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Wellness BluePrintEating to Reduce Pain and Inflammation

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The Cost of a Pro-Inflammatory Diet

In America, where 6 out of the 10 leading causes of death are from chronic and inflammatory conditions1, health care costs now account for at least 16 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). To put this into perspective: In 2007, the US spent 2.2 trillion dollars on healthcare -- and spending is still on the rise2. The main culprit contributing to this type of disease is the pro-inflammatory diet, which has become the standard in America, and in European countries eager to emulate US standards of living.

For example, in the UK, according to the World Health Organisation10, things are even worse with 86% of deaths in 2005 estimated to come from chronic and inflammatory disease.

Understanding Chronic and Inflammatory Disease

If the phrase ‘chronic and inflammatory’ is foreign to you, don’t fret. This simple phrase encompasses a vast assortment of diseases that we tend to think of as unrelated to each other. However, once you learn a little more about their origins, you may begin to change your perspective. A condition is chronic when it continues to persist. Usually, this happens because we continually injure ourselves, which causes chronic inflammation in our bodies. Common chronic and inflammatory diseases include heart disease, diabetes, cancer,

Alzheimer’s3, Crohn’s disease, diverticulitis and cirrhosis of the liver. Others include vascular disease, rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, psoriasis and inflammatory bowel disease. It’s an exhausting (but not exhaustive, as there are many more) list to be sure. Some of these conditions have unknown origins but are categorised as inflammatory because they seem to be palliated with anti-inflammatory medications.

Causes of Inflammation

Each disease has its own chemically-derived prescription (or set of prescriptions) to manage symptoms and keep the patient alive. But none of these prescriptions address the root cause of inflammation. Some conditions are caused by risky behaviours such as smoking or working with chemicals, and some are caused entirely by a pro-inflammatory diet. But you should know

This rather scary picture is a human liver that belonged to a person living a chronically inflamed lifestyle. A normal

liver has a smooth surface and is a healthy deep purple colour.

£30.00

Atlas Wellness Centre - 129 Midland Road - Bedford - MK40 1DN - 01234 340317

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that even if a certain cancer can be linked to smoking or tanning bed use, you will be making things worse (by causing even more inflammation) by choosing an inflammatory diet. The price you pay is not only a reduction in quality of life, but a potential reduction in longevity as well. If you ignore the dangers of an inflammatory diet, you can expect to become more dependent on prescriptions that will do very little for your health and may even cause dangerous side effects. The worst part about it is that on this path, there is no light at the end of the tunnel. You can expect to depend on these medications, and deal with the side effects, until the day you die. This is because the prescriptions will never address the cause of the pro-inflammatory state that your body is experiencing. So, when the drugs wear off, you can count on becoming inflamed all over again. By now, you might be thinking that inflammation is the enemy. If we could just stop our bodies from becoming inflamed in the first place, we’d be better off. Although that sounds true, inflammation is not a bad thing. Inflammation is a totally natural response to injury. When we’re hurt, our bodies activate growth and repair genes that launch a healing sequence which will not end until we are healed or depleted of resources4. So, the answer really is that we shouldn’t injure ourselves. However, in the world we live in that’s very difficult. Actually, it’s probably impossible. Our vegetation is laced with pesticides, our water is full of toxins, and our clean air is mixed with toxic fumes from the passing traffic, we cannot completely avoid injury. To simplify things, you can think of anything that isn’t natural as toxic. Toxins are entering our bodies through our lungs, skin and mouth at any given moment, potentially causing inflammation. Other sources of injury are hypoxia (inadequate oxygen reaching our

tissues), trauma and burns. Once we are inflamed, our bodies are more susceptible to viruses and bacteria that will just cause more inflammation. This is exactly why it is so important that we don’t inflame ourselves even more with our diets. Actually, our best defence to injury is an anti-inflammatory (or an inflammation-reducing diet) rich with nutrients and healing phytochemicals.

The Role of Free Radicals

The term “free radicals” is one that has been thrown around a lot lately, but many people don’t have a good understanding of what they are – aside from the fact that they are “bad.” Free radicals are atoms (or groups of atoms) with an odd number of electrons. They are formed when oxygen interacts with certain molecules. The reason we want to avoid them as much as possible is that they can form a chain reaction and cause damage to our cell membranes and DNA. If this happens, our cells will cease to function in the way they were designed. Inflammation is one result of free radical damage. Free radicals are involved in most (and maybe even all) disease, from arthritis to AIDS9. Unfortunately, there is no way to avoid them. The toxins that cause inflammation do so thorough free radical formation. In addition, free radicals are formed naturally through aerobic metabolism and we would be dead without that

Fresh, un-polluted fish oil is a powerful anti inflammatory that everyone needs

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so we have to do everything possible and natural to reduce free radical damage. Luckily nature provides ample protection to free radicals in the form of vegetables and fruit.

