Healthy Living

Inflammation can affect us all at different levels, but what is it and why is it so important to understand?

What is Inflammation?
Inflammation is the body’s natural response to injury. It is part of our first line of defense – our innate immune system. 

The signs of inflammation are redness, heat, swelling and pain. We have all experienced inflammation first hand as a child with a scraped knee. 

The role of inflammation is to bring blood, fluid, and specialised cells and chemicals to the area in order to deal with the issue, keep it contained, prevent infection, and activate healing.

In other words, we need inflammation to survive!

So what’s the problem then?
The problem is that the above picture only pertains to acute inflammation, which should last about 8-10 days. Chronic inflammation is a whole different story, and can contribute to major health problems.

Inflammation and Disease
New research is telling us that inflammation contributes to many common, chronic health conditions. 

This includes:

• Allergies - e.g., hayfever

• Autoimmune conditions – e.g., Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis and Coeliac Disease

• Rheumatoid arthritis, MS, Lupus

• Cancer

• Type 2 Diabetes

• Early signs of aging - e.g., cataracts and wrinkles

• Heart and Vascular Conditions - eg: hypertension, atherosclerosis, coronary heart disease

• Joint Conditions – e.g., osteoarthritis, tendonitis, strains and sprains

• Neurodegenerative conditions- e.g., Alzheimer’s

• Skin conditions- e.g., eczema, psoriasis

• Ulcerative colitis, Crohns disease, and other inflammatory gastrointestinal conditions

• Anxiety

What can be done about it?
The good news is that the inflammatory cells and compounds react to their environment - which is influenced by diet and environment. This means we have some control over our body’s inflammatory load!

Check out our 3 Steps to Reducing Inflammation:

Step 1 - Investigate your dinner plate
The foods we eat have a massive effect on our body’s inflammatory load. We want our bodies to be able to react to injury and illness, and to effectively use inflammation to get better, fast. We do not want our bodies constantly having to produce and then mop up inflammation every time we have a meal!

The basic rule of thumb for reducing inflammation is to eat more plants! More specifically, to eat a wide range of dark and brightly coloured plants, every day. Ideally, half our plates of every meal and snack should be plants.

The Taste Success programme supports this as it includes a wide variety of fresh vegetables and plant foods providing clients with anti-inflammatory nutrients over the 12-weeks.

Step 2 – Move your body
For many years, we have known that physical activity helps to lower the risk of several chronic diseases such as heart disease and diabetes.

We now believe that one of the reasons for this is that regular exercise helps to reduce inflammation in the body. 

Our bodies are meant to move, and movement is meant to be joyful! So we don’t recommend just slugging it out at the gym if it’s not enjoyable. Here at Taste Success we love trying new types of physical activity, and encourage our clients to do the same. What kind of activity do you enjoy?

• An early morning beach walk with a friend?

• A yoga or pilates class?

• How about dance or zumba?

• Bike riding?

• Or do you love the exhilaration of a sweaty gym session?

There is no right answer, but we bet there is something for everyone!

Step 3 – Stress Less
We know, we know, people are always telling you that stress is bad for your health. Well that’s because it is. 

While we can’t obliterate stress from our lives completely, we can learn skills that help us manage it better.

Here are some simple strategies that go a long way to reduce stress levels and therefore inflammatory load:

• Regular yoga – especially restorative and gentle forms like yin yoga

• Belly breathing – try taking 10 deep belly breaths, twice daily

• Take 10 minutes – at the start and end of your day to sit in a quiet place and reflect on the day that’s coming and that’s been

• Listen to positive self-talk – turn around the message you’re sending yourself about your stress levels from “I’m too busy” to “Everything will be done in its own time”

So there you have it – the first few tips to reducing chronic inflammation. Find out more about how Taste Success can help you manage inflammation by contacting one of our fabulous facilitators.