Anti-inflammatory Lifestyle and Diet: Part 2
This is a targeted eating plan to help people with inflammatory disorders, metabolic disorders, and Long-COVID regain their health, energy and sanity.
This food plan decreases body and brain inflammation; increases energy; reduces brain fog; and helps promote healing.
Big Food Picture
Overall guidelines: Click on each tip to learn more. Part 1 contains:
1) Eat more whole natural foods. Natural foods are low processed or no-processed food that are found in nature.
2) Cut back or eliminate added sugars.
3) Reduce the amount of highly processed or ultra processed foods you eat. If you rely on easy to prepare food try to buy the least processed versions. Like chicken nuggets? Switch to the least processed brand using 'whole chicken pieces' and no trans fat instead of the brand using 'chicken by-products'.
4) Eat 1/3 or less of your calories as carbohydrates and try to make most of them higher quality or complex carbohydrates.
5) Reduce or eliminate alcohol intake.
Jasper Geeraerts - Pronk still life with lobster c1650-1654 oil on canvas.
Part 2:
6) Avoid foods that make you feel crappy (as well as foods to which you are allergic).
7) You, and your pet rodent, may want to avoid red food dye Allura Red (which is more commonly labeled FD&C Red 40 and Food Red 17).
8) Pick foods high in antioxidants like polyphenols, vitamin C, carotenoids, vitamin E, flavonoids, flavones, catechins, and phytoestrogens.
9) Add fiber to your diet. Don't worry, you don't need to eat bran muffins (unless you want to) fiber is found in tasty foods like berries!
10) Add spices to your meal!
11) Stop smoking and stay away from second and third-hand (tertiary) smoke. If you can't or won't stop smoking, click here to learn more and for tips on how to mitigate it's harmful effects.
Illustration of peaches from 1901 Stark Bro's Nursery and Orchards Co catalog.
 Stark Bro's Nurseries & Orchards Co.jpg)
Important: Don't let a desire to eat perfectly hinder your health.
If you feel weak, are losing too much weight OR you are underweight EAT WHATEVER FOOD YOU CAN TOLERATE to help keep on weight and add calories to your diet. I don't care if it is so-called junk food.
It is more important to eat anything to give your body the energy and the building blocks to heal. As you feel better make small changes.
Eating better reduces whole body inflammation
When your body is chronically inflamed it promotes the rise of chronic diseases while depleting your energy (Bennett et al. 2018). Yes, excess inflammation can hinder your ability to transfer food into energy.
If you are feeling tired all the time, an anti-inflammatory diet can help you feel better. You don't have to go from a diet heavy on the McD (highly processed food diet) to an all natural whole foods diet overnight (unless you want to do so and enjoy challenges). We aren't going to tell you to eliminate every ounce of sugar or eat only organic fruit pollinated by happy bees living in hallowed out tree trunks.
We will give you tips and suggestions on how to easily change your diet and food choices to healthier ones. Even small changes can make a huge difference to your health.
Making small diet changes or food substitutions can transform your diet from a pro-inflammatory diet, which causes inflammation, to a healthier diet that kicks inflammation's butt. To jump-start the process - check out our page of highly processed foods and healthier substitutions.
Gertrude Ellen Burrard (1860-1928) - A Hill Woman from Ladakh, Cooking Her Food oil on canvas c1893.
 - A Hill Woman from Ladakh, Cooking Her Food c1893 oil on canvas.jpg)
6) Avoid foods that make you feel crappy.
Avoid foods that cause either an allergenic reaction or other reactions like upset digestive system, bloating, headache, brain fog, or any other adverse reactions. Just because a food is healthy for someone else does not mean it is healthy for you! You have my permission not to eat food that makes you feel bad; I don't care if it is Aunt Rose's Special Homemade Extra Gluten Sesame Cream Cake with Peanut, Lobster and Soybean Sprinkles that she only makes for Christmas.
Three types of reactions to foods:
1) Food allergies are your body's immune system reacting to some component of the food; normally a protein. The offending food triggers an fairly immediate allergic reaction such as hives, difficulty breathing, running nose, watery eyes, sneezing or anaphylaxis (a whole body allergic reaction that can be fatal).
