A Smouldering Adversary
Part Five – Chronic Inflammation, Foods To Be Wary Of And Supplements To Use
Have you read Parts One, Two, Three, and Four of this series? Please read them before continuing, you’ll see that it’s so important to you.
Why is it so important? This statement says it all –
The destructive capability of chronic inflammation is unrivalled among bodily processes.
What Foods Should I Be Wary of?
There are foods that are known to contribute to the inflammatory cascade. Foods that are high on the glycemic index (GI) are a major culprit. High glycemic foods are carbohydrate rich foods; they stimulate blood sugar levels to exceed the healthy range for blood sugar concentration. If blood sugar remains consistently high it elicits an inflammatory response.
Something else occurs when blood sugar is habitually excessive, the condition of insulin resistance. This in turn can lead to the onset of diabetes. Insulin resistance has become a pervasive problem that leads to the development of a host of other health issues. Some of these conditions are very debilitating and life threatening.
Consider avoiding high GI foods, or discuss it with your medical practitioner or health professional, if you have insulin resistance, diabetes, or are in the process of resolving a chronic inflammatory state. If you are free of these conditions the general advice given by health professionals is to be wary of high GI foods and use them, at the very least, infrequently and in small amounts.
Examples of high GI foods
Research in this field is ongoing and evolving, but plenty has been revealed to enable you to use current knowledge for your health and longevity.
This is a list, certainly not extensive, of some of the high GI foods commonly eaten.
All sugars and foods manufactured with these sugars – if it ends with ‘-ose’, e.g. sucrose, fructose, you know it’s a sugar, therefore a high GI product, so please be careful.
Corn syrup – I could have listed this under sugars. I’ve singled it out because its a very common sweetener the food manufacturing industry tends to use instead of sugar in many processed foods.
Wheat and wheat products.
White rice
Rice milk
Baked goods
Potatoes
Corn
Bananas
Watermelon
Raisins
Dates
Sugary drinks
Fruit juices
Breakfast cereals
Snack foods
Ice cream
Because of peoples reliance on manufactured foods high GI foods are a common component of the modern diet. If you exclude them you have taken a big step in avoiding some major inflammation inciters.
Are there other foods, not necessarily high on the glycemic index, that contribute to the chronic inflammatory cascade? Well, yes, there are.
Additional Foods That Contribute To The Inflammatory Cascade
Red meat
Processed meat – such as bacon, ham, jerky, hot dogs, bologna, sausages, in fact all processed meats
Margarine, shortening, and lard
Vegetable oils and most seed oils, e.g. canola, soy bean, peanut, and sunflower oils. I stick with grape seed oil and olive oil, because they have been shown to have anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant, and bio-protective effects.
Alcohol
Fried foods
Processed foods
Food additives – artificial colourings, flavourings, preservatives, flavour enhancers etc.
Synthetic sweeteners
If your regular diet is based around the above foods you may well be thinking that you’ll be missing out if you stop using them, or you’re bewildered because you don’t know what to cook. Rest easy, you avoid these foods until you have chronic inflammation under control, then it shouldn’t be an issue if you use them as an occasional treat. Your system should deal with it, without any repercussion. And during the period where you have been a good person, and refused to use those foods, you will have discovered a whole new world of nourishing, healthy, and delicious, eating.
There are plenty of great cook books out there. New titles are coming onto the market all the time. Try the cookery section in your local library, many of the books are a work of art in themselves. And be prepared to open yourself to a new way of delicious eating.
Nutritional Supplements For Chronic Inflammation
The sensible use of nutritional supplements for chronic inflammation is widely prescribed by health professionals. But, please be aware that you should not fall into the common trap of placing total reliance on supplements alone, expecting them to do the job you need to do yourself.
The whole point of this series, and this is an important issue, is to provide you with the knowledge to combat this major threat to health and longevity. And then you use what you learn to develop and apply the skills for the benefit of yourself, and your loved ones.
To gain control over chronic inflammation, and as a protective measure to keep it at bay, means assimilating all of the protocols within this series. What you’re doing is moving from a ‘common’ approach to living and into what you will discover is ‘normal’. I’m using the term ‘normal’ to impress upon your mind the way we are supposed to live, move, love, and have our being.
The following four supplements are generally prescribed to be used daily. I selected these based upon the information that they do two things. One is they are used as an additional force to help to quell the inflammatory fires within. Secondly, they have a protective function, helping to keep chronic inflammation at bay. They are readily available, and should be relatively inexpensive. It could be worth your time to shop around, with the internet at your disposal the whole world is your marketplace, so it’s a very competitive field when it comes to price and choice of brands.
Fish oil (for the omega-3 content) – 1500 to 3000 mg daily, best taken before bedtime.
A Tip – Buy fish oil that is wild sourced and has been tested for mercury.
Magnesium – 400 mg daily
Vitamin C – 500 mg daily
Chromium – 200 mcg daily. Chromium is used for healthy glucose metabolism and to control sugar cravings.
You now have quite a bit of practical knowledge, also you have some potent tools to use. Yet there is more for you to learn. The next post is about lifestyle hacks that will expose you to some very interesting ways that not only help to get you into the safe zone, away from a chronic inflammatory state, but also add quality and meaning to life itself.
More of You’s Takeaways
- You’re aware of the hazards of high GI foods.
- You have a list of some of the main high GI foods.
- You know other major foods that incite a chronic inflammatory state.
- You know four popular nutritional supplements to use as an aid to quell chronic inflammation, and to help to protect you from it.
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Responsibility And Liability – A Message To You
These writings are gathered from various sources and authorities, and re-presented by the author, with the intention that they are available, accessible, and readily understood by everyone. The author does not make any claim of their authenticity or benefit. It is for the reader to make their own informed decision regarding the potential for personal use of this material. The author is not engaged in rendering medical, health, or any other kind of personal professional services through this blog. If the reader has health concerns they should decide if it warrants a consultation with his or her medical, health, or other competent professional before adopting any of the suggestions in the writings of this blog or drawing inferences from them.
The author specifically disclaims all responsibility for any liability, or risk, personal or otherwise, which is incurred as a consequence, directly or indirectly, of the use and application of any of the contents in the writings within this blog.
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