Causes of Inflammation & How to Reduce It

What causes inflammation, anyway? This is a question often get from my nutrition clients, and it's a good one. We should be questioning our symptoms as they are cues to understanding our body and what changes we may need to implement in order to feel healthy, energized and comfortable in our bodies.

Causes of Inflammation & How to Reduce It

What Is Inflammation?

Inflammation is perfectly normal and a necessary function in the body.

Think of when you bump or cut yourself, there's redness, swelling and pain. This is acute inflammation and is your immune system at work, delivering essential nutrients and immune cells to the area to protect your body from foreign substances, and the increase in blood flow results in heat and redness.

We don't want this reaction to go away, it's essential in keeping us alive. Though, we do want it to happen acutely (in specific instances), and not chronically (every day).

Signs that you could be suffering from chronic inflammation:

• You have skin irritation such as eczema or psoriasis
• You wake up with a flat tummy and go to bed with a lot of water retention and bloat
• Your tummy hurts often, and you suffer from gas, bloat, loose stool and/or constipation
• You're tired all the time
• You often suffer from depression
• Your face is swollen and puffy

Now, please keep in mind that if you're suffering from any of these symptoms I wouldn't recommend self-diagnosing. Speak to a reputable healthcare practitioner to help you get to the bottom of your chronic symptoms.

How To Reduce Inflammation

There are many ways you can eliminate chronic inflammation and beginning with eating a whole foods diet rich in nutrients and antioxidants is one of them.

Pull out common chemicals from your home and daily regime, including:

• Replacing conventional food with organic as much as possible
• home cleaning products
• cigarettes
• over the counter pain killers
• stress

A really important step in overcoming chronic inflammation is to address any underlying infections, such as SIBO (small intestinal bacterial overgrowth). This is the condition we deal with at The Academy. In up to 85% of people suffering from chronic IBS, SIBO is the underlying issue.

Address the infection, address the chronic inflammation.
Food for thought if you're suffering form chronic digestive upset.

Cassandra Hope, RHN
Founder of The IBS Academy