When an allergic reaction occurs, plasma cells produce glycoproteins called immunoglobulins (also called antibodies). Immunoglobulin E (IgE) triggers immune cells, specifically mast cells, to release histamine and other inflammatory chemicals in a process called mast cell degranulation. Other immune system components such as IgG, IgM, IgA and T-cells can also be involved in allergic reactions.
Sometimes food allergies can have a non IgE mediated reaction. This results in gastrointestinal symptoms like vomiting, weight loss, chronic diarrhea or bloody stools.
2) Food intolerances are a reaction to a food that may or may not involve the immune system. Usually it is when your digestive system has a hard time breaking down the food. You can develop gas, diarrhea, intestinal pain, constipation, or other unpleasant side effects after eating the food.
Common food intolerances include lactose intolerance (a sugar found in dairy), gluten (a protein in wheat, rye and barley) and histamines (chemicals that develop in aged cheeses, meats, chocolate and other foods).
3) Toxic reactions are a toxic reaction to noxious bacteria, fungi, their by products or other toxins in the food. This can include food poisoning. Symptoms include vomiting, upset stomach, cramps, fever, diarrhea, and other intestinal problems. Less often food poisoning can result in nervous system symptoms such as vision problems, numbness of mouth or skin, weakness, headaches and inability to move limbs. People can have different tolerances to the toxins found in food!
All of the above are valid reasons NOT to eat the offending food. Food reactions involving the immune system can be extremely complicated and change over your lifetime (Krstic Ristivojevic et al. 2021, Xiong et al. 2022). If a food makes you feel bad, do not eat it for a while and only reintroduce the food slowly. If you have an extreme reaction to a food, do not eat it ever again unless you are being monitored by a doctor.
The truth about dairy
Good foods will turn into bad foods quick if they ramp up your body's immune system. Some people have extreme reactions to common foods. For example, consuming dairy has anti-inflammatory activity in people with metabolic disorders BUT has pro-inflammatory activity in people allergic to milk (Bordoni 2017). This means that dairy is beneficial to me since I am not allergic to it, but people who are allergic to milk should avoid it.
So it is simple:
If you are allergic to dairy don't eat it. It will ramp up inflammation.
If you are not allergic to dairy; chow down on that yogurt and butter! It will reduce inflammation.
Celiac's disease, FODMAP and lectins
Celiac's disease
I, Susan, have Celiac's disease so I cannot eat gluten; this means I have to avoid breads and muffins made from wheat, barley and rye. For people with Celiac's disease, gluten peptides will increase overall inflammation, hijack the immune system, activate T-cells and trigger oxidative stress (good discussion in Ferretti et al. 2012).
One symptom of Celiac's disease is low iron levels (especially ones that do not respond to treatment) and/or low vitamin D levels. IF you have low iron levels that are not increasing with supplementation test for Celiac's disease.
Take it from me, wheat is not worth the pain. Embrace the gluten free diet. For me, eliminating gluten got rid of my brain fog totally.
FODMAP
You may have no problem with gluten but have to pass on other foods. I have a friend who cannot eat high FODMAP foods (FODMAP stands for Fermentable Oligosaccharides, Disaccharides, Monosaccharides And Polyols). These are short-chain carbohydrates and sugars, found in common foods like onion and garlic, that some people cannot tolerate. A study of 21,462 users of a FODMAP diet app found that consuming a low FODMAP diet helped to improve gut symptoms (Dimidi et al 2023).
Lectins
Other people have problems with lectins; these are proteins that bind to carbohydrates (glycoproteins). They are found in raw or under cooked beans and soybeans, peanuts, garlic, bananas, whole grains, and raw potatoes. Lectins can bind IgE and cause food allergies (Barre et al. 2020). Cooking or heating foods at over 212 F (100 °C) for over 30 minutes denatures lectins making them safe to eat.
No-one should be eating raw potatoes or raw/undercooked beans since they can cause severe intestinal distress like nausea, upset stomach, vomiting and diarrhea. Some raw beans, such as kidney beans, are very poisonous and can kill you.
