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Are You Inflamed?

inflamed

 

What is inflammation?  Is it good? Is it bad? Or… Does it depend on the situation?  Inflammation can be good or bad.  If we have an acute injury such as a sprained ankle, inflammation is a great thing!  Think about what is actually happening. We roll our ankle and damage the soft tissue that supports that ankle.  As a result of that damage, we will notice the following:

  1. The ankle swells: this swelling limits the movement of the joint preventing any more damage or instability (nature’s brace or stability mechanism).
  2. The inflammation sensitizes pain receptors in the area: This makes you get off of your feet & prevents you from bearing weight on that ankle so the tissues can heal without repeated insult (nature’s warning sign or alarm).
  3. The area is also flooded with immunes cells: This is your body going to work on healing the damaged tissue (nature’s worker bees and soldiers).

Is this a good thing? Yes, it is a great thing.  The last thing we want to do in this situation is take anti-inflammatories and pain medication and continue with our day.  If we silence the bodies response, it can lead to more damage and slower recovery. However, there are also many situations where inflammation is a bad thing, such as the chronic inflammation associated with subluxation, or systemic inflammation caused by poor lifestyle choices.  This systemic inflammation can cause, promote, and complicate almost any illness or ailment under the sun.  Take the following list for example:

  • Bronchitis
  • Diverticulitis
  • Arthritis
  • Meningitis
  • Tendonitis
  • Sinusitis
  • Gastritis
  • Colitis
  • Plantar Fasciitis
  • Pancreatitis
  • Nephritis

The list is endless but I think you get the point.  Every illness has an inflammatory component, any ailment can be triggered by systemic inflammation, and all ailments are complicated by systemic inflammation!  When I say systemic inflammation, I mean low grade, insidious, global inflammation throughout the whole body. Most people are “inflamed” which is one reason why 80% of the population suffer from some type of chronic illness.  There are many things that you can do to reduce this inflammation and there are great subjective and objective tests you can use to determine if inflammation is a problem for you.  A simple lab test that you can have run is a high sensitive C-reactive protein test (hsCRP). This is a compound produced by the liver as a result of inflammatory proteins in the body.  If your CRP is above 1 mg/L, that is a good indicator of systemic inflammation and is something that needs to be addressed. At Livin’ Well and Cheyenne Weight Loss, we acknowledge that there are only 2 causes of dis-ease in the body, TOXICITY and DEFICIENCY.  We have to address both if we wish to combat unwanted inflammation and reduce your risk of dis-ease.

We find that it is always easier to add something to your life, than limit or take things away.  Because of this we find that people do much better if we address the DEFICIENCIES first before the TOXICITIES.  Here are the common deficiencies that lead to inflammation:

  • Omega 3 fatty acids (fish oil, NOT flaxseed)
  • Vitamin D3 (sunlight)
  • Magnesium
  • Probiotics
  • Prebiotics (healthy fiber a.k.a. Vegetables and fruits)
  • Antioxidants (a.k.a. Vegetables and fruits)
  • Water
  • Exercise
  • Sleep
  • Chiropractic Adjustments (proper joint movement/alignment)

The easiest place to start is to address any nutritional deficiencies through proper supplementation.  All of these can be tested in the blood or stool, however, Omega 3s, Vitamin D3, Magnesium, and Probiotics are almost universal deficiencies in all individuals.  The reason being:

  1. We don’t eat enough healthy fish (most are farm raised, or from contaminated sources), we don’t eat enough grass fed, grass finished, pasture raised meats (most are grain fed from feedlots).  Therefore, we are deficient in EPA and DHA (essential omega 3’s).
  2. We don’t get enough sunlight.  This time of year it is because of the weather, in the summer it is because of indoor jobs and overuse of sunscreen.  Our natural source of Vitamin D is the sun, we get very little from food (we can get some from foods like egg yolks and organ meats like beef liver but the levels are not significant).
  3. Our soils are depleted from overworking and industrialized farming.  This means that there is little essential minerals like Magnesium and GOOD bacteria like probiotics.

Remember that these supplements are not meant to treat or cure anything.  They are meant to bring sufficiency and purity to the body.  They are simply raw ingredients needed to maintain balance and homeostasis in the body.  To find out more about the quality supplements we provide in our office, visit http://lddy.no/643r (enter discount code MS01 for 5% off) or talk to us in the clinic (mention this article and we will give you 10% off).  One of my favorite supplements is Aveca’s Omega Longevity http://lddy.no/643r.  This has the appropriate EPA and DHA (omega 3s) essential for the brain and nerve system health, as well as limiting inflammation.  This one supplement has the power of a fish oil and a krill oil (most think these have the same benefit and they don’t, krill should be considered more of an antioxidant supplement not an EPA and DHA supplement), meaning you get your fish oil with an antioxidant boost, WIN WIN for combating inflammation!

Inflammation is at the root of our health crisis’, and we are here to help! Fill out our self assessment form to see if you are “inflamed.”  If you mark 3 or more YES’s on the RED SIDE of this sheet you most likely suffer from systemic inflammation,if you mark over 5 YESes on the RED SIDE, this is definitely an issue for you and further testing is warranted.(Wyoming Health Fairs can easily run the necessary blood markers).  If you have ANY of the objective clinical markers listed in this assessment, you are “inflamed” at some capacity and it needs to be addressed (whether you demonstrate symptoms yet or not).  Use these resources as a baseline, implement our recommendations, then see what happens over a 3-6 month period! You won’t be disappointed. When we retake the assessment we want all of our objective measures to be in the normal range and the goal with the subjective assessment is to be able to mark YES on every question on the GREEN SIDE.

If you need accountability with this lifestyle change, we highly encourage you to reach out to our health coach at cwlhealthcoach@gmail.com or visit our website at www.cheyenneweightloss.com!

 

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