Reduce Inflammation with a Plant Based Diet

Change won’t happen without change. Simple truth, but one many people lose sight of.

Health issues abound, getting worse by the day. Obesity is on the rise, limiting the day-to-day activities of those who are bound by unhealthy weight.

Disease is out of control with more people being diagnosed with preventable conditions such as diabetes, some cancers, heart conditions and inflammation.

Yet, there are men and women every day who are making a change in what they eat to make a change in the way they live resulting in a better quality of life.
The change? Plant Based Eating.

I’m one of these people. I made the change well over six months ago. The results are nothing short of miraculous.

When I decided to go plant-based it was not to lose weight. Although I needed to release some weight, I started my plant-based journey to minimize inflammation. I was beginning to experience tell-tell signs of aging with inflammation becoming more evident every day.

The pain caused by inflammation was restricting my ability to move my right hand without experiencing intense page. In a nutshell, inflammation hurts and limits mobility.

At times, inflammation can be beneficial warning us of injury such as when we sustain a blow to a part of the body and the tissues need attention, care and protection. That is one type of inflammation that serves us.

According to WebMD, “When inflammation occurs, chemicals from the body’s white blood cells are released into the blood or affected tissues to protect your body from foreign substances. This release of chemicals increases the blood flow to the area of injury or infection and may result in redness and warmth.”
Some Inflammation is Preventable

In most cases though, inflammation is caused due to unhealthy behaviors such as what we eat, lack of movement and overall poor care of ourselves.

Many people notice a flare up with inflammation with what they consume. Not a day goes by when I don’t talk to someone who complains about inflammation. Inevitably, they admit they eat a lot of processed sugar. There is a direct correlation between processed sugar consumption and the flare up of inflammation.

Yet, many people either have not identified the correlation or if they have, they are not willing to give up processed sugars.
Studies Reveal the Truth

There are plenty of studies that show the direct correlation to consuming sugar and inflammation. Additional studies of overweight and obese people found that consuming one can of regular soda daily for six months led to increased levels of uric acid, a trigger for inflammation and insulin resistance. https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/sugar-and-inflammation#section1

The bottom line is this; your intake of sugars does increase your risk of inflammation. Conversely, a diet rich is plant-based foods will help reduce inflammation. There are several reasons for this. One, you will likely lose weight when you subscribe to a whole food, plant-based diet, thus reducing the pressure on your joints.

Additionally, eating anti-inflammatory food can also be terrific for those with high blood sugar, body aches, and arthritis. https://www.onegreenplanet.org/natural-health/anti-inflammatory-foods-fo...
You Do Have a Choice

The bottom line is this; your quality of life is directly proportionate to the quality of the foods you consume. When you eat unhealthy, processed foods you set yourself up for inflammation, pain, sluggishness and the increased risk of disease.

I started my journey of a plant-based diet to minimize my own inflammation. Within a couple of days, the inflammation was gone and has not returned. http://plantbasedeatingforhealth.com/2018/12/20/3-reasons-to-go-plant-ba...

In addition, by adopting this way of eating, I have reduced my risk of several diseases including heart disease, colon and breast cancer (these are two cancers I WAS at risk of but with my change in eating, am not at the same risk), I’ve increased my activity level, released unhealthy weight and overall, my quality of life has improved immensely.

The reality is, change won’t happen without change. If you say you want a certain quality of life, what change must you make in order to make this happen? The choice is yours. You can continue to act as if you don’t know why you have the aches and pains you do, or you can take steps starting today, to have a better quality of life.