10-Inflammatory Foods to avoid

Millions of us are walking around on ‘high alert’ every day and we don’t even know it!

The Dietary Causes for Inflammation

By Josephine | Your Nutritional Holistic Health Consultant

Symptoms of inflammation can include fatigue, Fibromyalgia, IBS, acid reflux, poor digestion, constipation, headaches/migraines, low libido, skin conditions, premature aging, weight gain, low energy, poor sleep, allergies, food intolerance, joint pain to more serious condition such type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer, and Alzheimer’s disease and more.

Unfortunately, the medical profession offers little for people suffering from some form of inflammation, other than prescribing toxic anti-inflammatory drugs, for the most part. In contrast, nutritional balancing science usually removes inflammation at the deepest levels easily.

Our diets must contain plenty of anti-inflammatory nutrients, and as few as possible of the pro-inflammatory substances that commonly found in foods. 

Following is the most inflammation-causing foods to Avoid!

1. Wheat

Eating wheat in any form, except for wheat grass juice.  Wheat unfortunately is a very hybridized food today.  It has a much lower zinc content, less protein and more glutamic acid, an inflammatory amino acid.  This combines to make wheat quite an irritating food, and one best avoided by everyone.  This even includes organic, whole wheat and spelt in most cases.

2. Sugar 

Eating sugars and sweets of any kind and his includes natural sugars such as all fruit, maple syrup, honey, agave nectar, and fruit or other sweet juices and other beverages.  Sugars tend to upset the blood sugar, upset calcium metabolism, deplete B vitamins and have many other pro-inflammatory effects.

3. Alcohol 

Drinking alcohol in any form depletes zinc and magnesium, two very important anti-inflammatory nutrients.  It also depletes some B vitamins and perhaps other trace minerals. Alcohol also inflames the tissues because it is a physical irritant to the body tissues.  Almost all alcoholic beverages also contain pesticide residues and other irritating chemicals.  The worst, sadly, if usually wine.

4. Caffeine

Caffeine and other stimulants especially more than one cup of coffee daily, is quite irritating to the stomach and perhaps other parts of the body.  Even caffeinated teas and herbs such as maca are quite irritating.            

Chocolate contains a caffeine-like substance called theobromine.  Some herbs such as guarana and in fact, many herbs such as ginseng and others can be irritating, especially if used incorrectly or used for an extended period of time.

5. Pasteurized Homogenized and Otherwise Cooked cheese, Milk, and Other Dairy Products

Dairy products contain some omega-3 fatty acids, which are anti-inflammatory.  However, if the dairy product is pasteurized and homogenized, and worse – baked, fried, or even just heated more, any omega-3 fatty acids are usually destroyed.  Unfortunately, these are the dairy products most people eat every day.  Then they wonder why they develop arthritis and other inflammatory diseases.            

Dairy products should be eaten raw, if possible, and the cows or other animals should be free range and grass fed, not grain fed, so their milk is higher in omega-3 fatty acids.  These products also supply plenty of vitamin D3, a powerful anti-inflammatory nutrient.

6. Too Much Red Meat 

Red meats are high in iron.  While we all need some iron, too much is highly inflammatory.  Most people need red meat only about twice to three times weekly.  An exception is menstruating women who are losing a lot of iron each month.  Ideally, meats should be grass fed (pasture-fed) and not grain fed, ideally.  The grass fed meat contains much more omega-3 fatty acids.

7. Nightshades Vegetables 

These include tomatoes, red and white, and other potatoes, but not sweet potatoes, all peppers (both sweet and hot peppers) and eggplant. 

8. Raw Foods 

Raw foods are often irritating to the digestive tract for many people, especially those with digestive disturbances.  The exception is raw milk, raw cream, raw cheeses and raw yogurt or kefirs.  However, other raw foods are often irritating because they contain fiber that is difficult to digest, and they often contain infective organisms, parasites and other things that are irritating to the body.  This is an important reason as to why we advocate cooking food, except for raw dairy and 10-12 ounces of carrot juice daily.

9. Chlorinated and Fluoride Water 

These poisons are also highly irritating to human tissues and the human digestive tract. Less commonly, other foods are irritating for some people.  These include garlic, onions, radishes and perhaps others.  Foods that are heavily sprayed with pesticides may also cause significant irritation in susceptible individuals.

Fish, especially tuna, salmon, shellfish and seafood, are somewhat irritating today in most cases due to their high mercury content.  This accounts for some cases of so-called food poisoning from these foods.  The only fish allowed is the sardines and other small dish with small scales.

10. Vegetarian Diets 

Most vegetarian diets are low in a number of anti-inflammatory nutrients including calcium, magnesium, zinc, omega-3 fatty acids and vitamin D3.  These are very difficult to obtain in large quantity, especially with a vegan diet.  If one is willing to eat raw dairy products and eggs, this is much less of a problem.  However, meats are one of the few good sources of zinc, as well as other essential anti-inflammatory nutrients such as taurine.

Correction of Inflammation 

Most physicians falsely focus on giving anti-inflammatory drugs, while holistic and naturopathic practitioners give a host of anti-inflammatory nutrients such as fish oil, zinc and anti-oxidants to deal with inflammatory problems.  This is better in some cases, but rarely addresses the underlying causes of the problem.

In contrast, a nutritional balancing program that is correctly designed will identify a dozen causes of inflammation, and move the body chemistry away from these patterns and back into healthier metabolic patterns.  When this is done, inflammation usually goes away permanently, without any need for remedies or drugs of any type.

References: Dr. Lawrence Wilson

Josephine is a Certified Nutritionist. She earned and completed her certification in holistic nutrition and in Functional Diagnostic Nutrition and she is now practicing Hair Mineral Analysis and Nutritional Balancing Science to people all over the globe from her home in Vancouver, British Columbia. 

---