What is Inflammation?
Part of a normal immune response, inflammation is a natural physiological response and a necessary part of stimulating the body’s natural healing processes. The trouble is that through poor dietary and lifestyle choices for long periods of time, inflammation can activate the body’s immune system which causes unnecessary damage to otherwise healthy cells.
How Do I know if I Have Inflammation?
Many healthcare professionals may recommend that you do blood tests for inflammatory markers like CRP to get a good idea of the state of inflammation in your body. Some common signs of inflammation include body pain, frequent illness and infections, fatigue, and mood disorders like depression and anxiety.
An increasing number of disorders (also influenced by our genes) are sldo linked to inflammation, such as asthma, arthritis, and psoriasis. Of course, medication and other treatments prescribed by your treating doctor will remain important in managing inflammatory diseases. Think of adopting an anti-inflammatory lifestyle as just another piece to the puzzle. For example, only changing your diet may not be the magic cure, but it may decrease how often you have flare ups or help you need a lower dose of medication.
What Else Can I do to Manage Inflammation?
The good news is that it is possible to lower inflammation levels even further through various lifestyle changes. We know that obesity increases your risk of inflammation because fatty tissue called adipose tissue release a lot of pro-inflammatory molecules called cytokines (partly due to insulin resistance). It becomes a continuous cycle of inflammation: the more overweight you are, the more inflammation there is, making you even more overweight. This is why an energy-controlled diet by watching your portion intake and choosing high quality foods will help. In addition, being active may lower inflammatory markers in the body which in turn helps with weight loss.
The FitChef Difference
To make your life easier in your quest to follow an anti-inflammatory diet, we’ve put together a convenient FitChef Anti-Inflammatory Kit based on the key anti-inflammatory eating principles, as guided by scientific evidence, which you can add to your recurring monthly order and take care of convenience and your health in one step. The FitChef Anti-inflammatory Kit includes meals that are:
- High in fibre to from wholegrain carbs like brown rice and quinoa.
- High in fruits and vegetables which are rich in anti-inflammatory compounds like phytonutrients and antioxidants that protect against and reduce inflammation in the body.
- Flavoured with ginger and cumin, which are known to have anti-inflammatory properties.
- Energy and portion controlled to manage your weight.
- High in healthy monounsaturated fats from olive oil and low in saturated fats such chicken skin, fatty cuts of meat, cheese and coconut oil, which are pro-inflammatory. That is why FitChef chicken meals like use only skinless chicken breasts and olive oil as the primary oil of choice.
- Unprocessed whole food, free from added preservatives and flavourants as studies have shown that replacing processed foods with whole, unprocessed foods improves insulin resistance, improves cholesterol levels and reduces blood pressure, all of which are related to inflammation.
- Low in added sugar and refined carbohydrates which trigger a host of metabolic changes in the body that kickstart the inflammatory processes.