Sedentary and unhealthy lifestyles can lead to inflammation in the body. Here are 6 tips on how to treat inflammation in the body naturally and easily.
What is inflammation?
Inflammation is our body’s mechanism to fight off infections against viruses or bacteria for example or repair tissues following a cut or bruise. The skin swells up, goes red and feels hot and sore but this is completely normal process. Inflammation also occurs when we have had a tough workout, when the muscle fibres break and repair themselves. This type of inflammation is called acute (or short-lived) as it only lasts days or even hours.
Chronic inflammation, however, can last months and often years. It’s due to a malfunction of the immune system that becomes overactive when the body is experiencing high levels of stress. This causes the immune system to attack healthy tissues and leads to a list of autoimmune diseases (such as inflammatory bowel disease, sclerosis or arthritis).
Stress comes in many forms: emotional, electromagnetic, and nutritional stress being the common ones experienced. You can easily help to treat chronic inflammation naturally by reducing your stress levels as suggested below.
#1: Eat natural food to treat inflammation in the gut
One of the biggest causes of nutritional stress comes from processed foods that can irritate the gut and create inflammation.
Your goal here is to eat natural food as much as possible, and count the nutrients rather than the calories. Do not eat, or limit eating foods from a box or a packet. We live in a culture where we have been programmed to think calories are the most important marker for health, when in reality it is the quality of nutrients we consume. Food that has been processed – whether it’s meat or plants – have been depleted from all their goodness due to the transformation process. Industrial food is also packed with additives that are not good for our health. Choose food that hasn’t been transformed in one way or another and cook as much as possible.
Purchase locally grown food, produced naturally, so in season, and without chemicals if possible. When we buy fruits and veg produced on the other side of the planet, the food is harvested sooner and forced to mature unnaturally in containers during transport. The nutritional value of these food, is lower then locally grown food. As a result, your body is craving for more.
So eat real, unprocessed, in season and organic (if possible) food. You don’t have to follow plant-based or keto diet to be healthy. Enjoy eating a variety of food, rich in nutrients, that will support a strong immune system.
#2: Avoid the ‘4 whites’
Your diet doesn’t need to be perfect for your body to thrive but these ‘4 whites’ are some of the most damaging foods that can cause inflammation. The 4 evil white food are: flour, sugar, table salt, and pasteurized dairy, which you should try to avoid as much as possible. This can be difficult but it is possible, apply the rule of 80 – 20, aiming for 80% of the food being natural and nutrient rich and 20% of ‘other’ food.
You can replace the ‘4 whites’ as follows:
- Wheat flour: buckwheat, coconut flour, gluten-free flour
- Sugar: fruits with low fructose content (berries, citrus fruits)
- Salt: unprocessed, pink Himalayan, grey sea salt
- Pasteurised dairy: un-pasteurised, un-homogenised milk, grass fed butter, kefir. Check this list of raw milk suppliers and other un-pasteurised products in the UK.
#3: Eat your meals early and try fasting
The last thing your body needs when you go to bed is to digest a meal. Try and eat your biggest meal of the day as early as possible so you have the time to fully digest all the food and use up all the nutrients. Not only, you’ll get a better nice sleep but it gives a break to your gut, which will return to a normal acidity level. Every time we eat, we changes the pH and acidity of our guts. To have a healthy microbiome in our gut, we need to give it time to ‘rest’ too. You will notice dramatic changes in a short space of time in your overall health if you incorporate this tip.
If you want to improve your gut biome further, try intermittent fasting. Reduce your eating window to 10 hours, so from 8am to 6pm for example or even further to 4 hours. For example, skip breakfast and eat your meals only between 12pm to 6pm.
70% of our immune system is in our gut. So by taking more time to fully digest, your gut will be healthier and will prevent imbalances in your system.
#4: Move your body often
Our bodies are not designed to be sedentary, they need to move to function properly. Not moving is known to be as bad as smoking. We have more gyms, therapists, trainers than ever, yet one of the main reasons we suffer especially with inflammation is simply because we do not move often enough.
You can easily incorporate daily activities without necessarily going to the gym. Take the stairs instead of the lift, park further away from the shops and walk, cycle when you have to make short journeys, meet with friends at the park for a walk instead of staying indoors, the list of tips is endless. Find what works for you, and add this to your daily routine. If you’d prefer a coach to guide you and have a personalised training programme, contact us.
#5: Walk barefoot on the ground
We are around the harmful effects of electromagnetic fields (EMFs) almost 24/7. To protect your body from this electric pollution, ground your feet on the grass. As you do, you connect with the earth’s frequency and you allow your body to release all the positive charge built up overtime. This simple daily practice will improve blood flow and you’ll will notice improvements in your mood, your sleep, muscle repair from exercise, and circulation, just to name just a few. Start with 10-20 minutes and notice how you feel.
#6: Have a positive outlook on life
Steer your energy to one of hope. Engage in the spiritual discipline of being aware of your thoughts and focusing on knowing that in order to repair your outside, it begins on working on the inside. Expressing gratitude daily helps greatly with having a positive outlook on life. See the good in yourself, other people and situation. Write your positive thoughts and gratitude in a journal to reflect back on those at times when you may not feel so inspired. This practice will reduce your stress level and as a consequence increase your overall health.
Try to incorporate one or two new habits at the time into your daily routine and build up on these. Some tips to help treat your inflammation may work better than others. Persevere and stay consistent, and you’ll notice a difference in how you feel within as a few days. Remember that in essence, a healthy “inside” will create a healthy “outside”.
If you want support with building new healthy habits to improve your health naturally and easily, don’t hesitate to contact us.
