Tim Irvine
This article falls into the category of ‘you don’t know what you don’t know’.
Presenting to companies over the last two years has provided me the opportunity to have a passenger seat to some incredibly bright people form Totum who have presented their expertise to thousands. It has been like being in a university class you just can’t fall asleep in. Although I consider myself an expert, I also consider myself a realist and the older I get the less I think I know. Through all of this, one area that I have had my eyes opened is nutrition.
I’ve become fascinated by inflammation, to the point I’ve sat our kids down for ‘the talk’, but instead of it being about the birds and the bees, it was about inflammation. Even with decades of experience, the knowledge has influenced me so much that I’ve changed my eating, my sleep, I’m moving more, and I’m more focused on avoiding things that contribute to inflammation. I’m not quite ready to start The C.A.I, (Church of Anti-Inflammation), but I’m close.
Using my somewhat ‘expert’ background, combined with this important new information the layman in me has learned, I’d like to try and convert you to my new religion.
Here are three key things I think you need to know about inflammation
- Inflammation makes you old
- Inflammation makes you sore
- Inflammation makes you sick
With the help of some of those incredibly bright people, I will dive a bit deeper into each of these topics, but for now, I’ll highlight some of the reasons we get inflamed.
Acute inflammation is generally good. You scrape your knee and an inflammatory response to heal the cut is triggered.
Chronic inflammation is the one you need to avoid. It damages cells and is the road to many chronic diseases. It can be caused by auto immune disorders, exposure to certain chemicals, or acute inflammation that never heals properly. Besides these, the body of evidence around lifestyle factors is growing and it’s clear, certain things we do on a day-to-day basis pre-dispose us to more inflammation.
In an article from Brigham and Women’s Hospital, the following are identified as lifestyle factors that have been shown to contribute to inflammation:
- Being overweight
- Consuming too many bad fats (think trans fat) and not enough good fats (think omega 3)
- Eating too many refined carbohydrates (most packaged foods in the grocery store)
We also know being chronically stressed, under slept, or consuming sugary foods and beverages (yes, alcohol is included here) will also contribute to an inflamed body.
The bottom line is inflammation is bad and anti-inflammation is good.
It’s time to start putting out the fires.
And check out the additional articles on inflammation making you old, sore and sick to find out how this is happening and what you can do about it.