Undoing the Damage of a Pro-Inflammatory Diet

Our body is much more complex than most of us realise. If it wasn’t, we wouldn’t be able to survive in this world. We have very complex systems for filtering out harmful things and healing the wounds caused by them. We don’t even need to know all the ins and outs of how it works; we just need to stop jamming up the system with the wrong things. The answer is actually very simple: If you limit toxic exposure and give your body the tools it needs to return to a healthy state, it will do just that.

Omega-3 vs. Omega-6

Omega-3 fatty acids are considered essential fatty acids, which means that our bodies need them, but we cannot make them on our own. Two types of omega-3 acids that are rarely found in food are decosahexanoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA). We’ve learned through recent studies that supplementing with omega-3 fatty acids can help lower the risk for inflammatory chronic diseases2. For example, omega-3 fatty acids, like those found in fish oil,

have proven to be beneficial at preventing atherosclerosis (clogging of the arteries)5. Omega-3 supplementation has also reduced the number of tender joints and morning stiffness in rheumatoid arthritis patients6.

The reason omega-3 or fish oil supplements are so effective against various chronic diseases is because so many people have an “omega imbalance.” The standard American and British diets consists of foods rich in omega-6 (another essential fatty acid) and poor in omega-3. Omega-3 rich foods are fish, seaweed, walnuts and flax seeds. Omega-6 fatty acids are abundantly found in vegetable oils, mayonnaise, chicken and turkey. The most damaging of these foods is vegetable oil, simply because it is found in so many processed foods. The recommended ratio of omega-6 vs. 3 should be less than 4:1 (and probably closer to 1:1) to prevent heart disease and other inflammatory chronic diseases2. Those consuming the standard American and British diet are eating foods in a ratio between 10:1 and 25:1. That’s up to 25 times the amount of omega-6 fatty acids we need. Judging from these numbers alone, it is obvious that our diets have strayed very far from where they should be, and we’re paying the price with our health and with our lives.

Because each person’s omega-6 to omega-3 ratio is different, there is no set recommendation for supplementing. If you eat raw (cooking all but destroys the delicate omega-3 molecule) fish, walnuts and flax seeds regularly, you will probably need a smaller dose (or no dose at all) than someone whose diet is heavy in meat, vegetable oils and processed foods. More research must be done on the efficacy of omega-3 fatty acids in treating chronic disease, but as of now there are no known side effects and at least one study has

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shown that it can be as effective as aspirin at reducing inflammation. So, the next time you’re feeling the effects of inflammation, you may want to consider taking an omega-3 supplement instead of popping a pain reliever.

The Role of Fruits and Vegetables

According to a survey done by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Americans eat an average of 3-1/3 servings of vegetables and about 1-2/3 servings of fruit per day. Being that the USDA recommends 3 to 5 servings of vegetables per day, the average vegetable intake may seem adequate. But if you take a closer look, you’ll see that nutrient-rich green leafy vegetables make up only 3 percent of total vegetable consumption. Starchy white potatoes (possibly fried in omega-6-rich vegetable oil) accounted for 33 percent. The USDA recommends 2 to 4 servings of fruit per day, so you can see that fruit is a neglected food group. In fact, as far back as 1994 almost half of Americans neglected to consume one cup of fruit daily. Fruits and vegetables contain antioxidants that have been shown to reduce the risk of inflammatory chronic disease, so you can imagine how a deficiency in your diet can lead to the problems caused by inflammation.

