We all suffer from aches and pains from time to time, some people more than others. For some, these pains may be age-related while for others, they may be the product of all their lifestyle. These aches and pains are often caused by some form of inflammation.
Many of them come and go within a matter of days as they are dealt with by the immune system but, what if they don’t go, what if they go on and on?
When the aches and pains continue over time, they are said to become ‘chronic’ – the Greek word ‘chronos’ refers to time – this often means that they take many months or years to be cured, sometimes not at all.
Sometimes, they do not respond to standard drug regimes, requiring instead unconventional therapies. Now, let’s turn to the word ‘inflammation’ – this isn’t easy either. Returning again to the Greek, the suffix ‘-itis’ is the medical term used to describe an inflammation.
There are lots of examples, ‘arthritis’ (joints), ‘bronchitis’ (airways), ‘rhinitis’ (nose), and ‘pulmonitis’ (lung) to name just a few.
Often, these inflammations are called ‘silent’ because the sufferer has little or no awareness of the problem and such problems can remain undiagnosed for years until, that is, they appear as real illness.
There are, of course, drug therapies that are designed to alleviate such problems when they appear. There are also behavioural, lifestyle and dietary changes that can be introduced and, regrettably, there are some conditions for which there is no cure, just treatments to ease the suffering.
As with many things, it can be argued that prevention is better than cure and, in this connection, it is appropriate to make changes to behavior, lifestyle and diet before the problems become chronic. The body is superbly equipped to deal with these problems but it is essential to allow it the chance to do so.
While behavior and lifestyle go somewhat hand-in-hand, the easiest way to help the body cope with these inflammations is to improve the diet. This does not mean “to go on a diet”; it does mean improve health by changing the diet (i.e. eating and drinking the kinds of food) to one that enables the body system to work in the way it was designed.
For example, eating more fruit and vegetables, nut, pulses, seeds and grains will provide the body with what it needs to produce anti-inflammatory chemicals (or hormones). In addition, adding foods high in fatty acids like Omega-3, like fish, olive oil and some spices to your diet will also reduce inflammation.
High energy foods, such as sugars and other carbohydrates cause an increased risk of inflammation.
This does not mean become vegetarian, nor does it mean stop eating sugary and other high-energy foods. It might because necessary to supplement your diet with the proprietary products often found in health food shops but, if you eat a healthy, balanced diet, you will be providing your body with everything it needs over time to reduce and perhaps eradicate inflammation and its causes.
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