How To Reduce Inflammation in the Body

What is Inflammation? 
Well, what is inflammation? Inflammation, in the health and fitness context, is a physiological response to stress or trauma. Often when your body is reacting to infection, an allergic, or otherwise chemical irritation, it is in undergoing inflammation. Acute inflammation, sub-acute inflammation, and chronic inflammation are three stages of inflammation. There are four tell-tale signs of inflammation: redness, heat, swelling, and pain.

What Are Some Main Causes of Inflammation in the Body? 
You may often become aware that foods you may cause inflammation. You can probably imagine the subset of foods that you usually do not consume because of how your body may respond to it. Are there foods that cause you to have allergic reactions? Is your skin sensitive to certain perfumes or colognes? Some of these are sources of inflammation.

Certain stimulants or foods that are energy-dense but nutrient-deficient may encourage certain inflammation types in some physiologic contexts. Some of these foods may cause damage to cells. Cell injury may trigger an inflammatory response in the body. In this context, inflammatory cytokines, for example, promote inflammation, but they do not necessarily initiate inflammation. They are signaling molecules created by cells. These molecules send signals to various body parts when the body needs to make more healthy cells. For example, there may be foods that are bad for you when you are experiencing inflammation. Certain high-energy, nutrient-deficient foods may stimulate the metabolism. Such an increase in metabolism, when the body is deficient in certain nutrients, may be harmful and exacerbate inflammation.

What are some signs of inflammation? 
There are some general signs of inflammation. Hopefully, you will be contacting your doctor when you feel you need to seek a physician's perspective. Indeed, heat, loss of function, redness, swelling, or soreness should be enough to motivate you to seek help. A lot of times, you may think you understand the cause or the remedy. A lot of times, though, a doctor may be able to offer advice from a better-informed perspective. There may be health contexts with positive outcomes that a doctor has seen many more times than you have.                                                                       

What Foods May Cause Inflammation? 
Foods that have a relatively low nutrient-density and, at the same time, considered high-energy foods are good candidates for inflammation-causing foods. At any given moment, the adult body is likely to be on the verge of undergoing low-grade inflammation. Once a system within the body is close to being inflamed, consuming highly inflammatory foods that the body has difficulty metabolizing would be a sure way to induce further systemic inflammation. Here are some inflammatory foods that I tend to avoid: highly processed foods, sugars, and trans fats. I may, however, eat some of these foods on a weekly basis, but most of the time, I consume them within the context of an exercise program that helps to minimize negative aspects of inflammation.

How do you Reduce Inflammation Naturally? 
Exercise is one way to reduce inflammation naturally. The right type of activity can initiate an immune response enough to precipitate processes the body needs to repair itself. Ensuring that you consume good sources of natural complex fibers is another way to ensure that your body is likely not to suffer from conditions that would otherwise be inflammatory. For example, specific B vitamins may be either anti-inflammatory or pro-inflammatory--depending on the physiological context. Diverse gut flora may respond well to an occasional bolus amount of processed or refined carbohydrates. In contrast, a body that struggles to maintain a healthy gut microbiome may experience severe issues with consuming such inflammatory foods.

There are many contexts and conditions where inflammation may occur. The best way to protect yourself against inflammation is to familiarize yourself with the types of actions that are likely to produce particular inflammatory outcomes. Another way to protect yourself against the more common incidences of inflammation is through consuming a healthy, fiber-rich diet.