Oral allergy syndrome
If you eat a fruit, vegetable or nut and it causes your lips or mouth to tingle, itch or swell, you are having an allergic reaction called oral allergy syndrome (OAS). People with OAS are usually allergic to plant pollens or have hay fever. Food proteins can resemble plant pollens and cause the person to react.
Cooking or baking the offending food often eliminates oral allergy syndrome symptoms. Heat changes the shape of proteins in a process known as denaturing - this changes your body's reaction to them. Sometimes peeling the fruit or vegetable can help since the offending proteins are often concentrated in the peel.
*Jo S. (26 year old): "I have an oral allergy syndrome, it causes severe burning, itching, and swelling of my tongue, lips, and throat. Sometimes I get nausea and really bad stomach problems like cramping. The foods I can't eat include apples, pears, bananas, oranges, melons of any kind, lettuce - almost all fruits or veggies. It makes it more difficult to eat healthy. I have to cook my fruits and veggies."
If you have a latex allergy you may also react to these foods: apple, apricot, avocado, banana, bell pepper, carrot, celery, chestnut, fig, kiwi, mango, melons, papaya, passion fruit, peach, spinach, strawberry, raw potato and tomato. Latex allergies can be serious and life threatening. Avoid all latex products such as balloons, latex gloves, some band-aids, foam mattresses, erasers, latex condoms, etc.
The FDA identifies nine foods that cause most allergies. They are milk, eggs, nuts, fish, crustaceans, shellfish, wheat, soy and sesame. Do not play Russian roulette with your health by eating foods that trigger your allergies. Allergies can ramp up with repeated exposure. Just a bite is not worth the risk.
Farm workers harvesting wheat with horse-drawn combine in Almira, Washington (August 1911). Photo by W. C. Alexander. The rolling hills in the area required the strength of multiple horses to pull the combine.
7) You, and your pet rodent, may want to avoid red food dye Allura Red (which is more commonly labeled FD&C Red 40 and Food Red 17).
Recent research shows that continual exposure to Allura Red in mice hurts gut health and promotes inflammation. It may cause or trigger the development of inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs), ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease (Kwon et al. 2022). Basically, Allura Red directly disrupts the gut barrier function and increases the serotonin production.
Serotonin is a hormone or neurotransmitter found in the gut and brain. In the gut is regulates muscle movement and nutrient intake. This change in serotonin alters the composition of gut microbiota which causes increased susceptibility to inflammatory bowel diseases
This still needs more testing in humans but it might be something to consider if you have one of these bowel disorders. Interestingly, people have been complaining about being sensitive or allergic to this dye, Red Dye 40, for a long time.
8) Pick foods high in antioxidants such as polyphenols, vitamin C, carotenoids, vitamin E, flavonoids, flavones, catechins, and phytoestrogens. Often these are naturally bright and colorful foods.
Antioxidants are compounds that help protect your cells from free radicals. A free radical is an unstable molecule with an extra unpaired electron. The crazy unpaired electron wants to have a partner; it is like the clingiest of annoying friends that wants to be with you always.
Lonely free radicals embrace an electron from another molecule and tear the electron away. Losing an electron damages and destabilizes the robbed molecule and it becomes a free radical. This can cause dangerous chain reactions in which molecules start stealing electrons from each other. This process results in inflammation and tissue damage. Free radicals can also cause cellular mutations by damaging DNA. Having chronic excessive free radicals in the body causes oxidative stress, which can contribute to damage and metainflammation.
Antioxidants, which are found in foods and made in your body, sacrifice themselves to protect you. They take a hit for the team by giving up or donating an electron to the free radical. Once the free radical receives an electron it is neutralized and safe. There are thousands of different antioxidants. Some familiar antioxidants are vitamin C, vitamin E, selenium, manganese, glutathione, coenzyme Q10, lipoic acid, flavonoids, phenols, polyphenols and many more.
Carotenoids (such as lycopene in tomatoes and lutein in kale) and flavonoids (such as flavonols in cocoa, anthocyanins in blueberries, quercetin in apples and onions, and catechins in green tea) are also common antioxidants. Many antioxidants are the same compounds that make fruits and vegetables such bright colors!
