Let's Talk About Inflammation

Shall we?

If you’re like me, the word “inflammation” evokes a picture of redness, heat, swelling — that graphic on medication commercials that makes you feel like you’re gonna get inflamed if you look at it too long.

This picture’s depicting acute inflammation. But that’s not the only kind of inflammation there is.

Acute inflammation is a short-term, fix-the-problem-and-get-out instance of swelling and redness. If you’ve ever sprained an ankle, stubbed a toe, or gotten a cut, you’ve experienced acute inflammation. It usually rushes in quickly and subsides within hours or a couple of days.

But there’s another kind of inflammation that many people experience on a day-to-day basis. It’s called chronic inflammation. This usually happens when acute inflammation finishes its job and decides it’s going to move around your body to find more work to do. Only it doesn’t need to — and usually just ends up attacking healthy tissue.

There are certain autoimmune disorders where this is the main problem: rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, and type 1 diabetes (just to name a few).

But chronic inflammation doesn’t show up with the red throbbing warning signs like acute inflammation does. In many cases, people may not even realize that what they’re experiencing is inflammation. Instead, symptoms can look like:

• Fatigue/energy deficiency (1)
• Sluggish mood (2)
• Appetite changes (2)
• Skin rashes (3)
• Headaches (3)

According to an article by Harvard Medical School, “An unhealthy lifestyle that includes smoking, a poor diet, alcohol consumption, sedentary behavior, stress, and weight gain can cause this type of persistent inflammation.”†

It’s soooooo crazy — what you put in your body actually affects how it works. 🤯

And — shocker — Western dietary patterns are chock full of inflammatory foods, such as processed meat, added sugars, and unhealthy fats. Let’s take a look at some of the biggest culprits:

• Refined sugar and high-fructose corn syrup (somehow featured in every. single. sugary item at the store)
• Processed and refined carbohydrates (like “enriched” white flour that’s actually been stripped of nutrients & fiber)
• Seed oils and trans fats (soybean, corn, & canola oils, just to name a few)
• Artificial additives and preservatives (no explanation needed)
• Factory-farmed meats & dairy

Okay, pause. Let’s look at that last one. Conventionally farmed meat and dairy products come from grain-fed cows on large-scale farms. These cows, which are raised for eating, are often finished on soy and corn to fatten them up quickly. See what the problem is??? (Hint: look again at the list).

And yet people still generalize about red meat 🙃

For a non-inflammatory alternative, opt for grass-fed & finished beef. Grass-fed beef contains up to five times more Omega-3s than grain-fed beef. It also contains higher quantities of conjugated linoleic acid, which is a unique fatty acid that’s been linked to improved fat metabolism, muscle retention, and even cancer-fighting properties (4, 5, 6, 7).†
Grass-fed beef is also richer in vitamin A, vitamin E, minerals like iron and zinc, and antioxidants like glutathione and superoxide dismutase, which help combat oxidative stress and aging (8, 9).†

Other than beef, here’s a list of a bunch of anti-inflammatory foods you can try to get more of in your diet:

• Grass-fed and grass-finished meats and organs
• Healthy fats (extra virgin olive oil, coconut oil, avocados)
• Leafy greens (spinach, kale, arugula)
• Cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower)
• Bone broth (rich in collagen and amino acids that support gut health)

There’s plenty more foods to choose from — the ViCera Diet Guide can help you out if you’re curious.

The moral of the story is, chronic inflammation doesn’t appear overnight. When it comes to your health, it’s the small, daily choices that will determine how you feel long-term. By removing inflammatory triggers and prioritizing whole, nutrient-dense foods, you can take control of your health and feel at your best every day.†

Note: The information provided is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Please consult a healthcare professional before making changes to your diet or lifestyle.

Relevant Studies

1. T. Lacourt et al. "The High Costs of Low-Grade Inflammation: Persistent Fatigue as a Consequence of Reduced Cellular-Energy Availability and Non-adaptive Energy Expenditure." Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, 12 (2018). 

2. Philipp Frank et al. "Association Between Systemic Inflammation and Individual Symptoms of Depression: A Pooled Analysis of 15 Population-Based Cohort Studies.." The American journal of psychiatry (2021): appiajp202120121776 . https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.2021.20121776.

3. S. Watson “All About Inflammation.” Harvard Health Publishing (2021). https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/all-about-inflammationhttps://doi.org/10.3389/fnbeh.2018.00078.

4. P. O’Quinn et al. "Conjugated linoleic acid." Animal Health Research Reviews, 1 (2000): 35 - 46. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1466252300000049.

5. M. Viladomiu et al. "Modulation of inflammation and immunity by dietary conjugated linoleic acid.." European journal of pharmacology, 785 (2016): 87-95 . https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejphar.2015.03.095.

6. Bo Yang et al. "Review of the roles of conjugated linoleic acid in health and disease." Journal of Functional Foods, 15 (2015): 314-325. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.JFF.2015.03.050.

7. Sailas Benjamin et al. "Conjugated linoleic acids as functional food: an insight into their health benefits." Nutrition & Metabolism, 6 (2009): 36 - 36. https://doi.org/10.1186/1743-7075-6-36.

8. C. Daley et al. "A review of fatty acid profiles and antioxidant content in grass-fed and grain-fed beef." Nutrition Journal, 9 (2010): 10 - 10. https://doi.org/10.1186/1475-2891-9-10.

9. Lucas Krusinski et al. "Fatty Acid and Micronutrient Profile of Longissimus Lumborum from Red Angus and Red Angus x Akaushi Cattle Finished on Grass or Grain." Foods, 11 (2022). https://doi.org/10.3390/foods11213451.