In this Issue: How would you like to reduce your risk of cancer,Alzheimer’s disease, strokes, diabetes, autoimmune disorder and even the process of aging itself?
The research is showing that chronic inflammation is a root cause of all these serious illnesses. Acute inflammation is an important part of our body’s healing process and is seen as redness, heat and swelling. All this is normal immune activity at the site of an injury or infection. When inflammation becomes chronic, it becomes damaging to the body and causes disease. The chronic inflammation can be caused by not flossing, stress, sedentary lifestyle, poor food choices or our genetic make up.
A simple strategy to reducing the inflammatory process and in turn reducing long term disease risk is: floss, reduce stress, exercise and eat an anti-inflammatory diet. Dr. Andrew Weil has developed a food pyramid to guide us in making food choices that decrease our systematic inflammation. In general, he recommends: “Aim for variety, include as much fresh food as possible, minimize your consumption of processed foods and fast food and eat an abundance of fruits and vegetables”.
I hope this information was helpful. If you have any questions about inflammation or the food pyramid you can talk to me, Patty or Jennifer. Have a very nice month of March and a Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