Antioxidants each have unique biochemical behaviors and biological properties. Many work together in complicated networks. Antioxidants work best when they are hanging out with other nutrients, plant phytochemicals, and other types of antioxidants. These means that it is better to get antioxidants from whole foods than to take supplements of single antioxidants.
Jeffrey & Company Oranges and Lemons Say the Bells of St. Clements 1902 machine printed on paper.
Blue Box of Science: Why are whole foods better? Compare a 60 mg vitamin C supplement to a whole food, a small orange:
An orange contains:
Vitamin C which is an antioxidant (50 mg in a small orange). It provides around 90% of your daily requirement for vitamin C (about 2/3rds of your vitamin C needs if you are a smoker).
Hesperidin and naringenin which have anti-inflammatory activities (Li and Schluesener 2014). There is 20-60 mg hesperidin in 100 mL of orange juice; the fruit itself has 5 times more and the peel has up to 16 times more.
Carotenoids such as luteins and cryptoxanthins which are antioxidants. These give the orange its lovely color.
Polymethoxylated flavones (PMFs) which may have a neuroprotective effects and improve cognitive dysfunction (Matsuzaki and Ohizumi 2021). They directly inhibit enzymes involved in inflammation (review Li et al. 2009).
Fiber: a small orange contains around 2.3 grams of fiber; with 1.8 g of soluble fiber and 1.1 grams of insoluble fiber.
Cellular protection: Citrus fruits may also protect against cancer (Cirmi et al. 2018).
A 60 mg vitamin C tablet contains:
60 mg vitamin C.
See the difference?
Avoid free radicals.
Things that increase free radicals include:
✽ Oxidized oils (especially vegetable oils)
✽ Added sugars
✽ Alcohol
✽ Smoking along with second and third hand smoke exposure
✽ Some food preservatives
✽ Having chronic inflammation
Avoid oxidized fats and oils:
Fats and oils become oxidized when exposed to light, air and/or heat. Exposing oils to high heat, especially vegetable oils, causes free radical development. Free radicals cause inflammation! It is unhealthy to reuse vegetable oil used for frying. Eating foods high in oxidized oils also increases whole body inflammation.
Use cold pressed oils with added vitamin E. Cold pressed oils are healthier.
What happens during chronic (whole body) inflammation:
When your body is chronically inflamed it generates more free radicals and radical oxygenated species (ROS) all by itself (thanks Mother Nature!) ROS kill pathogen and other germs but also damage tissues and cells. At the same time, chronically inflamed mitochondria spew out more ROS which further elevates inflammation in the body. This is why it takes more work to get inflammation under control once it starts.
9) Add Fiber.
Fiber feeds your gut bacteria. If your gut bacteria are unhealthy it can negatively affect your health.
So why should you care about your gut bacteria? Healthy gut bacteria, also called gut microbiota, regulate the metabolic, endocrine and immune functions in the whole body. Eating high fiber foods encourages more good bacteria. Your gut microbia also helps regulate neurochemical pathways in your brain. Yes, gut microbes can influence your brain!
Gut bacteria chow down on fiber and resistant starch and produce short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs).
Seven reasons why you need short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs).
1) SCFAs are important for immune functioning, intestinal health and making lipids and sugars.
2) SCFAs may play a role in neuro-immunoendocrine regulation. This is when the immune system, the endocrine system and the nervous system interact and coordinate actions with each other (Silva et al. 2020).
3) SCFAs regulate the function of innate immune cells like macrophages, neutrophils and dendritic cells. Innate immunity is our first line of defense against invading hostile pathogens, the organisms which cause disease. These awesome immune cells recognize common features of pathogens, and react quickly to destroy them.
4) SCFAs regulate T cells and B cells differentiation and their antigen-specific adaptive immunity. T and B cells are part of our adaptive or acquired immune system. They differentiation, or transform, into immune superheroes in order to defend the body from specific invaders. For more on this interesting and very complicated topic, see Cano and Lopera 2013.
