At one time, plagues abounded. Without running water, flushing toilets or weekly garbage pickup, germs had the upper hand and many people died in infancy.
Times have certainly changed. Unlike our ancestors who lived much shorter lives than we do presently, our homes and public spaces are (for the most part) clean. Infectious diseases are nearly unknown and we automatically take for granted that most children will live past their second birthday.
The top ten causes of death in 1900 – pathogens (bacteria or viruses) have changed.
Now, in the 21st century most non-accidental deaths are caused by heart disease, cancer, chronic lower respiratory diseases and stroke.
These…plus diabetes, Alzheimer’s and even suicide are rooted in chronic inflammation – a whole different scenario than acute inflammation.
We need to understand the difference between acute (short-term or classical) and low level chronic (long-term) inflammation.
Acute or Chronic Inflammation
Acute inflammation was the only kind that was recognized for thousands of years. Our great-grandparents battled acute inflammation (battling bacteria or simple injuries) …heat, redness, swelling, pain and loss of function all occurred.
Then doctors and researchers started noticing a new kind of inflammation: low-level, chronic and systemic inflammation was born.
They called it “chronic” or “cold” inflammation because it does not have the typical hallmarks of acute inflammation. No heat, redness, swelling, pain or loss of function to give clues. Additionally, unlike the acute inflammation our ancestors experienced that sped up metabolism this type of inflammation decreases metabolism.
Rather than short, vicious, site-specific bursts of fighting as in classical inflammation, chronic inflammation involves a long, relatively mild system grind. It occurs when the body’s immune system gets fired up and stays fired up over time, attacking healthy tissue alongside unhealthy tissue.
One can be thought of as an explosion while the other is a smoldering fire.
Chronic inflammation is silent but often deadly. It does not produce symptoms until actual loss of function occurs somewhere. Chronic inflammation is low-grade and systemic, often silently damaging tissues over an extended period. This process can go on for years…until finally disease suddenly sets in.
Inflammation can operate in stealth mode. When symptoms finally become apparent, it’s usually in the form of diabetes, heart disease, cancer, osteoarthritis or other inflammation-related diseases.
You may already be under fire from inflammation caused by no proper exercise, poor diet and too much stress. But the good news is that chronic inflammation is a problem you can act to prevent and fix.
You do this through proper exercise supported by healthy eating.
Processed foods are a no-no…if you are to avoid chronic inflammation than you must concentrate on eating real foods…those that Mother Nature herself provides us…without the additives and changes).
Eliminating processed foods (high in inflammatory ingredients) such as refined sugars and processed fats like trans-fats and vegetable oils and getting regular challenging exercise are two of the most potent ways to help normalize insulin levels (used to gauge inflammation) and avoid insulin resistance.
In the end, it’s important to understand that dietary components can trigger or prevent inflammation from taking root in your body.
Although experts believe it takes years of chronic cellular inflammation to trigger these types of disease, there are also subtle short-term consequences including weight gain, fatigue, aches and pains and indigestion as well as low-grade depression.
Bottom line is this: Chronic inflammation is bad for your health and decreasing chronic inflammation is key to improving health.
If we want to live a long healthy life, we must avoid chronic inflammation and the only way to do that is to honor our body with what it needs…consistent, proper exercise supported by healthy eating. There are no short cuts.
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