Natural Anti-Inflammatory

When you are choosing anti-inflammatory foods to help reduce your inflammation and pain, choose fresh foods instead of heavily processed foods. Here are some tips:

* Breakfast could be oatmeal served with fresh berries and walnuts, with a cup of soy milk.
* Snack on whole fruits, nuts, seeds, and fresh vegetables throughout the day instead of cookies and candy.
* Eat more fish and less fatty red meat.
* Stay away from deep fried foods and bake or stir fry your meals instead.
* Choose green, orange, and yellow vegetables for your side dishes.
* Drink plenty of water, fresh 100% fruit and vegetable juices, herbal teas and green tea.

Take a high-quality daily multivitamin/mineral complex. Though many studies have examined the impact vitamins such as folic acid and the other B's have on our tissue function and levels of inflammation, the role these vitamins play remains unclear. There is, however, a clear connection between higher blood levels of certain nutrients and lower risk of health conditions caused by inflammation like arthritis, cardiovascular disease, and insulin resistance. Along with the benefits of folic acid, other B vitamins, and EFA's as described above, vitamin D also has known anti-inflammatory effects, and vitamins C, A, and E are widely celebrated as powerful antioxidants, countering the effects of free radical damage.

Choose from a rainbow of anti-inflammatory botanicals. The natural world has so much to offer us in the way of compounds that quiet inflammation in our bodies. Many of these are traditional medicinal foods, herbs, and spices used for centuries in the past, yet whose specific mechanisms of action biochemists are still exploring today. The study of phytotherapy is helping to bring about a whole new range of anti-inflammatory agents that more effectively target the inflammatory cascade, well upstream of where conventional NSAID's and COX-2 inhibitors cause their damaging and unwanted side effects.

* Bioflavonoids. Also called flavones or flavonoids, this is a class of over 5000 plant chemicals that our bodies metabolize in a way that offers strong anti-oxidant, anti-cancer, anti-allergenic, and anti-inflammatory effects. Many occur abundantly in our daily food and drink, such as in citrus fruits, vegetables, tea, cocoa and wine, to name just a few! Others are less well known, or found less widely in nature, or still waiting to be discovered. Most bioflavonoids can also be taken in supplemental form as part of a natural anti-inflammation regimen. Among the best for soothing the inflammatory cascade are quercetin, rutin, and procyanidins (OPC's) such as those found in pine bark extract (Pycnogenol) and grape seed extract.

* Anti-inflammatory herbs. Aside from the large group of bioflavonoids I've only touched on above, many herbs have powerful anti-inflammatory actions. Here's just a sampling.

Boswellia (Boswellia serrata).
Ginger (Zingiber officinalis).
Turmeric (Curcuma longa)

* Glucosamine-chondroitin. Glucosamine sulfate (1500-2000 mg/day, divided doses) and chondroitin sulfate (~1000 mg/day) are important building blocks in healthy cartilage. As we age, our bodies can't create these compounds as readily as they do in youth. Glucosamine-chondroitin supplements may help repair damaged tissues, but they are thought to act more principally by delaying progression of joint inflammation and alleviating its symptoms.

The simplest and most biochemically sound way of turning down the body's proinflammatory prostaglandins and cytokines is by restoring a balance between pro- and antiinflammatory foods. From a dietary standpoint, this means switching from vegetable oils to extra-virgin olive oil (high in antiinflammatory omega-9 fatty acids). It also means avoiding most processed (boxed, canned, or frozen) foods, because their makers frequently add omega-6 fatty acids. By eating simple unprocessed foods-such as baked chicken, a salad, and steamed vegetables-it becomes easier to consume a more balanced ratio of omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids.

However, if you're like most people, you've been eating a diet high in omega-6 fatty acids and low in antioxidants for years. Simply restoring a balance is not enough to quickly offset accumulated damage, because the fatty acid composition of the body's cells reflects their dietary ratios. It's imperative to increase consumption of antiinflammatory fatty acids and antioxidants.