Live a Healthier Life on an Inti- Inflammatory Diet
By Mark Crawford, contributing writer
Eating right is the best way to achieve and/or maintain health. When cells get the proper fuel, they perform at a high level.
If they must operate on low-grade fuel contaminated with chemicals, preservatives, and unhealthful or dangerous natural and artificial compounds, performance suffers. Tissues and joints become irritated and inflamed. This inflammation can be low-grade or it can flare up or progress into chronic or acute disease states, including serious autoimmune problems such as arthritis. David R. Seaman, DC, MS, DABCN, who may have coined the term , “anti-inflammatory diet,” says, “Although inflammation should lead to tissue repair and remodeling, when it becomes chronic, it prevents healing and should be viewed as a disease process.” Dr. Seama is a professor of clinical sciences at National University of Health Sciences in St. Petersburg, Fla.
James Gerber, DC, says, “The pathological process of inflammation has been understood for decades. But only recently have health conditions not previously associated with inflammation, such as heart disease, cancer and degenerative brain diseases, been linked to this process. As a result, there has been more interest in discovering how anti-inflammatory interventions might help prevent or manage many diseases.” Dr. Gerber is an associate professor of clinical sciences at Western States Chiropractic College in Portland, Ore.
Dr. Seaman adds, “Many types of cell injury can cause inflammation, including hypoxia , physical agents such as trauma and burns, chemical agents and drugs, infectious agents, immunologic reactions, genetic derangements, and nutritional imbalances involving both deficiencies and excesses of various nutrients.
The Diet
One of the easiest and most effective ways to intervene is to adopt an anti-inflammatory diet. “In addition to reducing inflammation, this diet provides steady energy and ample vitamins, minerals, essential fatty acids, and dietary fiber,” says Andrew Weil, MD, Director of integrative medicine at the University of Arizona’s College of Medicine.
“The most important thing is fresh food, whatever it may be,” stresses Dr. M. Brady, ND, DC, director of the Human Nutrition Institute at the University of Bridgeport in Connecticut. “Avoiding packaged or processed foods-the more a food is processed, the less healthful it will be. Consume lots of plants. Plants have anti-oxidant properties and phytonutrients that quench inflammation.”…
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This article apperars in the April 2011 issue of JACA Online, ACA’s clinical journal.
