Inflammatory Fire Starters

by Nancy Mehlert, MS

As I prepare to offer the list of the most inflammatory foods, I want to preface it by saying that, in my experience, changing what I eat has been one of the hardest ventures in my life.  That stems from the fact that I was a junk food junkie who was addicted to sweets and starch, struggled with portion and weight control, as well as emotional eating.  As a result, I walked into the door of wellness as a very inflamed, in-a-lot-of-pain, hot mess mama.  At the time, I had no idea food had anything to do with it.

The list of inflammatory foods below will, with certainty, have on it at least one thing you love and enjoy dearly, but, perhaps unbeknownst to you, is causing inflammation, pain, and/or illness.  I hope that you will be kind to yourself and start by getting one more thing on this list out of your diet and continue the journey to better health.

Here’s the list of inflammatory fire starters in the human body:

• Fast Food
• Packaged, processed food products/meals
• Hydrogenated, trans- or refined fats and oils
• Sugar
• Gluten (found in certain grains including wheat, rye, barley, spelt, and oats but also very pervasive in processed foods and not always listed on the ingredient label)
• Casein (a protein found in all milk products, especially dense in cheese and also hidden in other products)
• All grains, even gluten free grains (corn, rice, etc.)
• Any food to which you are allergic or sensitive, tested by IgG/IgE reactions
• Daily and/or excessive alcohol consumption
• Medications (prescription as well as over-the-counter, and any other substance that is foreign and unrecognized by the body)
• Chemical additives to our foods, especially artificial sweeteners, MSG and nitrates/nitrites, antibiotics and hormones, just to name a few.

There’s a compounding effect: the more of these you routinely consume, the more inflammation you can expect to have in the body.  Inflammation precedes most disease, especially and including autoimmune disease.  Inflammation is anything that hurts, is red, hot or feverish, swollen, bleeding, or raw. So whether you struggle with headaches, heartburn, leaky gut, allergies, high blood pressure, muscle or joint pain, hemorrhoids or eczema, you must face the reality that inflammation exists.  Consuming inflammatory foods is very highly likely contributing to the inflammation.  The inflammatory cascade can also be triggered by medications, infections, stress, hormone changes, neurological and metabolic factors.

Need help?  Call (281) 298-6742 today!