5) SCFAs are the main energy source for the cells that line the gut and colon. These small fatty acids regulate gene expression that helps intestinal epithelial barrier and defense functions. Gene expression acts like a switch to control how genes use their DNA to make proteins. It can turn genes on and off as well as regulate the amount of protein produced.
6) SCFAs are the raw materials for sugar and lipid synthesis in the body. Due to this, SCFAs may be involved with energy homeostasis and metabolism.
7) SCFAs inhibit tumor cell proliferation and promote apoptosis. Apoptosis is when abnormal or cancerous cells commit suicide to keep the rest of the body safe.
Forget the tasteless bran muffin! Many delicious foods are high in fiber including:
- ★ Berries: raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, blackberries
- ★Fruits: apples, pears, bananas, mangos, plums
- ★Vegetables: carrots, broccoli, brussels sprouts, celery, leafy greens, sweet potatoes, potatoes, onions, leeks, green beans
- ★Grains: popcorn, oats, rye, barley, whole grains
- ★Seeds: sunflower, pumpkin, chia, quinoa
- ★Nuts: walnuts, pistachios, almonds, pecans, fresh coconut
- ★All beans, chickpeas, lentils, peas
- ★Dark chocolate, avocados
Raphaelle Peale: Still Life - Strawberries, Nuts, &c c1822 oil on panel (Art Institute of Chicago).
10) Add spices to your meals.
Adding six grams of a spice blend (basil, bay leaf, black pepper, cinnamon, coriander, cumin, ginger, oregano, parsley, red pepper, rosemary, thyme and turmeric) to foods reduced inflammatory cytokines.
In this small study, 12 overweight men (40-60 years old) ate three versions of a meal high in saturated fat and carbohydrate. Version one had no spice, version 2 had two grams of spice and version 3 had six grams of spice. The meal containing six grams of spice reduced inflammation (Oh et al. 2020).
Six grams of spice is between one teaspoon to one tablespoon (depending on how much spices are dehydrated).
11) Stop smoking and stay away from second and third-hand (tertiary) smoke.
If you can't or won't stop smoking try to mitigate the harmful effects by smoking outdoors and washing hands after puffing. See our page on how smoking causes inflammation.
If you won't quit smoking for yourself, consider the negative effect on your pets, partner and/or children.
Smoking increases whole body inflammation in women and men. Cigarette smoking generates a ton of reactive species, which can overrun the antioxidant defense system. Heavy smokers have higher levels of inflammatory chemicals, such as C-reactive protein (CRP), fibrinogen, IL-6 and carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA, high levels can indicate cancer), than non-smokers (Elisia et al. 2020). They also have elevated concentrations of immune cells such as white blood cells, monocytes and granulocytes. The combination of increased inflammatory chemicals and immune cells is associated with an increase risk of lung, colorectal and breast cancer.
One novel way smoking promotes inflammation is by accelerating growth of inflammation-promoting bacteria, such as Bacteroides, Lachnospira, Prevotella stercorea and Ruminococcus, in the gut (Yan et al. 2021). The same study found that non-smokers had more anti-inflammation gut bacteria; such as Eubacterium, Adlercreutzia equolifaciens, Akkermansia muciniphila, Alistipes and Bacteroides.
Gentlemen Smoking and Playing Backgammon in a Tavern painting by Dirck Hals c1627.
If you smoke take steps to reduce secondhand and thirdhand exposure for yourself and everyone else in your home.
✽ Always smoke outdoors: never smoke in a house or car. Ventilation or an open window is not enough to get rid of toxic cigarette smoke.
✽ Dispose of butts responsibly in a sealed container so pets or wildlife are not poisoned by nicotine.
✽ Wash hands directly after smoking.
✽ Try to stand so smoke billows away from you.
✽ Consider a 'smoking jacket' or overall type hazard mat suit that you put on before you smoke and take off before going back inside to help protect your indoor clothes from smoke residue accumulation.
✽ Take extra vitamin C and eat foods rich in vitamin C. Smokers need at least 90 mg vitamin C a day since the vitamin C helps neutralize free radicals caused by smoke.
How to make a chilled protein smoothie:
This healthy smoothie is great for breakfast or as a snack.
