The Inflammatory Dilemma

According to the National Health Council, generally incurable and ongoing chronic disease affects approximately 133 million Americans. This figure represents more than 40% of the total population of this country, and worse yet, this number is expected to grow to an estimated 157 million, with 81 million people having multiple conditions.

Some examples of chronic disease are Alzheimer's, Arthritis, Allergies, Asthma, Cancer, COPD, Crohn Disease, Diabetes, Epilepsy, Heart Disease, Mood Disorders, Obesity, Parkinson Disease, and other inflammatory conditions.

If you have been diagnosed with chronic disease, you know firsthand how crippling it can be, not only physically but mentally. If you have NOT been diagnosed, odds are you will develop chronic illness at some point in your life.

Many of those who suffer from chronic illness have accepted this fact as reality and have moved to a mindset of how to live with it in their day to day life or how to suppress the symptoms, rather than a mindset of fixing the ROOT problem. The truth is, chronic illness doesn’t need to be a burden you simply “accept.”

ALL chronic diseases are linked to one thing: inflammation.

The food that we consume, day after day, has the ability to either turn on or turn off inflammation. We tend to overcomplicate medicine and make nutrition seem simpler than it is. Nutrition effects the expression of our genes. Read that again. Nutrition effects the expression of our genes. In other words, nutrition has all the power in the world, and underestimating this power can lead to health complications that dramatically reduce one’s quality of life.

3 questions that have been asked for DECADES include:

• Why do we gain weight?

• Why do we get sick?

• Why do we age faster?

The answer: increased levels of inflammation.

Is inflammation bad? Put simply, no. Inflammation keeps us alive. It is a signal that something in the body is off and we need to LISTEN to the body in order to correct it. If you have too little of an inflammatory response the body attacks itself. If you have too much of an inflammatory response the body attacks itself. There is a “zone” of inflammation that each one of has, and the primary factor we have to keep our balance in this “zone" is our DIET. When these inflammatory responses are balanced, you are left with wellness.

So what exactly is inflammation and what triggers it?

Inflammation refers to your body’s process of fighting against things that harm it, in an attempt to heal itself. Events that turn on inflammatory responses are microbial invasion, injuries and, most importantly, diet, or the food that we eat.

When your body is continuously fighting against harmful events, it is in a constant state of inflammation, which leads to chronic activation of the innate immune system. This part of our immune system is so complex that it controls literally everything in our body.

Inflammation is below our perception of pain, in other words, it resides "under the surface", meaning you can not feel it; BUT, over the years, if it does continue, there is eventually enough in-organ damage for the inflammation to develop into chronic disease.

So how do you find the balance necessary for your “zone”? You have to be willing to treat food as MEDICINE and take the right dosages, at the right time, for the rest of your life. The movement towards wellness and away from chronic disease is really quite simple: reduce levels of cellular inflammation in every one of our cells through DIET.

Nutrition is all about looking for a happy medium. Hormones are hundreds of times more powerful than any drug, making food the ultimate “drug”, due to its ability to change hormonal responses and how those responses turn on or off inflammatory genes. As a result, “what is the best diet?” then becomes “what is the best mixture for you?” Ignoring this balance in diet, ultimately causing inflammation, forces the body to make hormonal choices that have adverse effects on your health.

Challenge yourself to look at diet in a new light and find the proper balance of foods that works FOR YOU. Each of us is unique and what works for someone else may not work for you. Slow down, be more mindful and really learn to listen to your body — it knows a great deal more about itself than you realize.

Xx,

Leah Kutsch

P.S. Keeping IIN Touch