Inflammation plays a role in heart disease, cancer, diabetes, depression, Alzheimer’s disease, and countless other conditions and diseases. It puts stress on the body, accelerating the aging process.

The hard part is that other than symptoms like pain, swelling, redness, burning, anxiety, insomnia, and weight gain—inflammation is INVISIBLE. That is because it happens inside your body where you can’t see it—and it doesn’t send you an email, memo, or text message that it is about to happen. It just happens.

And it becomes a vicious cycle—inflammation leads to more inflammation.

The BIGGEST SOURCES OF INFLAMMATION:

• Body fat, especially around the waist
• Gluten (in bread, pasta, pastries and the like)
• Elevated cortisol (caused by and leads to inflammation even though it’s initial effect is to lower inflammation)
• Excess sugar and carbohydrates (which are found in almost every food, at likely every meal, even when you are choosing “healthy” options)
• Leaky gut and food sensitivities
• Recurrent infections
• Toxins, pesticides, and pollutants

In my book (literally), I consider inflammation to be a STRESS, and it is also the effect of stress.

What is a person to do?

We are humans—not robots—and inflammation is the stuff that “rusts” our human bodies. That is because long-standing inflammation leads to oxidative stress in our cells. It causes our cells to stop functioning, and to be replaced by abnormal cells. It decreases our memory, disrupts our sleep, and makes us irritable. It is the reflux, the heart disease risk (NOT CHOLESTEROL), the infection susceptibility, and the autoimmunity.

We have to learn how to manage inflammation if we want to be healthy and prevent major health issues.

While the solution is not as simple as a can of WD40 (I wish it were that simple)—it IS possible to decrease inflammation and help your body to age healthfully.

The way to do it is…

• Feed your body foods that minimize inflammation
• Feed your body in a way that prevents fat storage
• Address your cortisol levels
• Heal the areas where inflammation is flaring using nutrients, herbs, enzymes, and hormone balancing*
• Treat your body in a way that minimizes inflammation through stress reduction, sleep, exercise, and water
  

And turn the vicious cycle of inflammation into a virtuous cycle of wellness.

The Paleo Diet (read about it here) could help to decrease inflammation in your body, because it supports you to choose foods that steer you clear of inflammation.