Clinical Nutrition: The Natural, Drug-Free Treatment for Chronic Inflammation

If you sprained your ankle, would you jump off a table 15 times in a row?

Then why in the name of all that is reasonable would someone with inflammation continue to fill their body with inflammatory foods?

I get that the pain you would feel by repeatedly jumping on a sprained ankle would be sharper. But people need to understand that the damage done to their body by consuming inflammatory foods while in an inflamed state has a long-term impact on their health.

Understanding Inflammation

Inflammation is not an inherently bad thing. Inflammation is the body’s built-in defense response to damaged cells, toxins, stress, trauma, heat, infections and more. Pain, fever and inflammation are actually part of the healing process.

Acute inflammation is short-term and helpful. Chronic inflammation is long-term and harmful. When the immune system goes haywire and never shuts down, you stimulate pro-inflammatory immune cells and become chronically inflamed. This causes damage to healthy cells and leads to diseases such as type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, asthma, lupus, irritable bowel syndrome, allergies and Crohn’s disease.

Americans have thrown the ratio of inflammation we need into the abyss instead of maintaining a healthy balance. For example, levels of inflammatory omega 6 acids are typically much higher than healthy omega 3 acids, often by a 30-to-1 margin.

Treating Inflammation: Drugs or Food?

Over-the-counter and prescription drugs and corticosteroids can be used to treat inflammation, but none were designed for long-term, habitual use. Many have harmful side effects and can cause serious damage when overused.

Clinical nutrition, or nutrition therapy, has minimal side effects, if any, especially when overseen by a clinical nutritionist such as Dr. Coetzee or Dr. Filatova, both of whom are among the most knowledgeable and respected practitioners in the nutritional science field. Unfortunately, the American diet is loaded with pro-inflammatory foods, from processed foods and sugary drinks to red meat and refined carbohydrates.

When you dramatically reduce or eliminate these substances and replace them with whole, anti-inflammatory foods, you promote biochemical and biological activities in the cells that help you feel better, function better and live longer.

The Anti-Inflammatory Food List

Whether you’re healthy or not, your body reacts to the types of food you eat. Go back to the basics. Focus on the foods that God put on this planet for humans to consume. Search out organic foods that haven’t been exposed to pesticides, antibiotics, steroids and other harmful substances.

• Fruits and vegetables, especially leafy greens.
• Seeds and nuts, such as walnuts, almonds, chia seeds, hazelnuts and flax seeds.
• Healthy proteins, such as anchovies, bone broth, grass-fed meats, eggs, salmon and tuna.
• Healthy fats, such as coconut oil, ghee, MCT oil and olive oil.
• Healthy plants, roots, spices and herbs found in natural and supplement form, such as garlic, ginger, green tea, oregano, rosemary, turmeric, curcumin and Boswellia.

For a more complete list, check Table 2 in this article from Chiropractic Economics.

Remember, this isn’t about obesity and losing weight. This is about inflammation at a cellular level, the root cause of so many chronic diseases. Even musculoskeletal pain can be caused directly or indirectly by an inflammatory diet.

This is a prime example of why the Triad of Health, which accounts for your physical, psychological and nutritional well-being, is the foundation of what we do at Natural Healthcare Center. That’s why we take an integrated approach to diagnosis and treatment. In other words, we don’t just treat knee pain with physical therapy. We look for signs of inflammation and how clinical nutrition could play a role in healing.

Before you ask for prescriptions for medication you’ve seen advertised on TV, schedule a complimentary consultation at Natural Healthcare Center. Let us get to the root cause of what’s bothering you, determine if chronic inflammation is the root cause, and help you adjust your diet accordingly.