INFLAMMATION

It conjures up images of forest fires or burning buildings with flames leaping from the windows.  But truth be told, that’s exactly what’s happening in your body when it’s trying to overcome a bacterial infection or dealing with an acute arthritis flare up.  Sometimes the inflammation is low level—smoldering like a volcano—dormant and waiting to erupt.

The inflammatory response is part of our immune system and has enabled us to survive for thousands of years.  The response is usually appropriate and of short duration.  But sometimes the response persists long after the threat—bacterial, fungal, or viral—has been dealt with. On rare occasions our immune system perceives our own body proteins as abnormal and attacks one of our organs as in autoimmune thyroid disease.

When our immune system operates in a balanced fashion, inflammation is self limited. Dysfunction results from a variety of systemic imbalances leading to a loss of regulatory control.
Inflammation seems to be at the heart of a number of maladies that plague us in the 21st century: allergy, asthma, arthritis, Crohn’s disease, fibromyalgia, lupus, psoriasis, and coronary artery disease, to name a few.

Researchers tell us that one of the contributing factors in the up regulating of our immune system is the Standard American Diet (SAD), which is very pro-inflammatory.

The hallmarks of the SAD are:   C.R.A.P

          Coffee/caffeine
          Refined and artificial sugars and sweeteners
          Alcohol
          Processed foods

If your diet is filled with these nutrient deficient ingredients then you probably are “on fire” and maybe just don’t know it yet.  Dowse the flames with proper nutrition and healthy lifestyle habits to regain your health, vitality and prevent diseases.

For assistance or additional information, call The Metabolic Institute at 509-747-7066.