Artemis Morris - Anti-Inflammatory Diet For Dummies

Restock your kitchen with anti-inflammatory foods.

Sleep well (at least seven to eight hours a night).

Take time to eat and chew your food thoroughly.

Look at some of your habits or vices. Do you smoke? Drink? How much exercise do you get each day? Those are three big areas in which change — giving up smoking, reducing how much you drink, and increasing how much you exercise — can make a world of difference.

Physical activity helps with weight loss and maintenance, makes your heart work more efficiently, keeps your blood pressure in normal ranges, and reduces stress, a major factor in inflammation. Chronic stress depletes your body of the nutrients you need for your immune system to function properly. Get started with some meditation or yoga and take up a cardio workout to slow aging of the brain and build up your muscles and nerves. We discuss exercise and meditation in Chapter 19.

Chapter 2

IN THIS CHAPTER

Identifying links between food and inflammation

Knowing the difference between allergy, sensitivity, and intolerance

Living with allergies and sensitivities

The first obstacle to get over when making a change to an anti-inflammatory diet is realizing that yes, some foods really are your enemy. Not all food is working against you, of course. But much of the food you consider safe, the foods that you may be eating regularly, may show up on your new do-not-eat list. After you identify your food allergies, sensitivities, and intolerances, keep them in mind as you select recipes and ingredients in later chapters.

Researchers have been working for years to determine how certain types of foods react with the human body and stir up inflammatory responses. It’s no secret that fried foods, foods high in processed saturated fat, and those high in sugar are bad for you. What is surprising to many people, however, is the discovery that many of the foods that seem safe can really be hazardous to one’s health, leading to sensitivities or allergies or even contributing to cancer, heart disease, or diabetes.

Food , by definition, is “any nutritious substance that people eat or drink … in order to maintain life or growth.” When you eat food, it becomes energy for your body through the process of digestion. The foods and drinks you take in aren’t in a form that your bodies can use just yet; the food has to be transformed into much smaller pieces, nutrient-filled molecules, which can be absorbed by your blood and carried throughout the body. Digestion starts in the mouth as you chew food into smaller pieces; then it continues through the body with the help of digestive fluids until it’s broken down as far as possible. Most of these molecules are absorbed into the small intestine and eventually become energy for various parts of the body.

Sometimes, however, that same food you turn to for nutrition and sustenance can turn on you. Foods that are seemingly harmless can be toxic, leading to inflammation and serving as triggers for chronic illnesses such as diabetes, cancer, arthritis, and heart disease.

We define toxic foods as any foods that are harmful to the body to any degree and can lead to inflammation and chronic disease. For some people, the nightshade family of fruits and vegetables — tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, eggplant — can be toxic in that they contain alkaloids, which can affect muscle function. Dairy products or wheat products can cause digestion problems for some people, and refined sugars can promote diabetes, obesity, and hypertension.

You can put toxic foods into three categories:

Foods that increase inflammation in everyone, such as trans fats, refined sugars, and artificial foods

Foods that are toxic to some individuals and not to others, such as wheat, corn, and dairy

Foods that contain chemicals, toxins, and other harmful substances that cause inflammation and endocrine changes in the body; they may accumulate in the fat cells and liver and can be associated with cancer

Toxic foods offer more harmful effects than healthy benefits. Refined sugar, trans fats, and bleached or enriched flour are the top three toxic foods for people seeking anti-aging strategies. Following is a sampling of some of the toxic foods found in everyday diets. We discuss these foods in detail in Chapter 4.

Refined sugars:Cookies, doughnuts, pastriesPrepared salad dressings and condimentsWhite breadPastaFlavored oatmeal or cerealSoda and fruit punchCereal bars

Trans fats:French friesMargarinePackaged baked goodsPotato and corn chipsFried foodsCreamy salad dressings and condiments

Bleached or enriched flour:BreadCrackersCerealCookiesPastaPancakes and waffles

For many people, creating a menu isn’t as simple as going with whatever they like to eat. People who have food allergies, sensitivities, or intolerances have to avoid foods and food products that many people take for granted.

Food allergies are caused by an overreaction of the immune system toward a food or drink. Allergic reactions tend to show up almost immediately, from a rash or watery eyes to a more serious anaphylactic reaction that could be fatal.

Food sensitivities appear in the form of a more delayed, sometimes chronic onset of symptoms, such as fatigue or even nasal congestion days after consumption. Food sensitivities are often caused by nutrient deficiencies or eating or drinking the food too often.

Food intolerance is an adverse reaction to a food because something necessary for digestion is missing. For example, if your body is missing lactase, the enzyme needed to break down lactose, you’re likely intolerant of milk and dairy products.

It can sometimes be difficult to distinguish between a hypersensitivity and an allergy to a food, as seen in Figure 2-1. Many of the same symptoms may appear with both hypersensitivity and allergies, but the chronic effects may differ. Consult a health care professional to determine if you have food allergies, sensitivities, or intolerances.

© John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

FIGURE 2-1:How food can be toxic to your body.

In this section, we take a look at various allergies, sensitivities, and intolerances; note some foods that commonly cause problems; and discuss how those food reactions can lead to chronic inflammation.

Food allergies and sensitivities aren’t all that uncommon. In fact, you may have an allergy and not even realize it. Allergies of all kinds occur when a body’s immune system kicks in, attacking the irritant that it views as an invader.

Most of the time, your body doesn’t attack the food you eat because of food tolerance, which is regulated by the immune system and your gastrointestinal tract. But as you age and practice more inflammatory habits, you can develop intolerances, sensitivities, or even life-threatening allergies to specific foods. Your immune system starts attacking either because too much of a particular component of that food is present or because there’s something wrong with the way that food affects your body due to your genetic predisposition.