PRODUCE This is advice that’s easy to follow: Load up on colorful fruits and vegetables. “We don’t know what an optimal daily dose [of produce] is for fighting inflammation,” says Winston Craig, Ph.D., R.D., chairman and professor of nutrition at Andrews University, in Berrien Springs, Michigan. “But we do know that the more phytochemi- cal-rich fruits and vegetables you eat, the more you boost your body’s defenses against disease.” (Phytochemicals is a sort of catch-all category for compounds in foods other than vitamins, minerals, protein and other nutrients that protect the body against disease.) A good place to start is aiming for at least nine servings a day of a combination of fruits and veggies, including blueberries, which are packed with flavonoids that help short-circuit the inflammatory process.
Live a healthy lifestyle. Too much fat around the belly, for example, pro- duces chemicals called cytokines that cause in- flammation and can, over time, contribute to the metabolic syndrome of heart disease, diabetes, stroke and possibly even can- cer. Similarly, eating a diet packed with white bread, soda and candy bars causes blood sugar levels to spike, which triggers high insulin levels that contribute to—you guessed it—inflammation and in turn insu- lin resistance and diabetes. While exercise cools down inflammation, becoming a professional couch po- tato encourages it to run wild. And it’s easy to see
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HEALTHY FATS To correct the typical American’s imbalance between omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, aim to get one or more omega-3 rich foods into your daily diet. Consider salmon or sardines, walnuts, flax seeds, and foods fortified with a sustainable, algae-based omega-3 DHA (a type of omega-3 fat), such as Silk soymilk with DHA, Horizon milk with DHA, Mission Life Balance Tortillas, Cabot Vermont 50% Reduced Fat Omega-3 Cheddar or Gold Circle Farms Cage Free DHA Omega-3 Eggs. Use olive oil in place of corn or vegetable oil, since the antioxidants in olive oil—both the oil’s polyphenols and oleocanthal give extra-virgin olive oil its peppery taste—help protect tissues from damage that attracts inflammation. The National Center for Complementary and Alterna- tive Medicine, part of the National Institutes of Health, calls the evidence from clinical trials for the use of fish oils in easing rheuma- toid arthritis “encouraging” and also possibly useful for easing tenderness in joints and stiffness experienced in the morning.
WHOLE GRAINS
Replace white-flour pasta with whole-wheat varieties and cook it al dente. Slightly undercooked pasta is digested slowly, causing a gentle rise in blood sugar instead of the spike associated with inflammation that comes from sugar, refined grains (as in white bread and processed foods made with white flour) and overcooked pasta. Opt for brown rice instead of basmati, and steel-cut oats instead of instant or processed. When choosing a whole-grain bread, make sure it looks “chewy,” that is, with visible pieces or chunks of whole grain inside.
how tobacco smoke irritates the deli- cate lining of the lungs and arteries, leading, too often, to diseases like lung cancer and heart disease. And while regular exercise and stop-
ping smoking are essential weapons in your anti-inflammation war, what you eat is also hugely important to wheth- er you’re dousing the fire or fueling the flames. To understand how an anti- inflammatory diet works, a quick biol- ogy lesson is in order. Remember the hormone-like eicosanoids released by white blood cells after that nasty cut?
These come in two varieties, promoters and inhibi- tors. Promoters call in fresh blood and nutrients, which promote swelling, redness and warmth (in- flammation, in other words). Inhibitors, for their part, shut down the inflammation response once the damage has been repaired. Though they have differ- ent roles, both types of eicosanoids are made from fats in the foods we eat. Omega-6 fatty acids—which are primarily found in safflower, soy and corn oils;