According to Eurostat11 British people consume the least amount of vegetables and fruit of 22 surveyed European countries, with France consuming 4-5 times as much. In 2002 the National Diet and Nutrition Survey showed that 86% of all men and women in the United Kingdom consumed less than the recommended five portions of fruit and vegetables a day, with 62% consuming less than three portions.12

Multiple studies have shown that those who consume fruits and vegetables are at lower risk

of complications from heart disease or stroke.7,8 Increasing fruits and vegetables in the diet has also had a positive effect for rheumatoid arthritis patients.2

Fresh and uncooked fruits and vegetables are the richest source of anti-inflammatory antioxidants and phytonutrients available. So, filling your diet with them just makes sense. But think for a moment about what happens when you avoid eating fruits and veggies. You have to get your calories from somewhere or you’ll go around feeling hungry all the time. So, you may eat more processed foods, meat or dairy – all of which cause inflammation. But with this modified diet, you’re filling yourself with inflammatory foods and you’re never getting the nutrient-dense inflammation-fighting foods. The result is inflammation on top of inflammation. How can your body expect to recover? Depending on your epigenes, you may be able to keep up a poor diet for some time before developing one chronic disease or another – but rest assured, if you’re only causing inflammation in your body, what you’re really causing is disease. You may see it as heart disease, diabetes or even Alzheimer’s, but really it’s the consequence of how you’re living your life.

Eating more of these RAW can increase your lifespan as well as the quality of

your life

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Antioxidants

Antioxidants can help protect your cells from damage – and thus help protect your body from the inflammation that causes cancer and other chronic and inflammatory diseases. They work to end the domino effect of damage that is set in motion by free radicals. More research must be done on the effects of antioxidants on free radicals, but we do know that some antioxidants are more powerful than others. Among the strongest are vitamins E and C and beta-carotene. Vitamin E can be found in fresh nuts, seeds, some oils, whole grains and apricots, but be careful as some of these sources are inflammatory as well, like the whole grains. Vitamin C is abundantly found in fresh, uncooked citrus fruits, cabbage, kale, green peppers and spinach. Beta-carotene is what your body uses to make vitamin A. It can be found in fresh, uncooked carrots, sweet potatoes, liver, egg yolks, spinach and broccoli.

What About Supplements?

Supplements are great for correcting short-term imbalances. For example, if you have a vitamin C deficiency supplementing with synthetic vitamin C can have a profound effect of your sense of wellbeing and immune function; but synthetic vitamin C is not a real food. If you can get a whole food source of vitamin C, you can, in theory at least, stop taking the pills. This is the ideal scenario, but poor handling of food has made it very difficult to get adequate vitamin C from natural whole foods. Supplements work best in this case because in the beginning, you may need more vitamin C than you can possibly get from food both in amount and in economics. Eventually, your levels should even out and your balance can be addressed through

a proper diet. If you are deficient in B12, for example, your doctor may prescribe an injection to get you back on track, but upon learning of the deficiency, you should start making dietary adjustments and not just rely on a temporary outside in approach.

Fruits and vegetables are made up of a variety of vitamins, minerals, phytochemicals and other nutrients, so they are more likely to address a number of deficiencies or insufficiencies and arm your body with the tools it needs to fight inflammation. One example is the citrus fruit, which contains over 170 phytochemicals, 60 different flavonoids and 20 carotenoids2. Although we do know a lot about how much we need of each nutrient overall, we may never get down to the detailed level of knowing how many of each type of flavonoid or carotenoid we will need. Because of this, and the fact that vitamins, minerals and other nutrients are more easily absorbed from foods than supplements, it is always better to get your nutrition directly from the source: whole, uncooked, unprocessed natural fruits and vegetables.

Truly Natural Vitamin C a whole food source of vitamin C and all the other phytochemicals that should also be

present in their natural ratios.

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How to Know if You’re Inflamed

If you have been diagnosed with any of the chronic and inflammatory diseases listed above (heart disease, diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, etc.), you are dealing with inflammation on some level and will benefit from an anti-inflammatory diet. However, if you eat the typical American/British food you will have abnormal inflammation even if you have not yet been diagnosed with a disease. Common signs of inflammation are chronic aches and pains, a collection of fat around your midsection, physical exhaustion, mental fatigue, allergies and frequent colds. If you don’t have any of these symptoms, but eat a diet rich in refined sugars, vegetable oils and refined flours (such as those found in white bread and pasta) and poor in fruits and vegetables, you may have low level inflammation. This is important to note because without adequate intake of antioxidants and phytochemicals, your body cannot keep up with the damage being done – and this will result in an inflammatory condition at some point. You may as well assume that if your diet is poor, you have inflammation.

