If you are feeling heavy or overweight, you can be experiencing silent inflammation. We have a certain number of fat cells, as we gain weight, our bodies do not add more, the fat cells become larger as they fill with more fat. It’s like putting too much air in a balloon, it causes stress on the balloon and air leaks out. The more a fat cell is filled and stretched, the more it may leak. There are immune cells, called macrophages, that then come in to clean up the leaky mess. The macrophages release inflammatory chemicals in the fatty tissues as they are cleaning up. It’s this inflammatory response that is thought to be the mechanism behind the increase in our size and weight.
The body counteracts this silent inflammation by producing anti-inflammatory chemicals. Some of these interfere with the function of the hormone leptin. In optimally healthy people, leptin* is responsible for automatically maintaining weight at the right level.
Ways To Naturally Reduce Inflammation
- Add Lots Of These: leafy greens and other colorful vegetables; lentils; berries; citrus fruits; low-fat dairy products; olive oil. I’m personally a vegetarian, but if you’re not, choose wild-caught fish; lean cuts of red meat such as pork, beef and buffalo..
- To Be HOT,Think HOT: spices that is! Add garlic, ginger, curry, or chili peppers to your foods and get your metabolism roaring! Researchers from the University of Wyoming unlocked a beneficial ingredient from chili peppers that could change the obesity epidemic,, they found just by adding the capsaicin from chili peppers into a mouse’s high-fat diet, it prevented weight gain. The mice in the study didn’t eat or drink more or less because of the capsaicin additive, just simply plateaued in weight gain.
- Eat These Foods In Moderation: whole grains, beans, tropical fruits, poultry, eggs, nuts and seeds, white potatoes, cheeses.
- On The Sweeter Side: add some cinnamon to your foods & drinks to help reduce inflammation. Cinnamon contains the antioxidant cinnamaldehyde. Cinnamaldehyde reduces arterial inflammation, as well as blood clots. I love cinnamon in my coffee, with rice and vanilla almond milk, it’s great in chili or on Mexican food too!
- Skip To Be Fit: organ meats; veal; high-fat dairy; farmed fish; margarine and shortening; vegetable oils; refined flours and sugar; fatty and fried foods.
These are easy adjustments to any meal plan: Which of these dietary changes are you resolving to make to reduce inflammation?
*Learn more about Leptin here: Leptin. (2015, August 2). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 20:10, August 4, 2015, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Leptin&oldid=674153829
