Everyone is referring to using anti inflammatories whether medicated or a more natural approach like turmeric, ginger and fish oils to name a few. So what is exactly is Inflammation? It is when our natural body has too many abnormal or irritating stimulation caused by an injury, infection, fungus, viruses, physical trauma, chemical, toxins or biological agent. The inflammatory response is a result to try to remove it and show that the body is trying to heal itself.
Inflammation normally is a healthy process that comes to the body’s aid when it’s stressed or injured. For instance, if someone cuts themselves our body’s inflammatory response sends in an army of white blood cells to help start the natural healing process. ?Acute inflammation will be experienced for minutes, hours or just a few days which is mild inflammation.
Chronic inflammation can however stay longer which is a major contributor of Dis EASE of the body! This applies not only for humans but animals too. When the inflammation switch stays on like a fire that won’t totally go out this is inflammation. Like a fire within if we add more fuel to it spreads rapidly. Which increases heat, swelling and pain. Our white blood cells flood our bodies for years. This occurs in conditions like arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, alzheimers/ dementia, heart diseases, diabetes, obesity, chronic fatigue syndrome, any enlarged organs, gut issues like ulcerative colitis, skin conditions as well as all autoimmune diseases.
What causes this fire within? There are genetic predisposition contributing factors including high blood pressure and diabetes to name a few. Other contributors that can also fuel the flames of inflammation are smoking, alcohol, stress, foods, coffee, alcohol , sugars, chemicals and food intolerances/allergies. Ageing is another risk factor for inflammation, since as we age, our bodies are less able to disarm the inflammatory process.
How do we putt this fire out?
Medically anti inflammatories are prescribed. However, my naturopathic approach is using natural anti-inflammatories in high doses initially to put the fire out within. It’s like having a real fire we don’t want to everyday put a small amount of water on it- we want the fire out.
I use similar protocols for dogs and horses too . So Essential Fatty acids are essential as these are processed naturally in the body so we require from external sources like fish oil or flaxseed oil. Plus herbs curcumin (the active component of turmeric), ginger and probiotics. These all have proven to reduce inflammation at any degree.
Inflammation can also be reduced by consuming a balanced diet of 80% alkalised foods 80 % (greens, vegetables) with beneficial acidic foods 20% (like proteins.) Ideally we are wanting to limit high acidic foods as these have an inflammatory effect to us like sugars, processed foods, coffee and alcohol.
At Life Synergy we can measure the degree of inflammation within and advice the best food planning options for you.
So let’s start putting that fire out instead of fuelling the inflammation.
Bianca Richardson – Naturopath