You’re Inflammation Checklist

I have chronic aches and pains, such as back pain, neck pain, headaches, or general muscle and/or joint soreness

I regularly take anti-inflammatory or anti-pain medications, such as ibuprofen, diclofenac, or aspirin

I regularly eat grains and grain products, such as white bread, wholemeal bread, rice, oats, pasta, cereal, and any other product made with grains or flours from grains

I regularly eat refined sugar of foods containing it such as soft drinks

I regularly eat hydrogenated oils (trans fats) found in most margarines, deep fried foods such as chips and most processed foods

I regularly eat corn oil, safflower oil, sunflower oil, cottonseed oil, soybean oil, and foods made with these oils such as mayonnaise

I regularly drink or eat dairy products including yogurt and cheese

I regularly consume soy or soy products I regularly eat meat and eggs from grain-fed

animals It is hard for me to lose weight I store fat around my waist I do not exercise regularly I find it hard to recover after exercise or it

makes me feel unwell I am constantly tired and feel rundown and

depressed I look old and/or feel old for my age. I am prone to cold, allergy, and flu

symptoms and I produce too much mucous I am a smoker. I suffer from one or more of the following:

arthritis, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome,sinusitis, allergies, acne, asthma, digestive conditions, flu symptoms, dysmenorrhea,endometriosis, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, cancer, heart disease, osteoporosis, hypertension, depression, the insulin resistance syndrome (pre-diabetes), or diabetes

If you ticked any of the above then you need to make some serious decisions about your lifestyle choices.

Methods to Reduce Inflammation

If you’re experiencing aches and pains, your body is not suffering from an aspirin deficiency. In fact, even the thought seems quite silly. And it gets even sillier when you think about how much

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money is spent on prescription medications to treat chronic and inflammatory diseases. We aren’t suffering from Lipitor or Nexium deficiencies and we know these things will not cure our disease – but we continue to spend money on these “stop-gap” solutions. Now that you know more about inflammation, the rest should come naturally. You must eat a variety of whole, natural foods, avoiding anything that is overly processed. Below are some more detailed guidelines to get you going.

Foods to avoid:

Avoid all grains, including whole wheat and white breads, cereal, and pastas – or anything else made from grains. Avoid omega-6-rich oils such as sunflower, safflower, corn, peanut and soybean. Also avoid any foods made with these oils.

Avoid soft drinks at all cost! This includes diet soft drinks.

Stay away from anything fried.

Don’t buy or eat foods that come from a package or can. There are some exceptions to this rule, such as tomato sauce from a can, but for the most part, packaged foods contain hydrogenated oils (read as trans fats). Consume dairy and soy in tiny portions or not at all. Think about how much ketchup you would put on a burger – that’s the extent of dairy and soy you should be consuming in a day.

Only buy and consume animal products that are labeled as organic, free-range or grass-fed. Otherwise, you’re eating unhealthy animals that

are filled with saturated fats and contain an “omega imbalance.” Foods to eat and enjoy:

It may seem like nothing is left after you take away the inflammatory foods, but that really isn’t the case. Take a look at the diet of early man and you’ll see a roadmap of exactly what we should eat to be healthy.

Fruits & Vegetables – eat them raw as often as possible to get the most nutrition.

Fish – fresh or frozen is ok, but look for wild fish as opposed to farm raised.

Poultry & Meat – as close to the natural source as possible.

Omega-3 eggs – you can find these at most supermarkets.

Nuts – nuts contain fat, so limit your consumption if you’re trying to lose weight.

Anti-inflammatory spices such as turmeric, ginger, oregano, dill, fennel, coriander, rosemary, basil, kelp and red pepper.

Organic olive oil and butter – buying organic means that you’ll avoid consuming inflammatory pesticides.

RAW Cocoa - learn how to make your own homemade RAW chocolate :) it’s fantastic. A very powerful antioxidant, nutritious and will kill cravings for confectionary chocolate.

It is worth pointing out again that the meat, poultry should be free-range, grass-fed or organic. Your fish should always be labeled as

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wild and not farm raised. Get as close to the natural food source as you can. If you’re a hunter, you may provide your family with fresh game. Otherwise, find a local farm that can supply you with fresh and healthy meat. As a last resort, you can buy meat and fish at your supermarket, but make sure it is labeled as free-range, grass-fed or organic.

