As for what inflammation is, think of it like this.. if you sprain your ankle, your ankle swells up, right? That inflammation is part of the healing process. If we consume a lot of sugar or have a couple rough nights’ with little sleep, our body will fight back with inflammation so as to heal itself, and that’s okay.
When inflammation is chronic, that is when bigger issues can begin such as autoimmune function, chronic fatigue, Lupus, cancer, etc. And you definitely will not be able to lose fat if you have chronic inflammation so let’s dive in!
One of the main triggers that can create inflammation in the body is a lack of sleep. Lack of sleep disrupts hormones, decreases recovery, starves your brain, puts you in a bad mood, and a host of other major issues. Without sound sleep your body cannot function to the level it should so you may experience more cravings, hunger, pain and a plethora of other terrible side affects. (If you want to learn more about what sleep does for us, listen to my podcast with sleep expert Dr. Bernstein here.)
One of the other major triggers for inflammation is food. There are two major players that increase inflammation in most bodies and those are sugar and polyunsaturated fatty acids, especially when heated. Sugar increases inflammation in the body. I’m not saying you cannot eat sugar ever, but keeping your refined sugar intake low is a good idea. As for PUFA’s, eating foods that contain or are cooked in vegetables oils like soybean, canola, corn, etc (see full list here) are terrible for you and are known to cause inflammation in the body. Avoiding the foods that have vegetable oil and not eating fried foods can be massively helpful to not increase inflammation in the body.
Other foods that may cause inflammation are truly dependent on the individual. Some of the foods I look to are generally gluten, dairy, nightshades, beans and legumes. But this is highly dependent upon the person because gut irritation varies person to person.
Alcohol is another big inflammation promoting thing we consume. So limiting that may help.
Environmental toxins may promote inflammation. Some of these may include BPA’s (found in plastic), teflon, glyphosate (pesticide sprayed on produce), parabens/ phthalates/ triclosan (found in cosmetic and household products.)
Doing too much cardio or constantly being in fight or flight mode, can promote inflammation.
And finally, mental and emotional stress can increase inflammation in the body.
So not only do we want to work to limit these things, we also want to decrease inflammation in our bodies by omitting these environmental and food stressors, getting more sleep and increasing time spent in a parasympathetic state each day.
Doing things like breathwork, meditation, nature walking, petting our dogs, practicing yin-style yoga and journaling can also decrease inflammation as simply being in a parasympathetic state does so much for the body.
If you need help working on these things, I can help you! My one on one online training program is a great tool to help you become aware of your habits and things you consume that may be increasing inflammation in your body.
Head to Commit2FitCoaching.com to learn more about this program. For the 12 weeks of the program we are constantly looking at your day to day habits to see what we can improve upon and how.
Your Coach,
Kyra