Inflammatory foods are the ones that cause inflammation throughout the body. Inflammatory processes in the tissues and body are often the source for many diseases and can worsen the symptoms of muscle aches, arthritis and fibromyalgia. Millions of people around the world are suffering from chronic pain, which is usually treated by analgesics and anti-inflammatory steroids. However, these drugs can rarely help, and they often have adverse side-effects which can worsen the problem.
Instead of using pills to resolve inflammation, we should focus on eliminating inflammatory foods from our diet. Inflammation equals pain, so this step makes a lot of sense. Some foods are highly inflammatory and although people may not think so, they can be the origin of many diseases.
5 inflammatory foods you should avoid
Although doctors usually prescribe analgesics for pain, they only treat the symptom, not the underlying condition. Painkillers never treat the problem fully, but removing inflammatory foods from your diet can. Here are the foods you shouldn’t consume:
Sugar
Refined and processed foods such as snacks, junk food and instant meals are rich in sugar which can cause inflammation in your muscles and joints. Sugar can also irritate the gastrointestinal tract and weaken the immune system, which can lead to numerous diseases and conditions.
Alcohol
Alcohol is poisonous for our body, and that’s a solid fact. Once it enters the bloodstream, the body activates multiple processes to eliminate it. While a drink or two a day is not completely harmful, drowning yourself in alcohol can damage your intestinal flora, promote fungal growth and impair the body’s ability to detoxify. All of this occurs because alcohol is a molecule combined of sugar and fat.
Grains
Grains are not inflammatory on their own, but a protein known as gluten they contain is. Gluten can be seriously dangerous if you’re sensitive to it, and can cause the “leaky gut syndrome”. Gluten can cause inflammation in the gastric system and damage your body. The problem gets worse when you add the phytic acid and lectins in grains – these compounds can impair the calcium and magnesium absorption in the body, resulting in serious health problems.
Refined vegetable oils
Vegetable oils such as canola, soybean and corn can cause certain genetic modifications and are difficult to ingest. They also contribute to inflammation, and are present in almost all processed foods you can buy. Stay away from these oils if you want to be healthy.
Pasteurized milk
75% of the world’s population suffers from lactose intolerance. In some people, it is mild and doesn’t manifest through visible symptoms, but the body still undergoes processes that lead to inflammation. Pasteurized dairy products can promote muscle and joint pain, and according to one research, gluten sensitive people are also more prone to the dangers of dairy products. Cows are usually fed with foods that contains gluten, hormones and chemicals, which are transferred to the milk. Dairy products also contain a protein called casein that has a similar effect as gluten in the body.