What is inflammation? There’s a defensive war going on in your body, conducted by intelligence officers (ordinary cells), signalers (interferons and cytokines), generals (endothelial cells), armed soldiers (white blood cells). Their mission: to detect, envelop, destroy, and purge your body of bad germs, viruses, parasites, oxidizing molecules, and cancerous cells. That war, necessary for existence, leaves behind redness, swelling, heat, pain, loss of function. Inflammation.
Inflammation can be acute and short-term, depending on the insult to the body: a sprain, poison ivy, acne, pneumonia, burns. Short-term, the army is deployed, does its job, and the body is healed.
But chronic long-term inflammation has a dark side, playing a role in health concerns like heart disease, diabetes, cancer, psoriasis, asthma, skin aging, inflammatory arthritis, and inflammatory bowel disease.
Unhealthy Diet Just like a sprain, an unhealthy meal spikes inflammation, crippling artery function and thickening blood. A glut of sugar and fat in the blood generates free radicals, which trigger a biochemical cascade that induces inflammation. One lousy breakfast can double your C-reactive protein levels (a key marker for acute and chronic inflammation) even before lunchtime.
Repeat three times a day, and the results are chronic health concerns.
A plant-based diet reduces inflammation in two ways. First, it lacks inflammatory triggers like animal fat, toxins, and bacteria. Second, plant-based foods are loaded with phytonutrients that have anti-inflammatory properties.
The most anti-inflammatory nutrients are various antioxidants, including:
- Flavones, such as the pigments found in the red-purple vegetables including eggplants, pepper, and tomatoes;
- Isoflavones, such as those found in soy
- Beta carotene, found in orange vegetables like carrots, winter squash and pumpkins;
- Flavanols, compounds found in onions, kale, broccoli and fruits like apples and berries;
- Omega-3 fatty acids, found in flaxseeds, walnuts, and chia seeds; and
- Vitamin C, found in citrus fruits, kiwi, strawberries, and papaya
Certain spices like turmeric and ginger are very high in anti-inflammatory properties, as is green and black tea.