Part I - Inflammation Got You Down?
*to the tune of Beyonce’s Girl on Fire*
My body’s on firrrrrreeee!
Is your body fired up with inflammation? Don’t worry, you’re not the only one. You’re in the same boat with millions of other struggling Americans.
As in, like, 150 million Americans.
Yeah, it’s a lot.
Inflammation gets a bad rap, and it’s easy to see why. Chronic inflammation is the leading causal factor in just about every chronic disease - heart disease, diabetes, autoimmune diseases, hypertension… not to mention the other issues it’s causing us. However, inflammation isn’t all bad.
But let’s back track a little…
What is inflammation?
There are essentially two types of inflammation- chronic and acute. We talked about chronic inflammation above, but what about acute inflammation?
Acute inflammation is actually helpful and very necessary. It’s a natural response that helps our bodies heal from short-term injury and illness - like when you stub your toe on the coffee table, or catch a cold from your gross cousin Clark. Key word - short-term. Chronic inflammation is the consequence of constant stressors and our body’s attempt at healing - think work, sleep disturbance, relationship troubles, food intolerances, and even overtraining. Key word- constant. It doesn’t have to be, and often isn’t, these grand, obvious stressors. Low-level inflammation from micro-stressors compound over time, wrecking havoc on the body and leading to chronic inflammation.
Signs of inflammation
Obvious signs that we usually think of with external inflammation are redness, swelling, pain, and warmth to the touch. Internal inflammation, on the other hand, is a little more difficult to diagnose, and this is what you’ll typically experience with chronic inflammation. Without proper blood testing (namely for CRP, a.k.a. c-reactive protein, or a WBC count) it can be trickier to spot. However, you can look out for these common signs:
Joint pain
Brain fog
Breakouts / Eczema (and other skin conditions)
Fatigue
Digestive distress / IBS
Swollen lymph nodes (indicates that the immune system has been triggered)
Excessive mucous production
While these aren’t guarantees for chronic systemic inflammation, if you checked multiple boxes it’s highly likely that you’re dealing with some form of inflammation.
So, now you have an inkling that inflammation could be causing some of your issues.
But what’s causing the inflammation?
It’s typically a combo of lifestyle + dietary factors.
Aaaaannddd…
As you can see, there are a lot of common triggers of inflammation.
In Part II, we’re going to give you our best tips and tricks to nip inflammation in the bud! (bud? butt? what do you say? let us know in the comments)
In the meantime, here are some of our fav inflammation-fighting foods at Raw to help move you in the right direction!
Hustle Poké Bowl
Salmon + Beets + Avocado
Violet Beauregarde Oatmeal
Berries + Steel Cut Oats + Walnuts
Quest Cold-Pressed Juice
Carrot + Turmeric + Ginger
Order yours here!