Chronic Inflammation is the precursor to all chronic illness from IBS to arthrithis, cardiovascular risk, diabetes, cancer and Alzheimer’s.
It is imperative that you control possible inflammation in your body. Three main factors lie behind chronic inflammation.: An imbalance in your gut microbiome, chemicals in your body and an emzyme called Cox-2, which is present in every cell of your body.
There are a number of ways each of us can reduce inflammation – better to do it before you become ill, but essential once you have a chronic illness.
An imbalance in your gut microbiome
Good bacteria produce anti-inflammatory molecules in your blood stream, all over your body. Unfortunately drugs, especially antibiotics , chemo and PPIs will have devastated the good bacteria, often allowing pathogens and even parasites out to play in your body. These make inflammatory molecules. So …
1. Heal Your Gut – give yourself a HUG. Your gut can cause you to be ill (even affecting the brain) and you cannot get better until it gets better. It can be a major source of inflammatory chemicals – so read here how to Heal Your Gut. You must remove the bad and add back in the good – it’s crucial to avoiding inflammation.
Chemicals in your body
Farmers get arsenic, cadmium and mercury in their bodies from Sheep-dipping. They get higher rates of multiple myeloma. I had a model who kept all her freebie clothes in wardrobes full of moth balls – moth balls are linked to Lymphoma. Then there are chemicals, once inside your body mimic the hormone estrogen – these xenoestrogens lie behind lowered sperm counts, endometriosis, polycystic ovaries, and breast and prostate cancer.
Organic vegetable juice diets over 3 weeks can go a long way to cleaning you up. Indole 3 carbonic and selenium (200 micrograms a day) can help.
2. Kick chemicals of concern out of your life. The problem is far worse than you could imagine. Chemicals in everyday products can poison your gut, change your hormones and affect your DNA – See here :how to Clean up your Life with toxin-free everyday products.
Don’t turn on Cox-2
Cox-2 is an enzyme in every cell of your body. John Vane won a Nobel Prize and a Knighthood in 1982 for discovering that if you turned it on, it produced eicosanoids – localized highly inflammatory hormones – all over your body. One group of these is called prostaglandins and they cause arthritis in joints. What turns it on? Well he preferred aspirin to steroids as he said steroids made matters worse; then insulin and the big meal with poor sugar control; and stress hormones such as Cortisol and Epinephrine (Adrenaline). What turns inflammation off?
3. Exercise – one of the biggest factors causing Cox-2 to produce inflammation in your body is Cortisol, the stress hormone. This is neutralised by endorphins (happy hormones) produced when you exercise. Get out of breath. The best producer of endorphins per minute according to research is yoga. If there is a reason you cannot do 45 minutes of light to moderate exercise every day, you can take the Ayurvedic herb Ashwagandha (it is anti-inflammatory and neutralises cortisol). Read here: the benefits of exercise and how exercise is a powerful drug.
4. Eat a Rainbow Diet – the colourful Mediterranean Diet has been proven to reduce inflammation in the body, and greatly reduce the risks of 11 chronic illnesses. Read here about how the Rainbow Diet beats 11 chronic illnesses. UCLA recommend the diet for Stress Management. Green juices containing broccoli, kale, a little sea kelp, chlorella and especially sprouting seeds are high in suforaphanes and other bioactive compounds that calm adrenaline.
5. Avoid mass-market red meat and cows’ dairy – if it hasn’t grown up freely running around the meat can contain high levels of inflammation-causing factors. Cows’ dairy consumption causes inflammatory bacteria to dominate in the gut within 24 hours.
6. Go in the sun every day of your life. If you cannot, supplement with vitamin D. It is anti-inflammatory in the gut and reduces the risk and effects of many illnesses.
7. Take a small aspirin – Vane’s suggestion for calming Cox-2 was a 75 mg aspirin (81 mg in the USA) – take with food. (Some research – colorectal and Johns Hopkins; and a Swedish study with breast cancer – has noted that co-incidental anti-histamine consumption calmed inflammation and extended cancer survival times. The compounds included Cimetidine, Desloratadine, and Loratadine.)
8. Take a Fish oil – long-chain omega 3 is very anti-inflammatory, both in the gut and in calming the inflammation-causing cellular enzyme, Cox-2
9. Take Curcumin – another major anti-inflammatory compound. But it is poorly absorbed into the blood stream so take with olive oil and piperine (Black Pepper) to improve absorption and effectiveness.
10. Other anti-inflammatory compounds include – resveratrol, quercitin, cat’s claw, EGCG (from green tea), ursolic acid (holy basil, rosemary, thyme), capsaicin (chill), cat’s claw and pine bark extract.
11. Incorporate green tea, ginger, garlic and chicken soup into your diet (if made over a 5 hour period) into your diet – All control inflammation – the soup contains analgesics released from the bones.
12. Control your insulin levels by changing the way you eat. Insulin is a driver of inflammation – so eat no empty carb foods like cake, biscuits, ice cream, fizzy soft drinks, bought fruit juices and smoothies, sweet puddings, refined honey. AND don’t eat the big meal when you come in from work – GRAZE. Eat 5 – 6 small meals a day.
13. Be wise – use Frankinsence. The essential oil of the Magi rubbed into the wrists, or Boswelia under the tongue. Boswelia resin is a proven anti-inflammatory. Healing and calming.
Go To: Chronic Inflammation and cancer
14. Sleep well: In a darkened room with no Electromagnetic fields or man-made light. If you don’t or can’t, take melatonin. An antioxidant and a natural inflammation calmer, it is why sleep is so healing. Sloan Kettering suggest that the medicinal dose is 20 mg about 45 minutes before you go to bed. Best is to start with 5 mg, and work your way up to 20 mg.
15. Follow UCLA’s advice – They have 15 years experience of stress management and cancer. They say: Consider counseling, eat a colorful Mediterranean diet, take fish oils, do yoga, take up meditation. Meditation produces opioids, yoga produces endorphins – they’re a great double act in stress management.
