Inflammation is a hot topic in health and fitness these days. You’re probably most familiar with the kind of inflammation that accompanies a small sports injury. For example, perhaps your ankle swelled after twisting it. That swelling is an example of “acute” inflammation, which helps protect and heal the body after an injury or infection by improving blood flow and recruiting white blood cells to fight foreign invaders.
Although inflammation is beneficial initially, if it sticks around too long, it also can become destructive and cause long-lasting harm within the body. This inflammation is known as chronic, low-grade or systemic inflammation. The good news is that although chronic inflammation is a threat to health, there are steps you can take to greatly reduce inflammation, including avoiding lifestyle factors that are unhealthy and increase inflammation. These include being overweight, breathing polluted air, smoking, not exercising or sleeping enough, and having a stressful lifestyle. Controlling these factors automatically will put you ahead of the inflammation game.
When it comes to your diet, here are things to cut back on to fight inflammation:
- Excessive drinking. Stick to no more than one drink a day if you’re a woman or one to two drinks a day if you‘re a man.
- Trans fats. Read food labels and avoid processed foods with hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils.
- Sugar and refined flour products. Consume these products in small amounts as an indulgence. Too much sugar can alert the body to send out extra immunity messengers, called cytokines.
- Omega-6 oils, found in seeds and vegetable oils. Choose omega-3s like fish and walnut oil instead.
- Animal fats, such as butter, fatty cuts of beef and pork.
Focus on eating more of the foods found in a Mediterranean-style diet, which has been shown to reduce inflammation in as little as six weeks. Specifically:
- Eat a diet rich in fruit and vegetables. Toss spinach and mushrooms in omelets; stack sandwiches with tomatoes and lettuce; add peppers and onions to pizza; mix peas, broccoli and carrots in pasta. (See below for some particularly great options and ways to get them.)
- Choose healthy fats like olive oil and canola oil.
- Eat small portions of nuts. Nuts, along with fish, leafy greens, and whole grains) are a big part of the Mediterranean diet.
- For some, drinking red wine in moderation.
- Eat fatty fish (grilled or baked, not fried) like sardines, salmon, tuna or mackerel that are high in omega-3s. Aim for about 6 ounces per week.
Looking for some extra bonuses to fight chronic inflammation? Include these specific foods
… Continue reading here.
Fitnovatives Blog — Courtesy “American Council On Exercise” (ACEfitness.org)
Training your coordination of left and right brain. Challenge for the Brain, Everything is Possible, Just Train Your Brain – Memorize, Brain Fitness Exercise…
Video Rating: 4 / 5
Zumba Kids – Pre-Played
Exercise doesn’t have to mean a boring hour on a treadmill. Zumba makes fitness fun, and now kids can get in on this exciting physical fitness craze. Zumba Kids makes working out fun – it’s “exercise in disguise.” Designed for children aged 7-12 years old, Zumba Kids features easy-to-follow choreography across 30 kid-friendly routines that encourage freeing movement, dance, and play while enhancing coordination and self-confidence. The soundtrack features hot artists like Willow Smith, Justin Bieber, and Ozomatli, classic tracks like “Wipeout” and “Boogie Wonderland,” plus a range of high-en
List Price:
Price: 17.99
Super Pet Bunny Flip-N-Toss Rabbit Toy
Bunny Flip-N-Toss, 6L The Bunny Flip-N-Toss is the perfect toy to keep your pet rabbit busy and entertained. It’s shaped like a carrot and covered in durable sisal rope, and it rattles to make things even more interesting. Just toss it to your rabbit and watch as he finds all kinds of ways to play with it — from shaking and flipping to throwing and retrieving. The exercise and mental stimulation will help your rabbit to maintain the best quality of life, and it’s just plain good fun!
Price: $ 4.49
Sold by PetSmart
You Can Help Your Child Get More Exercise By Following These 5 Tips
Does your child get enough exercise? You can get your children more active with these 5 fun parenting tips.
Better Health in Four Steps
In just four steps, you can improve your health for the better and this article will show you how. The steps below are bite-sized nuggets of health information you can actually use to live a healthy life. Here we go… Nutritional supplements are the first step As far as I’m concerned, they are very important […]
Top 4 Nutrition Predictions in the New Year
Several food and nutrition trends were in the spotlight this year, including the continued rise of plant-based diets, non-dairy ice creams and superfoods that are blasts from the past — legumes, apples and cabbage. It can be easy to experience nutrition whiplash in the New Year, but don’t be a victim. Get a jump-start on […]
5 Ways to Feel Good While Getting Fit
Setting intentions is a powerful thing. Then when you have that shiny new gym membership in hand, you feel like nothing stands between you and your goals to get in shape once and for all. Trouble is, lack of motivation, unpreparedness and busy schedules have a way of interfering with our plans. If you find […]
