Are the foods you are eating keeping you in pain?

Try An Anti-Inflammatory Diet: It Could Be The Answer To Eliminating Your Pain

When I say �Inflammation�, thoughts of painful joints,muscles, swelling and loss of mobility probably comes to mind. But didyou know that recent research shows that chronic inflammation in yourbody can lead to serious disease such as diabetes, heart disease, some cancers, and Alzheimer's disease, to name just a few?

Theamount of inflammation in our body varies and is dependent on maycircumstances like activity level, amount of sleep or stress in ourlives and even the foods we eat. Now what you have to realize is thatthese factors are all accumulative and as the levels increase the riskfor disease increases.

Now early in life these levels can beso low that you would not even know that you have any inflammation inyour body and that is because our bodies do a fair job at controllingthe inflammation at least for a while, and than one day you wake up andyou are in your 40�s and something is just not write and than the fearsets in and you think to your self what did I do, what did I do wrongor what can I do right now to help my self.

Well, the firststep is to get your C-Reactive Protein levels tested, you will need toask you Doctor and may even demand to have the test done, all it takesis a blood sample and than haveyour levels evaluated by your Doctor and even by a registered dieticianto help you formulate a plan of care because our diets can play a largepart in achieving optimal health.

If you have pain frominflammation you may choose to take the traditional �medical� path forinflammation such as, Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID�s), steroidsand even joint replacement surgery in severe cases. The good news isthat there are more natural ways to fight inflammation, and they do nothave the undesirable side effects caused by most typical medical treatments.

What You Eat Makes All The Difference

Thefood we eat is a critical piece of the puzzle when it comes tocontrolling inflammation. The average American diet consists of highfat, high sugar, loads of red meat and a frightening amount ofprocessed foods. These are all likely to increase inflammation, not tomention contributing to obesity, yet another high-inflammatory culprit.By switching to an Anti-Inflammatory Diet planmade up of healthy, whole foods, you can actually decrease inflammationand in turn ease the pain and discomfort associated with it.

Thefirst step is to avoid processed foods, foods high in sugar and junkfood whenever possible. Instead choose fresh, whole foods includinganti-inflammatory varieties like lean proteins, fruits and vegetables.But choose carefully, in fact even some vegetables and pre-packaged�health� foods can work against you. Use this quick list of the bestand worst foods in controlling inflammation:

Anti-inflammatory foods
Atlantic Salmon- (wild)
Fresh whole fruits, vegetables
Bright multi-colored vegetables
Green tea
Water
Olive oil
Lean poultry
Nuts, legumes and seeds
Dark green leafy vegetables
Old fashioned oatmeal
Spices, especially Turmeric and Ginger

Pro-inflammatory foods
Sugar, from any source
Processed foods
French Fries
Fast Foods
White bread
Pasta
Ice Cream
Cheddar Cheeses
Snack Foods
Oils such as vegetable and corn
Soda, caffeine and alcohol

In addition to these dietary changes it is also recommended that you:

- Maintain a healthy weight- There is no question that �Heating Healthy� is not easy now days,either at home or at a restaurant. But you must at least start to dothese three things. Decrease your sugars, Decrease your hydrogenatedoils and increase your daily intake of fiber to 35 grams, that is a tonof fiber but just try, you may hit it, you may not, the point is try to.

- Get better sleep � 7 to 9 hour is mandatory for optimal health and the one thing that most people do not know it that quality sleep is the key to controlling systemic inflammation.

- Relax more often to lower stress levels� Find time for yourself, morning, noon and night and focus on yourbreathing and clear the clutter in your mind, learn to stay focused onthe most important tasks in your life.

- Exercise on a regular basis� Everyone always asks me what it is the best exercise to do and all Ican say is �Do something you like to do, granted you can tolerate it,shoot for 15 to 20 minutes 3 times a week.

- Demand to have you CRP levels tested� This simple blood test is the best indicator of the level of systemicinflammation in your body, It is recommended that you have the levelsevaluated by an certified health care provider to take the mostappropriate action for you and your condition.

So if you are in pain and you are going to make a conscious choose to help your self get better than