Many of you may meet the new year with renewed determination to eat healthier and move more.
Feel Good Suffolk is here to help!
Where most might aim to change their diet to lose weight, how many would look to diet to help with chronic inflammation? What even is chronic inflammation?
What is inflammation?
Inflammation is the body’s natural defence system. We all have experienced acute inflammation when we twist an ankle or injure ourselves. It’s the redness, swelling, pain, and heat that comes from illness, injury, or infection. It usually only lasts a few days to help the damaged areas heal.
But there is a different kind of inflammation that impacts the whole body – namely chronic or systemic inflammation. This is where our inflammatory response is ‘on’ for long periods of time. This means that the body continues to release inflammatory cells – which is a problem because they damage our healthy cells.
This kind of inflammation can persist for months or even years and is a factor in many diseases including coronary heart disease and type 2 diabetes.
Inflammation can result from persistent infections, autoimmune disorders like rheumatoid arthritis and lupus, or our lifestyle e.g. smoking or being overweight.
What is becoming clear from research is that we can influence inflammation by what we eat. So, some foods like berries, leafy greens and oily fish may have an anti-inflammatory effect. Equally foods high in sugar, salt and those that are highly processed have the opposite effect.
If, like me, you have indulged over the festive season on all the foods on the ‘naughty list’ you may have noticed its impact on how you feel. I suffer from arthritis and am intrigued by the idea that my diet could be the best medicine. I have certainly experienced a flare-up in my symptoms over Christmas, this may be a coincidence but like many people in chronic pain, I’m willing to try a change in diet to see if it makes a difference.
So, what does an anti-inflammatory diet look like?
An anti-inflammatory diet is based on eating healthy foods and avoiding processed foods. The diet emphasizes eating a variety of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, unsaturated oils, beans, nuts and fish. Diets such as the DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) and Mediterranean diets are a good place to start.
Foods to choose from include:
Fruits and vegetables: A rainbow of colours, including citrus fruits, berries, leafy greens, and leafy green vegetables especially those from the brassica family.
Whole grains: Such as wheat, oats, rye, buckwheat, millet, quinoa, and brown rice
Healthy fats: Such as olives, olive oil, fatty fish, nuts, and seeds
Protein: From beans, lentils, lentil pasta, soy, white meats
Spices and herbs: Such as ginger, garlic, turmeric, cardamom, black pepper, cinnamon, and rosemary
Beverages: Water, herbal and green teas, and coffee.

Foods to avoid include:
Processed meats, foods high in saturated fat, sugary drinks, refined carbs, trans fats, and alcohol.
The exact mechanisms are not yet fully understood but the main benefits come from eating a variety of healthy foods.
The advice also recommends eating fresh, simple ingredients, and eating more slowly and mindfully.
This all sounds good but I’m sure you are awash with diet tips and advice. In January we are bombarded with healthy lifestyle messages that can be overwhelming.
To this end, we have created two handy bite-size downloadables on both the DASH and Mediterranean diets to help you start making those small changes that will add up to big differences. Jump to downloads below.
Feel Good Suffolk is all about making small changes that stick to become long-lasting healthy habits.
Words of warning.
If you have a chronic inflammatory condition like rheumatoid arthritis or inflammatory bowel disease, it’s important to talk to your doctor before making any changes.
Also, in the UK the term ‘anti-inflammatory’ is not an authorised health claim. This means commercially sold food should NOT carry this claim or message on food labelling.
And finally.
A healthy diet is just one way to help reduce inflammation other ways of controlling inflammation are by adopting other healthy habits. And yes, you’ve guessed it, staying physically active and stopping smoking are also recommended.
For more information and recipe ideas take a look online at the British Heart Foundation’s ‘Heart Matters’ e-zine.
We’ll leave you today with a quote from Steve Maraboli,
“Incredible change happens in your life when you decide to take control of what you have power over instead of craving control over what you don’t.”