15 Anti Inflammatory Foods and Why You Should Eat Them
What if there was a way to reduce your risks of getting cancer or diabetes by almost 25 percent? Actually, there is! According to many studies and one conducted by Harvard, certain foods can reduce inflammation that leads to those diseases.
Even more than obesity, inflammation is a major cause of diseases like cancer, rheumatoid arthritis and heart disease. If you can reduce inflammation with a change in diet by adding these 15 anti-inflammatory foods, why wouldn’t you? It’s easier than you think!
The Good News: Anti-Inflammatory Foods Can Protect You from Cancer and Diabetes
Swelling is good when you have an acute injury. It is your body’s way of protecting your tissues and keeping your blood from spilling out. However, when you are not in mortal danger, inflammation itself can become the danger.
The good news is that you don’t need a prescription to combat inflammation. In fact, by simply incorporating more anti-inflammatory foods into your diet, you can do more than reduce inflammation. That reduction also decreases your risks of developing diseases like cancer, heart disease and type II diabetes.
The Bad News: Some of Your Favorite Foods Cause Inflammation
The bad news is, the foods that you love the most are probably not on the list of 15 anti-inflammatory foods. In fact, a lot of your favorites are actually causing inflammation in your body. Do you like hamburgers, fries, bread, steak, margarine, pasta and soda? All of those foods cause inflammation.
Add to that list sausage, cupcakes and fried foods in general. No wonder Americans have a heart disease and obesity problem. Over time, prolonged inflammation increases your chances of developing arthritis, diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease, heart disease and cancer. Not to mention these foods also contribute to obesity.
Even people who are not overweight but suffer from sustained inflammation suffer the same results, leading researchers to conclude that inflammation is more of a factor than obesity as a cause of disease.
Eat a Mediterranean Diet and You’ve Got It!
Don’t lose hope, though – everything in moderation. You can have a burger and fries from time to time. You can have all of those things, just much less of them. Instead, you need to incorporate these 15 anti-inflammatory foods into your diet:
- Almonds
- Blueberries
- Cherries
- Collard Greens
- Kale
- Mackerel
- Olive oi
- Oranges
- Salmon
- Sardines
- Spinach
- Strawberries
- Tomatoes
- Tuna
- Walnuts
Face it, the idea of eating mackerel and salmon four or five times a week is not appealing. Subbing these things in to replace burgers and fries may seem crazy but there is an easy and delicious way to do it.
The Greeks actually figured this out centuries ago. Eating a Mediterranean diet ensures that you are getting all of these 15 anti-inflammatory foods. Individually they may not sound very appetizing, but Mediterranean cuisine blends these ingredients together beautifully.
Don’t know anything about Mediterranean cuisine? We’ve got you covered. Here are dozens of mouth-watering Mediterranean dishes from Betty Crocker that will have you craving these foods tonight.
Comments are closed.