On a typical day in my chiropractic practice, a majority of my patients have “inflammation” of one or more areas in their body.
For some it is chronic — such as many forms of arthritis or crohn’s disease — while for others it is simply acute — such as whiplash or acute back pain — from a traumatic event.
Regardless of where and how often the inflammation occurs, it is a little-known fact that many common foods can make the severity of the inflammation much worse.
If you search the Internet for the top foods that cause inflammation, the same ones will almost always come up.
I have listed some of the biggest culprits below:
Sugar. Sugar is the number one culprit as far as I am concerned. This is particularly because the average person consumes so much of it, even though he or she may know it is bad for them!
Be sure to read labels on your food. Any ingredient that ends in “ose”, such as fructose or sucrose, should be considered a sugar.
If you want to lower your levels of overall inflammation, avoid desserts, pastries, chocolate bars, candy and even fruit juice!
Saturated Fats. Many people can relate to this one. It has been shown that saturated fats cause inflammation in the adipose (fat) tissues of your body.
This is a risk factor for heart disease and worsens the inflammation that comes with arthritis.
In the North American diet, pizza and cheese are the biggest sources of saturated fats.
Other sources of saturated fats that you may not have known about are red meat, full fat dairy products, pasta, and grain-based desserts.
Trans fats. This nasty critter is known to trigger overall systemic inflammation. They are found in fast foods and fried products, processed snack foods, frozen breakfast products, cookies, donuts, many different crackers and many kinds of margarine.
Look for partially hydrogenated oils in the ingredient labels, and avoid these foods.
Omega-6 Fatty Acids. Omega-6 fatty acids are needed in the body for normal growth and development. However, the body needs a healthy balance of omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids.
Excess consumption of omega-6 acids can make the body produce chemicals that promote pro-inflammatory chemicals.
These omega-6 fatty acids are found in corn oil, safflower oil, sunflower oil, grapeseed oil, soy oil, peanut oil, and vegetable oil.
Unfortunately, mayonnaise and many salad dressings also contain omega-6 fatty acids.
Remember though, you shouldn’t avoid these oils completely. Just have a healthy balance of them and the omega-3 fatty acids.
Refined Carbohydrates. You won’t be happy to read this one! All products that are made with white flour products, such as breads, crackers, white rice, instant mash potatoes, french fries, and many cereals are refined carbohydrates.
In fact, did you know that processed carbohydrates are a bigger cause of escalating rates of obesity and other chronic conditions than fats?
Aspartame. If you are trying to exclude sugar from your diet and are replacing it with aspartame as an artificial sweetener instead, you won’t be happy when you read about this one.
Aspartame is a non-nutritive, intense artificial sweetener found in more than 4,000 products worldwide.
Did you know that it is also a neurotoxin, which means it affects the brain? If you are sensitive to this chemical, your immune system will react to the “foreign substance” by attacking the chemical, which, in return, will trigger an inflammatory response.
Alcohol. Alcohol is a burden to the liver. Excessive use weakens liver function and disrupts other multi-organ interactions and can cause inflammation.
Alcohol is best eliminated from your diet completely, or at least used in moderation.