Deciding What’s Best for You

Now that you know the true cost of a pro-inflammatory diet, you have to make a choice. Will you continue along a path of destruction, relying on chemically-derived prescriptions to keep you alive (but not cure you), or will you address the root cause of your problems by making some dietary changes. Even if you don’t have a chronic inflammatory disease or any symptoms of inflammation, you must ask yourself if you’re eventually willing to pay the price of eating an inflammatory diet. If dietary changes seem overwhelming to you, start with baby steps. Try making all of the changes outlined above (adopting an anti-inflammatory diet), but commit to only four weeks. That’s a mere 28 days out of your life. Within about 2 weeks, you should start seeing some positive health benefits and at the end of 4 weeks, you can decide whether you’d like to continue. If you are suffering from a chronic inflammatory disease, you may see some immediate improvements in your symptoms. For some, it may take a little more time. The eventual goal is to reduce or eliminate the need for any medications you may be taking to treat a chronic and inflammatory disease. This decision will come after careful testing and consultation with your doctor, but it will certainly save you potential side-effects from taking medication – in cash and in physical stress.

1# Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease 2009 Almanac of Chronic Disease.2# David R. Seaman, DCa; The Diet-Induced Proinflammatory State: A Cause of Chronic Pain and Other Degenerative Diseases? 3# Sugaya K, Uz T, Kumar V, Manev H. New anti-inflammatory treatment strategy in Alzheimer’s disease. Jpn J Pharmacol 2000;82:85-94. Note: I don’t have access to this study, but it is referenced in #2. If you send it to me, I can confirm that it backs up the statement about Alzheimer’s. 4 # Xiaolong Meng et al. Cancer is a functional repair tissue. Medical Hypotheses 2006; 66, 486–490.5# Simopoulos AP. Omega-3 fatty acids in health and disease and in growth and development. Am J Clin Nutr 1991;54:438-63.6# Kremer JM. n-3 fatty acid supplements in rheumatoid arthritis. Am J Clin Nutr 2000;71(Suppl 1):349S-51S.7# Gaziano JM. Antioxidants in cardiovascular disease: randomized trials. Nutrition 1996;12:583-8.8# Ornish D, et al. Intensive Lifestyle Changes for Reversal of Coronary Heart Disease. JAMA. 1998;280(23):2001-2007.9# Halliwell B, Evans P, Kaur H, Aruoma O. Free radicals, tissue injury, and human disease: a potential of therapeutic use of antioxidants? In: Kinney J, Tucker H, editors. Organ metabolism and nutrition: ideas for future critical care. New York: Raven Press; 1994. p. 425-45.PYRAMID SERVINGS DATA Results from USDA’s 1994 Continuing Survey of Food Intakes by Individuals10# http://www.who.int/chp/chronic_disease_report/en/11# http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/cache/ITY_OFFPUB/KS-SF-08-060/EN/KS-SF-08-060-EN.PDF12# Henderson L, Gregory J, Swan G. National diet and nutrition survey: adults aged 19 to 64 years. Types and quantities of foods consumed. Stationary Office, 2002.

Disclaimer

The  Wellness  BluePrint  is  for  informational  purposes  only  and  is  in  no  way  intended  as  medical  advice,  as  a  substitute  for  medical  counseling  or  as  a  treatment/cure  for  any  disease  or  health  condition  and  nor  should  it  be  construed  as  such.  This  Program  is  protected  under  freedom  of  speech  and  freedom  of  religion  or  belief.  Neither  the  writers  of  this  program,  Atlas  Wellness  Centre,  Peter  Olsson,  nor  any  of  their  associates,  afBiliates  and  subsidiaries  will  be  held  accountable  in  any  way  for  the  use  or  misuse  of  the  information  presented  herein.  The  authors  and  publishers  of  this  work  are  not  medical  doctors,  nor  is  this  document  to  be  considered,  in  any  way,  medical  advice.  Because  there  is  always  some  risk  when  making  any  health  changes,  all  the  above  mentioned  persons  involved  with  the  development  and  distribution  of  this  information  are  not  responsible  for  any  adverse  effects  or  consequences  of  any  kind  resulting  from  the  use  or  misuse  of  any  suggestions  or  procedures  described  within  this  program.  Always  work  with  a  qualiBied  health  professional  before  making  any  changes  to  your  diet,  prescription  drug  use,  lifestyle  or  exercise  activities.  This  information  is  provided  as-­‐is,  and  the  reader  assumes  all  risks  from  the  use,  non-­‐use  or  misuse  of  this  information.

IMPORTANT:  This  document  is  not  to  be  reproduced  or  distributed  without  the  express  written  consent  of  the  author  Peter  Olsson  or  his  legally  delegated  representative.