Inflammation is swelling and is a protective immune response to physical or chemical injury. It helps us when we get hurt or are infected by bacteria or a virus.
It should go away as our injury or sickness is healed. Inflammation can become chronic from poor health or disease, or from bad lifestyle habits such as poor diet, lack of quality sleep, lack of exercise or from chronic stress.
Here are 5 ways it affects our body:
1. Chronic inflammation is a main cause of hormonal imbalances. It can cause chronically high cortisol levels and other undesirable hormonal responses. High cortisol = low testosterone.
2. It can cause pain such as muscle soreness or joint pain
3. It can cause fatigue and low energy
4. It can create damage within the body that can lead to disease
5. It can cause rheumatoid arthritis
Eating foods that you are allergic or sensitive to, excess sugars, processed foods, too much caffeine or too much alcohol can lead to chronic inflammation. Reducing these foods and increasing anti-inflammatory foods such as fruits and vegetables and healthy fats can help lower inflammation.
Two ways to find which foods are causing inflammation in your body:
1. Take a blood test
2. Go on an elimination diet and slowly reintroduce high allergy foods and monitor your bodies response. Remove any foods that your body has a negative response to from your regular diet.
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