You want to know what drives obesity, heart disease, diabetes, dementia, and almost all chronic diseases? Sure, there are influences of genetics and lifestyle and diet, but I’m talking about the molecular mechanism driving the vast majority of illnesses today. It’s INFLAMMATION. Chronic, low-grade, insidious inflammation. It goes on unnoticed— until a diagnosis hits. You’ve heard me talk about this in class and I’ve written about inflammation on several platforms over the years.
I’ve taught you that eating refined and processed foods, simple carbohydrates and sugar will lead to inflammation in your body. If that is done long enough, you develop chronic inflammation leading to chronic disease. Don’t believe me? Try eliminating the above from your diet for three weeks and see how you feel. Sugar cravings are a thing and take about three weeks for withdrawal. Are there other nutritional strategies you can use to decrease inflammation?
If you’re interested in optimizing your health and living happy and healthy for as long as you can, the best thing you can do for yourself right now is to reduce inflammation.
The exciting news?
???? Researchers at Stanford Medical School have just found that eating fermented foods enhances the diversity of the gut microbiome and reduces molecular markers of inflammation. ????
The study was done in 36 healthy adults. Participants ate either a diet that was high in fermented foods or one that was high in fiber for 10 weeks. The fermented-food diet reduced levels of 19 different inflammatory proteins in the blood. One of those was interleukin-6, which we know is linked to many chronic inflammatory conditions. IL-6 is also part of the cytokine storm involved in early coronavirus infection.
This is powerful. It means that the foods you eat can actually influence your gut and immune health in as little as 10 weeks. Imagine what effect that can have over a lifetime?
Here are some top fermented foods:
● Probiotic yogurt
● Kefir
● Kombucha
● Sauerkraut
● Kimchi
● Wine
● Beer
● Cheese
● Cultured milk
● Pickles and pickled foods
While some of these foods may be unpalatable to people, there is surely something on this list you can incorporate into what you eat. I am not inferring these are the only foods you should eat. If you eliminate or at least limit processed refined foods and simple sugars, adding one of these fermented foods appears to reduce inflammation and improve gut and immune function. Put down the donut and make a smoothie with natural fruit, almond mild and probiotic yogurt. Have some wine and cheese. Have a low carb beer such as Michelob Ultra. Put some yogurt, granola and blueberries on a plate and mix them up for lunch. A friend of mine does this at her coffee shop and charges $6 for this simple dish. Or get fancy and make some Korean food. All of this type of food is good for your health. A Twinkie or a Ding Dong is not.
You can also reduce inflammation by using supplements. The single most studied natural supplement available to you is Turmeric/Curcumin. Get a bottle from your favorite supplement store or go to Life Extension at my affiliate link:
https://www.dpbolvw.net/click-9120937-12542182?
url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.lifeextension.com%2Fvitaminssupplements%2Fitem02407%2Fcurcumin-elite-turmeric-extract Black pepper helps absorption of curcumin.
Other supplements to consider include Fish Oil, Garlic, Vitamin D, Ginger, Spirulina, Bromelain, Reservatrol, Green Tea extract and Vitamin C. All of these can be found through Life Extension here:
https://www.anrdoezrs.net/click-9120937-12542182?
url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.lifeextension.com%2F
If you don’t want to search for all these, I’ve put them in an anti-inflammation protocol in my dispensary at Fullscript which you can access here: https://us.fullscript.com/protocols/btreacy-anti-inflammatoryprotocol
If you need help with supplements, health and wellness, weight management or chronic illness, contact me directly at bryanjtreacmd@gmail.com or visit my website at: www.healthwithoutrisk.com
I am an independent Health Coach with 30 years of clinical medicine experience.
#nutritionresearch #evidencebasednutrition #fermentedfoods #inflammationhacks #chronicinflammation #chronicdisease #inflammation #askdrtreacy #healthwithoutrisk
Reference
Wastyk HC, Fragiadakis GK, Perelman D et al. Gut-microbiota-targeted diets modulate
human immune status. Cell. 2021. [link]
