Inflammation is the root cause of many chronic diseases and illnesses. Multiple sclerosis is one of those so-called inflammatory disease. As a result, there are many things you can do to limit some of this inflammation in your body in your everyday life. Afterall, isn’t that always the goal—to be well preserved? That is literally always in the back of my mind when making decisions.
One of the best ways to avoid or limit inflammation is through food. This can be done in a handful of ways.
- Avoid eating processed foods, and instead, eat high quality colorful foods. Colorful veggies are very anti-inflammatory. Omega-3 fatty acids, such as certain types of nuts, salmon, sardines, and oysters are also pretty anti-inflammatory. Tomatoes, leafy greens, and many fruits are also anti-inflammatory. They are high in in natural antioxidants and polyphenols, which are protective compounds that protect against inflammation and other diseases. Gluten, sweets, candies, baked goods, processed foods, and fried foods are very inflammatory. These foods are especially inflammatory if they are cooked with soybean oil, sunflower oil, poppyseed oil, canola oil, vegetable oil—basically any oils that aren’t olive oil or avocado oil.
- Acknowledge your food allergies and avoid them. Almost everyone has food allergies these days; that’s because foods are so processed and have so many terrible ingredients in them, most of which you can’t even pronounce. When you eat foods that you are allergic or sensitive to, your immune system becomes inflamed. Eliminating these foods from your diet allows your immune system to calm down and become settled; that reduces any inflammation that you may have. I am convinced I have a gluten allergy and since gluten is just extremely inflammatory anyways, I decided to become gluten free over two years ago. It was one of the best decisions I ever made.
- Limit exposure to toxins in food packaging. As I have previously noted, food storage is really important, and the types of products you use to store food has many affects on the food stored in the products. Generally, you should store your foods in glass or stainless steel. Most plastics contain BPA, polyethylene terpthalate, benzene, toluene, and/or xylene. These plastics, when heated, release carcinogens, and these carcinogens will directly seep into your food, which can cause inflammation, infertility, diabesity, obesity and cancer. So, when heating your foods, you should always try to use glass, and if you need to cover what you are heating, use unbleached parchment paper. This will at least prevent you from consuming carcinogens from the container and wrapping around your food when using a microwave.
- Ensure you are absorbing enough and eating enough fibrous foods. Fiber is very important to proper gut health, and gut health is very important to fighting inflammation and keeping inflammation at bay. As a result, fiber goes hand in hand with limiting inflammation in the body. Foods with the highest fiber content that should be included in your diet are beans, broccoli, berries, and avocados.
Food is the real medicine of life if you treat it that way and consider all of the things that food can do for you. It can prevent, lessen or eliminate inflammation in the body, which helps you live a healthier and happier life. With that you can be a little more well preserved.
Always,
Taylor
