens, viral infection, persistent foreign bodies, or autoimmune reactions
- Major cells involved: Mononuclear cells (monocytes, macrophages, lymphocytes, plasma cells), fibroblasts
- Primary mediators: IFN-γ and other cytokines, growth factors, reactive oxygen species, hydrolytic enzymes
- Onset: Delayed
- Duration: Up to many months, or years
- Outcomes Resolution: Tissue destruction, fibrosis, necrosis
Inflammation is an underlying cause in many conditions and diseases. All 140 known autoimmune diseases have inflammation as part of their conditions, including rheumatoid arthritis, type 1 diabetes, infertility, multiple sclerosis, lupus, narcolepsy, schizophrenia, depression, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, hypothyroidism, IBS, Chron's disease, chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, etc. The list goes on. It is also a known antagonist in cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, migraine headaches, acne and cancer.
If all of these conditions and diseases (and a host of others) are directly linked to inflammation, it would behoove those of us with any one (or multiples) of them to reduce chronic inflammation as much as we can. Thankfully, science has shown us that we can! By removing grains and legumes and dairy from our diet, we can effectively decrease symptoms and possibly even reverse disease!!
I shared before what changing my everyday diet has done for me. In the past few months I have seen joint pain and inflammation significantly decrease. I have gone from chronic daily headaches and frequent migraines to only one or two headaches during that time. I have seen gut healing from IBS symptoms. My overall health is significantly better! I chose to bring my family along for this ride because I know that many of the diseases/conditions also have a genetic component. I see similar issues in my children already. I cannot change their genes, but I can help them make better food choices now which will hopefully go with them throughout life. Do they eat perfectly paleo? No. I don't expect them to. But the meals I control will move them in the right direction. As they get older they can own this for themselves as they learn how eating the wrong foods affects them physically.
Once again here are some places to read more about reversing disease via a paleo diet:
I have books by these three scientists/authors and I haven't regretted one dime that I have spent in bettering my knowledge and my health. :)
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