Use either a blender or a stick mixer (I recommend stick mixer since it is a snap to clean).
Add: 0.5-1.5 cup of fresh or frozen fruit (I like frozen berries like blueberries, strawberries and raspberries), peaches, oranges and nectarines are good too. Some people add 1 cup ice instead of frozen fruit.
Dump in a protein source: protein powder (whey, egg or plant based powders or isolates), can add chia seeds, flax seeds, hemp hearts, nut butters, Greek yogurt or others.
Liquid: add 1/3-1.5 cup of liquid, common choices include water, milk, fruit juice, plant drinks, coconut milk etc. I use homemade kefir in mine which is low in milk sugar - the kefir bacteria and yeast consume lactose.
Optional ingredients:
Sweetener: I don't use sweeteners since I use sweet berries, but some people like to add honey, agave, maple syrup, coconut sugar or regular sugar. If you want to use a no calorie sweetener it is best to stick with natural ones like stevia, xylitol, yacon syrup or monk fruit sweetener. You can start with a sweetener in your smoothie and gradually decrease it to get used to a less sweet shake too.
Greens: You can add spinach, swiss chard or other dark greens to the shake. Be careful, some greens will make it bitter.
Oxalate acid warning: Some people don't react well to the oxalates found in greens like spinach. Oxalates, or oxalate acid, are naturally occurring organic salts called dicarboxylic acids (HOOC-COOH) found in many plant foods. Your body can also make oxalate acid as a metabolism product (Avila-Nava et al. 2021).
Foods extremely high in oxalate acid include: spinach, rhubarb, chard, soy, snap beans, rice bran, buckwheat, almonds, cocoa powder, and baked potatoes with skin. For a more complete list of oxalate acid in foods see this handy searchable data base of oxalate content in foods.
Oxalates can bind minerals and make them unavailable for you to use (calcium, zinc, iron, and magnesium); displace sulfur by binding to sulfur receptors; activate mast cells; contribute to kidney stones; and form crystals that build up and cause joint and body pain.
Your body can break down and remove oxalate acid. To help remove excess oxalates take some dietary precautions. Drink water to flush out oxalates. Take calcium (or consume calcium rich foods), which bind to oxalates and remove them from the body. Replace some raw leafy greens with cooked greens. Cooking lowers the oxalate content.
Fiber source: add high fiber ingredients such as flax seeds, chia seeds, raw flaked oats, berries, pears, nuts and seeds.
Blend until smooth for a quick healthy meal replacement shake.
Warning: don't add banana to your berry smoothie. Bananas contain high amounts of polyphenol oxidase (PPO), a enzyme that interferes with your ability to absorb flavanols. People consumed two different smoothies; banana (high in PPO) or mixed berries (low in PPO); and took a flavanol capsule at the same time. When the researchers measured flavanol levels in blood and urine samples they found that the banana smoothie decreased flavonols by 84% compared to the mixed berry smoothie (Ottaviani et al. 2023).
Foods to limit or avoid (these increase inflammation in the body):
✽ Refined carbohydrates like white bread, pasta and breakfast cereals
✽ Added sugars
✽ Soda pop (sugar or diet) and sweetened beverages
✽ Processed meats like mystery hot dogs and bologna
✽ Fried foods; especially deep fat fried foods - even if you are from the South
✽ Unhealthy fats like margarine
✽ Any amount of man made trans fats or partially hydrogenated oils (check out good fats here)
✽ Corn and soybean oil
✽ Alcohol
Definitions:
Inducible transcription factors are synthesized or activated using a specific signal. They turn on their target genes and cause them to express or create different proteins.
Inflammatory mediators cause inflammation. They include nuclear factor-βB, proteins, nitric oxide, cytokines, peptides, glycoproteins, arachidonic acid metabolites (prostaglandins and leukotrienes), vasoactive peptides (kinins), phospholipid mediators (platelet activating factor), and cytokines (interleukins and other bioresponse modifiers).
Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are important signaling molecules that play a role in the progression of inflammatory disorders and diseases. While ROS are needed, too many causes inflammation.
*Names and some minor identifying details in all stories in this website are changed to protect people's privacy.
This information is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.
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