Inflammation...You may just explode!!

When we talk about inflammation, most people think about acute inflammation.  You sprain your ankle and it swells.  Or you have an infected nail bed and it's swollen and full of pus.  In reference to eating paleolithic foods, we are not referencing acute inflammation.  Acute inflammation is typically a positive stimulus.  Your body is trying to heal itself.  We are talking about chronic inflammation.  Chronic, as in on-going.  Your body is no longer trying to heal itself, but rather trying to destroy itself.

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:

www.robbwolf.com

www.thepaleodiet.com

www.thepaleomom.com

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.  :)

Cheating and Reacting

I do believe we have seen our first major reaction post-paleo.

I know my body pretty well and last week when I had some popcorn at the movie theater I had a headache within a few hours.  The next morning, I had lots of intestinal issues.  Now, it could have been the popcorn itself (grain) or the highly processed vegetable oils they cook it in (yuck).  Either way, I reacted.  But that's me...when it comes to my kids, totally a different story.

None of them are 100% paleo.  They have treats and goodies, especially from school parties, etc.  They are pretty good at home, but pretty not-so-good when they are visiting their fathers.  It is unfortunate that there isn't more attention paid to the chronic health conditions of children.  Even after asking to please respect this decision and offer alternatives for the kids so they are not on overload, it is ignored.  Well Justin is our first casualty of that ignorance.  Yesterday he spent most of the afternoon in his bed.  He then moved to the couch to attempt to be a part of the family, and slept.  He had what I would deem a migraine.  His head hurt so bad he could hardly move.  He felt awful, just wanted to sleep.  It was sad to see.  I treated with ibuprofen, hydration and tried to get some healthy food into his system.  He was finally feeling better by bedtime, but what a crappy way to spend your last day of spring break.

I do believe, that for some people, not all, they can handle small amounts of "cheating".   I don't really like the term "cheating" because this is not a fad diet, this is a lifestyle, but like most others in the paleo community, there just isn't another word that fits.  Even the gurus like Dr. Cordain and Robb Wolf put "cheats" into their programs to help people get started.  But ONE meal in a week is totally different that SIX in two days.  I do hope that this ends up being an exception and not the rule.  :(

You eat WHAT???

Paleolithic Diet:  The original human diet.  Think hunter/gatherer.  What can you grow, pick, eat?  What can you kill, cook, eat?  It's not a "diet", it's a way of life, it's HOW you eat on a regular basis.  It is not short-term.  It becomes who you are.

The basics, and I mean basics:

• No grains.
• No legumes.
• No refined sugar.
• No dairy.
• No processed foods.

What it means for us:

• No grains in our everyday diet.
• No legumes in our everyday diet.
• No refined sugar, except on very, very limited special occasions.
• Extremely limited processed foods.
• Full-fat dairy in moderation.

What do we eat?

•  Meat: beef, pork, chicken, turkey, etc. And it's a lot of meat.  Do you know how much meat it takes to feed all these kids???  
• Vegetables, fresh and frozen.
• Fruit, fresh and frozen.
• Nuts and seeds. (For those able to.)
• Paleo baked goods, because if I didn't they'd all revolt!! 

There are many places to find more details on what a paleo diet looks like, how to implement it and the WHY's behind it.  I have been learning a lot over the past few weeks and I will share that with you.  If you are interested in learning more or reading some of the material I have read, let me point you in that direction:

www.thepaleomom.com  (Dr. Sarah Ballantyne is a WEALTH of information.  I'm currently reading here book, The Paleo Approach. This is a MUST for anyone dealing with autoimmune issues.)
robbwolf.com (Robb traded his lab coat in to help people get healthy.  I enjoyed his book The Paleo Solution very much. His humor is great!)
thepaleodiet.com (Dr. Loren Cordain, the founder of the paleo movement, Robb's mentor, the KING of paleo.  His studies are incredible!! The first book I read was The Paleo Diet and I don't regret it!)

I will be creating a resource list as this blog goes on.